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

[deank]

Hello,

I'm working on sample AVCHD with motion menu and custom menus.

I encounter 3 problems :...

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

Three new options are available in MENU/MISC tab.

[x] Do not apply background tweaks - you get the background video untouched

[x] Do not apply trailer cuts - you get the video as is, without applying scene cuts and fade in/outs

[x] Apply in/out fade - to be used with the option above - adds in/out fades for better menu loop appearance.

Dean

[zoner]

i still have the same problem as drelin had, while making a motion menu with a custom audio it is always loops for 2 secs...
while using default music however, it works.
I tried it for about 10 times with mp3s dts files and so on, and it happens with all menu types

[rendez2k]

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

Three new options are available in MENU/MISC tab.

[x] Do not apply background tweaks - you get the background video untouched

[x] Do not apply trailer cuts - you get the video as is, without applying scene cuts and fade in/outs

[x] Apply in/out fade - to be used with the option above - adds in/out fades for better menu loop appearance.

Dean

Dean your amazing - everything we think of gets added! Clearly we need some more challenging ideas :-)

[drelin]

Thank a lot. :)

I'll try and post the result when I'll can re-download the updated build (I've just a little problem to access at download file).

[rendez2k]

I assume the background vids are still 32 seconds max? Any longer and they get faded out with new option? And I can't remember - can you have original video audio now?

[deank]

i still have the same problem as drelin had, while making a motion menu with a custom audio it is always loops for 2 secs...
while using default music however, it works.
I tried it for about 10 times with mp3s dts files and so on, and it happens with all menu types

My tests with XMB menu:

Meny type [motion]
[x] Motion title thumbnail
User audio (ac3): works fine

Meny type [motion]
[-] Motion title thumbnail
User audio (ac3): works fine

***

I think I know what the problem is...

Open your multiAVCHD.ini and go to line 58. Change the value to 3 and try again. What value do you have there? If it works after you change it, re-download the latest version again.

I assume the background vids are still 32 seconds max? Any longer and they get faded out with new option? And I can't remember - can you have original video audio now?

Video and audio are in separate files... Yes 777 frames of video - that's it.

[rendez2k]

Video and audio are in separate files... Yes 777 frames of video - that's it.

You'd have to re-do the audio I guess anyway to get smooth looping as I assume the fade is only applied to the video and not the audio?

[deank]

Well that's your job as users... If you want custom video/audio you'll have to prepare them yourself.

The tons of options available already scare all the new users... I don't want it to be this way.

[drelin]

I've just test the last build.

The options for "tweak" and fade in/out work fine, but not for "Do not apply trailer cut to BG".
During menu creating, I can see that multiavchd read and encode the BG video normally (with the total during time), but after compilation the motin menu run only 2 sec in loop and the m2ts according hav only 1,72MB (2 s during time).

I don't know if I uderstand well : for video background import, the limit of during time exist (allways 30 sec max) or not (motion menu loop depends of BG video duration) ?

[rendez2k]

The tons of options available already scare all the new users... I don't want it to be this way.

Could you have an option to hide some of the advanced options?

[Music Fan]

@ deank : I saw on another forum that the LG BD390 could play the menus created by v730 but can't play the pop-up menus, even when exported in BD mode.
Something weird : even in BD mode, the disc is recognized as AVCHD and not BD.
Thus I believe that there are 3 different cases concerning the v730 ;
-Panasonic : play neither menus nor pop-up menus
-LG : play menus but not pop-up menus
-Sony : play everything

[deank]

i still have the same problem as drelin had, while making a motion menu with a custom audio it is always loops for 2 secs...
while using default music however, it works.
I tried it for about 10 times with mp3s dts files and so on, and it happens with all menu types

I've just test the last build.

The options for "tweak" and fade in/out work fine, but not for "Do not apply trailer cut to BG".
During menu creating, I can see that multiavchd read and encode the BG video normally (with the total during time), but after compilation the motin menu run only 2 sec in loop and the m2ts according hav only 1,72MB (2 s during time).

I don't know if I uderstand well : for video background import, the limit of during time exist (allways 30 sec max) or not (motion menu loop depends of BG video duration) ?

Ok... it is a bug in tsMuxeR... If asked to cut video+audio to 32nd second it breaks and cuts only 2.400 seconds.

