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  1. Good morning everybody.

    After some sabbatical I've come back to the idea of burning "audio DVD" from "hires" tracks (such as 24/96 flac, even 5.1). I see the standard software for such a case is Lplex, often together with Foobar. I also tried the old MuxMan, a software much alike Lplex, and almost as good.

    But I also need a context menu: in DVDs created by Lplex/MuxMan it is possibile to change track by means of the "skip" button on the remote, but I'd like something like this:
    Image
    [Attachment 63397 - Click to enlarge]

    in this menu it is possibile to select a track with arrow buttons, then click on it. This greatly helps selecting tracks and getting specific informations, as you can see from the next screenshot (the one that appears once clicked on a specific track):
    Image
    [Attachment 63399 - Click to enlarge]

    Also there are three blue arrows, to jump to the next track, to jump back to the previous track, to go back to main menu. Again, a simple and effective way to choose tracks without making use of the "skip" buttons on the remote.

    Many people will say that many authoring softwares do indeed exist; but I'd like something simple, something that will semi-automatically create such menus from the tracks I decide to burn, menus that look like the images I've attached before.
    I just need:
    - to choose background images;
    - to choose how many rows to insert in the main menu (in order to avoid multiple menu screens when there are many tracks);
    - to choose font style and size, in order to make things easier when trying to insert all the tracks in a single menu screen;
    - if possible, to choose text position, so to prevent hiding significant parts of the background images;
    - to choose the title in the main menu, with font style, size and position.

    A good software could be Freemake Video Converter, which indeed creates a menu from the tracks I put on the DVD and also let you choose the background image, but does nothing more (for example, no more than 4 tracks in the main menu, no font choosing).

    I hope everything is clear. I'd like to add three more things:
    - I know the problem is building the menu, something I'd like simple but also manageable;
    - I also thought about burning to DVD Audio instead, but it's too difficult to find a suitable player;
    - there is also the notorious gapless issue to deal with, at least for live music.

    Thanks a lot.
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  2. I see, I see.

    Today streaming rules, nobody cares for Dvds anymore, and the "ancient art of authoring" is forgotten.

    By any way, I did a lot of searching myself, and I'm now sharing what I found, in order to let someone else, maybe not so fond of streaming, decide what's better.

    So, there's only one software capable of doing what I need in a simple way: Minnetonka Discwelder Steel/Chrome. The Steel version only lets you modify pre-authored menus, the Chrome version lets you build more complex menus, albeit in a less simple way. Problem is, this software is no more developed not supported; if it were, the price used to be astronomical. If you can find a working version "somewhere", you will also find out there are many awful bugs, especially when authoring menus. So, no Discwelder, unless you want to lose a lot of time working on background images in order to circumvent most bugs.

    The only acceptable alternative is a software called Audio Dvd Creator, that, despite its name, is capable of making and authoring hybrid disks in a simple way. Maybe too simple: it does not do everything I need (almost), and there are bugs, too, when authoring. But, once more, it is neither developed not supported anymore (at least it would not cost very much).

    So, unless you want to study a lot about authoring, there's no simple solution. I really wish there could be some other way but ... this is the way (c).
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    Originally Posted by Fantasio View Post
    I see, I see.

    Today streaming rules, nobody cares for Dvds anymore, and the "ancient art of authoring" is forgotten.
    Regarding DVD-Audio specifically, yes, that's right.

    Since DVD-A-capable players never became popular and because today Blu-Ray players "are everywhere", many hobbyists and audiophiles prefer to author a Blu-Ray disc —with or without navigation menus— if they have/want to go that far.
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    Originally Posted by Fantasio View Post
    I see, I see.

    Today streaming rules, nobody cares for Dvds anymore, and the "ancient art of authoring" is forgotten.
    Few here know anything about authoring Audio DVDs and to be honest, I doubt that streaming has much to do with it. Audio DVDs never really caught on the way CDs did. If you were authoring videos to DVD, you would have received plenty of help in spite of the fact that watching streaming video is now more popular than watching DVDs.
    Ignore list: hello_hello, tried, TechLord, Snoopy329
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  5. Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    Few here know anything about authoring Audio DVDs and to be honest, I doubt that streaming has much to do with it. Audio DVDs never really caught on the way CDs did. If you were authoring videos to DVD, you would have received plenty of help in spite of the fact that watching streaming video is now more popular than watching DVDs.
    That's why I posted some stills of what I intend to do. The stills prove it can be done, but I don't know if it's possibile to do it a simple way. I'm not interested in authoring DVD-Audio, but in authoring "Audio Dvd", that's a completely different thing.
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  6. Member DB83's Avatar
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    In brief, it is not possible to do it in a simple way.

