How to make a Jacket picture for DVD

[BJ_M]

Jacket cover images (generally referred to as Jacket_P images) are used by some DVD players to give a visual indication of what disc is available. Jacket_P images are most often utilized by players that can hold more than one DVD at a time (such as a Sony DVD jukebox).

Adding Jacket_P info to a disc is pretty simple. You will need to create one image that will be scaled to three different sizes (or, you could create a separate image for each size if you want to provide simplified graphics at lower resolutions). The three sizes are made available so that the DVD player can select the appropriate one for its display context (menus, details, etc.)

The sizes and required file names are as follows:

J00___5L.MP2 720x480 ntsc
J00___5M.MP2 176x112 ntsc
J00___5S.MP2 96x64 ntsc
J00___6L.MP2 720x576 pal
J00___6M.MP2 176x144 pal
J00___6S.MP2 96x80 pal

Note that your menu aspect ratio should be 4:3 and that there are three underscores in a row in the filenames.

As indicated by the filenames above, the images should be saved as MPEG2 encoded images.

Once you've made the files, create a Jacket_P folder, store the images in it, and include the folder on your dvd disk along with AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS

[phiz]

HI
interesting post
i am new to this kind of thing and dont get the bit about saving as mpeg2
encoded images?
can you please explain
thx

[BJ_M]

load an image in tmpgenc and encode as per the directions above.

use targa or bitmap or jpeg as your source image ..

[NightWing]

Yes intersting!

Two questons.

1) Do you do just one "frame" in the "MP2".
2) Any audio in this mess.
3) Is it name for the folder exactly "Jacket_P" or is it "JACKET_P"?

[BJ_M]

JACKET_P (in CAPS)

1 frame

dont know if audio would work - try it ..

[NightWing]

Tnks!

Hum... Audio tracks... Working on two tools to feed into IFOEdit but may spend a few minutes to see if this works on any of my players.

Again tnks!

[phiz]

Hi again

must be doing it all wrong !
i made a screen capture from a move and saved it as you suggestered but i dont seem to get anywhere with the encode in tmpgenc prog
sorry to be a bit of novice but its very interestingwhat you can do

thanks

[BJ_M]

1 . does the image load into tmpgenc ? tmpgenc takes targa, bitmap and jpeg images . try renaming the image as file.00000.xxx

2. make the image 1 gop in lenth (shouldnt have to but if you need to) , either repeat the image 15 times and name in order file.00000.xxx , file.00001.xxx , file.00002.xxx ........ file.00015.xxx

or

make a 1 sec audio clip (of anything- even of nothing) and save as wave file and load that wav into tmpgenc WITH the 1 image file .
- this will make a 1sec mpeg ..

[ChrissyBoy]

VCDEasy allows you to creat MPEG2 stills from just about any input format.

Would this help?

[terrell28]

I have been trying to make jacket p's without success. I have the Sony CX875 dvd jukebox as our "main" player. I have tried the "How to guide" at http://www.newconstellation.com/Downloads/JacketPictures.pdf.zip

I have followed it several times now with no luck. I can get a good display (picture) when I "stop" the dvd, but when you use the "folder veiwer" on the disk explorer, it throws the color all out of whack on the whole screen. I thought it might have something to do with the CBR or something and therefore, I have tried different variations. Nothing seems to work.

I was wondering if anyone else is trying this, and if so, have you had any luck. I've been trying for 4 1/2 days now - constantly - and my wife is ready to disown me!!!

[terrell28]

OK, so here it is a Sat. night, and I'm STILL sitting in front of this "box"!!! A WEEK LATER!!! DAY & NIGHT!!! STILL trying to make "compatible" JACKET_P's. As I mentioned in the previous post, our main DVD player is a Sony CX875P 301 disk player. It has a "menu" that lists the movies with titles and pictures - from the JACKET_P folder.

The problem is: When I go to the menu on the player, sometimes the picture will be there, sometimes it won't. Sometimes it will even use a picture from a different "pressed" (original) disk instead. While this site was down (???) today, I searched the web for "more" help. I found a different forum discussing similar issues.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24420
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44671&highlight=jacketp

According to them, the problem lies in the player itself. I bought that at first. But then I realized that the disks that were made w/o jackets don't seam to have ANY problems. (The player will let you capture a picture from the movie and use it in the "explorer menu".) So in theory, what they had said about the player doesn’t seam to "fit". Therefore, I've come to the conclusion that I'm doing something EXTREAMLY wrong. I decided to keep "playing around" with these jacket pictures and I’m starting to go bald. Un-naturally!!! You know, pulling my hair out.

