Ever wanted to put an original menu back to a DVD Shrink reauthored DVD?

[blutach]

Well here's how.

http://www.videohelp.com/~r0lZ/pgcedit/third_party/blutach/adding_menus_to_dvd_shrink_reauthored_dvds.htm

[2COOL]

Great job! Here's my high five! I

As a recommendation, put your username or name on your guide to tell that YOU wrote it. Just in case you see your guide pop up somewhere else without you knowing and someone assumes someone else took credit for it. ;)

[jeanl]

sweeeeet! very cool Blutach!
And thanks for the links/references. :)
Jeanl
P.S. Don't forget to submit your guide to videlhelp. (I'm sure you thought of that!)

[blutach]

Thanks for the kudos from you guys - that's very gratifying coming from you. This may sound a bit funny, but I don't care if it's ripped off though. :)

@jean - I hadn't thought of submitting it to videohelp as it's hosted on rolz's guides there. It really is a PgcEdit guide after all.

Please let me know if there are any bugs/improvements to it.

Thanks again

Regards

[jeanl]

Originally posted by blutach

@jean - I hadn't thought of submitting it to videohelp as it's hosted on rolz's guides there. It really is a PgcEdit guide after all.

yes, but it won't appear in their guide section unless you submit it. Most hits on my guides came from the videohelp referrals...
Jeanl

[Marillo]

Hi, I'm quite a newbie, and I found your guide very useful, but..
I'd have a question (to improve your guide).
I'd like having the final credits with a less compression: so, when re-authoring (with no-compression, STEP 2), I reauthor the movie with 2 titles, title 1 (main movie, chapters 1-(the last - 1)) and title 2 (last chapter) - see mr.bass guide.
the problem, on bringing menu back, is to tell the new last cell of the main movie to go to title 2 instead of going to the cell he is expecting to find (credits). And, on pre-commands, I'd like to force always one audio stream (example, audio stream = 0) even if it's playing another stream, but I can do it with PGCEdit.
After playing, I'd like having title 2 to go back to the main menu using PGCEdit.
This, for me, has two big advantages:
- using DVDShrink, I can have a higher compression for credits (shrink reads the new title 2 as "extras")
- using DVDShrink and PGCEdit, I can force the credits having only one audio stream, and strip the unwanted ones (saving space)
I hope you can help me (= can you do it ;)? can you tell me how to do it :) ?
Thanks in advance
---------

Marillo

[r0lZ]

Note that there is a trick in DVDShrink reauthor mode to have a different compression on the credits without having to split the movie.

Begin by setting the automatic compression on the whole movie, and uncheck the streams you don't want.
Then, go to the Start/End Frames selector, and select only the credits (probably the last chapter), and accept.
Set the compression setting to custom ratio, and lower the slider to the minimum.
Return to the Start/End selector, and select the whole movie again. Now, you will see "Mixed compression" for your title.
Compile the DVD.

Of course, with this method, you will not be able to strip audio streams on the credits.

[EDIT:] In fact, you may even uncheck the streams you don't want to use for the credits. But if you select a stripped audio stream when playing the beginning of the title, there will be no audio with the credits.
Perhaps it is possible to change the audio stream in a cell command. The shrinked credits part must begin at the start of a cell (or chapter). In PgcEdit, you should set a SetSTN to enable the remaining stream as the cell command of the last cell before the credits, and change the cell command number (and probably clear the seamless flag of the next cell, I'm not sure.)
[EDIT AGAIN:] Yes, unfortunately, the seamless flag on the credits cell must be cleared (ie the Cell flags of the last chapter must be 0). This means you will notice a little pause on a standalone player when the playback reaches the last chapter. :(

[blutach]

A few things:

1. If you didn't want to use r0lZ's trick mentioned above, you could use VobEdit to merge the titles. See here (http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/joinclip.html#joindbl) for how to do it.

2. If you didn't do this, you could add as the first post command of title 1, jump to VMGM PGC# (you will need a new PGC unless one is already devoted to jumping to title 2) and from there, (first pre command) jump to title 2. This is required, because jumping between titles directly, for some stupid reason, is not permitted under the DVD specs unless it is in the same VTS (which, in your case, it very well might be -- if this is the case, you could use as the first post command of title 1, JumpVTS_TT Jump to TTN 2 in this VTS).

3. What I tend to do with credits these days is to trim them right back by turning them into an ending title (a still without audio). In PgcEdit, scroll along the cell which has the credits till you get to the cast and take a BMP of that screen. Use muxman (get this from www.mpucoder.com) to make that into a little DVD and use PgcEdit's Import Title's Closing Clip macro to make that into a 10 second still. Looks very classy (although there will be that little pause that r0lZ talked about between the end of the movie and the credit screen - it is no big deal though). Note: Make sure after muxman has done its stuff that the domain stream attributes match that of the title.

4. I am going to revamp this guide so that there will not ever be navigation problems. In that way, your forced streams can come on without a problem and the disk will behave just like a "full disk" mode backup (ie. the forced stream will come on, just so long as you keep all the subtitles when reauthoring. You can strip out whichever subbies you don't want with IfoEdit after you have put the menu back).

5. Making the title return to the main menu is easy and is described in the guide. Add some post commands to the title, just below **** Post commands. Then use the PgcEdit macro "Reset used GPRMs to 0", then jump to First Play PGC. Use jeanl's guide in conjunction with 2COOL's JPM2PGC.exe prog to ensure a speedy jump to the main menu.

Regards

[blutach]

@r0lZ - under your method, you say the flag for the last cell should be 0. I wonder whether 2 isn't correct, as it will be a STC discontinuity, no?

Regards

[r0lZ]

No, the last cell is the last chapter. There is normally no STC discontinuity with the previous one.
To execute a cell command, the seamless flag must be cleared, but the STC flag doesn't matter.
Of course, if the STC discontinuity flag is already set, then you probably have to leave it. This may be the case if the last chapter has been added with VobEdit. But it's not the case in DVDShrink's reauthor mode.

[blutach]

Aaaah, I understand. I just wondered whetehr under this method, a new VID was created, in which case the STC discon would have to be set.

Regards

[voo_doo99]

Before I even think of taking on this demanding project (17+5+ steps), I have some questions:

- What is the real added values from this process vs. blanking with VobBlanker?. I can blank out extra stuffs to the bone and just keep the Main Movie and Menu in 3 steps or less. My DVD structure is maintained, menu navigation is stable, and playability is near perfect.

- Does the end product Menu work as well as can be expected regarding language and scene selection?

And I need real answers besides: "because it shows off my ultimate re-authoring/hacking power" or "because it can be done" :p

[blutach]

@voodoo

The guide was written for those folks who used DVD Shrink in reauthor mode, so it's obviously not 4 u.

Regards