Steve, I have been reading this thread all along and I had vowed to stay off of the forum, but I need to correct your procedure.

Don't create 3 menu buttons, you import the media 3 times and then create a separate link for each. You will have three instances of the media with 3 separate timelines. Then create an In and Out for each.

Dave,

Thank you for bringing some sanity to this thread - really amigo!! As I suspected, dragging 3 buttons from the same single left-column asset achieves nothing as far as creating multiple in/out points (I may have misunderstood TOG62's method - if so, my bad).

May I ask however, while these (3) assets share the identical file name, but are (3) in quantity, do they not add to the 99 tally as a the poster from another forum suggested?

If so, provided that my smaller segmented video assets make the 99 limit, is there an advantage to the cloning method over using 99 single assets to do the same thing?

Thanks for your reply - I sincerely appreciate your clarity and polite approach!

Steve M.

I can't answer about the 99 limit because I have never done a project of that size. But the actual media is only imported to the disk once. The other timelines are references to the same media (as long as the media is imported identically).

This method allows you to have one media file but different timelines. Its primary use would be to go to for example, Chapter 10 and return to the menu at the end of chapter 10 rather than continue to chapter 11.

You can change the name of the assets after they are imported so you could have

1) Media01
2) Media02
etc so it is easier to keep track of the files while authoring.

You have to remember that the IN and OUT points have to fall on an I-Frame so if you did not create the file with chapters that created I-Frames at the Exact points that you want in and out, you may be within 8 frames of the exact point and get some flashes in your final video.

If you have any other questions feel free to email me at davmtu at hotmail.com. As I said, I have tried to stay away from these forums but could not continue seeing your frustration.

Dave,

It's a shame that you don't participate on these forums much more; you are a breath of fresh air. You answer a question intelligently without raising more concerns than you've addressed. I sincerely appreciate you stepping in to provide me with some understandable intel. I will certainly keep your email handy for future reference!!

As I've been tweaking rendering out my final batch of the brief 99 titles today, I'm anxiously looking forward to burning my first DL DVD to see what it brings. If I run into any major issues, I'll look into the method you kindly explained and see if any discernible improvement results.

Thanks my friend!!
Steve M.

Like DaveT2, I have also avoided posting on the Sony forums - too many trolls.
I don't know why my 'mail to' on the forum doesn't work, many people have reached me that way.

However, I'll break my silence because the solution is pretty straightforward and I sense your frustration - I watched your YouTube video and you ALMOST got it.

As DaveT2 said, don't create multiple *buttons*, drag the media to the project multiple times, once for each set of in-out points.

In this example, there is only one demo video, but I have dragged it to the Project Overview window five times. DVDA is smart enough to only contain one copy of the media. As you double-click on the media files, you can set individual in-out points for each. Then in the link properties, just select the desired media. It can be confusing because they all have the same name, but I haven't experimented to see if renaming them in the Project Overview creates additional titles.

Steve,

"Like DaveT2, I have also avoided posting on the Sony forums - too many trolls."

After needlessly suffering through this ridiculously protracted thread, I whole-heartedly understand how you and Dave T feel! I sincerely appreciate you breaking your "rule of silence" and offering me the concise, applicable information without a lofty, convoluted endless discourse on DVD specs - I thank you, Dave and TOG62!

I thought about the solution you, Dave and TOG62 suggested, and (unless I'm miscalculating or God help me committing another egregious sin) due to the fact that each instance of the file can only have (1) in and (1) out point, I would still have to drag 99 total media files into the project regardless of how many chapters/clips/segments each contains - yes?

I did a quick experiment in DVDA - now unless I did something wrong or God forbid committed yet ANOTHER egregious sin against mankind and all that is holy, here's what I did and discovered:

I dragged the same file without renaming each instance into the project left pane of DVDA. When I surpassed 99 copies, I clicked "prepare DVD." As you'll see in the screen-capture clip linked below, I got the much dreaded and feared 99 "TITLE" limit imposed by DVDA/DVD.



Unless I've fumbled, it looks like the number 99 strikes again and my only choice is to use the 99 individual media clips as I now have authored on the DL disc OR (of course) 99 chapter points inserted throughout fewer total clips, but with no means to return the viewer to the previous menu after each chapter completes - it must play through to the end of the media clip...nah.

Thanks again for your kindness in offering your help!!

If I've misunderstood and have done something incorrectly please feel free to let me know.

Best,
Steve M.

... due to the fact that each instance of the file can only have (1) in and (1) out point, I would still have to drag 99 total media files into the project regardless of how many chapters/clips/segments each contains - yes?

Yes.


... I dragged the same file without renaming each instance into the project left pane of DVDA. When I surpassed 99 copies, I clicked "prepare DVD." As you'll see in the screen-capture clip linked below, I got the much dreaded and feared 99 "TITLE" limit imposed by DVDA/DVD.

I've never had a DVD this complex, but you can probably right-click on the media instance in Project Properties and rename it to identify the in/out points without changing the title count.

... but with no means to return the viewer to the previous menu after each chapter completes - it must play through to the end of the media clip...nah.

When the media reaches the end point, it will execute the "End Action" for that menu button.

Perhaps this may help:
Here is my timeline with the in/out points on the selected media



And here is the menu properties:



And here is what the menu looks like:



When I click on any segment on the menu, that is all that is played and at the end of the segment (out point), I am taken back to Menu 1. You can have multiple menus and set any end action to any menu.

Hope this helps.

Hey Steve,

Thanks for your reply.

Because you've confirmed my first statement/question above as affirmative, I can't see the point in going this route. If I still need 99 titles/clips/segments (whatever they're technically called already - AKA media clips residing in the left project pane) due to the single instance, single in/out point restriction, why need I bother stitching all of those clips together if I can achieve the identical effect with 99 shorter but full length titles/clips/segments with no need for in/out points? Please keep in mind that all of my clips are separate entities (fade-up/intro/video/fade out), not scenes or portions of longer videos.

The DL disc containing the 95 independent titles/clips/segments/whatevers (as I've mentioned a couple of clips remain to be finished up which when added will bring the grand total to 99) works just fine so far. All clips begin playing within 1-2 seconds after clicking a play button, the loop function does its thing, menus load instantly. etc.

I'm not totally dismissing this concept; I just don't see the difference between the two for my design - other than the considerable amount of additional work all that stitching, rendering and re-linking would require.

Thanks to your generous sharing of info and media files, I understand precisely how this works - I just am coming up short on why this is preferable to what I've already done.

I again want to thank you for your generosity of your time and knowledge - you're a nice guy!!

Best,
Steve M.

For what it's worth I completely agree. I suggested the multiple instance method not know if the 99 limit would apply. Now we know that it does you might as well use the individual clips.

Nevertheless, the suggested method is still valuable when you want, for example, a Play All button, together with various combinations of playing sequence, without the delay incurred when switching from one clip to another in a Play List.

+1 for TOG62 - noting the heart of the matter here - methods of chapter marks and set in/out points as well as small individual clips are all suitable for complex projects - and I often have incorporated all these methods concurrently in one title of an authored disc in DVDAPro. 99 links apply to one title.

When you use the DVDAPro helpfile the following numbers entered into a search box will tell you more:

99 - for chapters, media assets, button links
1023 - for menu pages per title per single video title set
18 - for max number of buttons per menu/page matrix per title in widescreen -
36 - for max number of buttons per menu/page matrix per title in SD television format 4:3 aspect -
250 - for max buttons per Blu-ray title
999 - for chapters per Blu-ray title
255 - for markers within in a playlist per title per single video title set