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

[Brother Jaso]

Hello. My name is Brother Jaso. (Win 8.0/ HP 2000)

I have a 7.83 GB video folder and iso I made with ConvertXtoDVD. The original 20 title dvd was 8.23 GB's. So, I added videos until the project was within 1 minute of being impossible. This forced the original 20 titles to be smaller. Then I selected 4 small titles (7,8,9,10), and replaced them in the original TS folder, which brought the GB's down to 7.83.

ImgBurn won't function as it says it wasn't mastered correctly. CDBurnerXP has an option to create the layer break. But, ImgBurn still won't see CDBurnerXP iso. However, the CDBurnerXP dvd's work fine. I could leave well enough alone, as I have working dvds, but..

I tried PgcEdit. It wouldn't read the TS folder either. So, I decided to build the dvd from scratch in PgcEdit. I imported the menu, imported VTST titles, and rebuilt the time tables. I'm following the tutorial here, http://download.videohelp.com/r0lZ/pgcedit/third_party/blutach/dl_burning_with_pgcedit.htm

Instead of the step 7 prompt appearing, I get the "Can't find suitable cell" error.


[Attachment 41443 - Click to enlarge]

I tried switching the titlesets (9 with 10) not sure if that's what it's looking for. (not really trying to change title order) Also using DaemonTools Lite. (not sure if this is making a difference) Any ideas?

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

PS Not seeing picture of error in this post. Does this error mean I might want to divide title 10 into two parts, so the break can fit, sandwiched in between 10 part 1 and 10 part 2? If so, how do I backwards calculate the physical time on title 10 to divide it where the sectors are looking for a break?

[manono]

Then I selected 4 small titles (7,8,9,10), and replaced them in the original TS folder...

How did you do that? Please don't say you removed the originals and stuck in the replacements. There are right ways and wrong ways to replace titles.

Also, you might be so close to maxing out the DVD size that there's no suitable place to put a layer break. That's if you have a proper DVD to begin with.

[Brother Jaso]

Yes. I do this.. but....

I ended up building the whole dvd from scratch using PgcEdit. Ran it through ImgBurn, layer break took, but dvd's aren't working! LOL

So, I've gone back to using the CDBurnerXP version (flawed) iso (the one where I copied 7,8,9,10 back in the wrong way), which even with said errors, handles the write. (& makes working dvds) Not sure, it must have a layer break. Because only CDBurnerXP handles the flawed iso, I'm starting to wonder how they accomplish this. Maybe it's proprietary?

When I take the working CDBurnerXP dvd and go to discovery mode with ImgBurn, it shows 2,086,912 on L0 data zone capacity. (I'm assuming that's half the sectors on the first layer) (?) The PgcEdit iso put the break around here too. (Can't remember now as I threw away the dvd when it didn't work in my buddy's XBox)

It's kind of academic at this point as the dvd's work despite how the iso got there. I guess I could retry PgcEdit again. (Could have overlooked something simple)

You know, now that you mention that, that may be where my disconnect is coming from. I probably tried importing the menu and titles, but since the IFO's were mismatched on titles 7,8,9,10, it tried to rectify it. So, technically I hadn't rebuilt anything from scratch.

What do you like for build dvd's from scratch? The only reason I kept the menu was because I liked the wall. I saw some pretty nifty menu editors in my brief internet travels. What do you like in a dvd authoring tool with svg menu edit support? (preferably on the open source end of things) ((I'm all about svg, node shifting, etc))

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

[manono]

I have no idea what svg is, although maybe I know it by a different name. For authoring I use Muxman. For authoring when I want to create menus I use DVDAuthorGUI. All encoding is done separately before the authoring. Others have their own favorites.

[Brother Jaso]

Thank you so much!

I'll give these a try.

SVG as in scalable vector graphics. (I like Inkscape.)

I'm having a problem loading the new TS folder with 32 KB smart gaps using VOBBlanker into PgcEdit. Either the gui is unintuitive or it simply is looking for another way. I tried rebuilding from scratch, in PgcEdit, using the same menu and mismatched 7,8,9,10 titles, it rebuilt the time tables.. VobBlanker made me a new folder with smart gaps. But trying to burn using PgcEdit makes the same error, no place to put the break! LOL Plus, I can't seem to find a way to load the new 'smart gapped' TS folder back into PgcEdit. So, I took the smart gapped TS folder and burned it using CDBurnerXP. It made a working dvd! So progress is being made.. When I take this dvd and import it back into PgcEdit, it's finding titles 2,7,14,16 mis 'timed' (?) (for lack of a better term). So, I'm thinking maybe CDBurnerXP has adjusted these titles & maintained play order to make the break. (Maybe I try importing this dvd, rebuilding the time tables for these titles, then try reburning an iso. I think I did this last night. Turned into another 4 am fall asleep at the terminal! LOL)

OK. Going back in with new tools you suggested and verification of above..