It is fixed, so you'll need to re-download. It now works (after I managed to replicate the problem).

Yes, multiAVCHD will always encode exactly 777 frames which is ~32 seconds.

[deank]

@ deank : I saw on another forum that the LG BD390 could play the menus created by v730 but can't play the pop-up menus, even when exported in BD mode.
Something weird : even in BD mode, the disc is recognized as AVCHD and not BD.
Thus I believe that there are 3 different cases concerning the v730 ;
-Panasonic : play neither menus nor pop-up menus
-LG : play menus but not pop-up menus
-Sony : play everything

Build 730 produces 100% compliant Blu-ray output when using "Blu-ray" button. I don't know about how players handle it when it is written to DVD - it is for BD-R/RE discs...

I believe it is related to the recording media (DVD/BD-R) and not to multiAVCHD.

[zoner]

thank you so much, as always :)

[deank]

Thank a lot. :)

I'll try and post the result when I'll can re-download the updated build (I've just a little problem to access at download file).

There was a left-over 'fade-out' even with the new options. I tested it with your BG and it loops perfectly now.

I'm sorry, but you'll have to download it again.

Make sure you have [-] Apply in/out fade disabled, too.

[drelin]

Thank.

It's OK now, loop at 32 sec works fine.
I've just a little fad out at the end of video sequence of the menu. I'll check if my original video is just over 32 sec and it's related.


After that, I'm ready for post the sample with the actually features.

When all features will be added and the final version avialable, I'll try to make a complete tutorial / documentation (in french, I'll request to member to make a good translation in english for all) to create custom menus for a One title AVCHD/BLURAY project. :)

THANK for the quick correction. ;)

[deank]

Here is an interesting find: Playstation3 supports the button-sounds when moving the selection-box in chapters and title-list menus :) when playing from USB.

***

The RC build in the updated (http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_730RC.rar)archive now supports sounds with navigation both for Blu-ray and Playstation 3 (for solid media) output modes.

The sound is controlled by the option in menu/misc:

http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_menu_misc_sound.jpg

Also a small fix for [static] menu - it was generated 2x32seconds (1min 4seconds) - now back to 32secs.

***

I forgot to mention that the usage of mplayer and its function to extract frames for previewing the current encode/menu creation is rewritten, so no more weird "NO DISC IN DRIVE" errors :) and no more .multiTH folders all over the place (only in TEMP folder). And again multiAVCHD.exe is smaller than a week ago... Almost the size of build 729(just 20KB bigger, despite all the new stuff) with .dat-file half the size, too. :)

[drelin]

For all users :

You can download a AVCHD sample project for one title movie with :
- Custom Main Motion Menu (video + audio)
- Custom static setup menu for audio and subtitle selection
- Custom static chapters menus (12 chapter marks).

I'll see the actually and next features of Multiavchd.
To make this sample, I've made 3 compilations (1 for motion menu and 2 other for each setup and chapter menu) and I've replaced the m2ts files according to SETUP and CHAPTER menus.
It's just for illustrate the features. In the final version, if I don't make a mistake, the user will can import a separate custom background for each menu page (setup and chapter).

N.B : To provide a small sample, I remove the video title, DON'T activate PLAY button, it's not working.
The thumbnails are not according to the graphic menu presentation, it's not a bug.

Can you burned on the project on DVD-RW ( to save a DVD-R), test the navigation menus (only) on your player and return the result.

Link :
http://www.mediafire.com/file/42od2umdzki/AVCHD.zip

[deank]

What can I say?! :) Looks great, plays smooth, loops perfectly fine.

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_custom_menu_drelin_1.jpg

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_custom_menu_drelin_2.jpg

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_custom_menu_drelin_3.jpg

:)

***

I'll try to add preview of the actual navigation-box position - it will make things easier when using custom backgrounds.

Thanks, drelin!

Dean

[rendez2k]

I know you've done a lot already, but any news on being able to create actual titles for the audio and subtitles, such as comment tracks?

[deank]

I answered to your request - when I have time I'll do it. Not the most important thing on my list, since there are tons of other things not working properly (like chapter<->thumbnail links in title properties)... I need to clear those first and then go on. Please don't push me, because all this is overwhelming already. :(

[rendez2k]

I answered to your request - when I have time I'll do it. Not the most important thing on my list, since there are tons of other things not working properly (like chapter<->thumbnail links in title properties)... I need to clear those first and then go on. Please don't push me, because all this is overwhelming already. :(

Yup, sorry you are quite right as always! I'll shut up now and let you get on with it :-)

[drelin]

@ Deank

Originally Posted by deank
What can I say?! Looks great, plays smooth, loops perfectly fine.

