multiAVCHD - author Blu-ray/AVCHD (Blu-ray players, camcoders, Viera TV) + (HD) DVD

[Jonaldinho]

When you can, please take a look at these images... Do they have the proper colors/depth:

It looks fantastic. Depth and colour. Have you tweaked it some more? Have you still got the encoded file? If yes could you upload it to rapidshare? I'd like to see it.

[deank]

Yep, a minor contrast/brightness tweak. :) I'm glad it looks better now!

The screenshots are created with latest update (you may update manually). If you wish I'll upload this video as MKV at rapidshare.

Dean

p.s. Uploading... [link will be available soon]

[Jonaldinho]

OK Thanks, I would be interested to see live action. Here's the difference with the new update http://comparescreenshots.slicx.com/comparison/71819 between colorcode and stereoscopic player. In comparison to colorcodes i can't make my mind up which is better between attempt 3 and 4 lol, 4 has got better colour but don't know which has the best 3d effect. The difference with colorcodes is what's more distinguishable 3D, you can see the man in the bottom left corner in 3d, the birds, the trees in the bottom right corner in the background, the man in front of the trees, and the other man in front of him, where as with yours and all the other methods except for stereoscopic optimizied you can only see the 2 men in the foreground and the birds in 3d. But I still prefer yours to Pantarheon's. I think 3D to yellow and blue needs tweaks to get the best effect but Pantarheon's doesn't have any tweaks, it's exactly the same brightness, colour and contrast as the original 2D with yellow and blue but that's not strong enough either where as yours is. Do you think you are going to get some yellow and blue glasses? I'm happy to keep testing adjustments when you make them but you might beable to tweak it better if you could see the 3D effect.

[deank]

Here is the link for Grand_Canyon_ColorCode clip. (http://rapidshare.com/files/411444150/Grand_Canyon_ColorCode.mkv.html) (147MB)

I guess I can add an option to tweak saturation/contrast/brightness for anaglyph modes. But still - keep in mind that colorcode is a patented presentation algorithm and no matter what we do, we would never get even 90% of its color perception.

And - no - I have no brown(yellow)/blue glasses and testing is impossible for me.

Dean

[MrVideo]

Because the tutorial is out-of-date and because there isn't a manual, I have no clue as to how to get the menus to work.

Yes, I found the dialog page where you can select XMB (what is that?), slide and carousel. But, when I click on the menu preview button, no matter which menu type I selected there is no difference.

The menu that is displayed appears to only be what is selected in the property for the title.

I thought I once saw a selection box to show all titles on a single menu page. I've not been able to find that since. I don't mean the titles menu page that is available, but a first menu that would only show the two or three titles that I have and not a menu with room for more than that. I must have been seeing things.

I'm beginning to believe that I can't get a preview of the Top Menu and that the only menu preview I can see are for the individual titles.

Dean, if you and others reading my postings think I'm stupid, so be it. But I've been working with computers for 30+ years. As a programmer and system administrator, there are manuals/documentation in which to find out how various things work. With multiAVCHD there is no manual. The poor user is left to try and figure out how things work. I've authored a few DVDs using a professional authoring package, so I have a good concept of what should happen. Trying to get there is extremely frustrating without documentation. As a result, I'm left to post questions that appear to be stupid to those that know the program, that go left unanswered (in this forum and Dean's personal forum).

[drpaulng]

@MrVideo:
ON TAB [Author]Tick on the box: Create top menu,
select XMB (Cross-bar Menu type like PS3) for example, then turn on TAB [Menu] to set up additional text font-color-size...etc. Now try to click on "Main menu", "Chapter menu" etc and wait a little few seconds. You should have a preview screen popping up.

multiAVCHD is evolving very fast, any help-manuscript would be obsolete after a few days...However, you may find it not-that-hard to understand just by try-and-error with immediate response from the preview. Do some project with very small size like the movie trailers first.

If you cannot get the preview screen popping out, then you should re-install everything or check what is wrong with your computer, it must be very different from all other people's.

[MrVideo]

ON TAB [Author]Tick on the box: Create top menu,
select XMB (Cross-bar Menu type like PS3) for example, then turn on TAB [Menu] to set up additional text font-color-size...etc. Now try to click on "Main menu", "Chapter menu" etc and wait a little few seconds. You should have a preview screen popping up.

Yep, done all that. I've tried XMB, slide and carousel. I do not see these menus:
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiavchd_preview.jpg
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiXMB_420.jpg
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_SL1.jpg

multiAVCHD is evolving very fast, any help-manuscript would be obsolete after a few days...However, you may find it not-that-hard to understand just by try-and-error with immediate response from the preview.