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

[manono]

If I was understanding you correctly - and there's a good chance I wasn't - then you should be using VobBlanker (or maybe PGCEdit, depending) for replacing your four titles. I don't believe you ever mentioned how you did it. Then, except for the possible problem of the DVD being too large to find a suitable layer break, the problem should be solved.

[Brother Jaso]

Yes!!

I've managed to create a suitable PgcEdit/VobBlanker hybrid, but this TS folder isn't loadable back into PgcEdit. (It only imports discs or creates new dvds?)

This hybrid is 7.83 GB's, has corrected time maps, and smart gaps with VobBlanker. CDBurnerXP liked it. ImgBurn... Actually it's in the middle of creating a new iso now. I'm not seeing any layer break info though. Will have to report back on that.

In the meanwhile, I tried your recommendation, DVDAuthorGUI. I got up to inserting vob #14 which had two parts, found out it was looking for a demultiplex version, then had to find a way to demultiplex it, tried PgcEdit, Avidemux, DVDDecrypter, SmartRipper, Rejig, VOBEdit, none of which seemed to be easily doable. (Probably user error, LOL) Then I wanted to try VOB2MPGv3, immediately got the 'Xenocode Virtual Appliance Runtime Error 0xd0000135' error, downloaded Virtual XP from MS, emulated with VirtualBox to convert title 14 using VOB2MPGv3, and whollah, DVDAuthorGUI liked it!

Thank you, thank you.

Oh, lookie here, the iso is complete. Ahh, the iso is burning... standby... (This is the preDVDAuthorGUI attempt from earlier. Still not seeing any layer break info. But no warnings popped up. OH! It did! It did! find a break, at 2,071,504!! Yeah! This should be a proper working dvd.) ... ...

26%... ....

[manono]

Actually it's in the middle of creating a new iso now.

ImgBurn doesn't need an ISO to be able to burn a DVD to disk. Just show it the VIDEO_TS folder.

[Brother Jaso]

OK.

I use VLCMediaPlayer to view the dvds. This disc isn't working and VLC says to check the log. Only, I can't find it. Now, I have another player I use, Kodi. It plays fine here. Buddie's XBox, not so good. So, I guess it looks like I'm going to have to scrap this route and go with DVDAuthoringGUI.

I've got the titles loaded.. It's not seeing the menu file. I think it's looking for a different file format. (Can't remember which program does this! I was just looking at it! LOL)

Will keep tooling around and report back.

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

Oh, dang! Just saw your response. OK. Yes, I'll try this way too. Good Looking. Thank you. Thank you... ... Standby.... ....

[Brother Jaso]

Huh, that's funny, using the same TS folder that ImgBurn turned into an iso file, (to burn a dvd from TS folder), failed to find an area for a layer break??

That's weird.

OK. Back to DVDAuthoringGUI menu friendly file formats, m2v..

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

[Brother Jaso]

OK. DVDAuthorGUI processing now. Ran into a little Runtime 339 error, Downloaded MS XP & Virtual Box, runs a little slower, but is converting as we speak. All systems check.

Please standby... ... ...

[Brother Jaso]

DVD came out in bigger (less) chunks. It's all there. Menu wasn't set up right. It was there but goes to black screen afterwords. So I went back in and found nav cmds. Must have been set on a default setting to exit after menu. There was no response to the title menu, I couldn't click on title #20 say, it just sat there, played to the end of the title menu animation and went to black screen. Not sure, maybe I check out chapters. I think, not sure, I set a chapter at 0:00:000 of each title.

Maybe new burn works this time?

Standby.. .. ..

Oh by the way, even inside VirtualBox, from WinXP, I think DVDAuthorGUI ended up being 3 times faster! LOL

Oh, also, I'm not seeing a layer break prompt or box. (Standby, checking preferences...)

Not seeing preferences. Well I clicked save, so, it'll be a little while. Briefly saw tools. (Didn't get into anything here) CDBurnerXP handled the layer break on first attempt, ImgBurn would not. Maybe if I make a working dvd, I can import it back into PgcEdit to make it ImgBurn ready.

K. Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

[Brother Jaso]

Same thing, menu shows up right away, plays to the end, & goes to black screen. Nav Cmds must not be responding as it was set up to start playing title 1 upon opening dvd.

