A couple of questions for menu authoring....

[gambit32]

Does TCSV allow for naming of chapters? What I mean is on a DVD, chapter one might have a short title describing the chapter? If not, what program(s) allow for chapter names? Another question is what is an mpg menu, I need some clarification on this? I'm assuming it's just like any other menu except it has motion. Like a movie playing behind the text of a menu.
I'm about to plunge into the dark world of more complex menus (more complex than Nero that is..) and just had a few questions....

[gambit32]

bumpitty bump!

[gambit32]

wow...still no repsonses...

[sunmiztres]

I know, I am waiting for someone to answer your question because i would like to do the same thing you want to do. I it would be cool if we could have thumbnails with the chapters that tscv creates and or little sentences describing that chapter.

[sunmiztres]

Oh yes, i do know one of your answers, i think...a mpeg menu is a still or a action file. some proggies require you have a .mpg file for the menu. i usually take a still picture and make it into a .mpg through tmpgenc and use that for my menu. i have never used a action menu so i don't know if it can be done.

[kitty]

I have seen some snippets of info on making MPEG stills with TMPEGenc but the most detailed one still used I-Author to make the final still. Any hints or more on taking a pic and encoding to a still with the correct ID would be great...guess everyone is in the same boat wanting a do-it-all tool.

[gambit32]

So in other words an mpg menu is just a still, it's static but has a specified length of time that it runs?

[bullfuk]

use I author !

[willieg101]

Where can I get i-author? Is there a demo somewhere or someplace i can get a good description and price?

[vitualis]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-08-21 21:34:48, gambit32 wrote:
So in other words an mpg menu is just a still, it's static but has a specified length of time that it runs?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

A menu can be EITHER a STILL or a VIDEO CLIP.

A still is exactly what it sounds like -- a high or normal resolution frame. You can set how long for it to display, etc.

A video clip is exactly what it sounds like too -- an animated clip (i.e., standard VCD spec mpeg) that acts as the background for the menu (e.g., like an animated DVD menu).

IMHO, the best way of creating an mpeg still, is to use Nero or CD Motion to create a small disc image of a VCD with the pictures you want as backgrounds to your menus. Then use VCDXRIP to extract the mpeg stills for the NRG image.

You can use I-Author to do it too.

There is now (finally!) a small freeware utility that will do it for you called mplex.exe -- I don't know if it is out to public yet but it was in the VCDImager "testing" directory.

Regards.

[themamboman]

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On 2001-08-22 05:12:33, willieg101 wrote:
Where can I get i-author? Is there a demo somewhere or someplace i can get a good description and price?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I heard that there was a demo at one time, but Enreach's webpage seems to be focusing on avenues other than SVCD authoring.

[gambit32]

Thanks Vitualis. Now for the second part of the question and maybe I-author can do this, but can we name our chapters or give little descriptions of what each chapter is?

[gallant1]

Hi! I'm kinda new at this stuff too, but I think I can answer some of your questions.


As far as naming chapters 'on the fly', TSCV does not have this capability as far as I can see. All it does is figure the entry points and creates the "instructions" telling the bin where to insert the chapters. You will need to create your own menu to put your own chapter names on it. Simply put, you can create a bmp file from a graphics program like adobe photoshop or paintshop pro---even something as simple as paintbrush might work for a simple menu. Any way, after you create your list of chapters on whatever background you make (basically just text on graphics), save the file. Then, Take your VCD decoder (I think just about everyone uses TMPEG) and load the bmp into the video and encode it into whatever format you are using (VCD, SVCD, XVCD, SxVCD--thanks Sefy!), creating an mpg file (a VERY small mpg file--1 frame in length, but an mpg file all the same). Then load that file into the "menu" section of TSCV along with an intro (optional) and the movie and create your bin. Now, that is an example of a simple static mpg menu. A moving mpg is a little out of my league. In fact, I've been trying to find a program to help me out with making moving mpg menus. I know EZCD creator will create a moving mpg menu, but I think you have to use the wizard and I don't think it will let you burn a bin file. The program is very unforgiving and it is just gathering dust in an unused section of my hard drive.

The problem I have encountered with TSCV is that if you create 17 chapters on a disk and want to go to chapter 17, you have to push the "1" button to get the movie started and then press the "next" button 16 times to get to chapter 17--pretty flintstonesque if you ask me, but it seems to be the only game for me in town. That is, unless you might know what I'm doing wrong here. Have you run into this?

[gallant1]

Whoops! Just revealed my newbieness!!! *blush*...
TMPENC is the correct name of the encoder.


I don't know the titles of the songs, I just like the music...