I copied jacket folders from other disks (Collateral Damage, Mothman Prophecies, Black Halk Down-3 Disk) and played the MP2 files with Media Player Ver. 9. While the file is open, I checked the properties. The three different video sizes were as follows:

J00___5L.MP2 = 720 X 540
J00___5M.MP2 = 176 X 132
J00___5S.MP2 = 96 X 72

This does not seam possible. NTSC and PAL sizes…

The properties tab also indicates that the video codec being used is "CyberLink Video/SP Decoder" when played. When I check the properties of the files that I have created, the sizes are not the same as above. Some of them did not even meet the NTSC sizes. (Tried different things) So maybe they are using PAL instead of NTSC??? NOT! When I tried to do it that way, I still could not get the properties tab to show the same as the originals. Oh, and the video codec that is used when I play my MP2 files is "Ligos MPEG Video Decoder". Why is that? Why wouldn’t it use the same codec as above?

I have searched this site, and others, but to no avail. I have learned a lot though. And I am grateful for that. While this JACKET_P may seam trivial (considering that a capture can be made on the player), it has become a situation of "Me VS. The Machine"! When I first started this, I figured that once I got it down pat, I could then figure out how to "self label" the disks as well. (Some have the title on them that shows up so that it doesn’t have to be typed in.)

Perhaps it’s the software that I'm using. I have primarily been using:

QuickTime Player Ver. 6
TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 Ver. 2.510.49.157
Media Player Ver. 9.00.00.2980
PhotoImpact (Bundled Ed.) Ver 5.0

Anyone who has some suggestions to this problem, PLEASE, pleas pass them along for myself and anyone else who is experiencing the same or similar problems.

Oh, one more thing, when “stop” was pressed, the pictures would show up on the TV as they should in the “stop” mode.

Thanks in advance.

[terrell28]

OK. To those interested, I think that I just proved that my issues do NOT lie with the player. I just burned a disk with a JACKET_P from an original along with my VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS. It worked as it supposed too. So my "problems" are with the MP2's that I am creating. Can anyone out there help???

[Cornucopia]

The few times that I've needed/wanted to use them, I've done them in Spruce Maestro and it works great there. With Maestro, I just load up a JPEG or BMP or Photoshop PSD (I think those are the formats it directly supports), and it'll encode them itself. Those always seem to be compliant.

I think that to be totally compliant, these need to be MPEG Stills. There are differences in the structure of MPEG stills as opposed to MPEG video. This includes stream #, channel #, GOP type. I would guess that you could use VCDEasy's/MJPEGtools' MPEG Stills encoder to do the full size picture, but I don't think it would do the rest.
Just a theory... I wonder if Sony standardized the resolutions of the Jacket pictures (since they have been the strongest promoters of the feature-they probably are the originators) along the lines of the MPEG stills found in CD Extra/Enhanced CD/BlueBook?
IIRC, there are Thumbnail, Small/Med and Full size versions in both NTSC and PAL in that spec also, although they're named differently.
If this is true, one could use the old Astarte M.Pack 2.16 to encode these, cuz it did a great job with that task.

Anybody else?

HTH,
Scott

[terrell28]

There are differences in the structure of MPEG stills as opposed to MPEG video.

Thanks for ALL the info Scott. You've listed several things/ideas for me to try. So, back at it AGAIN. I'll post on my progress...

Thanks,

Terry

[terrell28]

For those who are interested...

The “good” news…I was FINALLY able to make “proper” MP2’s for JACKET_P use.

The “bad” news…Sony CX875P still can-NOT “remember” the picture for the “slot” that it belongs in.

Making the MP2’s…I tried using Maestro as Cornucopia suggested, but I’m not that familiar enough with it. But along with what he said about MPEG stills and a web page discussing DVDToolbox, I got different ideas of things to try.