I think something isn't quite right with the menu file. DVDAuthorGUI, for some reason, didn't see the menu file as it exists (BUP, IFO, VOB). But, it liked M2V format. (So, I found a program to convert it to this and gave it this.)

Is there a layer break option in DVDAuthorGUI?
Is DVDAuthorGUI looking for the BUP, IFO, or VOB original menu file(s) to be sandwiched in the same TS folder as the new M2V menu file? (It didn't ask for them that's why.)
Is there a way to trick PgcEdit into loading a TS folder? (Maybe by making a TS folder look like an optical drive? or making PgcEdit think its an optical drive?) ((Oops, scratch that, PgcEdit shows open DVD, didn't realize that includes TS folders! LOL))

Now, it might just be VLC Media Player, as I noticed on the other (CDBurnerXP) (working) dvds, that VLC Media Player would pull up the title menu instead of instantly starting title 1. So, this TS folder may be OK after all. (Still have to burn it to an iso and try the dvd(s) out.)

OK. Here it goes..

[manono]

Is there a layer break option in DVDAuthorGUI?

No.

Is DVDAuthorGUI looking for the BUP, IFO, or VOB original menu file(s) to be sandwiched in the same TS folder as the new M2V menu file?

No, it accepts only elementary streams as input, not VOBs or IFOs. There are other freeware authoring programs that will accept VOB input - GUI for DVDAuthor and (maybe) DVDStyler.

Is there a way to trick PgcEdit into loading a TS folder?

I have no trouble opening a VIDEO_TS folder in PGCEdit. That's what it opens.

[Brother Jaso]

I'm able to take the newly formed DVDAuthorGUI TS folder/iso and open it in PgcEdit. PgcEdit also allows me to remove the menu and insert the original. But, I go to save and only the menu is saved inside the new folder. Burning an iso (from within PgcEdit) still has difficulty finding a layer break.

Can I load 10 of 20 titles into PgcEdit, then tell it to put the layer break here, then add the final 10 titles?

or

How do you go about authoring a dvd with DVDAuthorGUI with a layer break?

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

Oh, dang, didn't see your response. Yes, I got PgcEdit to open TS folders, my bad, not sure, somehow I thought opening DVD meant optical media. Yes, DVDStyler, I have this, OK Checking out now. Thank you Thank you

[Brother Jaso]

This is really cool, learning about all the dvd end of things. I noticed on DVDStyler, it said Custom Quant Matrix: Manono1. Did you help coauthor this program? It's in the middle of converting now. (20% or so)

I gmailed the folks over at PgcEdit to see if maybe I could swap my dvd content for the nag unlock. (There's one video I included on the dvd that seems to keep disappearing on YT)

Do you have Google Drive? Or, maybe there is a way to handle 7.9 GB iso uploads here? I could send you the link.

Thanks for all the good advice. I'm more trained in using vintage Amiga paint programs, broadcast video equipment, and AutoCAD (release10). So today I use programs like Avidemux, Audacity, Inkscape, Gimp, modo, & WinUAE.

Noticing DVDStyler working hard, looks like this is the program for my application. (Also 10 times bigger than DVDAuthorGUI download) It showed layer break data, preconversion, also asked to work with the bitrate and gave poor quality warning, the directory tree navigation on the main menu was choice, it even has a custom menu layout with backgrounds, not sure where, but one prompt was in my pictures folder, it looks like it handles svg! So far a very impressive dvd suite with room for future projects. LIKE*(dvd still processing)

Hopefully, the next response will be 'SOLVED'

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

Just going over docs, this does handle svg. Almost want to start over and try out the menu editor. I'm also liking DVDAuthorGUI. It's incredibly fast. Actually, ImgBurn will bypass a no break TS folder &/or iso, and I've had success this way too, but a professional dvd, for this kind of a dvd, should be the norm.

[manono]

I noticed on DVDStyler, it said Custom Quant Matrix: Manono1. Did you help coauthor this program?

No, I have nothing to do with DVDStyler and don't even use it. I provided some matrices for the developer of HCEnc which, apparently, DVDStyler uses for encoding.

It's in the middle of converting now. (20% or so)

I thought you were interested in opening VOBs? By definition they're already DVD compliant and don't need reencoding. But maybe I misunderstood or you're trying something else. Nothing wrong with experimenting.

I could send you the link.

I, for one, have no interest in downloading someone else's DVD (unless it's something I want for my own work). Maybe someone else might.

I'm glad you may have found something that suits you. Lots of people here use DVDStyler.

