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

[deank]

The setup page for audio/subtitles is ready... It slides from right to center of the screen while fades in :) This page allows selection of the first 6 audio tracks and first 5 subtitle tracks.

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_as-setup.jpg

I'll update the .rar a bit later.

[jefrey]

Very Nice:)

[deank]

I updated (http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_730RC.rar) the archive with the latest build.

Both audio and subtitle selection work properly.

This was the last addition to the new version and now we have all the pages I planned from the beginning: MAINx252, CHAPTERSx8, SETUP, TITLE LIST MENUx21 and POP-UP menu.

Have fun!

Dean

p.s. It is worth mentioning that it happened EXACTLY one year after I succeeded with the first simple classic menu in multiAVCHD :) I'm really proud of what we've accomplished for just one year - me and you - all the people with ideas and all the testers.

[bebolan]

Hi, deank, Thanks for your work first.
Would you tell me how to add border in MultiAVCHD?
sorry, and thanks for your answer.

[crl2007]

An outstanding work . A great application and free nonetheless. Thx for all your great work.

[rendez2k]

Hi, deank, Thanks for your work first.
Would you tell me how to add border in MultiAVCHD?

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u175/bebolan/multiAVCHD-016.png

I think you need to change the re-size method to the next one down (not sure what the word in brackets is after the resolution?).

I just have the "auto set transcode for non-complaint titles" set in the options. Appears to work great!

Edit: Forgot to add - latest update is looking great! A year of work well spent in my opinion! Heres to the next year :-)

[jj666]

Hi, deank, Thanks for your work first.
Would you tell me how to add border in MultiAVCHD?


You should only discuss material you've encoded yourself on the forum - that's clearly a rule #6 violation.

Dean: I have produced quite some disks (mainly old HD-DVD's to Bluray) with build 729 for playback on the Popcornhour C-200 (folder structure). All disks are playing back excellently! Thanks for the great program - eagerly awaiting the "final" version with your above additions - unfortunately, I've not had enough free time to try the betas.

Cheers,

-jj-

[deank]

A quick update with some nice features:

* You can now load your own background audio for the menu. Supported formats: AC3, DTS, WAV, LPCM, MP2, MP3, FLAC. Audio will be cut to 32 seconds if longer. AC3 and DTS are not processed but added as is, other formats are converted to AC3 with bitrate set in Audio&Subtitles tab: Non-HD audio to AC3 bitrate [].

* Hidden titles now work properly with the new menus and in title-list menu.

* [x] Motion Title Thumbnail setting is independent from the menu style, which means that you can have all four combinations:

- motion background + motion title thumb
- motion background + static title thumb
- static background + motion title thumb (much like the PS3 video menu) - this is the one that wasn't available until now
- static background + static title thumb

Dean :)

[drelin]

Hello,

I've just made a test with last RC build and addition of "audio setup menu".
Project :
one Title video with 2 audio tracks (french and english) and 2 subtitles tracks (undefined for inserts subtitles and french)

About "audio ans subtitles" selection :
Navigation menu works fine but after selection of audio & subtitles tracks, playback play always the first audio and first subtitles tracks.
The selections in audio menu are not use during the playback.

With audio & subtitles selections, a resume fonuction for playback is needed for playback button. Actually the action for this button is only "play at the fistr chapter entry".
I don't know if it a "bug", function not yet activated in RC build or a limitation.

About navigation in "title menu" :
The navigation for "PLAY" and "SETUP" is left-right but for "SETUP" and "CHAPTER" is up-down ?
N.B : the titlte list menu is not activated for this test project.
A idea for navigation like as :
1 for PLAY / 2 for SETUP / 3 for CHAPTER / 4 for TITLE LIST

for horizontal moves :
4/1/2 1/2/3 2/3/4 3/4/1
sames for Vertical moves (in vertcial of course):

I've just saw a new update is aviable with backgorund audio, I think that the next step is for custom video background ? :)

[deank]

Audio/subtitle change works for sure... I don't know when did you download the archive, but it was fixed yesterday. It works in Nero, TMT and Playstation3.

RESUME is not available (at least not at the moment), but you can always start from a chapter in the chapters menu.

About the navigation: it is as simple as this:

PLAY button is the main navigational button for scrolling thru the titles.

In vertical menu (XMB) UP and DOWN are reserved for scrolling. To get to the other buttons you use LEFT and then select the one you need. There is NO other way.

