OT: DVD2. Play all, chapter end actions, and In/Out points

J_Mac wrote on 11/16/2004, 1:56 PM
Posted in Dvd Forum, but it is a little slower over there.

I'm confused on the right approach. My project is;

1. Main Menu page with 1 button, linked to 2nd menu page.
2. 2nd menu page, has 4 buttons.
Button A. plays the entire 1 hour video, and links back to the 2nd menu page, with the 4 buttons.
Button B, does the same thing with a different video.
Button C, links to a 3rd menu, Scene Selection Menu, with 28 chapter buttons on it.
The chapter buttons work fine, but each scene played to the end of the entire video, and would not link back to the menu page after playing that chapter. I set the In/ Out points for the first button, and all the other buttons became broken, and linked to the In/Out points for the first chapter.

Button D, Same function as C, but video in B

Must I render each chapter separately? I'm at 4.5 gig and can't add more media. I've tried to set In/Out points for each chapter, but then it breaks the first link. Can you have only one set of In/Out points per video?
The chapters end marker and the next chapters beginning marker are not back to back, but many frames apart, skipping content that is not relevant to that chapter, so setting In/Out points would be a big help. Or getting each chapter end point to link back to the menu page. How do you set In/Out points for multiple buttons on the video? Can you use a video not chopped up into chapters to set individual scenes?
Sorry if this is not clear.

Basically, I want to use the same fully rendered video, with the play all button on the 2nd menu page, and the same video for the scene selection chapter buttons on the 3rd menu page. Thanks in advance for your help. John.

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 11/16/2004, 2:42 PM
Are you using DVDA version 2.x? If not, upgrade and everything will work the way you want. Version 2 lets you create multiple references to the same media, but the media is only burned onto the disk once. Just drag the same media into the project multiple times, and set the in/out points, buttons, end actions, etc. for each instance of the media. All the navigation will work independent of what you have set for the other instances of the media, but the actual video and audio are only burned once.

This only works in DVD version 2. It was one of the BIG improvements in this version.
J_Mac wrote on 11/16/2004, 3:10 PM
Yes, I'm using DVD2.0b build 130. Thanks for your response. I laid out and built my Scene selection menu, before setting the individual links to the media. Can you do this in any order?

I've deleted the media in the first link but the Add media buttons are greyed out. I dragged from explorer but there seemed to be no effect.

When I set the In/Out points on the first link, all works okay. But, when I highlite the second link and adjust the In/out points on the Timeline, both links become the new adjusted link. Can you add multiple In/Out points to the same video? How? Thanks for your help. John.
johnmeyer wrote on 11/16/2004, 3:41 PM
Can you add multiple In/Out points to the same video? How?

Put the same media on the timeline twice. Set first set of in/out for the first instance. Set the end action for this instance to point to the next instance. Set the next set of in/out points for that instance (and so on).
J_Mac wrote on 11/16/2004, 4:21 PM
I know I'm being stupid here, but I am unable to do this. The Insert media button on the Project Overview Tool Bar is greyed out, when I highlite the broken red link lower in the window. And dragging from Explorer to the TL has tripled my 'Disc Space Used' warning to 12.5 GB, but there is no change on the TL.
Should they stack like adding tracks in Vegas, or should they go beginning to end on the same track? Also right clicking there is no 'Add Video' or 'Audio' tracks selection, when you click on the track header. Thanks again. John.
johnmeyer wrote on 11/16/2004, 5:46 PM
Drag to the project window on the left, not the timeline.
J_Mac wrote on 11/16/2004, 7:44 PM
I wasn't clear in my post, dragging from Explorer to the Project Overview didn't work either. I've started rebuilding the project, and I'll be more accurate with my links. Somewhere there is a mistake, and hopefully I can avoid it this time. I'll post if I find it. Thanks for your help, and your constant attention to the benefit of this community. John