DVD like Format (with menu) for Flash Drive

CantKeepUp wrote on 9/22/2014, 5:17 AM
I’ve been out of the business for years now and I am hoping while I was gone someone came up with simple solutions to all the problems that use to plague me. Like this.

I have about 11 hours of video (comprised of several segments of training videos) that client would like to have all on 1 DVD with a menu.

They don’t want a Box-Set of DVDs and obviously 11 hours isn’t going to fit on 1 single DVD disc but is the DVD format limited to discs? (my apologizes for not testing this theory on my own before asking the question but I have yet to install my Vegas on my new computer)

What I mean, is can’t I author an 11 hour DVD in Architect then write it to a folder on my harddrive and from there transfer it (~10 gig file) to a flash drive (which are now pretty cheap) for distribution?

My client’s audience will be people watching from computers, not TVs so I would think this would work?

If for some reason there is a limit built into the DVD software/spec, what other options are there right now? Again, its for computer distribution. There are like 8 training videos so ideally, I produce a USB flash drive that client pops into their computer, a menu (like a DVD style menu) pops up and from there they can select which segment to watch. Since I don’t think auto-run is supported in any longer by Windows – having the client open up the contents of flash drive and clicking on 1 file to get things going would be an acceptable solution.

It’s 2014… please tell me there is a handy little app that can accomplish this.
Thanks!

Comments

NickHope wrote on 9/22/2014, 5:37 AM
I'm not sure about hacking the DVD size limit. I wouldn't be surprised if someone has done it. In the meantime you can check out TMPGenc PGMX which is one attempt to do what you're asking for.
musicvid10 wrote on 9/22/2014, 5:37 AM

You could prepare individual DVD folders but there will be several for 11 hours of material.
Flash video can have menus but most people wouldn't know how to play it. Vegas does not author Flash format.
John_Cline wrote on 9/22/2014, 6:48 AM
You could author a dual-layer disc in DVD Architect which will get you to around 9 gig and then copy that image to a flash drive, but it still wouldn't really work. People would have to have DVD player software installed on their computer and not everyone does. Depending on their DVD player software, there would also be no standardized way to launch the software and have it recognize the DVD structure on the flash drive. The free VLC Media Player software will play a DVD file structure contained inside an .ISO file but most flash drives are formatted FAT-32 and there is a 4 gig limit on file size, the drives would need to be formatted using exFAT, which gets around the 4 gig file size limit. There's still the issue of how to launch it easily.

What your client wants is unreasonable and basically impossible, as you already know, you can fit 11 hours of video on a DVD but even on a dual layer disc, it would be encoded at such a low bit rate that it would be unwatchable.

The box set of DVDs would be the most compatible way to do this, but like I said, not everyone has DVD player software on their computers but they probably do have a DVD player hooked up to a television. The TMPGenc PGMX route is as close as you're going to get, but it will require that the user installs a piece of software and it only supports Win 7 & 8, no WinXP or MAC support.

It's all pointing back to that box set of DVDs. The client doesn't always get exactly what they want.
craftech wrote on 9/22/2014, 7:17 AM
What about uploading them to a cloud based solution like Sorenson 360 and provide the customer with the link?

John

dxdy wrote on 9/22/2014, 7:51 AM
Not sure what you mean by box set - there are clamshells that will hold 3 or 4 DVDs. supermediastore.com is one source.
Former user wrote on 9/22/2014, 7:55 AM
Could you create a web Flash Page or other HTML that would run like a webpage off the flash drive?

Or old school powerpoint.
Prezi
and the old Macromedia Presentation software
deusx wrote on 9/22/2014, 8:20 AM
Flash can do almost anything you want it to do. Creating DVD like menus is kindergarten level stuff in flash. You can also export the whole thing as an .exe file so people can view it without a browser ( in your case that would be the best option ).

Obviously you need to know how to use flash and have some very basic coding knowledge.

You could also easily get around that 4GB limit. Separate video files under 4GB each and the main Flash app just loads them as needed.

