Thank you very much, you're a lifesaver! Will do..

ken

So far it's working on most DVDs, a couple of problems though:

When trying to link from one clip to another, occasionally it won't connect them.. and it goes back to the submenu start.. any ideas on why this is?

There's often duplicate names, not sure which to pick, in the drop down menu as to which clip to select.. trying both of them, still not getting a connection to play the next clip.. I've renamed the clips, they still don't connect.

eg I can get the first 4 of 12 clips to link correctly, but the clip 4 to clip 5 link doesn't work..

I've tried starting over, different times but still it 'doesn't like' some clips, for linking together... double checked menu..

also, on occasion it won't get the sound right from a clip, making it mute, though if I close DVDA2 and reboot, it will recover ok, any ideas?

thx much,

ken

Sorry, I should have been more specific about renaming things. When you are working with multiple menus and multiple copies of clips, always rename them.

In your tree window on the left hand side, when you drag the clip onto the sub menu, you'll see it appear in the tree. Right click on the tree item, select rename and give it a name prefixed with "Play All" (or whatever). Then you'll know from your drop down link which link you want.

Getting the links right should fix your problem with going back to the submenu start. If you accidentally linked a submenu play all clip to a clip on the main menu this is exactly what you'll see, since the default action of the clip on the main menu is probably to return to the most recent menu.

--Scott

Thanks, that did it! I owe you one... let me know if I can repay the favor. I was able to get all my DVDs correctly set up with "Play All" buttons for the first time ever... much thanks! I'll have that in all my DVDs from now on..

ken

Darn,

I figured out how to do this myself over the weekend and was checking posts to see if it had been done before. I used another menu (not a sub menu) and then never mad an active page for it. Got a warning message when preparing the DVD but nothing was impacted.

hey scottW...I'm in hell here trying to get a project to the duplicators....I'm new to this forum and was pleased to get to your posts via a random dvda2 google.i hope you can help. I've got a tutorial DVD with Main menu, 5 submenus with4-7 clips each and an additioal menu for audio loops w/accompanying short vid clips. I've taken great care to write my m-peg2s at as high a bit rate as possible given 1 hour 50minutes of video in 20 clips. Everything is fine except for the play all debacle. The manual suggests as a tip to use a music compilation with video clips........but doing so doubles the media on the disc, hence blowing my burn. I've tried to add a submenu, add clips all 20, text only, delete the text, rename in the tree, but as soon as you delete the text, so goes the media in the tree. It cannot be that difficult to tell a menu to ,upon pushing a play all button , play chapter 1, 2 ,3,4, etc to 20 without doubling the media on the cd. I have friends with macs who can author this way routinely. wh,at gives?
I'm hoping ,kind sir, that I can get a little mor detail about your apparent workaround.


Hope u receive this soon 1 AM mon L.A. time

How are you deleting the text? You should select the text box, hit F2 (to edit the text) and then hit delete. If you are selecting the text box and then hitting delete, that will delete the media.

Keep in mind that different authoring programs do things differently so you can't really compare how people author with whatever they use on a mac with DVDA. For example, if I was using DVD Lab Pro to do this, the work flow would be much different (and wouldn't involve silly little tricks like creating menus with hidden media links).

What you're having to do is work within the limitations of the authoring program, and with the possible exception of scenarist, every authoring program has some limitations.

OK, So on my main menu, I right click and add submenu...then you say drag all the clips on the submenu...from an open folder, from the tree, by right clickingand adding media????? All of these take my disc usage from just under 4g to over 10 gigs.....do the files amounts come off as you link them or???????........Also about renaming...do I add the renamed files to the play all menu or the original file names? What about in the properties window? Is my first of 20 chapters the original file name or the rename?How about the Links? Links to renamed files or orig files.? This is extremely confusing!!

Yo, scott....i think I got it...whew thanks a million.......I'll post again later if problems...Thanx again...SteveG

Hey Scott.......got one more question. Is it possible to make the top chapter item on a menu be highlighted instesd of the bottom or "bact to main menu" button? Seems like everytime I go to new submenu, the bottom most button is highlighted....I've scoured the manual but cannot seem to find any reference to this.Thanx...........SteveG

If I'm understanding... In the tree view, select the object and move it to the top position in the tree

For example, you might have something like:

Menu 2
-- Link Menu 1
-- Link Chapter 1
-- Link Chapter 2

So grab "Link Menu 1" and pull it down on top of "Link Chapter 2" and it will move under so you have:

Menu 2
-- Link Chpter 1
-- Link Chapter 2
-- Link Menu 1

Scott...the clips are in the right order on the tree..........my buttons on the sub-menus are text...so its, top to bottom menu item 1, item2, item3, item4, then
lastly, at the very bottom the arrow icon which I have replaced with "back to main" text. When I access any of the submenus from the main menu, instead of the rectangular transparent highlight mask sitting over the top menu item, its on the the bottom one,"back to main" so the user must always toggle with up arrow to the first item on the top of the menu........I'd like it to be on the first (top) menu text if possible...is that any clearer?

Scottmeister....once again, you da man. Sometimes I gotta stop thinking, and just do it. Muchas gracias...I'm sure we'll speak again during less desparate
deadline conditions. ..........Thanx agin, SteveG

Steve,
Another easy way to do this is to right-click and copy the arrow icon (back to main), press delete, and press ctrl+V. That will make Item1 the first menu to be highlighted.

i have done everything you said to do to make a play all button, but i get an infinite loop. when i tell the end action on the last clip to goto main menu it just goes to the first clip and loops for ever and ever.

my main menu has two sub menus. each sub menu has to clips.

i want to make a play all button on the main menu and play both on both submenus.

you can email me at djtimothyscott@comcast.net

i have no more hair on my head. i ripped it out.

All can be made so simply
http://kanst.mediatory.ru/pics/playlist.jpg
If streams of CLIP n & CLIP n (copy) are equal, every will really recorded not twice, but only once!