Episodic DVD + menus Authoring

[Instant Martian]

Hi everybody,
I'm trying to create a DVD from a series of anime episodes. I've re-encoded successfully the episodes using Avisynth and HCenc but it seems I'm stuck in the menu creation.
Is there a human way to achieve what I've designed in this:



And If so, which is the most suitable software?
I've tried several during the last days but none of them lets me customize the menu layout the way I want.
TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 seems to be the right one but I can't get the desired structure.
Any advice?

[guns1inger]

I would use playlists. This would allow you to have one single instance of the opening and ending credits, and one instance of each episode. You would then create a playlist for each episode, which would be the opening credits, the episode, and the closing credits. Your menu would then link to the playlist, not the episode. You could also create a single large playlist that acts a Play All by have each episode, surrounded by opening and closing credits.

DVD Lab Pro supports play lists, and I believe that GUIForDVDAuthor does as well, so long as you use Muxman as the authoring engine.

[ks47]

I’ve managed to create DVD TV episodes of anime, Sailor Moon with TMPG DVDAuthor. I was able to get 8 episodes per DVD at full resolution NTSC format.

The DVD consists of Main Menu with 8 track episodes with each title episode consisting of chapters of 1.Opening Theme 2.Prologue 3.Main Story 4.Epilogue 5.Ending Theme and Credits.

TS

[guns1inger]

I believe the OP only wants to have one copy of the opening and closing credits, and re-use them for each episode without having to duplicate them. I don't believe Tmpgenc can do that.

[Instant Martian]

Hi guys and thanks for answering.
What I want to do is exactly descibed in guns1inger's reply.
It seems that playlist is the magic word!
Unfortunately I'm a total newbie at this. I think I'm gonna give GUIForDVDAuthor a try to see if I'm able to figure out how to do (or is there a guide somewhere?).
I'll let you know.
Thanks for now.

[Instant Martian]

I am not able to figure how to author this DVD with GUIForDVDAuthor.
Have I to create a complete start-to-end video and insert chapter markers at the beginning of each episode or what?
Anyway I was trying with DVD Architect 3.0 which seems to support playlists too but there is another problem:
it seems that I've used all the disc space (4.5 GB) with only the first 3 episodes, when my plan was to put 6 episodes on each disc.
The total amount of data of the first 3 episodes should be around 2 GBs. What is happening here?

[guns1inger]

If your video is not DVD compliant, or does not match the project settings, DVD Architect will attempt to re-encode it. I suspect that is what is happening here.

[Instant Martian]

It is 720x576 25.000fps (from NTSC 720x480 29.970fps).
What has it to have to be "compliant"?

[guns1inger]

That is PAL compliant (assuming it also meets GOP limits etc), but are your project settings the same as this in DVD architect ?

[Instant Martian]

Yep!
About GOP etc... I'm not into this actually.
This is the HCenc log of one of the episodes:


-----------------------------------------
| HCenc - MPEG2 encoder - rel. 0.23.0.0 |
-----------------------------------------

MPEG profile@level: MP@ML
input: c:\documents and settings\user\desktop\...\ntsc2pal.avs
output: C:\Documents and Settings\User\Desktop\...\VideoFile_no_pulldown.m2 v

--------------------
| encoder settings |
--------------------

profile: BEST
frames: 0 - 32148
framerate: 23.976
aspect ratio: 4:3
bitrate Kb/s: 3616
max. bitrate Kb/s: 9000
pulldown: no
closed gops: no
VBV check: yes
scene change det.: yes
interlaced: no, BFF
goplen,B-pic: AUTO
dc_precision: 10
scan method: zigzag
bias: 0
chapter frames: 0
time code: 0 0 0 0
CPU: SSE3
priority: idle
SMP active: yes
matrix: MPEG
luminance gain: no
adaptive quantization: yes, strength 1

------------------
| source stats |
------------------

nr. of frames in source: 32149
width*height: 720x576
fps: 23.976
nr. of frames to encode: 32149
frames to encode: 0 - 32148

---------------------
| encoding - pass 1 |
---------------------

pass 1 encoding time: 0:12:04 (724.34 s)
fps: 44.4

--------------------------------
| encoding - intermediate pass |
--------------------------------

bitrate set to: 3616 kb/s
estimated output file length: 591873 kB
intermediate encoding time: 0.05 s

