Thanks very, very much. Do you mean to render each avi to individual MPEG-2's or all to a single MPEG-2?

Sorry for the confusion. Your answer seems to imply making one file, whereas the reference you supplied deals with individual files.

Thanks again.

All my DVDs work the way you want yours to work.

1. I render to one MPEG-2 and one AC-3 file from Vegas. I put chapter stops (markers) in Vegas. When I render the MPEG-2 file, I make sure I check the include markers option in the Render As dialog.

2. I put the MPEG-2 file into DVDA 2.0 and DVDA finds the associated AC-3 file. I check the MPEG-2 file on the tmeline to make sure the chapter stops get imported.

3. I rename the MPEG-2 file on the main preview window (the center pane) to "Play All."

4. I right-click on the newly-named "Play All" button and select "Insert Scene Selection Menu." This creates a menu (or menus, if you have lots of chapter stops). It creates a button labeled "Scene Selection" (which you can, of course, rename).

I'll let you take it from there.

Thanks very much for that alternative approach.

johnmeyer,

I've not used markers in Vegas before. I'm looking at the manual and trying to understand their use.

When I drop my 6 avi's consecutively on the Vegas timeline to render one large file, do I put a marker *before* the first avi, to indicate that that is the start of the first "Chapter"? Or does the first marker go between the first and second avi?

Apart from checking "Include Markers" when I render, are you aware of any other precautions?

Thanks a million.

John's approach is fine, except by using chapter marks you don't have the option of returning to the main menu after selecting just a specific chapter to be played (which was one of your original requirements) - instead the movie simply starts at the specified chapter point and plays to the end of the movie, not the end of the chapter.

If you render each individual AVI is an individual MPEG (not one large mpeg) then you can implement the play all or the individual chapter approach - the only possible disadvantage here is that for the play all there may be a small break between chapter changes.

Another approach would be to render everything as a single large MPEG, drag it into DVDA 7 times (once for each of the 6 chapters - which would go on your chapter selection menu, and the 7th for the play-all on the main menu); set the in/out point on the first 6 to correspond with the particular chapter and have no in/out points on the play-all version. This should provide for a farily seamless playback in play-all - the drawback bring that your in/out points can be off by up to a second - if that's going to be a big problem then use the individual MPEG approach.

And yet another way to skin the cat - if your complete footage is fairly short, then render 6 individual movies and one single large movie. This only works though if you don't have a lot of material.

--Scott

Scott,

Small breaks between chapter changes is not a problem at all. Individual MPEGs in the fashion you originally suggested is clearly the best approach for this project.

Just to be crystal clear ... I want to return to the chapter selection submenu after playing an individual chapter, not the main menu, and then have the option of returning to the main menu to select "Play All" from there. Is that possible, or must "Play All" be an option on the "Chapter Selection" submenu.

Thanks very much for all your time and trouble.

I know I'm asking these questions poorly. Perhaps this will clarify.

When the DVD is inserted, I'd like to have 2 options:
"Play" - plays the whole project from beginning to end
"Chapter Selection" - goes to another menu (a "submenu"?)

After selecting "Chapter Selection", I'd like the viewer to see this menu:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Return to Main Menu

From the "Chapter Selection" submenu, choosing any chapter will play that chapter only and the return to the "Chapter Selection" submenu.

I believe I can accomplish this by following ScottW's suggestion to render to 6 individual MPEG's, understanding that there may be a small break between chapters when "Play All" is selected.

I apologize for my ignorance. I sincerely appreciate the help.

I didn't read closely enough. I didn't realize you only wanted to play individual chapters. If you have DVDA version 2.0, this is just as easy to do as what I described in my initial response.

You only need to render one MPEG and one AC-3 file, just as before. Follow the first part of my instructions to place this one file in the project and label it Play All.

Next, create a new menu. A quick way to do this is to use the scene selection menu feature, just like in my original instructions. Do this, not because you are going to create a scene selection menu, but because it creates a button, and link and a menu, all with one click. Since you don't have chapters, however, in this version of the instructions, you won't get any chapters.

Again, just to be clear, the only reason for inserting a scene selection menu is to quickly and easily create the menu and the link.

Double-click on this new menu. You will see one reference to the media you have already put in the project. Delete this reference.

The next steps are all identical, and very easy. Simply drag the exact same file into the same space, and label each instance Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. (or whatever you want to call them). Don't worry, DVDA is smart enough to only use the MPEG file once, so you won't end up with a DVD that is over the size limit.

For the Chapter 1 instance, all you have to do is set the in and out points, which you do on the timeline. Double click on this first reference to the MPEG file and then go to the timeline to set the in/out points (the little yellow markers, although you can also position the cursor and then click on Set In Point or Set Out Point, or you can press "I" for in point or "O" for out point). After you have done that, go to the right-hand window where you can set the end action for that instance. Since you want to go back to the chapter selection menu, select that as the link. If you created the menu using the scene selection shortcut, you will find this menu reference at the bottom of the End Action Destination list box and it will be called “Scene Selection.”

If, in another future project, you want Chapter 1 to continue to Chapter 2, you can choose this behavior instead for the end actions.

Do this for each other chapter.

Using this same approach, you can have one menu that plays each chapter and then returns to the chapter selection menu, and another menu that lets you select chapters, but has each chapter continue to the next chapters, and another menu ... etc. All you have to do is keep dragging the same darn MPEG-2 file (and it's associated AC-3 audio) back into the project window. It can be re-used as many times as you like (I'm sure there is a limit, but I doubt you'll hit it) without increasing the size of the media actually copied to the disk. DVDA simply creates navigation pointers to play the same media in different ways.

That's terrific.

Thanks very much for the time and trouble of explaining it so well.

johnmeyer,

This approach worked perfectly to do exactly what I want. I really appreciate your time.

The only thing I didn't do was to insert markers in Vegas. I couldn't quite figure out whether the first marker went before or after the first (of the six) avi's I dropped on the Vegas timeline when I rendered the one mpg file. I assume that if I had, I could have more easily placed in and out point in DVDA.

Thanks again.

And thanks, ScottW, for your help as well.

This is exactly what I'm trying to achieve as well, but I don't seem to be as successful in my execution of this task. But whenever I set the new in and out points per chapter link, that referenced clip's in and out points are also changed and not just for that instance of the clip. Does that make sense what I'm trying to say.

My confusion perhaps lies greatly in simply how things are defined in relation to what I should actually be seeing. My question is that when you mention to 'Delete the reference' to the media, is that to say by selecting in the timeline and clearing the media OR selecting the icon in the display window (center pane) then delete OR selecting the menu in the tree listing in the pane on the left then delete the #:Link OR the yellow folder icon or the purple icon (below the yellow folder).

Then it is mentioned to 'drag the exact same file into the same space', I guess I would have to assume this is in reference to the actual media (the green film icon in the tree pane). And I'm dragging this onto the display window over the newly created menu page, yes?

Sorry for my being retarded, I will continue to try.
Thank you again for posting this.