DVD Lab Pro Beginner

[Nerfboy]

Ok, I am totally new at this software, but I have gotten into it with help from this forum.

Few things...when I opened the DVD file I have been working on, it goes through it's test and tells me I have open GOPs. The chapter menus connecting to the movie are highlighted in red. I am assuming that's bad. Any advice?

Also, where is the text option? I just can't seem to find where and how to add it and edit it.

Cheers.

[Nerfboy]

Oh, and when I search for an mp3 on the hard drive through the asset window, they won't show up unless I select "All Files" and even then it won't add it to the window.

[guns1inger]

Open GOPs is only a warning, and unrelated to the red symbols. You can turn the Open GOP warning off in the Project Properties dialogue.

The red chapter symbols are telling you that you haven't indexed the movie yet. You can do this by right-clicking on the movie clip in the movie window, or from the Movie menu. In both instances the option is under the Chapter sub-menu

You can use MP3 audio in a DVD. Simple as that. DVD Lab Pro does not do any encoding natively. It has limited transcoding abilities in certain circumstances. Convert your MP3 audio to something DVD compliant (WAV, or AC3 would be best) then import it.

The text object is the Aa icon next to the menu screen. To edit existing text, double click on it.

[dadrab]

To add to guns1inger's assessment, DVDLabPro does have some limited encoding capablilities, but it's to be used for creating motion menus only. In my version, one has the option to encode motion menus to AVI, which can then reencoded to outside of DVDLab to MPEG2; or you can encode directly to MPEG2 (that's the option I usually use in that I'm basically lazy).

You can add audio to a motion menu too. Just make sure your audio clip is slightly shorter than the video clip (as in a motion menu) you're attaching it to or you'll run out of video before audio. Since the length of the multiplexed clip is based on the length of the video portion, the audio will just stop if it's length is longer.

To use the text funtions, click on the "Aa" button, as guns1inger instructed, then click on the menu (or where ever you plan on putting the text) and a text window will open. There you can type, edit, size and choose fonts. You can also resize the text once you've finished by just dragging the corner of the box surrounding said text. To edit from that point, double click on the text to reopen the text window.

Clear as mud?

[Smells_Like_Feet]

You can use MP3 audio in a DVD. Simple as that.

Just to correct guns1inger's typo, You can NOT use MP3 audio in a DVD. The dvd specification requires the audio be LPCM (wav) or AC3. If you are creating a dvd according to the PAL specification, you could use mpeg audio (MP2). I'd recommend using BeSweet to encode your MP3 to AC3 as it is freeware. There are several guides that show how to do the encoding. Good luck.

- Smells_Like_Feet

[guns1inger]

Gotta get that T key fixed on the other keyboard, damn it.