DVDA Advanced menus

Robbie wrote on 1/30/2021, 6:16 AM

A Long time ago in a DVD Authoring program now far, far away I used to be able to do this.

I’m currently compiling a project to be delivered in both DVD and Blu Ray. Briefly … in the scene selection menus what I’m hoping to achieve is on the left half of the screen including a list of text links to scenes and on the right side a single image relating to the scene currently highlighted on the left side. The image would change as you scroll up and down the scene list on the left side. Hope that makes sense.

After much experimenting I haven't found a way to do this in DVDA. Can this be achieved in DVDA? I note that scripting is not available for Blu Ray.

TIA and Cheers, Robbie

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Dennis-H wrote on 6/6/2021, 11:52 PM

Hi EricNZ - no I didn't get any warning about compliant files. How do I know if files are BR compliant? Is it an issue of matching the movie dimensions, frame rate and audio - or more complicated than that? Can you recommend an encoder that can easily make each file compliant before I put them into DVDA? Some of the videos were done 1280X720, others are 1920X1080. All are 60 frames per second and regular stereo audio. I'm doing this bluray in 1920 X 1080, 24 fps and AC3 audio.

Thanks for your help/advice,

Dennis

Dennis-H wrote on 6/7/2021, 12:03 AM

Rethinking about DVDA - yes there is a screen that says it's compressing the files (and it lists them all). I didn't know that was a warning though - thought it was business as usual for DVDA to do that. Do you know where I can find the specs I need to follow for making videos for Bluray?

Thanks again

EricLNZ wrote on 6/7/2021, 3:49 AM

From Wikipedia

Plus the video needs to be MPEG-2 or MPEG-4/AVC/H264 and Audio LPCM or Dolby AC3. Plus there are maximum bitrates.

Most video editors provide export templates for disc creation. If you export your 1280x720 and 1920x1080 both at 24 fps you should be okay according to the chart. Your 1280x720 will go on the disk as it is and the player or TV will upscale to 1920x 1080 if that is what the TV screen resolution is. As for video bitrate I wouldn't go above 20 mbps for a burnt disc. Note, mp4 file format is not compliant so would get recompressed by DVDA. Which video editor are you using?

If you search this forum you will find other threads on producing compliant files by other users more experienced and knowledgeable than me.

Former user wrote on 6/7/2021, 7:25 AM

I am glad the video helped. My computer is a Core 2 dual. I don't do video for money anymore so I can't really justify updating it. I have more time than money. If you have any other questions, just let me know.

Dennis-H wrote on 6/7/2021, 1:27 PM

EricLNZ - thanks for that info. I have been creating video in MP4 - so that's one of my issues. I am using a program called Filmora for video editing. I've had it for years and I know it well. I have come up with limitations in it though, so I might switch. Just dread the learning curve...

Dennis-H wrote on 6/7/2021, 1:30 PM

I have another question if anyone knows the answer. I got some BDRE discs so I could erase videos and reuse the disc. My computer recognizes the disc, but in DVDA, it tells me to insert a disc I can write to when I try to burn to the RE disc. I searched that error and others have reported it - with the solution being to burn the disc using a different program. Anyone know how to get DVDA to use an erasable Bluray disc?

Dennis-H wrote on 6/7/2021, 1:38 PM

DougT: I redid the video I've been working on and those highlights work great. The video is being processed by DVDA as of late last night.

My computer has a dual core Intel CPU also. It works pretty well for the software I use (except processing video in DVDA). I put an SSD drive in a few years ago - WOW what an improvement that made. If you're still using spinning discs, you might see a really nice improvement by switching to SSD.

I can help you switch to SSD if interested in doing that. You would need to have an existing SATA interface on your hard drive. If not sure, send me a pic of the wiring connections to the hard drive and I can tell you if it's SATA or not.

How do you record your screen for the videos you make here?

Former user wrote on 6/7/2021, 2:15 PM

@Dennis-H I am glad things are working for you. I do not burn my disk BD or DVDs with DVDA. I use a free program called IMGBURN. I create an ISO or Folder with DVDA and then use IMGBURN to create the disk. I have more consistent results. For screen capture I use an old version of Camtasia. I have tried using programs like OBS, but my computer does not run them well. Camtasia is old enough to run okay on an older computer. I have not tried any SSD tech yet. I might look into. I really just need to break down and buy a better computer. I just have gotten tighter on my money recently.

Dennis-H wrote on 6/7/2021, 2:52 PM

DougT - What size hard drive are you using? My computer used to take 3 to 4 minutes to boot up with a spinning drive. Now, it takes 30 seconds. Almost everything is much faster just from changing the drive to SSD.

I haven't had any issues burning bluray discs with DVDA other than DVDA doesn't seem to like the erasable bluray discs. I want to use the erasable ones though so I don't waste discs when I spot someth8ing I want to change - so I will give IMGBURN a try.

Camtasia... that must be a screen capture program. I have one that was a freebie when I got some Corel video software. It's called "Live Screen Capture" - but the capture quality isn't as good as what I see on the screen.