I agree that things are changing. But, the basic concept of getting menus functioning, what they are and what they should look like, should exist as help. The tutorial that is there doesn't describe what each menu type is and what it should look like.

I need to get PhotoShop on the system that is being used for encoding and Blu-Ray disc creation, so that I can do screen grabs and show what I am running up against.

If you cannot get the preview screen popping out, then you should re-install everything or check what is wrong with your computer, it must be very different from all other people's.

The preview window does appear, but it appears not to be showing what I've selected to do.

I'll get PhotoShop installed in order to get examples of what is going on.

[MrVideo]

OK, PhotoShop is installed, so here is what is going on.

1) Project loaded (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-01.png)
2) Title 1 properties (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-02.png)
3) Title 1 menu properties (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-03.png)
4) Title 2 properties (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-04.png)
5) Title 2 menu properties (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-05.png)
6) Author Tab (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-06.png)
7) Menu Tab (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-07.png)
8) Preview Title 1 (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-08.png)
9) Preview Title 2 (http://vidiot.com/images/multiAVCHD-09.png)

If I go back to the author tab and select slide or carousel for the top menu type, the menu previews are exactly the same as for XMB.

I have no idea how to get menus that look like the tutorial samples in the previous posting.

I hope that you can now understand my frustration.

[Capsbackup]

If you are trying to add your own custom menu with audio, on the Menu tab, select advanced, select ... and add your custom mkv/.m2ts/ts/... file.
If you just want your own backround image, select ... under General/Backround image.
Under the General tab, you can select motion or static menu, depending on your choice.
Under Extended tab you can select to create or show title thumbnails, along with other options.
From drpaulng:
Do some project with very small size like the movie trailers first.
Excellent suggestion until you get familiar with multiAVCHD.
There are many features to learn with multiAVCHD, so it will take some time and practice! Be patient, experiment plenty and you will get familiar with it. :)

[drpaulng]

Yep, done all that. I've tried XMB, slide and carousel. I do not see these menus:
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiavchd_preview.jpg
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiXMB_420.jpg
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_SL1.jpg


Yes, these are very old...no more such kind of menus now. They belong to multiAVCHD ver3.xxx

[MrVideo]

If you are trying to add your own custom menu with audio, on the Menu tab, select advanced, select ... and add your custom mkv/.m2ts/ts/... file.

Nope, static, silent menu.

If you just want your own backround image, select ... under General/Backround image.

I did that once and really ended up with a mess, as I couldn't get it to do what I wanted.

Under the General tab, you can select motion or static menu, depending on your choice.

No motion menus at this point in time. Won't deal with trying to do that until I can get static menus to work.

Under Extended tab you can select to create or show title thumbnails, along with other options.

Don't really want that either (a menu of thumbnails). What I really want is a menu that looks like: http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiavchd_preview.jpg

Using my own background (of course).

Excellent suggestion until you get familiar with multiAVCHD.
There are many features to learn with multiAVCHD, so it will take some time and practice! Be patient, experiment plenty and you will get familiar with it. :)

Using the titles I have, or a bunch of short trailers, isn't going to help in figuring this out. The compilation of my project doesn't take long as there is no re-encoding going on. The video and audio are already to spec.

I've exhausted the various combinations of check marks that I can see and still do not know why the preview menus are not working. As seen from my settings, no matter which top menu type I choose (XMB, slide, carousel), I get the exact same preview.

I can't find the combination to create the menu as show in the link above. There must be a combination, otherwise there wouldn't be an example menu. It is extremely well hidden. It is kind of like searching for Easter Eggs on DVDs.

I just need a single top level menu in which I can list the contents of the disc, allow the user to play any of the items listed and when that playback is complete, return to the menu. I don't need a chapter menu, nor a setup menu (nothing to set up).


I don't seem to be getting a top menu at all. When I ran the compile through VLC, the only menus found were the ones for each title. VLC doesn't really deal with HDD layouts very well.

I'm pissed that PowerDVD will not play DVD/Blu-ray layouts stored on HDD. That is just plain stupid. I have to find a free player that will play Blu-ray layouts on HDD and correctly deal with the menus.

[MrVideo]

Yes, these are very old...no more such kind of menus now. They belong to multiAVCHD ver3.xxx

No wonder that I can't find out how to get the first one. Why was it taken away? That is the one that I want.

Now I have no idea what the XMB, slide and carousel menus are even supposed to look like, especially when I can't get them to appear in the menu preview.

[Music Fan]

@ deank : could you remind me why there is not anymore thumbnail menu ?
It was my favorite and I have to install 2 versions of MultiAVCHD if wanna use thumbnail menu and also new options you added after the last version with thumbnail menu.