Thank for look but for "plays smooth" and "loops perfectly fine" : it's your work ;)

If you'll can add preview of navigation box position for menus , I have a request for only audio menu :
A option to hide the text "Audio and subtitle setup" and automatic text for audio track and subtitle track selection.
In this case, we can write with font, color and size wanted directly on custom background and coordinate position with the preview.

Another thing, just for remember is reduce if it's avialable the size of navigation button on audio menu only.
it's not a priority.

Thank you

Monday, I'll try to post for all a little complete AVCHD started to burn with Open source CGI short movie (8 min) "Bick Buck Bunny" with custom authoring mastered by Multiavchd. :)

[Music Fan]

I did a lot for all the Panasonic users around the world already (with all the specific things required for these players to play off of SDHC) and if anyone reported earlier that 730RC it is not working probably I would've never started with the motion menu. I posted samples few weeks ago...

I guess Panasonic users which burn to DVD and want menu would have to stick with version 3.0.729. It is a stable and fully operational one.

(late edit: on the other hand I may add back the old in-stream-mux IGS menu so we'd have 100% backwards compatibility... it will take some time and KB space but it is not impossible. I need to have the current test_build version bug-free first)

Version 3.1 (which will probably turn into 4.0) features out-of-mux menu generation, which is much better and compliant (in Blu-ray and Playstation 3 output modes). Panasonic SDHC and Viera (PAL/NTSC) do not support menu anyway, so it leaves out the output for "AVCHD compatible players". Most should work with the new menu-muxing technique... Panasonic seems not be among them.

Dean
I read again this message written a few days ago, and I'm not sure to understand it very well.
Did you mean that current Panasonic players will never be able to play the new menus or you meant that it could perhaps be possible if MultiAVCHD was programmed differently ?

And what means in-stream-mux and out-of-mux ?

Sorry if these questions look stupid but it's not so easy to understand when you're not a programmer.:o ;)

[deank]

Yup, sorry you are quite right as always! I'll shut up now and let you get on with it :-)

I guess this is what you wanted... It is implemented now for AUDIO tracks. There will be no such feature for external SUBTITLE tracks.

Set a name in TITLE PROPERTIES for the audio stream,
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_named_audio_tp.jpg

and you'll see it in the SETUP box:
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_named_audio.jpg

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_named_audio-3.jpg

The updated archive is now available for download. There was a bug when NO-MENU + TITLE_LIST menu is created - fixed.


I read again this message written a few days ago, and I'm not sure to understand it very well.
Did you mean that current Panasonic players will never be able to play the new menus or you meant that it could perhaps be possible if MultiAVCHD was programmed differently ?

And what means in-stream-mux and out-of-mux ?


Out-of-mux menu/igs/secondaray audio/PIP are methods employing sub-path mechanism in the playlist files. Such thing is NOT supported by the AVCHD standard as far as I know. It means that any player which defaults to AVCHD mode with DVD media will probably fail to play these new menus. All the files you see which are numbered 9xxxx.m2ts are out-of-mux menu files, which contain only programs (navigation commands) and simple IGS objects (the square and rectangle boxes) for displaying the navigation. Since there is NO muxer available to mux IGS with H.264 into M2TS there was no other way to implement all this, unless I'm using separate (out-of-mux) navigation files.

@drelin: I can't reduce the size of the box. I'll see about the properties of texts in the SETUP box, too.

[drelin]

@ Deank
Forget for the button size, it's a detail and not important to compare of the other features :)

[deank]

To add something more:

If an imported file supports meta-data with names for audio-tracks these names will be automatically imported.

[deank]

Few new things about the menu:

You can now change/remove the labels for all texts (for SETUP and CHAPTER menu pages) in Menu/Menu labels tab. MISC is now ADVANCED and XMB/Slide/Carousel is "EXTENDED" tab:

http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_menu_misc_2.jpg

http://multiAVCHD.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_named_audio-4.jpg

Fonts and colors for the labels will come later the next few days (eventually).