The same for horizontal (SLIDE): LEFT and RIGHT are reserved for scrolling. DOWN/UP to go to the other buttons.

Background video may be available later this week.

Dean

[drelin]

Thank for precisions.

Addittion about navigation :

I've forgotten that in original navigation the xmb style is designed for more that one title and navigation inclued the "title thumbnail" navigation.

Can you just activate a option for one title with navigation suggested in previous post.

And one time yet, sorry if my english bad.

[deank]

I'll think about one-title compilations.

Make sure you download the updated (http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_730RC.rar) archive before your next test with audio/subtitle setup menu.

What player do you test with?

*** Also there is a fix for the pop-up menu, if loading existing compilations, which were in different format (for example loading PS3 compilation to convert it to blu-ray/avchd-dvd).

[zoner]

hi deank, i was wondering if you can make a tamplate menu for Main Movie + Extras for bluray rips, my dad is not so much the tech guy and i couldnt make a decent understandable menu...

or maybe instead make it selectable of title list not to be played first but let it go for the movie..

[drelin]

I'll think about one-title compilations.

Make sure you download the updated (http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_730RC.rar) archive before your next test with audio/subtitle setup menu.

What player do you test with?

*** Also there is a fix for the pop-up menu, if loading existing compilations, which were in different format (for example loading PS3 compilation to convert it to blu-ray/avchd-dvd).

I've made quick playback tests with PowerDVD 7.3 (with HDD source to play BDVM structure).
This evening I'll make tests on standalone players (PIONEER & SONY) with AVCD on DVD and BDVM on BD-RE.

Thank.

[deank]

hi deank, i was wondering if you can make a tamplate menu for Main Movie + Extras for bluray rips, my dad is not so much the tech guy and i couldnt make a decent understandable menu...

or maybe instead make it selectable of title list not to be played first but let it go for the movie..

There is an option "[x] Skip top menu playback"... and your player will start with the movie.

If you want, you can make "TITLE LIST MENU" only... It is the easiest way to navigate your rips.

[rendez2k]

Good work on the new update! I know I've asked this before, but what size does the background image (or even background video if we get that option!) need to be?

[deank]

Whatever the resolution is it will be resized to 1920x1080.

[zoner]

this option is grayed-out when choosing TITLE-LIST menu :)

[deank]

Download the updated (http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_730RC.rar)build - it won't be greyed-out anymore.

This build also features:

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_menu_general.jpg

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_menu_misc.jpg

As you can see, you now have options to chose the position of the AUDIO/SUBTITLE selection box (Setup menu top/left x/y). It will slide to the coordinates you set.

Also :) you can select your own background video file to be used for motion menu background. Supported formats: MKV, M2TS, MTS, TS.

At the moment the video will be processed as before - with fadein/fadeouts. :)

Once I'm ready with the option-window in "TITLE PROPERTIES" (button [more]) you'll be able to select custom audio and video for each title individually + some other things.

Dean

[Music Fan]

I have two problems with an AVCHD burned on dvd made with build 729 ;
1)With a m2ts file including Dolby True HD audio, my receiver has a big problem with the sound (except when I keep only the core) : it's well detected as True HD (my receiver is of course True HD compatible otherwise I wouldn't talk about that), but it's inaudible because it's cut every second : the sound appears and disappears nonstop.
Its peak bitrate is 5844 kbps (according to TSMuxer).
I don't have this problem with the True HD of my Blu-ray discs.
I believed it was probably due to the high bitrate 1080p video (15 Mbps, not so high), but even with the video transcoded (with MeGui) in 720p @ 3000 kbps, the problem persisted.
It was the first time I tried True HD on an AVCHD.

2)Something else new for me : I tried the transcoding option (before doing it with MeGui) and after a few minutes, only 1 or 2 percent were done, while I chose 720p @ 3000 kbps in 1 pass turbo mode.:confused:

[deank]

1) Overall bitrates >14000 may fail with DVD discs.

2) What did you expect? Full re-encoding of a movie would usually take 1-2 hours.

[Music Fan]

1)As I said, even transcoded in 720p @ 3000 k + 5844 k for the sound, it makes 8844 kbps, and I have no problem with some files with much higher bitrate.

2)This file lasts 1 minutes 30" ! It's not a movie, just a very short demo.

[deank]

1) Well HD audio is not supported in AVCHD as you already may know

2) You didn't say it is a short sample. If you enable [x] Show spawned tools.... option you will see what x264 is doing and why it is taking so long.

