Explanation of BOV's ?

[Fairhope]

Could someone provide me with a definition of "Buttons Over Video"? I've been using PGCEdit since rOlZ first made it available - and, with the help of guides and suggestions by 2COOL, jeanl & Blutach, I've been able to kill playback, blank items, remove aspect ratio menues, and most all of the "beginner" modifications of a DVD.

However, I'm baffled with trying to understand BOV's, what they do and what purpose the new version of PGCEdit's scanning accomplishes. I've read the comparisons of the "white rabbit" in The Matrix - but, unfortunately, I've never seen this movie.

Can someone give me an explanation of what BOV's do and what can be accomplished with these BOV's in the new PGCEdit?

Thanks, Ty

[Surf]

I hope I can satisfy you with a layman's version of an explanation:

BOV means Button Over Video, embedded(?) in the video.

You need a movie with BOVs to experiment this:

Open it and without allowing PGCedit v0.51 to scan, and observe the left hand column. You'll probably notice only 1 VTS containing buttons. Now open it again and ALLOW the scanning and the program will make the buttons visible in other VTS(s).

Give you an example of the recent backup I did, James Bond/The World's Not Enough. There are about nine buttons embedded in the movie title when scanned. The button shows up while the movie's playing with 007 symbol. Clicking the enter button takes to the how-it's-done clip. Soooo, if I find a certain clip is no big deal then I can edit it by hiding it.

tada!

[Fairhope]

Thanks, Surf.

So, if I'm understanding you correctly, a BOV is like an Easter Egg?

[Surf]

"..like an Easter egg?" << no.

Well, you can rather say they are BUTTONS to access Easter eggs(special feature clips).

P.S. the above's not entirely true.

Most of the recent Pixar pictures have BOVs. If you don't let PGCedit scan for them, you won't be able to do any menu editing!

[Fairhope]

Thanks for your help.

I think I'm going to have to view a DVD which has these BOV's to fully understand. Maybe I'll rent that James Bond movie you mentioned.

Thanks again.

Ty

[blutach]

A few other examples:

1. Men In Black 2 - the "Alien Broadcasts" are accessed with buttons in the title.

2. Charlie's Angels (1 and 2, I think).

3. Shark Tale (lots of VTSs with BOVs - some 3,000 BOVs in all, in about 5 VTSs).

These buttons, often (but not always necessarily) if set to turn on by another menu, will pop up when a special feature is enabled. The 2 games in Shark Tale couldn't work without BOVs and so they are an integral part of the video (not an Easter egg per se).

In summary, these are just menu buttons in the titles domain. A single scan is usually good enough to find them all. I have the PgcEdit slider set to 30 (very fast) and it always finds them all (having re-checked a few times with slider set to 1 VOBU ).

Regards

[jsoto]

More examples:
Spiderman, Hulk...

And one very curious: Reservoir dogs. It has a language selection still in titles!! Using BOV for this.

jsoto

[mpucoder]

T2 Extreme. Best example other than DVD Demystified's demo of damn near everything possible with DVD, including BOV, seamless branching for two different versions, etc.

[Fairhope]

Thank you all very much. I guess I'm from the old VHS school. I'm still just very impressed with normal menus and very rarely even view any of the extras.

I've got some of the DVD's you all mention. I'll try to view them tonight.

Thanks, Ty

[blutach]

I can back up what mpucoder says about DVD Demystified's DVD - astonishingly good!

Recommended purchase (useful book supplied free with DVD )

Regards

[r0lZ]

Another common example of BOVs is the THX setup menu. If you have a DVD with a THX logo in a menu, then this logo leads to a title with BOVs. (The last one I've seen is on Bambi.)
Also, as far as I know, all Disney games are authored with BOVs.

In summary, there is mainly two usages for BOVs:

1) Real menus, exactly like the normal menus, except that they are in the title domain. Obviously, with BOV menus, there is no language unit.

2) White Rabbit method: in this mode, you watch the main movie with an option to show up a button over some short parts of the movie. If you press enter when the button is visible, the movie is interrupted, and a bonus feature is displayed. When the bonus has finished playing, the movie is resumed.

IMHO, BOV is not a good acronym. It should be BOT (Buttons Over Titles), as the main difference is the domain they reside in. But they are called BOVs; it's a fact.

[jeanl]

Originally posted by r0lZ

IMHO, BOV is not a good acronym. It should be BOT (Buttons Over Titles), as the main difference is the domain they reside in. But they are called BOVs; it's a fact.

r0lZ, you want to start compiling a list of poorly chosen names in the DVD specs? That could be fun!

jeanl

[mpucoder]

My nomination for poor names - VOBs (the plural of VOB) and VOBS (Video OBject Set, all the VOBs in a titleset aka VTS)

[r0lZ]

And what about DVD? Digital Versatile Disc!
Is it so versatile when you cannot jump from titleset to titleset, you cannot use the PrevPGC link if the title is not sequential, you cannot compare a SPRM with something, you cannot SetSTN in the VMGM, you cannot thrust SPRM 7, you cannot...

[scraper]

Hi all,

Just to scare you:
In "LOTR - The fellowship of the Ring - Special extended edition - R2": Disc 1 of the appendices has a still-/slideshow (VTS07) which is in VTS_07_1.VOB
basically 32 menu's (1 PGC) where you can choose still- or slide show and separate images from the slideshows (2 PGC's with duplicate vob-id's). There are over 2000 vob-id's in 126 pgc's for still and slide with different duration in still time. with a grand total of 8632 buttons or some such number found by PGCedit

I tried demuxing w/ doitfast4u, but it find angles that aren't there and when scanning for duplicate vob-id's it get all tangled. PGC-times aren't displayed correctly in de dvd-structure-pane either.

Since it's about 270 Mb i left it as is, but if somehow someone is able to reauthor this in 1 day i'd be deeply impressed

Scraper

[blutach]

Originally posted by mpucoder
My nomination for poor names - VOBs (the plural of VOB) and VOBS (Video OBject Set, all the VOBs in a titleset aka VTS)

Don't they try to somehow justify this VOBS/VTS rubbish by distinguishing between logical and physical descriptions? Bloody silly, if you ask me.

Regards

[mpucoder]

Originally posted by r0lZ
you cannot compare a SPRM with something

Sure you can, but you have to think in reverse, and the only something is a GPRM. In other words a great many commands allow "if ( GPRMx == SPRMy)" (or any other compare operator)

@blutach - logical and physical were not enough, they then added domains and spaces

@scraper - I think the first (maybe only) consideration when making a special edition is how much the studio can afford for an authoring guru. I heard the studios want the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to add another award ("Oscar") for "most complex DVD". Criteria include number of Easter eggs, how many days at one second per still it takes to navigate the entire disk, and greatest number of VobIDs. Another award was suggested, but rejected, for most boring commentary track and most boastful behind-the-scenes.

[r0lZ]

Originally posted by mpucoder
[B]Sure you can, but you have to think in reverse, and the only something is a GPRM. In other words a great many commands allow "if ( GPRMx == SPRMy)" (or any other compare operator)

I know that. But it is possible to generate a command with the SPRM to compare as the first operand, and possibly a constant as the second operand. Why is it prohibited? Mystery!