@drelin: You can now clear the fields with the button labels (for header and [X] close) and use directly the custom background for your button-texts. I'll try to add the customization for each menu page (background/audio) tomorrow.

Dean

[rendez2k]

I guess this is what you wanted... It is implemented now for AUDIO tracks. There will be no such feature for SUBTITLE tracks.

Set a name in TITLE PROPERTIES for the audio stream,
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_named_audio_tp.jpg

and you'll see it in the SETUP box:
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_named_audio.jpg


Awesome work Dean. I really didn't expect you to do it tonight! No rush at all, but the same for naming options for subtitles would be excellent (but only eventually!).

[rendez2k]

It is in fact ready (sorry - but only for INTERNAL audio tracks)... I just wanted to see if you'll read and dismiss my statement that it won't be possible. :)

Well, you just keep outdoing yourself. You tell us things aren't possible then go one better and make them superb! Really, you should sleep more! Good work today!

[deank]

It is ready (sorry - but only for INTERNAL subtitle tracks) :)

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_named_sub_1.jpg

[rendez2k]

Internal subs is fine - I think we can just use mkvmerge to put any external subtitles into the video (just testing that theory now).

After testing the menu previews yesterday, it all works great here - my only tiny request (and again, no rush!) is that you add a button to re-randomize the background video. I tested some movies and ended up with segments of titles etc (doesn't look too nice on a menu). But its looking and working great here!

[deank]

Is that what you mean - to randomize the 'random' order of 1 8 2 7 3 6 5 4?

[rendez2k]

Is that what you mean - to randomize the 'random' order of 1 8 2 7 3 6 5 4?

I guess so! So, if I don't like the random selection picked, I can just re-randomize. As I say, in my tests I had a few 'bad' selections due to tiles etc.

[drelin]

Hello,

Just a little problem for "text label" in SETUP menu.
The text for < > X "subtitle OFF" and "Audio and subtitle setup" is correctly undisplayed but the text for audio and subtitles tracks are allways displayed (see picture).

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/303/badtext.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/i/badtext.jpg/)

Can you add a option for desactive this display ?

Thank.

[deank]

@drelin: I can make the labels disappear IF the HEADLINE is a blank string.. Just redownload the archive.

@rendez2k:

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

[rendez2k]

@drelin: I can make the labels disappear IF the HEADLINE is a blank string.. Just redownload the archive.

@rendez2k:

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

Dean, as always you have excelled yourself! Good work!

[deank]

Can you add a option for desactive this display ?

If you clear the text for "Setup header" entry the tags for audio/subtitle languages won't be displayed.

If there is at least one character - they will be displayed. It means that one can enter 'space' and loose the header, but sill have the labels.

Dean

[drelin]

If you clear the text for "Setup header" entry the tags for audio/subtitle languages won't be displayed.

If there is at least one character - they will be displayed. It means that one can enter 'space' and loose the header, but sill have the labels.

Dean

Thank all lot for the feature and precission.
Now, I can customise perfectly the SETUP Menu and Chapter Menu.

I've just saw that the shape button and chapter thumbnails are not exactly aligned (centered).
Same thing for shape button "prev" between the 2 other buttons "next" and close. (Prev is little down).
But, it's just a detail.
I'm so "pignoleur" (it's a french expression for a man who wear too much importance to few details) ;)

[deank]

I've just saw that the shape button and chapter thumbnails are not exactly aligned (centered).
Same thing for shape button "prev" between the 2 other buttons "next" and close. (Prev is little down).

I noticed that, too (about the < button). I can't understand which one in the 'chapter menu'? All thumbs are properly overlapped with the selection box (i'm using frame border 2 pixels).

I'll fix it later.

edit: fixed.

[DLynch]

With this latest version, static XMB menus with static thumbs seems to be broken.:(

With a project that compiled successfully 2 days ago, I now get.