Dean

[deank]

The PGS order tab is now available both in normal and re-author modes:

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_pgsorder.jpg

It should allow user to re-arrange the subtitle track order. Until now the order was internal+external or external+internal.

Quite a productive day today (added-features -wise) :)

Dean

[Music Fan]

1) Well HD audio is not supported in AVCHD as you already may know
Yes, on the "normal" AVCHD, but I believed yours was a kind of "mix" between AVCHD and Blu-Ray structure which allows nearly Blu-ray stuffs with some restrictions (no Java menu, no PIP, lower maximal bitrate, ...).
I didn't know that HD audio was one of these restrictions.
A few weeks ago, you spoke about audio compilations with True HD audio, but the guy who tested it successfully had maybe exported his project in BD mode and not AVCHD.

2) You didn't say it is a short sample. If you enable [x] Show spawned tools.... option you will see what x264 is doing and why it is taking so long.
Ok, thanks.
It's weird because with MeGui, which also uses x264, it's much faster.

[deank]

I don't have problems with AVCHD and DTS-HD or TrueHD in my Playstation3 (using external HDD). It doesn't mean anything, but AVCHD is a standard and it comes with restrictions. Your problem seems to refer not to inability to play the structure, but a problem with the equipment: bad DVD burn, bad DVD-R blank, bad optical cable/connection to your AV receiver, Panasonic BD35 inability to send HD audio when detects AVCHD... I just don't know.

[rendez2k]

* [x] Motion Title Thumbnail setting is independent from the menu style, which means that you can have all four combinations:

- motion background + motion title thumb
- motion background + static title thumb
- static background + motion title thumb (much like the PS3 video menu) - this is the one that wasn't available until now
- static background + static title thumb

Dean :)

How do you get these combinations to work? Think I'm being a little dim!

[deank]

* Motion background is defined by the Default menu style: [static/motion] in MENU/General tab.

* Motion thumbnail is defined by the checkbox [x] Motion title thumbnail in MENU/Misc tab.

[rendez2k]

* Motion background is defined by the Default menu style: [static/motion] in MENU/General tab.

* Motion thumbnail is defined by the checkbox [x] Motion title thumbnail in MENU/Misc tab.

Brilliant - it was the "Motion background is defined by the Default menu style: [static/motion] in MENU/General tab" bit I was missing!

When the video with fades is created for the background, does it pick random segments form the whole video and play them in a random order with fades?

[deank]

Yes, it splits the movie in 10 equal segments, then uses segments 2 to 9 (to avoid intro spots and ending credits) and THEN uses these 8 segments in order 1 8 2 7 3 6 5 4 :)

I thought it would deliver nice movie cuts without disclosing too much of the actual movie... :) Even if you watched it you'd be surprised by the video sequence.

Dean

[rendez2k]

Yes, it splits the movie in 10 equal segments, then uses segments 2 to 9 (to avoid intro spots and ending credits) and THEN uses these 8 segments in order 1 8 2 7 3 6 5 4 :)

I thought it would deliver nice movie cuts without disclosing too much of the actual movie... :) Even if you watched it you'd be surprised by the video sequence.

Dean

Lovely thinking :-)

[deank]

Yep... it is what makes multiAVCHD a lovely application... There are a lot of such things hidden in multiAVCHD when using the labels 'default' or 'auto' :)

***

Sadly there are not so many test-reports of 730RC build, but in one of the next days I'll publish it as official. I'll try to add a 'resume' function for the PLAY button but either way I'll upload it as new major version (probably not 3.1).

Dean

[Music Fan]

I don't have problems with AVCHD and DTS-HD or TrueHD in my Playstation3 (using external HDD).
Ok, but in this case, why do you say that HD audio is not supported in AVCHD ? :o
When you speak about AVCHD, you should speak about the MultiAVCHD format -we all know that the "real" AVCHD is very restrictive ; no subtitles, no Dts, ...-, because this can cause misunderstandings in our discussion. ;)
I know of course that the "real" AVCHD format supports neither HD audio nor even simple Dts audio, but as I don't have any problem with Dts, I believed that HD formats would be read without problem.
My Panasonic player is probably the cause of the problem.

[deank]

When I say "AVCHD" I refer to "AVCHD standard". What multiAVCHD produces may sometimes be not compliant to the standard (when using subtitles or DTS or HD audio), but it is up to the user - it is that I made multiAVCHD relaxed. I can always make it strict and I'll avoid bug reports which are not really bugs.

