menu thumbnails?

ushere wrote on 4/20/2013, 2:11 AM
i have a project that needs pal / ntsc / blu-ray versions:

there's 6 chapters (markers in original files)

no problem creating simple themed menu, BUT i'd like to save / keep same menu thumbnails across all versions.

is this possible?

Comments

videoITguy wrote on 4/20/2013, 11:09 AM
Not sure what your dilemna is?? Unfamiliar with PAL creation, but the answer is yes you can create a HD blu-ray project and burn, then change the properties to a widescreen SD project and burn. This technique can produce compromises in your on-screen menu and video qualities. Your mileage will vary and you be the judge where the compromise doesn't meet your needs.

There is only one feature compromise that will not work well at all in the resetting of properties from Blu-ray to SD - and that be display of subtitles from the subtitle tracks. If you need the solution for that,let me know.
ushere wrote on 4/21/2013, 8:43 PM
i understand all that....

what i'm after is simply saving video thumbnails to use in the various formats menus?
videoITguy wrote on 4/21/2013, 10:08 PM
I believe I just explained how you keep assets and menus from one format to another, by just changing the overriding property value of the project in DVDAPro.

If your intention is to save a menu thumbnail as some hard-coded asset that you can traverse from one project to another - I don't think you can do that.

When you look at theme builds and saves as part of the DVDAPro process...you will note that as structure it is an .xml encoded file and ,it does save you an outline of your project's build, but does not embed or hardcode anything to avoid rebuilding specifics for details that are needed to finalize a project.
ushere wrote on 4/22/2013, 7:01 PM
sorry if i appear dense (my wife compares me to a lump of hardwood occassionally), but:

by just changing the overriding property value of the project in DVDAPro.

but i also have to change the media, ie, swap out pal for ntsc, at which point i'd lose menu thumbnails wouldn't i?
videoITguy wrote on 4/22/2013, 8:21 PM
Sort of. For kicks, try this. Assumption - you import one video asset of 5minutes duration for NTSC into a project started as NTSC type with it's menu thumbnail created from a frame at 30 second running mark.

Now in the project directory, rename your NTSC video asset to "old" while you rename (within the side by side location of ) the comparable PAL asset to what title the NTSC asset was previously named. Then open the project, and before doing anything else set the project to PAL, save that as newly named Pal project and test.

DO NOT use "prepare" for burn at any time during the process interval described above as you do not want DVDAPro to stumble over the prepare area of temp files and target area of the harddrive... that must be always redrawn as a fresh new empty location to make prepare work properly.
Chienworks wrote on 4/22/2013, 10:20 PM
Well, each new version has to be prepared before it can be burned. There's no way around that. However, if you also rename the previous prepare folder to something else, or easier yet choose a new prepare folder for the new version, then you'll end up with separate prepares for each version, which seems to be what you'd want and need anyway.
Arthur.S wrote on 4/23/2013, 10:49 AM
I've done this many times. As long as you don't MOVE/DELETE the original file you took the thumbnails from, DVDA will just reference that for the thumbnails.
ushere wrote on 4/23/2013, 7:03 PM
just to prove how dense i can be....

it would appear you're saying that i let dvda render to the various formats required (pal/ntsc/bray) from a single 'master' file rather than my present workflow of rendering within vegas the necessary files for each format?
videoITguy wrote on 4/23/2013, 7:37 PM
wooaaaa....We have only been discussing prep in DVDApro for template purposes...

Everything else remains the standards in prep of the appropriate video and audio streams for import into the DVDAPro project.
Arthur.S wrote on 4/24/2013, 1:11 PM
So, you've rendered your 2 versions (NTSC & PAL?) in Vegas. Now, use say the NTSC file for the NTSC version. (and for creating the thumbnails). Now replace the NTSC file with the PAL file. Change properties to PAL. Job done.