[r0lZ]

I'm not sure I understand what you want. I've read the whole thread, but I must say that I'm confused. It seems that you did a lot of things to obtain your working DVD, but I'm almost sure some things where not made correctly.

Anyway, you should know now that you must NEVER modify manually the content of the VIDEO_TS folder. The IFO (and BUP) files contain many tables that instruct the DVD Player how to handle the VOBs, and of course if you replace the VOBs without modifying the IFOs accordingly, the tables are not correct any more. The fact that a specific burner (in your case CDBurnerXP) accepts the modified DVD is not at all an evidence that it has been correctly authored. It may work with some software players (like VLC, well known to be one of the worst programs to test a DVD), because these players can use the file system of the PC to find and load the VOBs, but most hardware players will hang because they need the correct tables in the IFOs to find where a specific title or menu begins on the disc.

I strongly suggest to recreate your DVD from scratch, and use only a small set of correct tools to author and burn it. I don't know if CDBurnerXP does a good job with DVDs, as I use it only to burn audio CDs, but ImgBurn should accept the DVD without complain if you want to be sure that it has been correctly burned. (ImgBurn uses exactly the same logic than PgcEdit to locate the suitable layer break, and if it cannot find one, that means that the DVD MUST be modified,. Do NOT try to burn it as it is with another program.)

To understand why ImgBurn (or PgcEdit) cannot find a suitable layer break, you must understand what is a layer break (LB) and where it must be located. The video content (the VOBs) of a PGC is often divided in several cells. For example, a chapter can begin only at the beginning of a cell. Therefore, if a title has, say, 5 chapters, that means that it must have at least 5 cells. The layer break (the point where the playback switches from the first layer to the second layer) must also be placed at the beginning of a cell (but that cell does not need to be the beginning of a chapter). Also, the VOBs are laid out on disc in the order of the titlesets (VTS).

Since you cannot put more than half the content of the whole DVD on a single layer, it is easy to understand that the LB must be placed somewhere near the middle of the DVD. If the DVD is not full, there is a more or less large area where the LB can be, because the two layers do not need to contain the same amount of data. But if the DVD is totally full, the LB must be exactly in the middle of the data. It's why it is usually much more difficult to find a suitable LB on almost full DVDs.

Now, a concrete example: Let say you have 3 VTS in the DVD. Two VTS, VTS#1 and VTS#2, have approximately the same size, say 40% each of the total size of the double-layer DVD, and both of them are made of a single cell. The size of the third VTS (VTS#3) is 15% of the total, and it is divided in two cells (say 8% and 7%). That means that the whole DVD occupies 95% of the media, and that only 5% of free space remains. It will be impossible to find a suitable LB cell, because you can only place the LB at the beginning of VTS#2. Therefore, the second layer will need to contain 40+15=55% of the full size of the DVD, and obviously that's impossible, since each layer can contain only 50%. Similarly, placing the VTS#1 and VTS#2 on the first layer is impossible, since you will try to put 80% on a single layer.

When PgcEdit (and probably also ImgBurn, I don't remember) is facing that problem, it will suggest to swap the VTS to maximize the chances to find a suitable LB cell. And indeed, in my example, if you put the small VTS in the middle, between VTS#1 and VTS#2, it will be possible to place the LB on the second cell of that small VTS, because the first layer will contain 40+8=48% and the second layer 40+7=47%. Both layers will contain less than 50% of the whole disc space, and that's perfect.

Of course, if the VTS#3 contains only a single cell instead of 2, it will be impossible to find a solution, since one layer will have to contain 40+15=55%, even if the small VTS is placed in the middle.

You should have understood that it is much more difficult to find a LB point when the disc is almost totally full, because the LB cell must be exactly at the middle of the DVD, and even when the VTSs are swapped, there is less chances that a cell begins exactly there. It's why it is never recommended to place too much data on a DL DVD.

When it is really impossible to find a LB, even after having swapped the VTSs, the solution may be to cut a cell somewhere near the middle of the DVD. You can use PgcEdit's burn function and examine its error message to find in what VTS and between what starting and ending LBAs the LB must be, and then use VobBlanker to cut the cell somewhere within that range. Use the preview to find where in that range the LB is not too visible. (Also, don't forget to disable the option to create a new program and chapter. You need only a new cell.) And if you don't like to place the LB in that VTS, try swapping the VTSs with PgcEdit so that a less important VTS is in the middle of the DVD, then retry.

If you do it correctly, ImgBurn should accept the DVD, and burn it correctly. (BTW, I strongly suggest to use ImgBurn ONLY to burn a DVD. Most other burners have problems, or accept blindly badly authored DVDs.)