Basically, I started out with a JPEG 720 X 540 (4:3) with 72 pixels per inch. Scaled it down to 720 X 480 and loaded it into TMPGEnc and scaled it there three times for the different sizes. Then I made a “blank” .mpa with notepad – just changed the extension. After that, I used IfoEdit to “author new DVD” with the mpa and the m2v files. Result was a vob that I just changed the name to J00___5L.MP2 (or its corresponding name). When I opened it with media player (ver. 9) and checked the properties, everything was exactly the same as those that come from a “pressed” disk. (I was ready to jump up and down and start giving high-5's)

Back to the bad news…it did NOT work in the DVD jukebox. I am still going to burn all of my future DVD’s with the JACKET_P’s though in hopes that someday if I end up with different players, they’ll work as they should. I might even call up Sony today and b#%ch at them a little.

I have never written a guide. Although I have checked this site out off and on for a couple of years, I just recently joined. However, if someone wants to give me some pointers on making screen-shots, and tell me what program they use to get them, I’ll be more than happy to make one for those interested. It’s the least I can do for all that this site and the people who belong to it have given to me.

[Cornucopia]

Here's a quick guide for doing Jacket picture for Maestro:

1. Make sure you have the latest version (2.9 build 2195b, IIRC) cuz not all versions support JP.
2. Open your Maestro project
3. Open the project's PROPERTIES dialog
4. Click on the Jacket Picture button
5. Fill in the browse/drop down boxes for Large, Med, and Small. You must use a BMP or uncompressed TIFF source for these to be accepted (contrary/adjusted to what I previously said).
* You could just use the LARGE, and let Maestro resize the rest for you.
**Maestro only does JP's in the system that the project is set up for (NTSC or PAL), not both simultaneously. You'll have to do 2 separate projects to get both.
6. Click OK
7. Compile the project. Maestro creates the JP's at compile time. If you want to use a different authoring app, you can once you've done the compile--Just copy the JACKET_P folder to your later discImage root folder.

HTH,
Scott

[terrell28]

Thanks to EVERYONE for thier help. I FINALY got the jacket_p's to work on my Sony 875. Even figured out how to get the text to show up automaticaly as well. I HAD to use Scenarist though. I was having trouble "learning" Maestro. Scenarist worked like a charm. The text info was a little tricky, but I got it to work. If anyone needs help with making JACKET_P's to work for a Sony DVD Jukebox, or the text info, let me know and I see if I can make a litle "how to". The original procedure at the top of this thread does NOT work. Which leads me to believe that the encodeing process or something is wrong. The pics would work on my other players, but not the Sony when using that method.

[BJ_M]

odd -- works fine for me - using the spruce or sonic hardware encoder .. but if there is a better method - im all for it ..

[Cornucopia]

Yeah, me too. I don't use Scenarist all that often, but I'm still interested in various methods. It could help troubleshoot other things further down the road.
Let us know when you have a guide/how-to

Scott

[terrell28]

To everyone who has been waiting on me...Sorry it has taken so long. I ended up with a virus and "dumb-ass" me deleted a couple of registry keys instead of the values. I was finally able to get enough back in working order, so here we go…

Jacket P’s:

Start with a jpeg that is 720 X 534 / 72 pixels per inch. Then resize it, creating 3 separate files, to 720 X 480, 176 X 112, and 96 X 64. When I create a name for my pics, it is usually the name of the movie followed by L, M, or S.

In Scenarist, create a “small” video just so that there is something to work with. Under the “Layout Editor” tab, you will see “Jacket”. After clicking on that, you can add your pictures that you created.

Afterward creating your scenario, test your MP2 files by playing them. When you are happy with the results, just cut or copy your JACKET_P folder to your burning project and go.

NOTE: I have never got it to make a working J00___5”M”.MP2, but I don’t worry about that because I don’t see a need for the medium sized picture.

NOTE: Sometimes it has trouble creating the J00___5”S”.MP2. I just play around with the picture-making the graphics larger-and keep trying until it does it.

NOTE: Scenarist might be able to make jacket p’s from one size file. I have not tried. But you can use completely different pictures.


TEXT INFO:

Copy the following and paste into Notepad;
________________________________________________

#DVD_TEXT_INFO
# THE_GREEN_MILE
# TextID = THE GREEN MILE

Lang = English
CHRS = ISO646

Volume
General_name = "THE GREEN MILE"
________________________________________________

The info that is between the parentheses is what will show up on the Sony 301 Disk Player. I’m not sure about the rest. I think “#TextID=” is what names the disk. I’m not sure.