Adobe should really push to get flash back onto tablets and phones again ( not just via air ), because HTML 5 and other alternatives are just garbage. You can't do 1/2 of the stuff you can do in flash and whatever you can do takes 5 times longer to do. Flash is still the best solution by far, for all this stuff.
dlion wrote on 9/22/2014, 8:27 AM
i'd set it up to run from a thumb drive. 64gb at b&h is ~ $20. (check the total size of all the videos.)

i'd use dreamweaver to create a web page menu with links to the videos. each video embedded on its own page with a return to main menu button.
johnmeyer wrote on 9/22/2014, 10:16 AM
What I mean, is can’t I author an 11 hour DVD in Architect then write it to a folder on my harddrive and from there transfer it (~10 gig file) to a flash drive (which are now pretty cheap) for distribution?Sure. Just do it!

DVD Architect will give you an error message if you create a DVD that goes over the DVD5 or DVD9 specified limits (i.e., single- and dual-layer). However, it will go ahead and actually do the prepare. I know this, because I do it all the time.

So, just put all your media into DVD Architect and prepare the DVD. Then, take the big VIDEO_TS folder and put it on a thumb drive. Pretty much any computer media player that can play a DVD with menus will be able to play the media on the thumb drive. That is really the only requirement for your clients: they must have a software DVD player.
Grazie wrote on 9/22/2014, 11:00 AM
Is there a point to make something more of a thing, than just a plain USB drive? Do you guys have ideas to make more of the actual LOOK of that anonymous, cheapie looking device? I've seen a light pulsing from these drives. Could these be utilise to flash my or the client's name/logo?

Grazie

johnmeyer wrote on 9/22/2014, 12:57 PM
I spent 30 seconds dropping multiple MPEG-2 files into DVD Architect until I had almost 20 GB of MPEG-2 (and audio) in the project. I then burned it. Took awhile, but it finished. I then dropped the VIDEO_TS folder onto VLC Media Player, which plays DVDs. Up came the DVD menu, and all the video played just fine.

So, don't over-think this: just do it. It will work just fine without needing to use any additional software or do anything special. AFIK, you can make a DVD as big as you want, and it will play just fine when transferred to a thumb drive and then played on a software DVD player.
fosko wrote on 9/22/2014, 1:21 PM
Umm.. I know I'm pretty basic here...but I would just upload it to YouTube in a play list. They can chose when training they want and can play it on their phone, tab, and on the go. But, now that I think about it .. this assumes they have an internet connection.
John_Cline wrote on 9/22/2014, 3:16 PM
Every solution mentioned here requires the end user to have a little more than a basic level of technical expertise, but pretty much everyone knows how to play a DVD.

Adobe Encore can produce a Flash version of any project that can be uploaded to a web site or put on a flash drive and it will navigate and play just like the DVD. Of course, not every computer and many mobile devices can not play Flash.
http://helpx.adobe.com/encore/using/exporting-projects-flash-format.html
musicvid10 wrote on 9/22/2014, 4:00 PM
"

Pretty much everyone knows how to pop a disc in a dvd player.
I would venture that practically no one knows how to play a DVD folder or .iso.
They can right-click or open from within the player, either of which requires a second-tier skill set. I don't know of an Autoplay shortcut one could place in the thumb drive, but maybe one exists.
videoITguy wrote on 9/22/2014, 4:10 PM
There are indeed many Flash authoring tools that do a good job of creating navigation and review of photo and video.
Duncan H wrote on 9/22/2014, 4:45 PM
I believe something like Digital Workshop's Opus Pro can do exactly what you want, but at US$600 you need to really want it. Used to have it years ago, when I needed it for some menu based projects I was developing. Haven't used it for many years, but there's a variety of these types of programs out there. Mr Google can help.

http://www.digitalworkshop.com/products/opus-pro.shtml
Grazie wrote on 9/22/2014, 5:02 PM
Opus Pro. Brilliant! Used prior to VideoFactory.

Grazie
Duncan H wrote on 9/22/2014, 6:25 PM
Yeah, I remember it as being very intuitive and capable.