[deank]

No wonder that I can't find out how to get the first one. Why was it taken away? That is the one that I want.

Now I have no idea what the XMB, slide and carousel menus are even supposed to look like, especially when I can't get them to appear in the menu preview.

When you set menu parameters in title [properties] / [more] the title is colored in LIME/GREEN. It means that its menu settings override those set in AUTHOR/MENU tab.

User has the choice to set menu style/properties for ALL TITLES (using AUTHOR/MENU tabs) or to set individual properties per title. If you already set a title with its own menu style, no matter what you change in MENU tab will not affect the (LIME) titles which already have their settings set.

About the screenshot for the menu that you like from ver 3.x - you can use CLASSIC-TITLE-LIST menu in version 4. Set 'title-list BG complexity' slider to far left and your custom background will appear in the preview.

I'd suggest that you load one video and DO NOT OPEN title [properties] but play with the controls in AUTHOR/MENU tabs and [preview] the changes.

@ deank : could you remind me why there is not anymore thumbnail menu ?
It was my favorite and I have to install 2 versions of MultiAVCHD if wanna use thumbnail menu and also new options you added after the last version with thumbnail menu.

Because there is TITLE-LIST menu, which is much better than the 3.x version thumbnail menu.

[Music Fan]

Ok, thanks, I will take a look at this.

[deank]

No wonder that I can't find out how to get the first one. Why was it taken away? That is the one that I want.

Now I have no idea what the XMB, slide and carousel menus are even supposed to look like, especially when I can't get them to appear in the menu preview.

Here is a preview of the three main menu styles (without special configuration):

XMB:
http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/730RC_shots/multiAVCHD_4_XMB.jpg

SLIDE:
http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/730RC_shots/multiAVCHD_4_SLI.jpg

CAROUSEL:
http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/730RC_shots/multiAVCHD_4_CAR.jpg

****

AUX TITLE-LIST MENU:
http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/730RC_shots/multiAVCHD_730RC_tlm1.jpg

AUX POP-UP MENU (during playback):
http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/730RC_shots/multiAVCHD_730RC_popup.jpg

XMB CHAPTER MENU:
http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/730RC_shots/multiAVCHD_730RC_xmbSch.jpg

NEW (NAMED) CHAPTERS MENU:
http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/730RC_shots/multiAVCHD_4_NEW_CHAPS.jpg

Dean

[Avisynth_challenged]

Hi,

I have a 1080i MPEG2 video source (source.m2v), and I have a Dolby Digital audio source (source.ac3). I simply wish to mux them together into a .mpg file (source.mpg). I will then use the .mpg file for editing with VideoRedo.

Does multiAVCHD support this? Or are there other programs I should try? Thanks in advance :)

[MrVideo]

I'd suggest that you load one video and DO NOT OPEN title [properties] but play with the controls in AUTHOR/MENU tabs and [preview] the changes.

Thanks. I will play using the info you provided.

Is there a way to undo the settings that I did in the title/properties, or do I have to start the project over?

[deank]

Yes. In title properties change "custom" to "default" for menu style and click [OK].

[MrVideo]

Does multiAVCHD support this? Or are there other programs I should try? Thanks in advance :)

Use tsMuxeR and create a transport stream (TS) wrapped file instead. Then use VideoReDo to edit it. IMHO a TS file is better.

[MrVideo]

Yes. In title properties change "custom" to "default" for menu style and click [OK].

That's too easy :D Thanks.

[MrVideo]

About the screenshot for the menu that you like from ver 3.x - you can use CLASSIC-TITLE-LIST menu in version 4. Set 'title-list BG complexity' slider to far left and your custom background will appear in the preview.

I gather that the 3.x version menu that I like can't exactly be created and it can't be the main menu.

ADDED REASONING:

I'll be creating Blu-rays of TV Show episodes that will contain, at most, three titles. I do not need/want the fancy XMB/Slide/Carousel menu screen. It is just too busy for the project. I just want to KISS the project.

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid

As such, the main menu just needs to be the show logo and a list of show episodes (titles) that can be selected to be played. And if possible, a Play All option at the end of the list. No chapter lists and no setup.

[deank]

Correct. You can still use version 3 for this simple menu.

[MrVideo]

Correct. You can still use version 3 for this simple menu.

What does one lose in fixes by going back to version 3?

I do not know your reason for removing the simple main menu, as I wasn't around when it happened.

How about adding it back and making it a fourth main menu option:

Simple listing
XMB
Slide
Carousel

I can't be the only user that would like a simple text only main menu.