Under the Layout Editor Tab in Scenarist, you will see “Text Data”. This is where you tell it to use your Notepad file.

After you build your Scenario, you then need to “merge” your new VIDEO_TS.IFO file with you VIDEO_TS.IFO file from your movie using IFOEdit. Make sure that you use “Get VTS Sectors” afterwards.


I think that puts it all in a “nutshell”. Sorry that I’m not able to give visualizations like screen shots. If anyone can expound on this with screenshots and perhaps clearer instructions, feel free. I think that this could be a guild that a lot of people would be interested in. I think that someone might already be working on this, so…we’ll see.

[Dennis1968]

have doen the pic to JAcket_p conversion many times, now what about reversing the process, JACKET_P.MP2 to a JPG.

Tried various versions of TMPGEnc Pro, no go, I have ectracted many JPGs from different MOG2 strams with no problem. any suggestrions?

[BJ_M]

rename it to *.mpg and load it into windvd and use the capture function if all else fails ... or load into v-dub mod and save out as images ..

or drop it into vegas and save it as as image seq (using script on sundance site) or the capture function on the preview window.

or play it and take a screen shot ..

[ImaWeTodd]

TEXT INFO:
.....

After you build your Scenario, you then need to “merge” your new VIDEO_TS.IFO file with you VIDEO_TS.IFO file from your movie using IFOEdit.

What do you mean "merge"?

Currently I HexEdit the TXTDT sector into my Video_ts.ifo, and use IFOEdit to get the sectors. This is kind of a pain because IFOEdit does not seem to like the sector offsets to be out of order. So you can't just really add the sector at the end and update some values.

It would be great if I could do this just using IFOEdit.

Thanks in advance

[terrell28]

ImaWeTodd,

This is what I do: I open the "new" VIDEO_TS.IFO file with IfoEdit. Under the "TOOLS" tab, click on "MERGE MENU TABLES". A window will open up so that you can choose the original file. Then get the VTS Sectors and save it as your NEW video_ts file. I haven't done it for a while do to a massive crash - just barely runnig now - trying to back everything up. But from "memory", that is how I have done it. Hope that this is a little more clear.

[ImaWeTodd]

I thought I'd post a link since this is a thread that discusses DVD-Text.

I finally made a guide on how I add DVD-Text to an already authored dvd, using free tools. Maestro/Scenarist not required.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=175537&highlight=

[weezie_2110]

NOTE: I have never got it to make a working J00___5”M”.MP2, but I don’t worry about that because I don’t see a need for the medium sized picture.

NOTE: Sometimes it has trouble creating the J00___5”S”.MP2. I just play around with the picture-making the graphics larger-and keep trying until it does it.

I was wondering if you got the "M" and "S" backwards? I have the CX860 and it uses the "M" size to display in the Disc Explorer. Is the 875P different?

I'm wondering because my 860 is being repaired(It won't read anything) and haven't been able to try them on it yet. I do have a 575P that displays the "L" picture and that works great.

I FINALY got the jacket_p's to work on my Sony 875.

From this it looks like everything works great. I'm just worried that I'm going to have problems with the JPs in Disc Explorer and that's the most important part of this to me.

Thank you for this GREAT infomation. I would have spent many days pulling my hair out, as it sounds like you did, trying to figure this out.

[Joe Justa]

1 . does the image load into tmpgenc ? tmpgenc takes targa, bitmap and jpeg images . try renaming the image as file.00000.xxx

2. make the image 1 gop in lenth (shouldnt have to but if you need to) , either repeat the image 15 times and name in order file.00000.xxx , file.00001.xxx , file.00002.xxx ........ file.00015.xxx

BJ_M, can you expand on this? How does one, in TMPGEnc, make an image 1 GOP in length? How does having 15 (or 18, NTSC) files come into play?

[BJ_M]

1 image repeated 15 times -- think of it that way instead

[Joe Justa]

Okay, but having the 15 images, how do you use them to create one MPEG2?

[BJ_M]

Okay, but having the 15 images, how do you use them to create one MPEG2?

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=484432#484432