---------------------
| encoding - pass 2 |
---------------------

pass 2 encoding time: 0:11:43 (702.67 s)
fps: 45.8

------------------
| encoding stats |
------------------


intra matrix used
8 16 19 22 26 27 29 34
16 16 22 24 27 29 34 37
19 22 26 27 29 34 34 38
22 22 26 27 29 34 37 40
22 26 27 29 32 35 40 48
26 27 29 32 35 40 48 58
26 27 29 34 38 46 56 69
27 29 35 38 46 56 69 83

non-intra matrix used
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
19 20 21 22 23 24 26 27
20 21 22 23 25 26 27 28
21 22 23 24 26 27 28 30
22 23 24 26 27 28 30 31
23 24 25 27 28 30 31 33

nr. of gops: 4114
nr. of frames: 32149
nr. of I-frames: 4114
nr. of P-frames: 11075
nr. of B-frames: 16960
average bitrate: 3616
minimum bitrate: 306
maximum bitrate: 8999

bytes in bitstream: 606400563
bits in bitstream: 4851204504

average Quantizer: 4.698

total CPU time: 0:38:23 (2303.16 s)
total elapsed time: 0:23:47 (1427.31 s)

[guns1inger]

That says you encoded the video at PAL resolution, and NTSC framerate. This is fine, so long as you also remember to apply 23.976 fps -> 25 fps pulldown using DGPulldown before authoring. Otherwise your file is not DVD compliant.

[Instant Martian]

Yes, I processed all the encoded file with DGPulldown
May it be something about the bitrate? I'm asking beacuse during the TMPGEnc attempt it gave me a warning saying that the bitrate should be <9848 KBps (warning that I didn't understand since I think I'm below that value).

[guns1inger]

Perhaps you have some spikes that are blowing you out of the water. The DVD spec sets a maximum bitrate of 9800 for video, and 10800 combined audio and video. If you video is going over this then you will have problems.

That said, at the maximum bitrate you can only fit around 70 minutes of video on a single layer disc. Which is about 3 episodes at 22 minutes each. Which is about what you are getting.

You need to re-think your project and start your process again. Step one is to work out the combined running time for the content of the disc, and use a bitrate calculator to work out what bitrate you need to use to fit it all on. Then you can encode the video, safe in the knowledge it will fit when it comes to authoring.

edit : I see that you have set a reasonable average bitrate of 3100 -sh, so try re-encoding with a maximum bitrate of 8700, to reduce the risk of spikes. Also, at that bitrate, I would consider half-D1 resolution. What audio are oyu using, and at what settings ?

[Instant Martian]

I'm using two tracks:
Italian + Japanese (both .mp2 192KBps 48.0KHz stereo).
What is exactly the purpose of the half-D1 encoding?

[manono]

Yes, I processed all the encoded file with DGPulldown
May it be something about the bitrate? I'm asking beacuse during the TMPGEnc attempt it gave me a warning saying that the bitrate should be <9848 KBps (warning that I didn't understand since I think I'm below that value).

You're talking about trying to author the files after encoding, aren't you? It's a known bug, There's no way for TDA to know if the bitrates are going to go over the limit when you first open the files. Go ahead and author. And I'm assuming you didn't do something stupid like set the max bitrate too high.

If you really did set the max bitrate too high, then start over again and do as guns1inger suggests. But the info you provided says it's fine.

[guns1inger]

It is odd that TDA complains, and DVDa refuses to author without re-encoding as well.

[Instant Martian]

Hi manono and thanks to you too.
I gave up with TMPGEnc Authoring Works because I'm not able to get the desired menu structure (the one in the first post). I'm pretty sure it's because of me and my lack of knowledge, but it's so.
Now I'm working on DVD Architect, which I am more confortable with but there is this disc space issue that I have to fix.
I think I'm going to bed now and try again tomorrow.

[borax]

It is not very complicated to realize such a structure with GfD.
Are all these Previews, Openings, Episodes Endings menus or are these the movies?
If menus, what are the movies?
If movies, where should the episode selection menus jump to (Preview, Opening, Episode)? Are all these Previews, Openings, Episodes and Endings in one file? If not, do these Previews, Openings, Episodes and Endings have the same properties (i.e. video resolution, aspect ratio, number and type of audio streams)?

Feel free to ask for help, if you are interested to try it with GfD.

[Instant Martian]

Hello borax and thank you very much for your time and help!
If you look at the scheme in my first post, all the green objects are videos and the blue ones are menus (i.e. there are 3 menus only).
I'll try to be more specific. What I want to achieve is:
-a short video (Intro) which will auto-play at the insertion of the disc, then the Main Menu will be shown:



The "Play" button should play all the videos in their intended sequence (Ep.01 preview -> Opening Theme -> Episode 01 -> Ending Theme -> Ep.02 preview -> Opening Theme -> Episode 2 -> Ending Theme -> Ep.03 preview -> etc... to the last one (Outro)).

The "Episodes" button should load the first Episode Selection Menu:



The "Menu" button should load the Main Menu again, the "Episode 4-6" button should load the second Episode Selection Menu (which is pretty similar to the first one).
Each of the other buttons (the blue ones) should play the matching video (and if possible all the following video on the same "logical chain" i.e. if I click on the "Opening Theme" (of Episode 2) I want to see (videos): Opening Theme -> Episode 02 -> Ending Theme -> Ep.03 preview -> go back to the Episode Menu, if I click on the "Episode 03" button I want to see (videos) Episode 3 (no Opening Theme this time) -> Ending Theme -> Ep.04 preview -> go back to the Episode menu and so on.

