DVDA fails to delete assets

farss wrote on 2/19/2004, 4:54 AM
Moderately complex project that needs to be released in both PAL and NTSC. Startef off by creating PAL version and once client is happy render all AVIs to NTSC MPEG-2.

Make copy of PAL project and change properties to NTSC. Change all menu items to link to NTSC mpegs. Should be simple enough except for screwy bug in DVDA.

It still insists it needs one of the original PAL assets even though it appears nowhere in the project. Not only will it now create a set of files too big to fit onto a DVD it's also going to waste forever transcoding the PAL mpeg file into NTSC mpeg.

Optimise gives a list of the assets, why oh why is there not a provision there to delete the superfluos one(s), they don't even have to fix the damn bug just give us a way to get around it.

I believe this issue has been raised many times before in other guises but yet still no response, recognition or fix.

Comments

PeterWright wrote on 2/19/2004, 4:36 PM
Very frustrating ....

Bob, I am doing a similar thing - fortunately without a no-longer-used-asset, but I was wondering how you "changed all menu items to link to NTSC mpegs."

The only way I've managed so far is to substitute the original PAL clips with identically named NTSC clips in the same folder. It sounds like you've found a more conventional way.
farss wrote on 2/19/2004, 11:24 PM
Peter,
I had thought of doing it that way but found an easier way. Double click on the menu item to open timeline view and select different source file.

Problem I'm having seems to be related to the Scene Selection menu. When I change the main movie that part is fine but the scene selction still links to the PAL file. If I rename / move the PAL file it says media is offline. Then if I try to Prepare it then wants to transcode that PAL mpeg into NTSC which would take forever.

Bob Grant
PeterWright wrote on 2/19/2004, 11:58 PM
Yes - I just tried your way, and as you say, substituting the main Movie is easy, but the Scene Selection Menu is a different story.

I don't know whether it will get rid of your unwanted assets, but "fooling" DVDA by putting the NTSC clips where the PAL previously were does work through to the scene seleection menus - I have three and they all "instantly" changed to NTSC.

The steps were:
1. Replace the MPEG 2 clips in the folder in Windows Explorer
2. Open the PAL project - this will find and load the NTSC clips
3. Change Project Properties to NTSC and Save As.

Peter
farss wrote on 2/20/2004, 3:56 AM
Peter,
I haven't actually tried it yet but I'm certain if you've tried it and it works it'll work!

You have no idea how much work that is going to save me. Some of these DVDs have three programs and the scene selection menu runs to about 12 chapters except they all have yo be animated. I spend ages getting the right start point for each animation so having to delete and recreate the scene selection menu is a nightmare, particularly as these videos have many of the lements repeated all over the place.

Again a million thanks.
PeterWright wrote on 2/20/2004, 3:04 PM
Look forward to hearing how it goes, Bob - particularly whether the animated thumbnails need re-tweaking.
farss wrote on 2/20/2004, 6:32 PM
Might be a couple of days before i get back to the NTSC thing.

Apart from the original drama the other thing I found is the slightly lower vertical res of NTSC makes the 10pt text look a bit the worse for wear.

Next time I might end up shooting these videos and we'll do it at 25p, convert to 24p and then we'll only need one set of DVDs.
PeterWright wrote on 2/20/2004, 6:50 PM
Is that 10 pt on the video pic or in DVDA?

I've gone down to 14 pt, and it can get a little crowded .....