Limitation of number of buttons in a DVD project

Christian de Godzinsky wrote on 1/8/2014, 12:07 PM

Hi,

I just prepared a Bluray project and want to also prepare a widescreen DVD of the same. No problem, I know how to handle this. However I get the following error message (and cannot proceed) when preparing the DVD:

Menus in a DVD widescreen project can have a maximum of 18 buttons, and menus in a DVD full-screen project can have a maximum of 36 buttons. Menus in a Blu-ray Disc project can have a maximum of 255 buttons.

I have a nicely designed single menu page with 20 buttons. Bluray prepares fine - but widescreen DVD is NOT !!! I would undestand if the limitation would be the opposite, 18 buttons in 4:3 and 36 in 16:9.

Does anyone know - is this a DVDA software limitation or a limitation of the actual DVD standard? Can I have more than 18 buttons in a DVD widescreen project if I use some other software?

This is ridiculous !

Christian

Comments

Former user wrote on 1/8/2014, 2:40 PM

This is a DVD spec, not just DVDA.

videoITguy wrote on 1/8/2014, 7:37 PM

The DVD spec limitations were placed in existence by the original standards document. Only the Blu-ray spec sought for the first time to revise this limit. See the Architect help file as it is explained for the lay person - but the DVD spec to be read is pretty difficult. DVDAPro by SCS works correctly.

Christian de Godzinsky wrote on 1/12/2014, 5:23 PM

Thanks for your posts. Good to know that this is a standard limitation and DVDA works as intended.

However, it is hard for me to understand who on earth invented or determined that a DVD widescreen project can have a maximum of only 18 buttons, but menus in a DVD full-screen project can have a maximum of 36 buttons. Makes NO sense.

Christian

Chienworks wrote on 1/12/2014, 5:41 PM

This is definitely a case where i'd love to be able to override the spec.

I've done a slew of community event videos in 16:9 over the past 2 years and they've all seemed to end up needing about 17 to 19 chapters. Ugh!!!! So annoying to have to create a 2nd menu page when all the buttons could easily fit on a single page.

videoITguy wrote on 1/12/2014, 6:05 PM

The limitation is mathematical, not an arbitrary value. The designers of this system set-up a numerical matrix to be a container of button links, menus, menu levels, and menu pages per disk title. The one limitation that DVDAPro imposes that is actually inherited from spec is a single disk title auto created. The full spec of DVD allows multiple titles and hence you can get more bang for the bit buck when cramming a disc full. Commercial dvd authoring allows this process and that is why you can see more potential in them than you can realize out of a burning software authoring system like DVDAPro.

The best independent authorware for true multi-title DVD is DVDLabPro by MediaChance which is no longer in development.