DVD Menu Highlight Advances

avaudiosolutions wrote on 4/21/2008, 8:34 PM
I was wanting to make my chapter highlight bar advance to the next chapter in the dvd menu, when it returns to the menu after playing the preceeding chapter.

ie. chapter 1 just played
end action (most recent menu)
Menu has chapter 2 highlighted so user can just press enter and it plays chapter 2

Does anyone know if I can do this?

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 4/21/2008, 9:40 PM
1. If each "chapter" is actually a separate MPEG file, then simply adjust the end action for the file so it goes back to the calling menu, with the appropriate button highlighted.

2. More than likely, however, you have a single MPEG file with chapters. In this case, the only way I know how to do it (and I do it pretty much every day) is to use a script (requires DVDA 3 or higher). Set the end action for the MPEG-2 file to point to this script. Then, in the script, return to the calling menu based on the current setting of the SPRM register that keeps track of the current chapter. You generally ALSO want to set the Remote Buttons Menu Destination to point to the script as well.

Here's a link to a simple DAR file (created in DVDA 4) that illustrates the principle. Just open in in DVDA, and tell it to ignore all the missing (media) files. Look at the photo compilations and you'll see that they point to the Photo Return Script.

Even if you haven't written a script before, the script should hopefully be relatively straightforward to understand.

Return Script Example

If you think about it, there really is no way around using the script, because you usually want to have the user return to the chapter that they are now viewing rather than the chapter that they initially selected (why would I want to go back to chapter two button if I have now viewed chapter three and four?).

Also, you can, if you wish, return them to the next chapter or any other chapter, you can do that using a script. It gives you complete control over navigation based on lots of things, including how many times something has happened; what menus they have already visited, etc.
bStro wrote on 4/22/2008, 5:01 PM
If you are indeed referring to separate files, the key is to change "Most Recent Menu" to the actual name of the menu to return to. Then you will be able to set a Destination Button (the button to be selected upon returning to that menu). With the option set to "Most Recent Menu," DVDA doesn't know what buttons are available -- so the Destination Button setting is disabled.

Rob