Creating multi-movie menu, am I doing it wrong?

[tomgofly]

Great forum. Brain is full and wife pissed at how much time I spend on this stuff, but I can't help myself.

Anyway, I am creating some episodes disks and have followed quite few awesome (Derrow, MAA, 2COOL, Dave82, others..) guides and boiled it down to my process as follows....



1. Create menu in DVDLab. I love the prog, cant wait till it's "fully functional" with multi vts and audio/subs and better control of the commands. So... Edit buttons with MenuEdit so button 1 uses JumpVTS_PTT 1 Edit buttons 2 and 3 to JumpTT:2 and JumpTT:3

2. Create multi vts titles with DVD Shrink3.

3. Copy vts_01_0.vob and video_ts.vob from menu directory

4. Import menu table to video_ts.ifo from menu\video_ts.ifo
save
Get VTS Sectors

5. Import menu table to vts_0x_1.ifo from menu\vts_01_0.ifo (repeat for each x)
save
Get VTS Sectors


6. Fix first play Video_ts.ifo
VMGM_MAT
First Play PGC
Pre command
Remove all other commands
JumpSS VTSM Jump to TitleSet(vts):1 Title:1 root-menu [30 06 00 01 01 83 00 00 ]

7. Fix vts_01_1.ifo root menu pre commands
VTSM_PGCI_UT
LU_1 (english) PGC-Menu_1 (Root Menu)
Pre command
Remove all other commands
LinkPGCN) Link PGC 2 [20 04 00 00 00 00 00 02]

8. Fix vts_0X_1.ifo root menu pre commands (all after vts_01_1.ifo)
VTSM_PGCI_UT
LU_1 (english) PGC-Menu_1 (Root Menu)
Pre command
Remove all other commands
JumpSS VTSM Jump to TitleSet(vts):1 Title:1 root-menu [30 06 00 01 01 83 00 00 ]


Everything seems to work great when I play the DVD in IFOEdit, on my settop, and DVDtoGO (laptop hardware accelerator), but software players PowerDVD and WinDVD will not execute the JumpTT on my root menu. I can select the titles manually, and that's ok, but still a little annoying.

They do executed the JumpVTS_PTT ok for the first title, which is tempting me to use 2COOLs guide to combine all the titles to one vts and redo the chapters (btw SG1 chapter points suck so wouldn't mind redoing them just for that). I'm just not excited about having to redo the 22 episodes I have already burned to disk.

So is it something I am missing in my process or just a quirk about software players using different tables?

TGF

:stupid:

[maa]

8. Fix vts_0X_1.ifo root menu pre commands (all after vts_01_1.ifo)
VTSM_PGCI_UT
LU_1 (english) PGC-Menu_1 (Root Menu)
Pre command
Remove all other commands
JumpSS VTSM Jump to TitleSet(vts):1 Title:1 root-menu [30 06 00 01 01 83 00 00 ]


Its certainly good to experiment but the guides you have do things a little differently and work.

A guide will tell you how to do something but it usually doesn't give you ALL the information that the writer has - indeed all the wrong avenues he went down to arrive at HIS solution.

Your main problem is that you can't jump from one VTS to another !
(just part of the DVD tree structure)
You can only go via the VMG as you'll see in the guides.

[tomgofly]

Yes, I kind of thought that to be the case about jumping vts "domains" (I think is the word). This is why I added step 8 to each of the vts root menus. Without step 8, when I hit the menu button while playing title 2, it chokes. By adding the pre-command to the individual vts root menus, it redirects to the video manager's root menu. Atleast that is my theory of what happens.

The problem I am faced with is the JumpTT buttons in the root menu. They work fine on my settop but not in the software players. JumpVTS_PTT 1 works fine for title 1 (same vts as the menu) but the JumpTT for other titles (and other vts's) does not (well..., works on settops, but not software).

I (kind-of) understand about not being able to jump vts's. What I don't understand is how to work "through" the video manager. What I have learned is the video manager in the video_ts? If so, I don't understand how the menu, if it is part of the video manager, also stored in vts_01_0.vob AND how to setup menu commands to actually work "through" the video manager. AAArrrrgg! Need more adult beverage me thinkis.

