My trouble right now is that the Prev/Next buttons do not work with the DVD player.

In/Out points only restricts the start and end. Do you mean that I in Vegas should render out the Intro+clip as ONE clip, resulting in 10 such films and then use different In-points of the intro should be incl. or not?

It's real mess in DVDA and playing the DVD since there are two contradicting clip orders on the DVD internal structure and using the Prev/Next can only follow that order, it simply do not obey the playlist order - this is a major fault (perhaps in the DVD standard).

I already have 2 projects in Vegas (one for Stereo and one for 5.1) - having 4 (w/ w/o intro) would make any updates a mess.

There is no script that says "Render Region 1, jump directly to Region 2, continue rendering, jump to Region 3, continue rendering..." or similar that outputs ONE complete film?

This is not a rendering problem at all. It's a DVD layout problem.

You don't want to render twice as that would take twice as much space on the DVD. You just want to render the whole thing as A1B1---A2B2---A3B3-- in one big MPEG file.

Then when authoring:

1) Drop the file into the main menu. This will create a button that will just play all (A1B1---A2B2---A3B3--) as it was rendered from Vegas.
2) Drop the file into the menu a second time. This will create a second button that will be the start of a chain of B1B2B3.
3) Double-click this second button and set the IN and OUT points to the start and end of B1 (the first section of the chain).
4) Drop the same file into the project tree for as many times as you have B2, B3, etc. (i.e., drop them into the project tree and NOT on the menu)
5) Rename these files in the project tree B2, B3, B4, etc.
6) Double-click on each of these files and set the IN and OUT point to just B2, B3. etc.
7) Set the END ACTION of B1 to play B2, and the END ACTION of B2 to play B3, etc.

You should now have two buttons on the menu. One that plays A1B1---A2B2---A3B3--- and one that plays the chain of B1B2B3. DVD Architect will be smart enough to only add the file to the physical disc once. I believe this is what you are after.

~jr

This seems logical and I will test it.

What I've found out in DVDA and using the NEXT/PREV buttons on the remote is that the DVD player actually do NOT follow the playlists but instead how the media tracks are ordered on the DVD.

As you suggests under #4 I will get a list of B* "media items" in DVD and it might be that the DVD player follows that list, and ignoring my "skips" when seeing the "A1B1---A2B2---A3B3---" seq. where I actually want to skip between the A* starts.

I will try and see how it works.

DVDA has the ability to physically re-order the media. You really want to get this right first though. The only downside to doing this kind of trick is the DVD player may not playback seemlessly as its got to physically move the head so choosing where you do your jumps can be important. This isn't anyones fault of course, just how the universe is designed and different players perform differently.

In the instance JR is talking about, having one media file where the play order follows the media but optionally simply skips sections you really shouldn't have any issue with Prev/Next. Previous seems to be the most tricky one to get DVD players to do what you want and again this might be player dependant.

Bob.

Hmm, this was odd. I did what JR suggested but the Prev/Next on the DVD player simply follows the order on the DVD. While it works fine within a "segment" when one closes in to the start or end and press Prev/Next it goes onto the media that is before/after in the internal DVD hierarchy. Seem like this "dual play mode" is difficult to handle with current DVD protocol.

E.g. If I click the second button on the menu page (starting clip B1) next will give me B2 and next B3 - fine. With Prev from B3 will give me B2 and Prev again will give me B1 but Prev *again* will go into the end of the complete film since that is on top of the internal DVD list. It simply do no stop.

I could inactivate Prev and Next on the B1 and B3 clip but, reversely, being at the end of the complete film clicking next will get me to B1 since that is #2 on the DVD internal list - and I cannot deactive next for the complete film since that will prohibit chapter skip.

I guess I will have to live with a single film and chapters until I can make dual-DVDs. Sadly even so Prev on teh complete film will take me to the (c)-page - a page I don't want re-viewed - only when inserting DVD.

I would think that, assuming you had inserted and named markers appropriately, that it would be possible to write a script that would locate and cut out the intro segments with auto-ripple on, which would leave only the film bits on the timeline to be rendered out. Way beyond me, but I think it could be done.

It would have to be a very specialized script to do the original intent and autoripple would play no part in the process as scripting does not use that feature.

The limitations of DVDA forced me to look to DVDSP, the equivalent product in the Final Cut Studio bundle, for my scripted DVD needs. The latter is now used for many, if not most, Hollywood productions, and there is access to the whole "programming language" and the registers that let you implement all sorts of interactivity.

I really hope Sony is working on this for the next version of DVDA.