DVD-Lab Pro 2: How to set a looped video as background of a menu?

[Stern77]

Hi everybody.

I wonder if the following is possible:

I'd like to have a short sequence of video in the background of a menu which runs repetitive (looped).
What I did is I rendered an animated intro-scene with a title program but I want this clip to keep playing repetitively until the user presses play or enter.
When I drag the video on the menu window on DVD-Lab Pro 2 I get a message saying "The menu background and all objects are replaced by the video ...". So this sounds good to me.
Do I have to click on "Render Motion" although I dont have any menu elements besides the video on it to be merged with the video?

To make it more complicated:
My intro-scene starts with a fade-in, then there is an object which rotates several times and finally the clip ends with a fade-out.
I like the dvd start with the fade-in and then have the clip being looped in a way that you dont see the fade-in's and fade-out's every time but just the object rotating infinitely. When the user presses play or enter it should jump to the fade-out part and then when the clip is over start the actual movie.
Is this possible?
Of cause I can split the clip into three parts: the fade-in part which should play only once (in the beginning) than the looped part and finally the fade-out part, which I can also put in the beginning to the actual movie if necessary.

Maybe I need to learn the scripting language in DVD-Lab?

Are there any experienced users here?

If DVD-Lab Pro is not what I need, what would you recoomend?

Cheers,
Mark

[guns1inger]

You don't need to script anything to do this.

Taking things pretty much in order :

1. Yes, just drag the asset to the menu and drop it to make it the background.

2. Yes, you have to Render Motion is you want anything you create in DVD Lab pro's menu designer to appear as a part of the background. Personally, I usually add any elements that I need like text labels etc in my editor and render it as part of the video. In DVD Lab Pro I add indicators - symbols or lines - which don't have to be rendered. If you use Render Motion you will get an avi which you then have to re-render to mpeg-2 and put back into your menu. This is why I never use Render Motion.

3. You can do this with menu cells. Drop the clip onto your menu, then create a cell just after the fade in that ends just after the fade out. Put your menu elements into the middle cell. When the user selects an item you can play the third cell, then go to your link. Again, this is why I put my text elements into the video in my editor. You will want your menu text to fade in as part of the video. If you do this in DVD Lab Pro you will have to use Render Motion. Look up cells in the help file and in the forums at mediachance for more details

[Stern77]

Thank you for your quick answer.

I just did the following:
1. I dragged the asset to the menu and dropped it to make it the background.
2. Created 3 cells (one for the fade-in, one for the looped part, and one for the fade-out)
3. I set the first cell to "Link to next cell", set the 2nd cell to "looped" and the 3rd one to "Link to next"
4. For the first and second cell I created a rectangle on the menu and linked it to Menu Cell 3
5. After the cell 3 has finished playing it should transide to the movie so in connection's view I connected the menu with the movie

Now the DVD behaves as following:
I can see the intro title and with fade-in and the looped part.
When I click on the button (rectangle) it starts playing the movie instead of first jumping to the fade-out cell (cell #3) and subsequently playing the movie.
Moreover the loop looks pretty shitty: When the loop reached the end it takes about 2 seconds until it starts from the beginning.
Is there anything I can do?

[Stern77]

I just solved the problem that it did not link to cell #3. Don't ask me how... I just rearranged the buttons...
Is it possible to link buttons with shortcuts?
For example: you dont have to navigate with the arrow keys to select a button but you just press a number.
I noticed that each button has little numbers on it. I think it represents the order in which one can navigate through the buttons with the arrow keys but can one also press a number on the remote control of the dvd player instead?
I used VLC (video lan client) to test my compilation but there pressing a number doesn't do anything

[guns1inger]

It is possible, I think, but I believe it requires scripting. It is not something natively supported.

The delay depends on your a number of factors, including the length of the video, the player and quality of the media (once burned). You cannot get it seamless - the DVD spec simply doesn't allow it - but using cells is the closest you will get.

[Stern77]

I just wondered why it is not nearly seemless when I play it from hard disc. I imagine when playing from DVD disc the delay is because the players doesnt buffer (cache) what they read, so the reader lens has to move back to where the video starts including synching to the sector of the disc.

Ok but thanks for your help.