Anyway, I appreciate any help!!

-TGF

[Lord of the Discs]

Menus can be all over the Disc, not only in the VMG (VIDEO_TS.XXX).
I recently posted about jumping between VTSs here:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62789

Maybe it can help you.

LotD

[maa]

Originally posted by tomgofly
I (kind-of) understand about not being able to jump vts's. What I don't understand is how to work "through" the video manager.

Well its like this:
The VMG IS in Video_ts.ifo/vob but not all DVDs use either the menu function or the menu department for programming commands. The jump straight to the menu of a VTS from which you CANNOT jump to another VTS title or menu without going via the VMG.

In my guide Making a multiple VTS with Ifoedit for a Menu produced with DVD Lab (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58791) you can see the VMG programming in Part Three / i but that is tied up with actually setting the GPreg in each VTS_PGC first - in that example the GPreg <0> is set to <1> for VTS_1 and <2> for VTS_2 by DVDlab

Lord of the Discs has writen up this technique seperatly up in his post he mentioned above.

[Lord of the Discs]

maa, you must have missunderstood my post, it´s not about setting a
GPRM in each VTS_PGC (it´s already a well-known method), it is about
avoiding the unnecesary creation of a dummy-PGC.

[maa]

Nop!
I'm just pointing out the If commands found in my guide and yours and their use for "asking" about a GPreg in order to change VTS...

[tomgofly]

Actually, uh,... neither one is answering what I am really looking for (although I greatly appreciate the advice so far), but I was kind of getting off-topic myself. I looked at all the your guides/posts that I could find, but the one thing I was really looking for was an answer to...

"The problem I am faced with is the JumpTT buttons in the root menu. They work fine on my settop but not in the software players. JumpVTS_PTT 1 works fine for title 1 (same vts as the menu) but the JumpTT for other titles (and other vts's) does not (well..., works on settops, but not software)."

I havn't found any difinative reason why/how the software players work differently than my settops for this command in the root menu. This is a self-authored DVD so I know how the menu is setup. Just one menu (root) with 3 buttons to play each episode (vts_1, vts_2, vts_3)

Any ideas?

PS. I am experimenting with single vts versions of the episode disks, but that's a whole new learning expericence. Hard drive running out of space tho so need to figure it out soon :)

[maa]

"The problem I am faced with is the JumpTT buttons in the root menu

Well the answer is .....
Its unusual for menu buttons to use the jumpTT command directly, they usually jump to (1)VMG PGC menu or (2) a VTS PGC and follow the commands there.
In both cases you can find the PGC and add two pre commands - set a GPreg and then jump to the VMG where you add the command switch.
As mentioned twice above - you can't jump VTS you need to go via the Video_ts menu table.

You could edit the button directly to jump to the VMG with MenuEdit
(it can change the button commands directly in a 0.VOB).

[farmer dan]

tomgofly--

maa and Lord of the Discs are each telling you the same thing. I also think that each one has answered your question. Sometimes words, the medium of our communication, gets in the way of our communication. (That's one for the books. :D :rolleyes: )

I am not really clear on where your "root menu" with the three buttons is. My picture of what you have is this:1. First Play PGC which takes you to TitleSet_1 Root Menu
2. At this point Movie 1,which is TitleSet_Title_1 Plays
3. Then a menu appears with 3 buttons one of which is a JumpTT Title_2 Is this close?

If it is, what maa and Lord of the Discs seem to be saying is: Without a post-command, at the end of Title_1, that takes you back to the VMG--VIDEO_TS.IFO--there is a flaw in the navigation. At the end of Title_1, you are in the VTS_01_Title domain and cannot jump to another VTS domain--either menu or title. Therefore, since your movies are in VTS_02 and VTS_03, the JumpTT command to your second movie, which is in VTS_02 should not work. You must go back to the VMG. The way to do this is setting the registers as they say and running the compare commands at the appropriate points.