[Music Fan]

What multiAVCHD produces may sometimes be not compliant to the standard
Of course, and that's why we like and use MultiAVCHD ! ;)

Am I the first to report problem with True HD exported in AVCHD mode ?
Just to know if I'm unlucky.:o

[drelin]

I've made quick playback tests with PowerDVD 7.3 (with HDD source to play BDVM structure).
This evening I'll make tests on standalone players (PIONEER & SONY) with AVCD on DVD and BDVM on BD-RE.

Thank.

Ok, I've tested playback on DVD (AVCHD output) and BD-RE (BD outpout).
Audio and subtitles track selection work fine.

N.B : With standalone players (like SONY or PIONEER tested in this case) nagivation into differents menu pages are not so quickly like a PS3.
Is not a but to Multiavchd.
For sample, The delay time to acces at setup menu page is 2sec after button validation on SONY player BDP-s350


For this test, I've made a project with one title and without "title menu" creation.
But during playback menu the "tittle list" according button is always displayed (only the button), but acces return to title menu ?

[deank]

There is the same 2 seconds delay in NERO... I'll see if I can fix it (TMT and PS3 act differently... In fact ALL players - software/hardware do weird things and it makes my work a nightmare)

About your question about 'title menu' - I can't understand you.

User has four options:

* MAIN/TOP menu
* No MAIN/TOP menu
* MAIN/TOP menu + TITLE LIST menu
* No MAIN/TOP menu and NO TITLE LIST menu

If you don't create MAIN/TOP menu but you have [x] Add title-list menu option enabled, then you'll get the TITLE-LIST menu acting as a MAIN/TOP menu.

What are you trying to accomplish?

*** I re-read your post... I'll check about the "TITLE LIST" label... I did it for "SETUP" and "CHAPTERS" but I think there is no check about the "TITLE LIST" label when no "TITLE LIST" menu is created.

[drelin]

There is the same 2 seconds delay in NERO... I'll see if I can fix it (TMT and PS3 act differently... In fact ALL players - software/hardware do weird things and it makes my work a nightmare)

About your question about 'title menu' - I can't understand you.

User has four options:

* MAIN/TOP menu
* No MAIN/TOP menu
* MAIN/TOP menu + TITLE LIST menu
* No MAIN/TOP menu and NO TITLE LIST menu

If you don't create MAIN/TOP menu but you have [x] Add title-list menu option enabled, then you'll get the TITLE-LIST menu acting as a MAIN/TOP menu.

What are you trying to accomplish?

*** I re-read your post... I'll check about the "TITLE LIST" label... I did it for "SETUP" and "CHAPTERS" but I think there is no check about the "TITLE LIST" label when no "TITLE LIST" menu is created.

Thank

For more precision :
With only 3 labels created "play" / "setup" / "chapter"
navigation left/right into "play" and "setup" works fine
but if you go to right between "setup" you selected blank button (correpsonding to title list i think) without label;
same result if go to up between "setup".
other button work fine.

I hope that is more clearly than my previous post

[rendez2k]

With the new motion menu options just about complete, any chance of a more detailed menu preview option? I know some rendering would be required but it's better than having to re-do entire projects

[deank]

Thank

For more precision :
With only 3 labels created "play" / "setup" / "chapter"
navigation left/right into "play" and "setup" works fine
but if you go to right between "setup" you selected blank button (correpsonding to title list i think) without label;
same result if go to up between "setup".
other button work fine.

I hope that is more clearly than my previous post

When there is no TITLE LIST menu the button won't be available (and the label too). HIDE option hides the label. The other logic (which I'll add) will hide the button, too. May be tomorrow.

With the new motion menu options just about complete, any chance of a more detailed menu preview option? I know some rendering would be required but it's better than having to re-do entire projects

What is it that you can't see in the menu preview, which causes you to re-do the compilations?

[rendez2k]

What is it that you can't see in the menu preview, which causes you to re-do the compilations?

Well I assume you can't see the motion preview? It would be nice to see how things like the text looks against animated backgrounds, and which background clips have been selected. Maybe just a personal taste things but it helps to minimize any issues. As I say, you could have two options - a quick static preview and a proper rendered version? At the moment, the preview just shows the standard background image - not even a clip from the video.