The second Episode Selection Menu is (as said) similar to the first one:



Here again I'd like to be able to play any logical chain of videos (at any given point i.e. previews, openings, episodes, etc...) and then go back to the Episode Menu.

At this time all previews, openings, etc... are separate videos (not a single BIG file) and they all are PAL DVD .m2v files.
The audio tracks are .mp2 192KBps 48KHz 2ch.

I don't know if I have been clear enough in my explanation or if I'm asking a pretty complex thing but I'd like to try if you can help me.

[guns1inger]

Do you have

1 Opening credit video
1 Ending credit video
1 Video for each episode's content

With the intention of re-using the Opening and Ending credit sequences for each video ?

or do you have multiple copies of the opening and closing credits ?

[Instant Martian]

I'd prefer to re-use the same op/end clips for each video (it would be a waste of space, wouldn't it?)

[guns1inger]

I'd prefer to re-use the same op/end clips for each video (it would be a waste of space, wouldn't it?)

Exactly.

Which brings us back to playlists.

Playlist 1

Opening
Episode 1
Closing

Playlist 2

Opening
Episode 2
Closing

Playlist 3 etc . . . .


Menu 1

Episode 1 -> Links to Playlist 1
Episode 2 -> Links to Playlist 2
Episode 3 -> Links to Playlist 3 etc

If you want to add a Play All button, create a Play All playlist

Opening
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
etc
Closing

The add a Play All button on the menu that links to this playlist.

[borax]

I agree with guns1inger. The only problem is the fact, that in a playlist (at least in GfD playlists) you can only select a clip one time. Therefore the 'Play All playlist' would look like guns1inger mentioned:
Opening
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
etc
Closing

and not
Opening
Episode 1
Closing
Opening
Episode 2
Closing
Opening
Episode 3
etc

If that's ok, it would be possible with GfD, but all the Opening Theme, Episodes,Ep preview... Ending Theme are in one big file with all episodes as chapters (GfD doesn't support playlists which spread several titles).
The other possibility is to join the Opening Theme, Episodes XX, Ep preview XY, Ending Theme for each episode in one title (thus you have several copies of the Opening + Ending Theme). This way the 'play all' function would also repeat the Opening + Ending Themes like:
Opening
Episode 1
Closing
Opening
Episode 2
Closing
Opening
Episode 3
etc


The menu structure itself is no big deal.

[guns1inger]

DVD Lab Pro supports both Chapter Playlists (re-arrange chapters in a single title into any order you like) and Title Playlists (mix and match different titles into a single entity)

[Instant Martian]

I think DVD Lab is the right choice.
The problem is I've never used it and it looks a bit complex

[Instant Martian]

If that's ok, it would be possible with GfD, but all the Opening Theme, Episodes,Ep preview... Ending Theme are in one big file with all episodes as chapters (GfD doesn't support playlists which spread several titles).

How do I exactly do that? Have I to remux all the elementary streams and then join the vobs or what?

[borax]

No, join the individual elementary streams with mpeg2schnitt or cuttermaran. Then use the 'big' m2v and the 'big' mp2 in GfD. In order to find the chapters for the individual elements in GfD faster, create the chapter markers in mpeg2schnitt (I don't know if cuttermaran has the same facility). In GfD, make sure to activate 'advanced mode' and 'MuxMan as authoring engine' otherwise the option for playlists is not activ.

[Instant Martian]

I agree with guns1inger. The only problem is the fact, that in a playlist (at least in GfD playlists) you can only select a clip one time.

Can a playlist contain other playlists?
I mean, if a single clip can be selected only one time I could make 6 playlist (1 for each episode with op,ep,end,prev) and then a "super" playlist that would play the episode playlists one by one. I would have opening/ending credits for each episode even for the play all sequence.

[borax]

No, that's not (easily) possible.
I think, it can be done with some tweaking of the control file (muxman.mxp). Actually a (chapter-)playlist is just a title and it should be possible with some kind of playall script to play these titles in a sequence. But I've never tried it yet.
Are these Opening and Closing clips such big, that you cannot include them several times?

[guns1inger]

Which again brings me back to DVD Lab Pro. It's Title Playlist (or simply Playlist - the other being called a Chapter Playlist) would allow you to create a playlist for each episode as I described earlier (https://forum.videohelp.com/topic366153.html#1953817), and a larger playlist for the Play All button.

I don't know of any authoring tool other than Scenarist that would be able to do this, and none that do it so easily as DVD Lab Pro.