Bad Menu Text & Image Quality - Some Clues

ArysChien wrote on 3/11/2003, 3:38 PM
I found this problem like somebody has said earlier, about the TV screen "only retaining one of the fields from the menu frame, and duplicating it on every second line". That means only 1/2 resolution horizontally, thus bad text & background image quality. The underlines simply disappear.

I've experimented and found that, the text & image quality only turns bad AFTER THE TIME OF THE MENU LENGTH. I found that because I created a 30-second menu, and the text & image quality turned bad from the 31th seconds entering the menu screen. I then set different menu at different menu length, and it's still true. Bad text & image quality after the menu length, looped or not.

I then rendered the still image into a 5-second mpeg2 file with VV4, and then used this mpeg2 file as the menu's background, looped. The text & image quality was good during the looping, but it'd still turn bad between the loops, resulting in "5-second good - 1-second bad - 5-second good - 1-second bad...", which is still not acceptable.

This is the furtherst I could go tonight, along with 12 wasted test-burned DVDs and 3 hours of experimenting. I hope someone can find a clue here and lead us out of this bitter sea of beta-testing a released product.

If not, please be so kind as to give me some advice, to replace DVD Architect. I didn't have any problem creating still menu with Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE. The text and image quality is very good, no problem at all, like any other commercial DVD played on the very same player. Too bad it can't do what DVDA can, and vice versa.

Comments

SonySDB wrote on 3/11/2003, 3:51 PM
This issue will be addressed in the update of DVD-A.
ArysChien wrote on 3/11/2003, 10:14 PM
May I know when we'll have the update? If the update is not coming out within a month then I'd have to do something than wait.

p.s.: sorry for the bad tone in the previous post. staying up all night & wasting 12 DVD-R discs and no solution....... :(
scsinuts wrote on 3/12/2003, 12:31 AM
arys,

We thank you for your experimentation and when you share it here it keeps all of us from the same pitfalls.
I know how it feels to stay up all night "experimenting." I've done it too many times. As much UNOFFICIAL beta testing as I've done for DVD authoring packages, why has it cost ME so much money? Hmmmmmm.....somebody cut me a check....... or a free version updgrade or two might do the trick....

David Yopp
www.afteraction.com
ArysChien wrote on 3/12/2003, 12:54 AM
Well, I just couldn't stop it. More experimenting this morning. And one more clue.

When I pause the playback of a DVD clip, the screen "jumps up one line", resulting in the same bad menu text & image quality we're suffering from here. It happens on every DVD, self-burned or commercial. Therefore I believe that Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE must have treated menu pages differently from DVD Architect. The image quality of menu created by DVDA turns bad might be that, DVDA still treats the menu like a video clip, and pauses it after the menu length. That why the image goes blocky after the menu length, like the screen "jumps up one line" when paused.

Yet it pains me to see that the hundred-dollar DVDA can't do what the free (bundled with the IEEE1394 card) Ulead DVD MF2 "SE" can......
teknal wrote on 3/12/2003, 1:36 AM
I'm waiting for this update myself and using Ulead DVD MF1 in the mean time. The update may be available soon. Check out this thread:

DVDA testing

I could swear I read in another thread that the update might be available this week.
ArysChien wrote on 3/12/2003, 3:16 AM
Update within a week? Thank you! That's a great news.

I guess I'll just go editing the raw material with VV4 first.
ArysChien wrote on 3/15/2003, 3:37 AM
I'm happy to report that the update beta has fixed the problem.