Muxman and audio compilations with greatest hits

[putto72]

Hello,
I have been working for a while on a scripting system that, using GUI for DVD Author and Muxman, let me create DVD audio compilation effortlessly (slides automatically created from artwork, with titles and duration).
One of the features I included is a "greatest hits" that does not replicate audio; I did it by linking several playlists
from different title domains, so that I can create a custom
playback sequence without actually duplicating the audio (this is accomplished by using GPRM15). It seems to work ok, but when the number of albums is large the DVD created by Muxman behaves strangely.
As a "test drive", I created an audio compilation from the 10 Alan Parsons Project remasters I recently bought; the DVD seems to be created ok (no errors in log), but when selecting any track from albums 9 and 10 I am taken directly to the title menu.
The audio does not seem to be the problem, because the behaviour is exactly the same if I replace all the songs with a short wave file.
If you care to take a look, I have a 29 Mb test project (without copyrighted material, using a sample wave file) that I can upload where you need it.
I don't understand if I'm hitting some kind of limitation in DVD structure, or if it's something else.

Thanks for any reply.

[Ghitulescu]

How can you create navigation with muxman?
I assume the error is in GfD and you forgot to set some "default behaviours" to their real targets.

[putto72]

How can you create navigation with muxman?
I assume the error is in GfD and you forgot to set some "default behaviours" to their real targets.

My interface creates the GfD project (including the custom low-level instructions for linking the tracks from different domains); GfD creates the final project for Muxman. Everything works fine for smaller projects, the problem arises when the number of albums is large. The problem does not seem to be with GfD; I examined the Muxman project that it creates, and it's apparently ok, no reason why it should return to the top level menu when selecting any track from the last two albums.

[Ghitulescu]

If it's a bug you can't go further unless a new, corrected version of muxman appears. Meanwhile and since it concerns only two changes, correct yourself the nav errors in pgcedit.
I still believe the error is in GfD.

[setarip_old]

@putto72

Hi!

Perhaps one of the two DVD limitations is at the root (pun intended) of the behavior. IIRC:

1) DVDs are limited to ten (Zero through Nine) titles

2) DVD titles are limited to 99

[putto72]

@putto72

Hi!

Perhaps one of the two DVD limitations is at the root (pun intended) of the behavior. IIRC:

1) DVDs are limited to ten (Zero through Nine) titles

2) DVD titles are limited to 99

Hi!
I don't understand very well your answer; is it 10 titles or 99? Point 1 and 2 seems to be conflicting, or maybe I'm not interpreting your answer correctly?

Here is what GfD says about its limits:
- 50 Pictures per menu
- 50 Animations per menu
- 36 Buttons per menu
- 36 Free text labels per menu
- 98 Video titles (+ 1 Intro)
- 96 'Audio only' titles per audio titleset (one audio titleset replaces one video title)
- 50 Pages for Main menu (VTVM menu)
~ 1000 Menus in total (>180 not tested)

I supposed that every album was a "title", so I could have 98 or 99 albums per DVD. It is my opinion that if I'm hitting on some kind of DVD limitation maybe GfD or Muxman should complain before authoring the project; but actually both of them finish their work, without issuing any error in their reports; but the DVD exhibit that strange behaviour I described in my original message. I'm still wandering in the dark..

[setarip_old]

My apologies. Line ) should have read, "(IIRC) DVD CHAPTERS are limited to 99 per Title"

And I tend to think my Item 1) may be where your problem lies...

[putto72]

My apologies. Line ) should have read, "(IIRC) DVD CHAPTERS are limited to 99 per Title"

And I tend to think my Item 1) may be where your problem lies...

Ah, ok, now I understand.. Still, this is conflicting with what GfD lists under its features, or not?
Anyway, I'm exactly at 10 titles on this DVD, so even if you're right it should work..

[Ghitulescu]

@putto72

Hi!

Perhaps one of the two DVD limitations is at the root (pun intended) of the behavior. IIRC:

1) DVDs are limited to ten (Zero through Nine) titles

2) DVD titles are limited to 99

You missed the values by an order:
it should be a max. of 99 titles per VTS IIRC and 99 VTS per disc, also with the limitation of 99 total titles per disc.

0 through 9 are the number of VOB files belonging to the same VTS, as it cannot exist VTS_05_10.VOB.

And IIRC there can be a max of 99 chapters per title.

The magic number 99 comes from the necesity to display these info in a compact form (2 digits for title, another 2 for chapter, 6 for time and so on) on a standalone.