I hope this will help you. Good luck!

[Brother Jaso]

Indeed it does. Indeeed itt dooess.

Thank you. Thank you.

I was surmising precisely this, probably as you were responding, here..

http://stnsoft.com/DVD/index.html

I ended up doing a rush job (goofball job) (not reading the documents prior to converting job) with DVDStyler. It too is making a TS folder/iso that only plays the menu, goes to black screen, and stops. (Probably overlooked how to properly import menus) Still have to try again using it's own menu builder. (Chance to try out an svg) I would go with DVDAuthorGUI, because of speed, but no layer break capacity.

Yes, ImgBurn. I'm looking at my row of taskbar icons involving 'dvd' and the order they got there. It just so happened I ran across CDBurnerXP prior to ImgBurn. I must have wanted something more to have downloaded ImgBurn next. I could tell the quality inherent in it. And used it quite a while prior to having started delving into this realm. I like it's 'uptight and out of sight' warning prompts.

Yes, a real, compliant dvd. That's the goal. One night I had switched around the titles probably a hundred times looking for a break. (Never found one) This latest attempt (DVDStyler) raised the GB's to 8.0 (I'm trying to stay below 7.95 GB's), plus the dvd only plays the menu and stops, LOL. So, I'm going back in with renewed vigor and ya'lls latest instructions!

Thank you. Thank you.

Do matrices involve code? Did you go to school or someone show you or self taught? Were you using Linux?

VOB's. Yes, I was creating the dvd from scratch with DVDAuthorGUI, importing the titles from the original TS folder, and title 14 was in parts 14_0 and 14_1. DVDAuthorGUI didn't like it and told me to demultiplex them first. That's when I downloaded and used VOB2MPEG to combine them into one file. Then I simply renamed the file and extension to 'VTS_14_1.VOB'. Then, DVDAuthorGUI imported it no prob. By the way, I'm on Windows 8.0, both DVDAuthorGUI and VOB2MPEG only worked on older Windows setups (WindowsXP for me).

Actually, to me, the biggest and most exciting part of all this is one of my own custom videos! Not sure if ya'll have seen the 1988 John Carpenter film, They Live, I found a way to reveal this reality, like the way it looks through the sunglasses (in the movie), using a computer program! It's on one of my custom videos on the dvd. If ya'll knew what I'm trying to say and the ramifications of such findings, ya'll would be like, 'I got to get this dvd and show my friends!' LOL Not too many people have seen the movie, I'm finding, which is why I bundled all 20 titles on one dvd. Those who have.. it's almost like a cult classic. By the way, if ya'll ever have any images you'd like me to examine to see that which lies beneath, feel free to contact me. I can tell instantly if it's worth fleshing out. Sometimes it doesn't take long, sometimes I'll work hours with it. You can view some examples here..

http://tgigeeks.boards.net/thread/1493/anamoly-activity?page=6

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

[r0lZ]

This latest attempt (DVDStyler) raised the GB's to 8.0 (I'm trying to stay below 7.95 GB's), plus the dvd only plays the menu and stops, LOL. So, I'm going back in with renewed vigor and ya'lls latest instructions!

The real capacity of a DL DVD is only around 7.95 GB and as you know now, you should leave some free space to have some choice for the layer break. IMO, you should always stay below 7.5 GB. (The announced capacity of 8.5 GB for is a lie, for commercial reasons.)

Do matrices involve code? Did you go to school or someone show you or self taught? Were you using Linux?

PgcEdit doesn't use matrices, and I have not learned them at school. I have studied myself the format of the DVD-Video, thanks to the mpucoder's site (now hosted at the stnsoft web site you have cited in your last post), and IfoEdit as a monitor to examine the DVD tables. I have also been helped by many knowledgeable peoples at Doom 9. At the time I have decided to write PgcEdit, the information was not widely available, and I have had to progress by trial and errors, but currently, I think that PgcEdit is finished and correct.

[manono]

Do matrices involve code? Did you go to school or someone show you or self taught? Were you using Linux?

Is that for me? I just studied the matrices used in commercial DVDs and began collecting them. Most of the ones in the collection I supplied (the Fox and manono matrices) were lifted from retail DVDs. The Fox1 one had been known for some time. A couple might be amalgams of 2 different matrices. I tested to see the relative sizes produced by them so I could rank them them as being of low, medium or high quality (sort of). No code, just numbers. You can see the numbers when you choose them in the Matrix section of HCEnc. You can see which are used in commercial DVDs by opening a VOB in DGIndex and going Options->Log Quant Matrices. When making the D2V file it'll also produce a text file showing the matrices used.