[laserfan]

What does one lose in fixes by going back to version 3?Not to worry--version 3 never worked either (the way you want) or at least I could never get it to work.

[MrVideo]

Since I appear to be SOL for getting a simple text menu, I'm playing with the XMB menu layout.

I have to work on my background image, as the XMB thumbnail placement does not fit well with the background image.

That means I also need different thumbnail images for the titles. So, I found a location that I like. I clicked on the POSTER button and the time code value appeared in the poster frame time code entry box. I then clicked on OK to save the changes.

When I display the menu, instead of the image I selected, I get a blue thumbnail box with the mAVCHD URL in it. The image I selected was not used.

[MrVideo]

Not to worry--version 3 never worked either (the way you want) or at least I could never get it to work.

OK. That solves that.

Can I assume from your response that you too would like to be able to have the option to have a simple text menu?

[laserfan]

Can I assume from your response that you too would like to be able to have the option to have a simple text menu?Sure, I might use it (though I might not, given that mAVCHD changes alot and I can't afford a lot of bandwidth to downloads of it). But mAVCHD does way-more than I need-or-want.

Instead I use Ulead's MF6+ with BD plugin, and dummy files for creating the BD structure (I later replace the dummy files with my own encodings, this to avoid MF6+ re-encoding stuff). It's a little tricky, but I can make a simple 1, 2, 3, 4... menu with custom background and audiotrack in less than 5 minutes (the harder part is getting the image & audio, and later substituting into the BDMV my own m2ts, mpls, and clpi files).

But this is all I'm gonna say as it's OT for this thread! ;)

[Capsbackup]

You can do a simple text menu, no title thumbnails. I have done it! ( For XMB ) :)
You will have to go to Buttons, select Apply Button Position Settings, change the Play-X/Y: button location to your desired locations.

Try this:
On media tab, name the titles to your desired name.
On author tab, create top menu/XMB menu.
Under Menu/General, deselect all options below Default menu type.
Change Main title offset to ( -700 / 50 ) You can change this later if you like!
On Buttons tab, select apply button position settings. Remove / delete any name in Play box.
Change values in Play - X/Y to ( 250 / 500 ).
Now click on Main Menu Preview and see if it is similar to what you desire.
Locations can be changed to your preference, it just takes some adjusting and practice. ;)

[MrVideo]

Sure, I might use it (though I might not, given that mAVCHD changes alot and I can't afford a lot of bandwidth to downloads of it).

Thanks for the feedback. Bandwidth is not an issue for me, so I get all of the changed versions.

But, if Dean where to add the ability for a simple menu and after a few people have tested it, to shake out any potential bugs, might you get mAVCHD and use it then?

[MrVideo]

You can do a simple text menu, no title thumbnails. I have done it! ( For XMB ) :)

Following your steps, I get what is close to what I want. With only 2-3 titles, it should work out. It still lists all the particulars for the title.

The only problem is that the thumbnails don't go away. I don't know where/how to get rid of them.

I did manage to create a working AVCHD DVD-R that my Sony Blu-ray played.

I did discover, what I consider, a bug with the Pop-Up menu. As I was playing a title, I brought up the pop-up menu. It contained options for going to the chapter list, as well as the other possible menus. The problem is that I told mAVCHD not to create them. Or so I thought. Looks like I'll have to author without the pop-up menu.

[MrVideo]

In the properties dialog for a title, if I understand it correctly, the user is supposed to be able to go to any frame in the thumbnail and then click on the POSTER button to use that frame as the thumbnail image.

Clicking on the button does wipe out the manually entered image from the Poster Image: text entry box and it does put the time code into the Poster frame: box. After clicking on OK, I preview the menu and the thumbnail is still there, but it is a blue box with Dean's URL in it.

[MrVideo]

The entry boxes for offsetting various text in the Menu tab (Font, colors and labls) need to be wider. Many of them need to be able to hold four decimal characters. Right now they barely hold three.

OK, they hold as many numbers as can be typed, but the display area is too small. They need to be able to display 4 decimal characters. Plus there is no label to indicate that it is X/Y.

[Capsbackup]

Following your steps, I get what is close to what I want. With only 2-3 titles, it should work out. It still lists all the particulars for the title.

The only problem is that the thumbnails don't go away. I don't know where/how to get rid of them.

I did manage to create a working AVCHD DVD-R that my Sony Blu-ray played.

I did discover, what I consider, a bug with the Pop-Up menu. As I was playing a title, I brought up the pop-up menu. It contained options for going to the chapter list, as well as the other possible menus. The problem is that I told mAVCHD not to create them. Or so I thought. Looks like I'll have to author without the pop-up menu.