Since you are a DVD Lab user, I need to mention two words of caution.1. The Root Menu in DVD Lab is not, repeat not, the same as the Root Menu in VTS_XX_0.IFO. This is a very subtle trap. The Root Menu sets up the logic for moving around in that particular titleset. This could be a source of your situation.
2. DVD Lab uses GPreg<11> to do its navigation. If you do a "wholsale wipe out" of the commands in a VTS_Root Menu, you may have deleted much of the navigation required to do what you want.

As far as the question of the software players not playing this and the set-tops playing it, I don't know if there is an answer to your question. I actually had the opposite problem and worked it out by trial and error.

If you still feel that your question is not answered, please post very specifically where your commands are. For example:VMG_LU_PGC-1
1. pre-command blah_0
2. pre-command blah_1 and so forth for your other command points.

Good Luck

[tomgofly]

Thanks for your reply, FD. I have gained a lot of insite from your other posts/guides and it is much appreciated, btw.

You are correct in what is happening with the root menu and all.

My real problem, it seems, was that I was assuming that my 4yr old settop would be least robust vs software players, but in fact it was letting me get away with the trans VTS domain jumps. Whereas the software players were playing by the rules. THAT is what was cornfuseing me into thinking it was some other problem.

I had assumed that my commands were not jumping domains, when infact they were (my settop just didn't care). I had understood the concept but have since come to realize the implications (along with awe at how they make commercial disks with thier complexities). It just takes a bit of programming the IFOs and extra blank menus to make it happen.

Anyway, given the vast number of disks I am doing (4 seasons worth) I had to figure out another option. I'll post it in another thread and link it here when I have it perfected, but basically it goes something like this...

Rip originals
Extract out episodes with DVDShrink
DVDLab Make an episode selection menu
DVDLab Join VOBs for each episode
DVDLab Fix incorrect timecode with "Frame-Index Chapters" and set my own chapter points
DVDLab Compile
Test and Burn

Seems to work out ok, but had to get the latest and greatest DVDLab for it to fix the timecode (It doesn't really. It sets all timecode to 0:00:00, but it will set the chapters via frame count so the chapter points will still work ok). This way I have minimal programing for each disk. It just takes a while to complete each step on a PII-500.

-TGF
:stupid:

[sarahjh69]

there is a far easier way to do this
TMPGenc DVD Author from pegasys-inc (free for 30 days)
will allow you to use the original episode VOBs
(extracted with dvd decryptor)

Drag them all into a massive dvd, keeping existing chapters
(new track for every episode)
Motion menus, Custom Menu Templates
create the oversized dvd on your HD
then resize the hd dvd directory created using
dvd2one or nero recode.

Cut out about 20 steps needed the way you are trying to do it.

I have never managed to get DVDLab to work the way I want, it's slow
and far too complicated (or maybe I'm just too stupid to use it),
on the other hand DVD Author is easy.

[farmer dan]

tomgofly

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I am only sharing the knowlege that others have shared with me. Your vote of confidence is, then, not only for me but them also.

Yeah, the player thing is weird. I even had one that gave me a "File Not Recgonized" in PowerDVD but played in the player and then played in PowerDVD. It's the software players that have the reputation of being more forgiving.

Troubleshooting is an interesting process and to do it well, one must overcome some things. Even though your assumption about the older player was good one, you need to throw it out. Then take a look at your indications and determine what they say. For example:
INDICATIONS

1. Plays OK in IFO Editand on player.
2. Doesn't play in PowerDVD or WinDVD
3. All methods play VTS_01 OK.

STATEMENTS FROM INDICATIONS

1. Something is screwed up. :D :cool: Sorry, couldn't resist.
2. Navigation to and through VTS_01 is OK
3. No error messages in IFO Edit, but other software won't play it

CONCLUSIONS (This is the point at which you choose your next troubleshooting steps)

1. Since there are no error messages in IFO Edit and it is the "most forgiving," and it plays on the player, maybe there is a parallel navigation path.
2. Need only look at navigation after VTS_01 has played.Then you perform your steps and look at your indications and start again. At the end of the process you have, hopefully, eliminated your problem.

Keep pitching and posting. That's the way we all learn