Making a DVD with auto repeating chapters

JJ72 · #1 01-13-2011, 08:19 AM

Hi all, I am in need for help quite urgently so please hear me out.

I have four 30 second clips to put on the same DVD, just call them A,B,C and D.

I want the disc to start with A, which it should Loop itself, until I press jump to next, when it will jump to B.

Then it's the same with B, I want it to loop itself, until I press jump back/jump to next, which will lead it to A or C respectively.

Basically I want all four clips to do that, I currently have DVD-lab pro, but I have no idea how to achieve it, tried the multi-PGC title route but have no luck.

so can it be done in dvd-lab, or any other software?

any help will be much appreciated.

admin · #2 01-13-2011, 08:31 AM

Looping is a function of playlisting. Some software hides this from you, but at its core, it's endpoint referencing back to the start point, by way of a playlist.

The very nature of hitting "next" on the remote instructs the DVD to move to the next object on the playlist. Or in the absence of a playlist, a return to the main menu. (In the case of menu-less DVDs, it simply stops.)

So there's really no way, in any software, to both loop AND have a "next" option available.

At best, you could try a menu cheat. You'd set a video menu to loop, with a hidden single action (either invisible button, or something small and buried in the overscan). So you could press "enter" on the remote, and it would jump to the next video menu, which is set to a loop.

This could be done in Ulead DVD Workshop 2 quite easily, but only if the clip is shorter than the max allowed menu length. In the case of DVDWS2, that's about 4 minutes. Here's some related links and info on DVDWS2 for you:

I don't know if DVD-Lab can do this. (It's overrated and user-unfriendly software, to be quite honest. Its popularity was short-lived, and the lack of a good workflow-friendly GUI is why it has largely been abandoned.)

So I think this can be done, just not exactly as you had originally considered.

The DVD spec is rigid, yes, but there are some pretty nifty workarounds for more experience authors, and assuming the program doesn't limit you even further than the specs do.

Hope that helps.

JJ72 · #3 01-13-2011, 08:43 AM

big big thanks for the speedy reply.

so the basic concept is make each video a menu so it loops indefinitely, and create hidden buttons to access each?

I'll give that try, in theory you can assign it to any button on the remote right?

-- update --

I've got it to work with the menu cheat now

I made two invisible buttons, one goes up and one goes down. So I can semi do the effect of pressing up + enter to go up, and pressing down+enter to go down.

admin · #4 01-13-2011, 10:06 AM

Quote:

so the basic concept is make each video a menu so it loops indefinitely,

Or to be completely accurate, to make each menu contain a video asset
(As opposed to a still -- which is still technically encoded to a MPEG video, although only 1 frame in length, and on an infinite loop).

Quote:

and create hidden buttons to access each?

Exactly. Either with an invisible button (with ALL actions set to invisible), or a tiny visible button (or invisible with visible actions) hidden in the overscan. I've often used a period in DVDWS, set in the overscan -- invisible but with visible actions.

Quote:

I've got it to work with the menu cheat now

Excellent.

Quote:

I made two invisible buttons, one goes up and one goes down. So I can semi do the effect of pressing up + enter to go up, and pressing down+enter to go down.

Hey -- that's even better! You now have bidirectional movement between menus -- a mimic of "back" and "forward" commands, had it been single videos on a playlist.

Now you're learning! You've got it.

JJ72 · #5 01-13-2011, 12:12 PM

argh, suddenly it stopped working?

I dropped the video files into the menu screen but they doesn't run in quick preview nor in the finish screen.

i'd made one disk but suddenly it doesn't work, or I did something wrong? it is something about file format? I was inserting mpeg2 files.

currently on ulead dvd workshop 2 trial version btw.

admin · #6 01-13-2011, 01:06 PM

Well, how about this...

Upgrade to a Premium Member, and I'll send some FTP credentials for you to upload the DVD-ready MPEG-2 files. And then I can author for you.

Part of your issue may be due to the trial version of Ulead DVD Workshop -- it's awful. The trials (and the hacked/cracked versions) are not at all the same as the full premium registered version. Several years ago, when Ulead was still in business, and DVD creation was really at its height, there were a LOT of complaints about DVDWS2 not working -- and almost all of them were tracked back to trials and unauthorized versions. Rarely did a legitimately purchased up-to-date version have any issues. I often think the trial was a beta version of v2.

I'd need to know more about your files, step by step (click by click) what you did, to know where you may have gone wrong doing it yourself.