PgcEdit Layer Break Step error: Can't Find Suitable Cell

[Brother Jaso]

OK. WinXDVDAuthorFree came out twice as big on smallest/fastest setting.

MEDIACODER!

WOW!

[Brother Jaso]

OK. WinXDVDAuthorFree made the files twice as big. (Just because it has DVDAuthor in the name...) DVDStyler felt a little more robust.

I'm liking PgcEdit. It's funny, the documentation pull down pulled up the MS help window, but there wasn't any content. So I had been trying to figure it all out without documentation. LOL Bumped into the actual doc file sent with the download. It really started making sense.

rOIZ, my hat's off to you. This is a very skillfully crafted piece of software. It does what all the other programs can't. I even found the layer break prompt, after having made a chapter every 2 minutes on title 10. At first it seemed way too technical, but over time, it's very straight forward and is exactly what it is.

I'm almost there. Had problems with title 20, I accidentally erased my original. MediaCoder fixed me up though. Finally figured how to replace VTST and got rid of 'dummy'. Only problem at the moment is getting the pre/post commands or whatever fixed on it. VLCMediaPlayer likes to go back to the menu when engaging title 20, SMPlayer likes to exit entirely upon engaging title 20. Oh, MediaCoder brought the bitrate down on all titles too! (7.93 to 7.53)!! (GBs)

I would post SOLVED, but...

OK, going back in...

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

[r0lZ]

Thanks for your appreciation of PgcEdit. It is true that it is very technical, but I wanted a tool able to modify every aspect of the DVD navigation, and the DVD-Video specs are complex, and the VM commands are not easily understandable by a non-programmer. PgcEdit is just a reflect of that complexity. Exactly the opposite of a "one-click" tool that does just one thing, and that you can't fine tune.

VLC is a very good media player, but it is not a good player to check a manually made or modified DVD, because it admits too many bad things and errors in the authoring, and it is not really compliant to the DVD-Video specs. Currently, I use PotPlayer, more useful to debug a DVD. And make extensive use of the Trace feature of PgcEdit. It will help you understand how the magic is done.

Good luck!

[Brother Jaso]

Just noticed last post or so disappeared here. No biggie.

I should be completed. But title 20 is having problems replacing itself. I try keeping original pgc cmds and not, 20 comes up as dummy. I added a new cel. Now title 20 opens when playing dvd. VobEdit,VobBlanker doesn't seem to be resolving.

Any suggestions?

K. Going back in. Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

1:38 pm Quick update

Just revved up AVStoDVD. It was having crashes on title 20 too. (I think it was my old file) Fixed it. AVStoDVD cooking now. AVStoDVD is awesome. It allows custom entering the bitrate! (average) Maybe I can take this dvd folder and pipe it back into PgcEdit where my original menu lies. 3 of 20 processing...

[Brother Jaso]

Oops. Just responded on page 1. LOL

Is there a menu replace feature in PgcEdit?

I made a new menu with VSDC Video Editor. Actually just overlaid a logo on the bottom. PgcEdit says it's not defined. MenuEditFree shows bad block header.

Is there a way to edit the menu or replace it without burning another 1 to 2 day render?

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

Just found DVDShrink. Checking out now... ... ...

[manono]

Is there a menu replace feature in PgcEdit?

Not as such, I don't believe, although r0lZ is free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The way I handle this is to create a menu using DVDAuthorGUI with a short 'dummy' video. I make sure to also create the same number of chapters as in the 'real' video. I'm sure you can do similar things in other menu-creation programs. Then after I have the menu set up the way I want and the 'dummy' DVD created, I then open it in PGCEdit and use its replace function to replace the 'dummy' video with the real thing.

By trying to replace one menu with another one you created, you're leaving yourself open for all kinds of navigation and button problems. So, I don't replace menus but videos after having created a menu.

[Brother Jaso]

Awesome. I had been tossing around that notion earlier. In fact saving to an empty folder had made the dummies already. (Can't remember where) Yes, then follow the same procedures as before. Excellent workaround. (Could've already been doing this while looking for a menu editor! LOL)

Good to know. Good to know.

Well I guess this is solved. Let me go ahead now and the next post should be solved. J out... .... ..........

[r0lZ]

I use the same technique as manono, except that I prefer DVD Lab Pro (not free). And I agree with him. It is usually much more difficult to replace the menu and adjust the numerous VM commands of the buttons and pre/post/cell commands of the pages of the menu, than replacing the whole movie in one shot.

