Time display on stand-alone (does this require multiple VTS)?

Vulcan wrote on 2/6/2003, 8:52 AM
I would like to have my stand-alone DVD player show running time in the display. The sample project that was included in the demo didn't show this. I don't know if this is due to an authoring issue or all assets being in the same VTS. My DVD's will comprise of multiple files (one file for each trip or event) and I want the DVD player to display the time for each individual file (as it does with "professional" DVD's).

I think that I have read (somewhere, but can't remember where)that if you have multiple files/assets in the same VTS time doesn't show up in the DVD display. I have downloaded and read (very quickly) the DVD-A manual but couldn't find the answer to whether this is true or to whether DVD-A supports multiple VTS or not and hence my question to this forum. The assets to be included can also be of different AR (PAL 4:3 and PAL 16:9) and I think that this requires different VTS but I couldn't see any information in the manual if it is possible to mix AR on the same disc.

I'll order DVD-A if it is possible to author my DVD's in such a way that time can be displayed even if I have multiple files/assets on the disc and if I can mix different AR on the disc.

I would very much appreciate if someone could shed some light on this, i.e. whether DVD-A supports multiple VTS, if multiple VTS is required for time showing up and if I can mix different AR.

Comments

vonhosen wrote on 2/6/2003, 10:32 AM
This is something that Sonic Solution's (DVDit & ReelDVD) suffer from. You are correct that they are single Title set programs & as per DVD spec they can't display timecode on a stand alone player unless the project is a single Program chain.

DVD Impression Pro by Pinnacle doesn't suffer from this. Although it officially only has one title set, I think what it actually does is have two. One for movie's & one for menu's to get around this problem.

I haven't used architect yet so I'm afraid I can't answer for it, but how often do you actually look at the running time on your DVDs during playback ?

As for mixing aspect ratios on your DVDs , again you are correct in that aspect ratios can't be mixed in the same title set.

I doubt whether DVD Architect will be supporting multiple VTS , if it does it will steal a bit of a march on the other Sonic (solutions). You need to go to one of their mid-range Scenarist packages for this feature which will set you back in the region of $15,000
Vulcan wrote on 2/6/2003, 5:32 PM
Thanks for the reply. If your assumption is correct I guess I'll have to live with the fact that there is no affordable way to display the time and mix AR's (there is no way that I as a hobbyist can justify an investment of some $15,000).
dsanders wrote on 2/10/2003, 9:35 AM
Sonic Solutions dropped the price of Scenarist. I believe that it is around $8500 now. What a bargin!
Vulcan wrote on 2/10/2003, 10:01 AM
Now your talking! Guess I have to rush off and buy scenarist. I downloaded the DVD-A manual and got confirmation that you can't mix videos/assets with different AR and this is a pity (I shot video in 16:9 and have photos in 4:3). Still hoping though that it is possible to have time display even if I have more than 1 video stream. To bad it isn't possible to testwrite a project of your own in the beta version (the SOFO testfile did not display time but on the other hand the asset was just the trailer). I have written to SOFO support but haven't got a reply yet. It is possible in DVD WS (latest version) to mix AR and discs authored with WS (the trial version) also displays the time on stand-alone. DVD WS is in the same price range as DVD Architect but it doesn't come with an AC-3 encoder so overall I think that DVD Architect is more value for money.
SonyTony wrote on 2/10/2003, 11:18 PM
There should not be a problem mixing different aspect ratios (ARs) in DVD Architect. Each media asset (such as a movie) is encoded into a separate title set, and as such can be 4:3 or 16:9, as well as use its own audio format (PCM, AC3 stereo, or AC3 5.1). (See the "File/Optimize DVD..." option.)

The only thing you can't do is mix different ARs within menus. All menus are encoded into one title set (as per DVD spec recommendations), and as such must have the same AR and audio format.
Vulcan wrote on 2/11/2003, 12:24 AM
SonicTony,

Thanks for the reply. It should then be safe to purchase the combination, i.e. I'll get the function of time display as well as the possibility to mix 16:9 vidoe and 4:3 photos?
vonhosen wrote on 2/11/2003, 1:17 AM
Well there you go,

That is good news & surprising !
If only the next version had multi camera angles, audio tracks & subtitle tracks...
Vulcan wrote on 2/11/2003, 5:50 PM
I purchased DVD-A and started to burn. The program placed different assets in different VTS but time didn't show. What I had to do was to edit the title playback value in the VIDEO_TS.IFO file (subsection VMG_PTT_SRPT, Title playback type (for each VTS) from 84 (not one_sequential) to 0 (one_sequential). This worked but has this far only been tested with assets that had no selectable scenes within the asset. Don't know if it works or if other values needs to be changed if I also have chapters within the titles but will test this during the weekend. So far haven't tested if it's possible to mix assets.
Vulcan wrote on 2/12/2003, 1:26 PM
The above solution, i.e. editing the video_ts.ifo file works also on assets holding chapters/scenes. However, it would be nice with an update so that you don't have to edit the file manually.
MHampton wrote on 2/18/2003, 1:35 PM
Ok, I give. What program did you use to edit this video_ts.ifo file? I tried notepad but it appears to be a binary file?
vonhosen wrote on 2/18/2003, 2:04 PM
IFOedit

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