Oh, and I didn't give those three my 'pen' name. My name isn't manono Trump. Hank of HCEnc did that.

[Brother Jaso]

10:41pm

Greetings gentlemen. Ran first test run with DVDStyler. Converted TS folder files to iso. ImgBurn wasn't too happy. But made a perfectly working dvd. The new proto is burning as we speak. I wanted to see what would happen choosing burning directly to dvd. The interface is impeccable! I was able to intuitively rebuild the menu wall, all 20 titles, custom colors, and custom svg background. Can't wait to see how it turns out. (it was on 6 of 20 last check). It's running on my other laptop, the Toshiba P6000 (Win7) with 8 GBs ram.

Oh, sorry, I haven't tried the fancy quote tool here. I was thinking Manono at the time, but equally applies. Yes, this level of thought, only self inventiveness can attain. It's funny how these things happen with people, for instance, in my case, I had years of immersion with schooling, Amiga, Amiga in school, college, workforce, and by chance about a month ago, events led to my now delving into the parabolic inverse of the light spectrum. LOL

DGIndex, yes, I see this in the tools section (I think) of DVDAuthor, (In the back of my mind, while building those false blanks, I was thinking I needed to explore here first). But man, piping those MPEGs into the GUI made an iso so fast, I thought I just got off space mountain.

HCEnc, yes..

IfoEdit, yes, yes.

PgcEdit, oh yeah.

7.5 GBs. Yes, this is good to know. I thought I was in the zone (after having gone back and edited for time and reconverting with work around) coming in at 7.83 GBs. DVDStyler was calling it 8 GBs required. (It'll be interesting to see what it's going to do. Although I think I know what it's going to do, and that's make ImgBurn get snippy! LOL) So, yes yes, what is right is right. I'm forseeing a third DVDStyler proto, editied for more time content, (to bring withing the 7.5 GB range), (I saw some prime trimming areas, not a problem) (also gives me a chance to do some audio remastering), and a happy ImgBurn.

But one of the problems, I was having with ConvertXtoDVD, was even though I edited time content, it still tried to stretch out the total size to over 8 GBs, hence my tricking it into making the MPEGs smaller by cramming extra videos to within 1 minute of being impossible. I've noticed on both DVDStyler attempts, they too are coming in at 8 GBs exactly. (The first one was using the ConvertXtoDVD MPEGs (7.83 GBs), the one brewing now was fed the original mp4's, as was ConvertXtoDVD. (4.98 GBs). (Truly a from scratch version too) (version 2)

So.. My new question would be, is there an option to tell DVDStyler (maybe with a CmdPrompt) to create a variable target size? (like say, within a range of 7.5 to 7.95 GBs?) Maybe this technique would enhance the possibilities of finding a break? Or, is it more like, so long as you stay under 7.x, it will find a break?) I was thinking if you had a few different sizes to choose from, the break may naturally fall into place on one of them. But, this would entail bit rate manipulation (?), to set a target size?? It seems all of these things are on autopilot, could be user error.

3D! Yeah! Big fan. AutoCAD, CADKey, DPaintIV, VideoScape/Modeler3D, modo. (plus a plethora of unchecked out titles downloaded throughout an extended evening. LOL) Amazing all the companies that went into the 3D hardware end of Amiga. (Actually went Mac after Amiga for a little while, remember something called Cheetah3D) Never owned 3DO. (Stereograms are fun too!)

It's starting to look like a new hybrid may be in the works. Maybe I take the magic sized MPEG files from ConvertXtoDVD, then take the new menu from DVDStyler, and orchestrate all of this out of PgcEdit. (Not sure, svg in menu might be a DVDStyler exclusive.)

12:28 am. Going back in..

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

[Brother Jaso]

Quick Update.

DVDStyler convert straight to dvd, wrong choice! LOL Got home from work, found it got all the way to the end, and failed. So I'm scrambling to find the temp file to save it, the computer is hanging up, I rebooted, got closer to ControlPanel ShowHiddenFiles, started hanging up, rebooted, found hidden files and temp folder, but it was too late, (not sure, didn't see an iso, not sure if it was going to make one despite..) (Should have gone with the burn iso option and let ImgBurn think about it)

I'm going to feed it (DVDStyler) 19 titles, and see if it mimics ConvertXtoDVD's ways by making this required size right at 8 GB's. Is it me? Or, you'd think they would have set the cap at 7.95 GB's. (They being DVDStyler) (ConvertXtoDVD too, theirs consistently go to 8+ GBs)

OK. Going back in. It's PgcEdit time!

