how to remove buttons or add subtitle to menu

[itchione]

I removed annoying copyright warnings, the unwanted special features and language menus and also simplified the VMGM, VTSM & VTST structures from my DVD backup using PgcEdit
I then used dvdshrink to remove the unwanted audio and subtitle info from the main movie keeping 5.1 audio and english subtitles.

(Interesting that this DVD would now easily fit on a dvd5 without compressing the video further. Imagine the quality if such crap was not encoded on the dvd9 disk to start with ).

This left me with a main menu with 2 options

1. 1. jump to the main movie
2. 2. chapter selection menu

Unfortunately there is still text for the obsolete special features and audio menus on the main menu, just no buttons and associated commands for these items.

So is it simple to remove such text (if it is text) from the main menu or to mask over it by adding subtitles ("XXXXXX") on top of the unwanted text ?

What tools would be involved ?

Cheers, Itchione

[blutach]

If the menu is a still, it is relatively simple. Export it as a BMP, alter it with a graphics program and reimport it using VobBlanker.

Moving menus are a bit harder - see goonix's sticky.

Or, if you wanna "butcher" the menu with XXXXXs (or bars), you could even use DVDSubEdit, to define new subpic highlights (and make them opaque). Version 1.4 allows you export BMP, rejig them and reimport them. Remember you'll need to do this for WS and P&S.

Regards

[itchione]

Thanks for the reply blutach

For this backup, i have ditched the motion part of the main menu as once the video had played, it jumped to a still with the buttons (i.e. no looping video and sound). Used pgcedit to ditch the former and keep just the still main menu

Took your advice and tried vobblanker. As i haven't used this tool before, i was uncertain of what to do and couldn't find any method to export WS and P&S BMP formats. Could only find a way to export a BMP file that always came out as 720x576 regardless of what i did. Then couldn' t find a way to import the saved BMP over the original main menu and check my results.

Also when viewing the subpicture stream using dvdsubedit (by changing the color/transparency within the tool) it seems i also have to change the subpicture text. It seems there is also subpicture text defined to overlay the menu image button text embeded within the BMP. But i can't get dvdsubedit to ocr the text so i can change it

I more than a little confused how i should be using dvdsubedit and vobblanker in this case

goonix's sticky is another approach but seems a little more involved and requires using more tools i am not familiar with, so i thought i would leave this to another time where i have a motion menu to play with...

any advice on how to use dvdsubedit and vodblanker

Cheers, itchione

[r0lZ]

The BMP has to be in its original format (720x576 for PAL is OK.)

In the main VobBlanker window, be sure to enable "process menus" and "use input folder" and disable "process titles". Mark the titlesets that doesn't have to be processed as "Skip".

Then, double click the titleset with your menu to open the Menu PGCs window. In that window, select the PGC to modify and click "Cells". In the Cells list window, select the cell to replace and click "Still".

Drag and drop your modified BMP to the "Still" window. You should see the change immediately. OK your way to the main window and click PROCESS!

Note that Muxman must be installed on your system to use that function. (The basic free version is sufficient.)

[goonix]

Here is a little wink tutorial about the procedure r0lZ has described above:

HOW TO REPLACE A MENU BACKGROUND WITH VOBBLANKER

goonix

[itchione]

Thanks blutach, r0lZ and goonix

Vobblanker worked like a charm once i installed muxman.
The flash tutorial also made it much easier to use the process.
Minor down side is that i now have 2 great new tools to learn and there is still so much to learn within pgcedit itself

Basically i butchered the existing 720x576 menu bmp and sprayed blue over the remains of the old menu buttons i had removed using pgcedit.
Not an elegant solution but at least i wont be confused as to why i can't select them in future
(I wasn't successful in using dvdsubedit to butcher the menu and paste opaque XXXX subtitle over the remains of the menu buttons but i am still interested in this approach)

However, in this case, dvdsubedit continues to show highlights for the removed buttons.
This is probably not a problem but i don't understand how to fix this and remove those highlights associated with the removed buttons :?

Some clarification in how dvdsubedit can be used to clean up the highlights and how to add new opaque subtitles over existing button text would be helpful.

Cheers, Itchione

[blutach]

Remove the unwanted buttons in PgcEdit. Ctrl-M to display the relevant menu PGC. Right click on the "bad button" and then "Hide Button --> Jump to non-deleted button". This effectively make the button tiny (1x1) and places it nowhere near the actual highlight in the subpic packs (and so makes it invisible). OK and save.

Clean up afterwards by applying PgcEdit's "Menu --> Select a non-hidden button/BOV by default" function to the PGC.

Regards

[itchione]

Originally Posted by blutach

....
This effectively make the button tiny (1x1) and places it nowhere near the actual highlight in the subpic packs (and so makes it invisible). OK and save.

Clean up afterwards by applying PgcEdit's "Menu --> Select a non-hidden button/BOV by default" function to the PGC.
....

For this dvd backup, i deleted the buttons within pgcedit rather than hide them.
I have no navigation problems on the pc (although i have not tried it on my dvd player as yet ).

It's just that the button highlights are still visible within dvdsubedit when i max out "subpic color/transparancy".
So being pedantic, i wanted to get rid of this "highlights leftover" visible within dvdsubedit

Note that there are no highlights visible when i use the pc to play the dvd and move the mouse over what used to be the button.
Sorry if i wasn't clear on this

I have never tried the pgcedit "Menu --> Select a non-hidden button/BOV by default" so i am not sure what it does.
What does this do ?

Also, i still haven't worked out how to add new opaque subpic stream over the menu (deleted button area within BMP) using dvdsubedit. Any hints ?

Cheers, Itchione

[blutach]

It's just that the button highlights are still visible within dvdsubedit when i max out "subpic color/transparancy".
So being pedantic, i wanted to get rid of this "highlights leftover" visible within dvdsubedit

Note that there are no highlights visible when i use the pc to play the dvd and move the mouse over what used to be the button.

The highlights are irrelevant if the buttons can not display them. Don't worry about them. Leaving them in allows you to bring the button back if you have made a mistake by simply changing the hidden button's co-ordinates and size to encompass the button highlights in the subpic pack.

Otherwise, you need to export the subpics, black out the buttons (for all groups so for more than one subpic) and reimport them. This can all be done easily in DVDSubEdit, but for what purpose? If you can't see the highlights, then don't worry about them.

For this dvd backup, i deleted the buttons within pgcedit rather than hide them.

Now, as for deleting buttons, this is NOT a good idea. Hiding them is preferable since the navigation usually depends on button numbers. When you delete a button, it changes all the button numbers above it. Don't delete buttons - hide them!

I have never tried the pgcedit "Menu --> Select a non-hidden button/BOV by default" so i am not sure what it does.
What does this do ?

Exactly what it says. It ensures a non-deleted button is selected and the PGC is entered with a non-hidden button is highlighted.

Also, i still haven't worked out how to add new opaque subpic stream over the menu (deleted button area within BMP) using dvdsubedit. Any hints ?

Export the subpic in DVDSE. Using a simple bitmap editor change it and reimport it. Change the transparency. This is very inelegant and will also affect other buttons.

Regards