One big potential issue (from memory) for these types of authoring packages is that they end up making a .exe file and (again, my personal experience) is if the intended recipients work in corporate or government environments, it is quite probable that they will 1). be very reticent to open an .exe file extension on a USB drive and / or 2). The corporate antivirus software will preclude them opening / using the file. Of course you can generally include an autorun .ini file, but I'm not sure that will help over come 1 & 2 above.

Just a further thought.
johnmeyer wrote on 9/22/2014, 7:04 PM
Every solution mentioned here requires the end user to have a little more than a basic level of technical expertise, but pretty much everyone knows how to play a DVD.The OP specifically asked for a solution that would let him use standard DVD menus. My solution does that.

In addition, there is absolutely no special technical expertise needed to play the "DVD" from a thumb drive. In PowerDVD you click on the "Open" button and one of the options is to "Open Movie File on hard disk drive." You click on this option and then simply click on the VIDEO_TS folder.

Yes, it is not as easy as what you get with an actual DVD disc, but many people's computers do not have DVD Autoplay enabled, so they have to do exactly what I just described in order to play a regular DVD disc.

My solution does exactly what the OP asked for, and it requires no special software to create the "DVD" on a flash drive, and no special software to play it. This is particularly important in light of the recent discussion about delivering HD video on a thumb drive. In that discussion, we all agreed that there is not standard format for HD deliver that will guarantee that all equipment will play the result. By contrast, this approach creates totally standard DVD video that will play on anything that can play MPEG-2 video, which is pretty much every device you can think of.

musicvid10 wrote on 9/22/2014, 7:52 PM
I agree that is the solution most consistent with the OP's needs.
And I truly did not know one could make a playable 11-hour dvd!
Makes me motivated to play with some autoplay infs or exes to see if it could become as easy as plugging in the thumb drive, perhaps with the system or an embedded player?
johnmeyer wrote on 9/22/2014, 10:13 PM
Makes me motivated to play with some autoplay infs or exes to see if it could become as easy as plugging in the thumb drive, perhaps with the system or an embedded player?I think we covered that a month or two ago when discussing distributing HD video on a thumb drive. Someone wanted to have the video play as soon as the memory stick was plugged in. The problem is that most Windows installations have explicitly turned off any sort of autoplay from thumb drives in order to reduce the likelihood of infection from some EXE-based virus.
John_Cline wrote on 9/22/2014, 11:17 PM
"In addition, there is absolutely no special technical expertise needed to play the "DVD" from a thumb drive."

Apparently you overestimate the technical ability of a large portion of the computer using population.

In PowerDVD you click on the "Open" button and one of the options is to "Open Movie File on hard disk drive." You click on this option and then simply click on the VIDEO_TS folder.

Sure, if they actually have PowerDVD.

"My solution does exactly what the OP asked for, and it requires no special software to create the "DVD" on a flash drive, and no special software to play it."

All DVD player software in Windows is third-party. No Windows operating system has ever come standard with DVD player software, Windows Media Player has no idea what to do with a VIDEO_TS folder.

The easiest, cheapest and most universal way to distribute eleven hours of video is on about four DVDs, if they have DVD player software on their computer, fine, if not, they can always just put it in a standard DVD player. I would hate to have to provide technical support after delivering a project on a thumb drive.
johnmeyer wrote on 9/23/2014, 1:07 AM
Wow, I give up. Everyone is trying to make this so complicated.

Go back and re-read the original post:

"I have about 11 hours of video (comprised of several segments of training videos) that "

He has ONE client, and "they don't want a Box-Set of DVDs." So, with only a single client it will not be difficult to make sure the client has WinDVD, PowerDVD, VLC (free), or some other software to play the DVD. With only one client, it will not be hard to train them how to "open" the video.
ushere wrote on 9/23/2014, 1:32 AM
went through all this in a previous post

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=4&MessageID=898858

simple, and the client's had NO problems with it.....

no reason it couldn't be used on an 11hr project either.