Next and previous not working for playlist items

mrwatson wrote on 7/30/2010, 11:10 AM

I'm seeing an odd issue with a playlist on a DVD project. I have 18 separate videos on the DVD that are playable from menu pages. I have attempted to create a Play All playlist that has all of the videos in order. This works fine, both in the preview and the burned disk. The problem is that the next and previous buttons on the remote do not skip between items on the burned disk.

I originally created this project in DVD Architect Studio 4.5 and the next and previous buttons did work on the preview there, but not on the burned disk. I have since upgraded to DVD Architect Studio 5 and the buttons do not work on the preview now.

Is there an option somewhere I need to turn on to make this work? Thanks!

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 7/31/2010, 7:36 AM

First make sure none of your menu buttons are overlapping! That can confuse the system.

Then go to the upper left of the big Workspace panel and set the display to Navigation mode. As I say in my books, this will display the navigation from button to button on a menu page as a series of arrows -- the order in which your remote control will move through them.

If each has a link to another, your navigation should work.

bStro wrote on 7/31/2010, 7:37 AM

Use a Music /. Video Compilation instead or combine all your videos into a single file and insert chapter markers for each video.

The Next and Previous buttons on a DVD player remote are meant to skip between chapters within a single title (video object). When you add several individual video files to a DVDA project, each one is added as its own title, and using the Next and Previous buttons to move between them can have unpredictable behavior (since they're not chapters).

Putting the videos in a playlist doesn't solve this issue because, to the best of my knowledge, a playlist simply tells DVDA to insert an end action for each video to link to the next video in the playlist; but when you hit the Next button, the player skips any end action associated with that video. In some cases, the player will skip to video that is next physically on the DVD. In others, it returns to the menu. And still others, it does nothing at all. The behavior is dependent on the programming for that particular player, and there's nothing you or DVDA can really do to predict how each player will behave.

Combining your videos into one complete file or using the Music / Video Compilation feature guarantees that all 18 videos will be contained within a single title. The latter option will insert a chapter marker at each video. With this, or by giving DVDA one large video and inserting your own chapter markers, you can be sure that the Next and Previous buttons will behave properly on all players.

Rob

mrwatson wrote on 8/2/2010, 6:51 AM

Thanks Rob, that's exactly what I needed to know. It looks like I need to switch my setup around to be a video compilation instead since I already have everything rendered out.

-Mark