    The 'basic' method would be to create a video track - even a still image can be considered to be video - and you add you audio to that. Repeat the process for each audio.


    You then import the tracks in to a dvd authoring program - just check the software section as there as some quite capable ones which are free.


    But here is the 'catch'. Flac is not supported by dvd. The nearest would be LPCM (uncompressed)
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  7. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    You say you aren't talking about DVD-Audio, but the apps you mention, such as discwelder, are specific to that format.
    Then you mentioned "audio DVD", but there is no such beast. At least not one that is official and is different than DVD-Audio.

    You can make a universal disc with disc welder chrome, as well as with Scenarist with the Dvd-Audio addon, but both of those are expensive.

    As mentioned, what you can do fairly easily is make a straight DVD-Video that favors the audio, wherein you use LPCM for the audio, and stills or low motion, low bitrate video (to satisfy the bitbudget).
    Or you can do a Blu-ray.
    Or you can put data files on a disc in numerous formats, as long as those formats are supported by your playback system.


    Scott
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  8. Originally Posted by Cornucopia View Post
    You say you aren't talking about DVD-Audio, but the apps you mention, such as discwelder, are specific to that format.
    Then you mentioned "audio DVD", but there is no such beast. At least not one that is official and is different than DVD-Audio.
    For example, from the "Roxio Toast" introduction:

    "A Music DVD should not be confused with a DVD-Audio disc. DVD-Audio discs require a special DVD player. A Music DVD is a standard DVD that contains music (and can also contain photo slideshows and videos), has full navigation menus for song selection, and can be played in any set-top DVD player."

    To be more specific, a Dvd-Audio only has something inside the audio_ts folder, nothing in the video_ts. An "Audio Dvd" or "Music Dvd" will also provide a visual menu of some sort, so there will be something in the video_ts folder (audio_ts folder may contain the actual music - so called "Hybrid Dvd" - or may be empty; I prefer the former).
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  9. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Ok, that is just Toast using marketing speak. They made it up.
    What they are calling "music DVD" or "audio DVD" is just a standard DVD-Video that favors the bitrate of the audio assets. Any DVD-Video authoring app can produce what they are offering. They just packaged it nicely and separately to ease the consumer.


    Scott
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  10. Originally Posted by Cornucopia View Post
    Ok, that is just Toast using marketing speak. They made it up.
    What they are calling "music DVD" or "audio DVD" is just a standard DVD-Video that favors the bitrate of the audio assets. Any DVD-Video authoring app can produce what they are offering. They just packaged it nicely and separately to ease the consumer.
    Maybe it's just a Roxio marketing thing, but it's become a de facto standard. Most Genesis', Pink Floyd's, ELP's, King Crimson's albums are easily found as Hybrid DVDs (and these are just the ones I'm most interested in). I understand these Dvds have been authored by means of the best (and complex) softwares, and I was looking for something simpler and basic. Best compromise, as I see it, is (was) Discwelder Steel.
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  11. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Methinks you mis-understand what these 'Hybrid' dvd's really are.

    Typically, the are double-sided - much like 'flipper' dvds - where one one side you have a standard audio CD and on the other the same album as a DVD-audio disk.


    Only one of the sides plays in a standard dvd-player. And neither of these have any pictures or menus.
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  12. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    This is a form of hybrid, but in technical parlance, what you are referring to is a "universal" DVD. It has DVD-Video content to play in a DVD-Video player, and DVD-Audio content to play in a DVD-Audio player. Note that unless some major, rare behind the scenes gymnastics is done, those 2 have to be separate, independent, though possibly duplicating assets. Which eats into the disc capacity.


    Scott
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    Originally Posted by Fantasio View Post
    Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    Few here know anything about authoring Audio DVDs and to be honest, I doubt that streaming has much to do with it. Audio DVDs never really caught on the way CDs did. If you were authoring videos to DVD, you would have received plenty of help in spite of the fact that watching streaming video is now more popular than watching DVDs.
    That's why I posted some stills of what I intend to do. The stills prove it can be done, but I don't know if it's possibile to do it a simple way. I'm not interested in authoring DVD-Audio, but in authoring "Audio Dvd", that's a completely different thing.
    What you want to do is still a very specialized form of DVD authoring that appeals to only a small market. I'm not surprised that there aren't many authoring suites that automate the process close to the way you are hoping for.
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