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

8:00 pm

I've got a new found respect for DVDStyler. It takes authoring of dvds to a new level. The first prototype actually was 7.5 GBs. The second prototype, which never came to fruition, was trying to be 8.0 GBs.

The prototype burning now. I made some menu modifications, now it says it's going to be 7.9 GBs. Who knows, maybe this one will even have found a break!

I thought maybe I met this guy before, but, as it turns out, it was a different person with the same first name. http://www.qdev.de/?location=downloads

Saw some interesting Amiga downloads here, thought I would share.

OK. Burning in progress....

[r0lZ]

If you end up with a 8GB DVD, you can perhaps use DVDShrink to compress it a bit. If you remove only a small amount of data, you should not see the difference.

Also, I suggest to create several chapters in the title that will be at the middle of the DVD. Even if you don't need chapters, they will maximize the chance to have a cell at the right place for the layer break.

[Brother Jaso]

That's a great idea! I'll have to do that.

DVDStyler failed. Actually the prompt said DVDAuthor failed. I didn't know it was going to utilize DVDAuthor, otherwise I would have tried burning out of WinXP. But, it was converting on Win7. (I thought DVDAuthor started running into incompatibility with Win8.0) No biggie, going to try again, adding chapters in the middle, running out of thWinXP, and burning an iso file. Got a little smarter this time, decided to copy the temp folder before exiting DVDStyler. LOL Last time it was clearing the cache as I was looking for it.

DVDShrink. Interesting. I already dismissed that notion thinking that compressing was only for using dvds like a usb device. I thought for sure this wasn't allowed when producing actual dvds. That's good to know. Another good angle. (Thought I downloaded it. Maybe I had another program that has compression. Yes, UltraISO.) Thank you. Thank you.

DVDStyler must incorporate DVDAuthor towards the end of the burn as it showed all 20 of 20 titles completed. Got home from work, saw the DVDAuthor fail prompt, but all 20 titles had processed.

OK. Doubling my efforts.. Standby..

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

[Brother Jaso]

Wasted an evening on a false blank 'mispreconcept'? LOL First of all I thought my runtime 339 meant older system. I failed to read the wmp.dll error sandwiched in the same prompt! (I take out all MS products on my machines and try to go for all aftermarket, the opposite of my automobile (LOL). ) But luckily, I hadn't deleted my Windows Media Player folder on my Toshiba P6000 laptop because this was the only reason DVDAuthor was working in XP mode was it had a fresh WMP. So I'm putting DVDStyler in XP! IMPOSSIBLE lol

But all is great! Moved WMP folder on deck, did a small test dvd/iso with DVDAuthor, no runtime error. New DVDStyler attempt processing now. I like the way DVDStyler puts the VTSTs in 1 GB chunks, the way it switches maximum iso size, maybe it's trying to find a break too, it seems like it has a mind of it's own. It's been building the menu all day. (1.8 GBs usable on this laptop) And it's going to put the svg on the menu background, but that's going to end up as an MPEG. I can convert an svg to an mpeg background and animation, just have to learn PgcEdit's way of assigning titles to preview anims on the main menu wall. (I went with one menu page to keep it simple)

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

[Brother Jaso]

Quick update..

10 of 20 Titles processed, fuzer running hot, after this will go back under ac vent.

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

[Brother Jaso]

Friday 6am: DVDAuthor Stopped Working (while making dvd using DVDStyler)

I'm having this on both computers, HP2000 Win8.0 & Toshiba P6000 Win7. I use the Toshiba as a workstation, no internet, in fact, cleaned all internet related items out of this machine. The HP2000 has IE10 turned off in Programs&Features. DVDAuthor has already demonstrated it wants to see MS programs like WMP. I'm thinking since I saw an XML file sandwiched in the DVDStyler temp folder with the menu VOB, that DVDAuthor/DVDStyler will want to have IE in place as well.

Which is a good thing as I hadn't dialed in the menu correctly anyway and the dvd may not have worked. (The pre/post commands don't seem to allow the first video to play through to the last title, then go to the menu screen. I tried physically moving the menu to the correct order in the DVDStyler setup, but this only copies it to that location, then when you delete the menu in front of the titles, that new menu moves back to the front of the playlist. LOL)

It helps to dial in the pre/post commands with a small video file at first, so as to figure all this out prior to botching a 2 day render.

