I can't recreate your issue, mostly because I make all my DVD menus using Photoshop. But I've never had an issue with deleting any button on my menus.

I can confirm in DVDA Pro 5.2 that if you create a project by dragging a video file to the main menu, create a scene menu, and then delete the main button on the main menu that you will delete the video from the project.

That is why I turn it into a Play button.

I suppose that you could make it very small and hide it if you really don't want it.

There may well be another way to create a project without the button, but I don't know how.

Thanks Fellows. Peter ,I tried your method and I could not make the main menu text small enough to not be seen. I will play around with it and try to hide it. Not sure I know where to hide it. Also I will try to add my chapter markers and names to my video in VMS and import that file into DVDArch and see if that will work. It appears as if Sony deleted the capability in V5 that it had in v2. Thanks again for your help, this forum continues to a great supply of info because of guys like you.

Will one of you post a DAR file for me to look at? I can't reproduce the problem described.

@billynmi

Try this procedure:

1. Create a new project, and drag your video to the main menu page.
2. In the Project Overview panel on the left, right-click on the video icon (green film frame) and insert scene sub menu.
3. Also in the Project Overview panel, drag the video icon from the main menu to the sub-menu icon (grey square with four dots therein).
4. View the submenu. Delete the first scene button and move the video icon, which has now appeared, to the place where the first scene button was.

QED

Thanks Peter for some reason , I could not get your method to work. When I deleted the scene button on the view window I was back at square one. However I was able to find an alternate method that did work as follows:
Build your video and insert markers for chapters in VMS

1. Insert this media or drag video to the main menu.
2.Right click on green film frame on left side and select insert Scene selection menu.
On the pop up box give the page title a name and select the links per page.
3. Now double click on the first Submenu(Grey square) and only the scene menu appears in the main menu.

I was able to figure this out after I watched Bill Myers Youtube video at :



Try this and see if get it to work. thanks again for your help.

I think I still do not understand what menu design you want.

When I created my project, I selected "menu based" not "single movie".

The tutorial you linked to starts with "single movie" and inserts a scene menu as the top (and only) menu. All your scenes are selectable from the top menu.

What is created with the suggestion in my last post is a top menu with a single button to select the scene menu. To play the movie from the start, you would need to select the scene menu and then click on the first button (which had been moved from the top menu). This is what I thought you wanted.

Peter , sorry that I was not more explicit but I did mention in my first post that I was trying to generate a single movie with scenes. This was what I usually do when I design a DVD for the weddings that I shoot. I will try your method again ; I may like it better than a single movie with scenes. Thanks again so much for your help.

What I mostly do is make a single movie with scenes. The difference from your preferred design is that the scene selection is on a sub-menu, and it has an uncluttered main menu.

When I first started making DVDs (using Pinnacle Studio) I use to have all my scenes on the main menu. Its background was a photo relevant to the content. It was sometimes difficult to read the scene button text with a busy background.

Then I started using Premiere Elements, and it annoyed me that I had to have a main menu and a scene submenu pair. Then I started to appreciate the uncluttered main menu.

Now with DVD Arch I have more freedom, but I normally stick to the simple main menu and detailed scene submenu principle.

I start off with a so-called Menu Based project. (The terms Menu Based and Single Movie are poorly chosen, because you can have a single movie with scene menu starting with either setting.)

I drag my single movie file to the main (and only at this stage) menu.

I turn the button so created into text-only and change it to say Play.

I right-click on the video icon in the overview panel to insert the scene submenu. A Scene Selection button (also text only, to automatically match the existing button) appears on the main menu.

I replace the main menu background with a still image. (I don't bother with moving backgrounds and audio.)

I position the buttons where they best suit the background and look pleasing.

I change the main menu title as appropriate.

I might make changes to the scene menu, but normally leave it as is.

Thanks again, Pete. I thought I had replied to your post earlier but it is not there. Anyway I tried your methods and it worked, I am beginning to like the text only button. In fact all of the DVDs that I have ever rented uses this method. Thanks for being so patient with me.

Billy