BTW, to create very rapidly the dummy title, I usually simply create a slide show, with one picture per cell (chapter). It's really easy, and very fast. I don't know if you can do that with DVDAuthorGUI or other authoring programs, but that should be possible.

[Brother Jaso]

Great. Thanks.

The tornado sirens just went off here. This might be my last post!

DVD coming along. Ran into a new prob replacing short vtsts with full versions using PgcEdit from the DVDStyler burn. I made 33 second videos of all 20 titles, made my menu and background and audio all to 30 seconds, the full versions have only one TTN. PgcEdit says I want 20 TTNs to match the 33 second short burn TS folder.

Uh Oh, gotta go. J out

12:09 am...

Tornado passed.

OK. Decided to do a full burn with DVDStyler again. I'm trying DVDLabFree, first night, haven't quite got it down, unlike DVDStyler. It almost seems like you're speaking to me from the future by answering my questions before I ask them. LOL Does putting a slideshow pic on a cel, 20 times, as a dummy, for each title, enable PgcEdit to allow the DVDStyler short burn's titles to be replaced? I was getting an error. Something about the short burn's VTST's had like 20 TTN's each, whereas the long titles I was using to replace them with only had one TTN per title. (It's funny, before I even read your latest post, I had been adding 20 dummy pgc's with a new cell on each one and PgcEdit still didn't see new TTN's in the title. Maybe when I get more versed with DVDLab, I try your method.)

DVDStyler purring away on 2 of 20..

Didn't realize I had been using DVDLabFree as a trial version. Almost tried DVDArchitect but saw it was a trial and backed out.

DVDLabFree isn't quite as intuative as DVDStyler in that I'm not seeing how to add audio to the menu. Got the background image up. Got videos assigned in menu. Went to compile, nothing happened. (maybe I look for burn next time) Actually I had taken DVDLabFree out because it was a trial (28 days left). But after reading your response, rekindled it to find a lot of hidden potential. Saw the inhouse SVGEditor bundled in DVDLab, very swift!

It's crazy. AVStoDVD had another box I could uncheck the first time I used it, now it's gone. (Can't remember what it was called) It was in a video preference of some sort. But, in addition to being able to adjust the minimum and maximum bitrate, when unticked, it unghosted an enter average bitrate prompt. (Might be because I'm using VOB files tonight. Maybe try other formats(?), not sure. (MP4, MPEG)

PotPlayer. Wanted to try this and forgot. Got it going good.

Looking for answers, I ran across this... https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/380498-Re-Dvd-Menu-editor

LOL

1:30 am..

Starting to see where little problems creep in, late, blackouts, barely awake, sleep computing in effect. LOL (kind of like sleep walking) (At least it's not as bad as sleep driving) On DVDLab, I only find a place to paste the address to the audio file. (& it has a delete button next to it. PBC portion of properties) The menu drop down not showing audio importing. Compile, however, came up nice this time. (May have gotten flustered with all the menu's squeezed in and just didn't notice it the first time) The compilation gives a still menu. Will have to flesh out anims or clips or something here. Titles didn't respond. All owing to user error. But it works fast!

What do ya'll know about Light Works? I know I go in confused and come out confused. LOL Haven't tried it too much lately.

1:57 am..

What would be a 'Dream Team' of an av suite or arsenal? Like pound for pound if you had to spend the money or not. (I'm liking avidemux25, audacity, pgcedit, dvdstyler, dvdlab, avstodvd, convertxtodvd, vobblanker, ifoedit, mediacoder, handbrake, formatfactory, kodi)

1:32 pm..

8 of 20 processing. Please standby...

[Brother Jaso]

SOLVED!

7:40 pm..

Processing complete! TS folder file size: 8.05 GB. Engaging DVD Shrink with Sharp deep scan...

1:00 am..

TS folder complete! TS folder file size: 7.93 GB. Building iso with Image Burn...

1:17 am..

Iso image complete! Burning iso with Image Burn...

1:39 am..

Disc Image complete! Layer Break success! Verifying copy...

1:40 am.. Task completed.

OK gentlemen. Looks as though all is well here. It's going to be a double dvd set. It will be available for free sometime tomorrow. (later today) If anybody wants a copy. (Just contact me)

OK. Thank you very much! Brother Jaso