And I guess I can live with the menu at the beginning. It's cool being able to add a soundtrack and loop it. ConvertXtoDVD has one up on DVDStyler in that the menu on ConvertXtoDVD uses a transition screen to fade in and out the menu, which looks professional. DVDStyler's menu just pops up there (and pops out of there). Not a big deal, may want to edit the menu anim to incorporate fades with DVDStyler background in a future project.

OK. IE10 is turned back on, (I use Avira Scout and their servers to bypass IE by the way), latest attempt commencing right after this post.

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso

Not sure, just went back and looked, DVDStyler may have fades and transitions addable. (Not sure what animations prompt serves)

10:05pm Oops, just realized VLCMediaPlayer does this with the menu. Will have to readjust back and verify..

Also had crash on last video using Avidemux. This may have been the culprit for the DVDAuthor walk out. Trying to setup for another 2 day burn. LOL (Only have 1.8 usable ram) (My 8 gb Toshiba (ram) has all things IE cut out. May try a burn here again too with correct video title #20. Then it would only take about a half a day.)

Does anybody know if DVDAuthor wants to see IE installed for it's dll files and such? K. Standby for verification..

12:09 am

All systems check. Feeling confident the last title had a crash waiting inside, IE won't be necessary, and will find out on the ToshibaP6K w/o anything IE. LOL Hopefully, will be ready by morning. This dvd authoring project has been going on every spare moment for about a month and a half now. (Pro version last 2 weeks)

standby.... .... ....

4:14 pm

About 10 or 11 of 20 titles and counting.

Pretty sure I found correct method of calling up video 1 to play through 20 then go to the menu and loop. On menu properties I don't select any pre nor post commands, and upon selecting 'loop' the post cmd selfghosts itself to 'jump cel1', then on the last titles properties, post cmd 'last menu call'. Haven't verified with new disc, obviously, but I tried some new programs to verify from a pc. We'd discussed how VLCMediaPlayer bypasses the content and goes straight to the menu on iso's. Went with SMPlayer and LeawoBRPlayer, since they both handle iso. SMPlayer appears to be following the dvd protocol. LeawoBRPlayer is mimicking VLCMediaPlayer and going directly to the menu. Will have to report back on what buddy's XBox does with new dvd...

still standing by... ... ...

[Brother Jaso]

12:00 am

DVDAuthor stopped working correctly, again at the end. All of the temp files have completed. I found a text doc here too.

https://files.videohelp.com/u/269555/dvdstyler.log

(not sure if I attached that right)

Does DVDAuthor have a log path? I haven't clicked OK to continue yet. Everything is still in the temporary folder OK. I'll just let everything hang here until I get a response. Not sure if there is a way to force restart.

I could just move the TS folder to the desktop, along with the menu items in the temp folder(s), and maybe use DVDAuthor externally at this point? Not sure last time I used DVDAuthor, it was looking for mpegs or vobs, I don't think it wants VTSTs.

Or, maybe I pipe what I've got over into PgcEdit? or ImgBurn? OK. Trying now..

6:07 am

Going to attempt to contact DVDStyler. Standby... ... ...

[Brother Jaso]

Bumped into something new! WinXDVDAuthorFree. It's cooking up vobs as we speak. I gave it the smaller vobs from the original TS folder. Two however, were doubles (_1 & _2). Found a new tool, VOBMerge. WinXDVDAuthorFree has the same provisions as DVDStyler, but instead of svg it looks for bmp and jpg. Which will be an equivalent to svg in that the menu ends up as an mpeg. (I could understand if DVDStyler was going to somehow zoom in on the image, maybe on a transition wipe, or something of this nature, but previewing the anim in temp folder doesn't show such, so WinXDVDAuthorFree looks to be the new way to go. {Thusfar})

K. Standby... ... ....

OK. WinXDVDAuthorFree is good. But AVStoDVD worked better for me in that it has average bitrate adjustment(s). On the home stretch now. Piped AVStoDVD's titles back into ConvertXtoDVD TSfolder/dvd using PgcEdit, verified with VOBBlanker, AVStoDVD automatically made chapters in 5 minute increments on title 10 (hopefully it will find a LB).

Last order of business..

I've made a new menu using VSDC Video Editor. (VIDEO_TS.VOB) It's the same menu with a logo overlaid on the bottom to give the illusion of a new menu. But piping it back into PgcEdit gives me 'no menu defined'. The 25 second wall of 20 titles plays fine in VLCMediaPlayer. I try MenuEditFree and get bad block header.

Is there a menu editor that can put the new menu back in without another 1 or 2 day burn?

(It would be nice to be able to insert a 30 second sound byte too)

I'm seeing insert menu in PgcEdit. Is there a replace menu hiding in there?

Thank you very much! Brother Jaso