You have to deselect the title thumbnails under Menu/Extended. Also, select do not show title names if you don't want them.
Whatever you name your titles under the Media tab, that is what will display in the menu. So click on the title name(Compilation) to open the extended properties, and rename your title to what you would like displayed.
There are lots of options that you need to select or deselect as needed for your desires. Click on each tab and see what is there, trying different options to find your liking.
The poster image/time that you select may not show up during the preview, but will after multiAVCHD completes the backup.

[MrVideo]

You have to deselect the title thumbnails under Menu/Extended. Also, select do not show title names if you don't want them.

Strange, I was in that tab and didn't see it. I'll look again. Yes title names are being displayed.

Whatever you name your titles under the Media tab, that is what will display in the menu. So click on the title name(Compilation) to open the extended properties, and rename your title to what you would like displayed.

Yep, that one I figured out. That was one of the easy items :D

There are lots of options that you need to select or deselect as needed for your desires. Click on each tab and see what is there, trying different options to find your liking.

I've been going through the tabs. Stuff isn't always obvious. You hints have been extremely helpful. I'll do a screen grab to so what I ended up with for the real project. Right now the computer is burning the BD-R that I'll be testing in the player. I have a new Pioneer X10 BD-R burner. I bought inkjet X4 media and ImgBurn has no problems getting the media to burn at X10. Well, it start low and halfway through the 22 GB, it was at 9.0.

The poster image/time that you select may not show up during the preview, but will after multiAVCHD completes the backup.

Ah. Not obvious to the casual user.

The burn completed and it played extremely well. I forgot to turn off the audio during the menu :D

A couple of other minor things as well to change.

Here is the corrected menu:

[MrVideo]

Thanks to all those who helped me figure out what I needed to do to get the job done.

It was very much appreciated.

[MrVideo]

I thought that I had saved the project after I changed the menu setting for the audio background to none.

So, I changed it, saved the project, quit mAVCHD and the restarted it. Loaded the project and sure enough it is back to default.

Please fix.

Thanks.

[chompy]

Hi deank,

In re-author mode, when remuxing m2ts files, multiAVCHD changes IN/OUT PlayItems times in PlayList and mark times in PlayListMark in the playlists edited, but if these m2ts files are also referenced in other playlists, in them only IN/OUT PlayItems times are modified, but mark times aren’t changed… Could you please take a look at it?

Thanks

[deank]

I know about this problem and I'll take a look.

[chompy]

I know about this problem and I'll take a look.

:thanks:

[deank]

It should be okay now. Please test and report back. You should see "PLAYMARK corrections..." message in the log.

Dean

[dread]

Is there possibility to get rid of the horizontal line (I guess it's name is smart line) while using slide menu ?

I've attached image to ilustrate what is my problem.

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/2562/31631180.th.jpg (http://img576.imageshack.us/i/31631180.jpg/)

[Capsbackup]

Is there possibility to get rid of the horizontal line (I guess it's name is smart line) while using slide menu ?

I've attached image to ilustrate what is my problem.

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/2562/31631180.th.jpg (http://img576.imageshack.us/i/31631180.jpg/)

You could try Carousel menu, and try the suggestion from post 6163, and read the next few posts, to 6166:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143744&page=309

[deank]

For SLIDE menu you can select [x] No reflection and the black/grayish line will not show.

[Capsbackup]

For SLIDE menu you can select [x] No reflection and the black/grayish line will not show.

Nice! :) I guess I should have just asked some questions a while back, since it looks like you have had this available for quite some time. :cool:

[MrVideo]

@dean

Any word on the saving of the background audio setting in the project?

Thanks.

[deank]

It should be okay in the update from the afternoon.

[chompy]

It should be okay now. Please test and report back. You should see "PLAYMARK corrections..." message in the log.

Dean

Tested: Playmark corrections messages seen and perfectly applied in PlayListMark.

:thanks:

[MrVideo]

It should be okay in the update from the afternoon.

Weird. After seeing your posting about the PLAYMARK fix, I started mAVCHD and it downloaded 763+. I then tested it and it returned to default after saving and then loading the project. That is why I did the posting.

Just to make sure that I am not missing a step, since it worked for the Title List BG Complexity slider, i.e., it is where I set it when doing a save.

1) Start mAVCHD
2) Load the project
3) Menu -> Advanced
4) Background audio set to none
5) Save project
6) Quit mAVCHD
repeat steps 1 -> 3
Background audio back to default.

[laserfan]

The burn completed and it played extremely well. I forgot to turn off the audio during the menu :D

A couple of other minor things as well to change.

Here is the corrected menu:Who can free the attachment from "Pending approval" purgatory? I wanna see.