Edit: Just had an example of this. Made a TV compilation and forgot that the TV episodes had logos in the corner. This ended up over my text on the menu. A quick preview would have shown me this.

[deank]

I know that a full-featured menu preview would be a nice touch but it will double (if not triple/4ple) the things I need to follow in multiAVCHD. Even at the current stage, menu preview and menu generation are two completely different procedures. 1st depends directly on the input media (files) and 2nd depends on the final mux/compilation.

There is no (easy) way to program what you ask for. It is a setback, but it will cost efforts which can be directed in other directions/features.

Dean

[rendez2k]

I know that a full-featured menu preview would be a nice touch but it will double (if not triple/4ple) the things I need to follow in multiAVCHD. Even at the current stage, menu preview and menu generation are two completely different procedures. 1st depends directly on the input media (files) and 2nd depends on the final mux/compilation.

There is no (easy) way to program what you ask for. It is a setback, but it will cost efforts which can be directed in other directions/features.

Dean

I'm no expert by any means, but couldn't you just run the menu generation part then preview the resulting video in say media player classic (or even just save it to the desktop and the let user check?). Also noticed that if I change the co-ordinates of say the play button that these aren't updated on the preview. I wasn't expecting full navigation - just an indication of how things are looking really.

[deank]

All coordinates are applied to the preview. Probably you didn't enable [x] Apply button position settings option in MENU/Misc. Please take time to examine all the options I gave you.

The coordinate values are default for XMB menu and are not applied unless you tick the box I mentioned. The LABELS and the [x] hide options are applied when you change them, but not the coordinates (it is designed to work that way in case the user plays with the settings without paying attention what he is doing).

[rendez2k]

All coordinates are applied to the preview. Probably you didn't enable [x] Apply button position settings option in MENU/Misc. Please take time to examine all the options I gave you.

Yup - missed that option - works great!

[drelin]

Few requests when you'll work for one title authoring :

- A option to make totaly transparent the square background for the audio and chapter menu page.
With this option, we can use a custom (static image) background.

- A main menu with only PLAY SETUP and CHATPER button access with horizontal or vertical navigation (like as discusssion in previous post)

That all, but only when you can have time for work on it :)

- a option for use custom backoground (static or video with audio) for audio menu and chapter menu

[deank]

How would you know what you select with fully transparent selection box?

***

As I said, the [more] button in TITLE PROPERTIES will let you do whatever you want with all the pages (main/subtitle/chapters).

I was hoping for more feedback to proceed further, but as I said I'll do it anyway.

Dean

*** p.s. I'm always amazed by the menu pages you create and they inspire me to add features in multiAVCHD, so if you can - please illustrate what you expect as a final result. It helps me a lot. I'm a good programmer and a bad designer as most of you already noticed. :)

[drelin]

How would you know what you select with fully transparent selection box?

***

As I said, the [more] button in TITLE PROPERTIES will let you do whatever you want with all the pages (main/subtitle/chapters).

I was hoping for more feedback to proceed further, but as I said I'll do it anyway.

Dean

*** p.s. I'm always amazed by the menu pages you create and they inspire me to add features in multiAVCHD, so if you can - please illustrate what you expect as a final result. It helps me a lot. I'm a good programmer and a bad designer as most of you already noticed. :)

Ok, I Understand.
You are great programmer and don't have a good aid with my english :)
You're right, it's more easy with illustration.
Tomorow, I'll create sample menus for illustrate

Thank for your comprehension.

[drelin]

Hello,
See sample for explain a custom presentation for audio and chapter menu pages (without the square background)

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/2853/chaptersample.jpg

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/8251/audiosample.jpg

For audio menu, can you provide same option as chapter menu page for "coordinate values" ?

And additional question about the graphic type of button :

With this new version, you've change the original button "arrow" by square and if I remember ours previuos posts, you said that you don't any solution for muxing (or create) IGS in m2ts to customize the button (like a frame arround chapter picture for example). It is right ?

How can you create the actually button ? You use a ready m2ts create by other software (like NERO vision) ?
in this case, if I'll provide you m2ts with other graphic buttons (like as frame for chapter) all ready muxed, that can help you ?

If I right about this point, tell me characteritics you need.

[deank]

You have the option for X/Y of the audio/subtitle setup in MENU/General (default 640, 530).

The "RESUME" function of the PLAY button is ready. It is activated if user quits the movie from the POP-UP menu with "TITLE MENU" button. Then one can change the options in SETUP and resume the playback from the last chapter played.