[09:58:37] Preparing menu pages...
[09:58:37] Encoding static XMB menu page [1/3].
[09:58:41] Cannot detect file size: (D:\multiAVCHD31RC\_TEMP\multiTEMP-20100212\20100212-095735-MM001.264)
[09:58:41] Error encoding main menu page #1!
[09:58:49] Final output may be corrupted!
[09:58:49] Trying to use TITLE-LIST menu as main menu...
[09:58:50] Encoding static XMB menu page [1/3]: Chapter page [1/2].
[09:58:57] Encoding static XMB menu page [1/3]: Chapter page [2/2].
[09:59:04] Encoding static XMB menu page [2/3].
[09:59:09] Cannot detect file size: (D:\multiAVCHD31RC\_TEMP\multiTEMP-20100212\20100212-095735-MM002.264)
[09:59:09] Error encoding main menu page #2!
[09:59:15] Encoding static XMB menu page [2/3]: Chapter page [1/2].
[09:59:22] Encoding static XMB menu page [2/3]: Chapter page [2/2].
[09:59:30] Encoding static XMB menu page [3/3].
[09:59:34] Cannot detect file size: (D:\multiAVCHD31RC\_TEMP\multiTEMP-20100212\20100212-095735-MM003.264)
[09:59:34] Error encoding main menu page #3!
[09:59:41] Encoding static XMB menu page [3/3]: Chapter page [1/2].
[09:59:48] Encoding static XMB menu page [3/3]: Chapter page [2/2].
[09:59:56] Menu authoring completed.

I get the message box asking me to check the AVS file and report back to you. When I click OK MPC shows me the menu I was trying to generate.

It's not a bad jpeg file this time around, I've already checked that. I also tried a project that worked a few days ago.

There used to be a slider for "Frames to Encode" that now seems to be AWOL. I think I had a similar problem in the very early days to the program and you added that slider back then to get around the problem.

[deank]

I can't understand why certain PC configurations have the problem when avisynth asks x264 to encode just 3 or 6 frames. It is either a broken avisynth or incompatibility between your CPU and x264.

You're right, I changed the setting for frames to encode to 3 (default is 14 I think). Re-download the archive and change line 58 in your .ini file to higher value and let me know what works.

[DLynch]

You're right, I changed the setting for frames to encode to 3 (default is 14 I think). Re-download the archive and change line 58 in your .ini file to higher value and let me know what works.

7 works!:)

Thanks for the quick response.

I'll check out LinX regarding CPU stability.


Update: When I check in the ini file after a successful compilation, Line 58 reads 14?! Even though I set it to 7.

[deank]

14 will work too (but probably a bit slower)... I fixed the issue so now it is not possible to set a value <7 - it will default to 7. Re-download if you want.

[deank]

As you know, [AVCHD strict] button creates menus similar to these in builds up to 729 (static).

What I'm trying to add to 730 is backwards compatibility of some kind, so restricted compilations would have at least the same features as before, such as 12 chapters in chapter-menu page.

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_bwc_1.jpg

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_bwc_2.jpg

With [AVCHD strict] output mode, SETUP and TITLE LIST buttons are removed and CHAPTERS is moved where [SETUP] usually is. Chapter menu page has only [X] close button (no < >).

At the moment these pages are generated, but the main page does not allow navigation to the chapter menu page. I'll let you all know once it is fully functioning.

It *may* be possible to extend the chapter-menu to 8 pages x 12 chapters and get the same features as in new menus introduced in 730... I need to do some tests first (and also Panasonic users). Most probably if it works I may add "SETUP" and "TITLE LIST" to this mode, too.

Dean

[Music Fan]

Out-of-mux menu/igs/secondaray audio/PIP are methods employing sub-path mechanism in the playlist files. Such thing is NOT supported by the AVCHD standard as far as I know. It means that any player which defaults to AVCHD mode with DVD media will probably fail to play these new menus. All the files you see which are numbered 9xxxx.m2ts are out-of-mux menu files, which contain only programs (navigation commands) and simple IGS objects (the square and rectangle boxes) for displaying the navigation. Since there is NO muxer available to mux IGS with H.264 into M2TS there was no other way to implement all this, unless I'm using separate (out-of-mux) navigation files.
Thanks for this explanation ! :)

[Dolsen]

Hello, here is a list of bugs I found in multiAVCHD. Sorry if they are already known.


Properties, Chapters: when you type 12 and press "auto" it will not create 12 chapters.
Properties, when you have some chapters, and choose "Skip to previous chapter" it will not work, it skips to wrong time. "Skip to next chapter" works correct.
Properties, drag the timeline max left or right. Nothing happends, no new preview image is created.
Properties, External subtitles, try to add an external subtitle and you get a filebrowser window, and the filename filter is not working correct, it shows all types of files, not just what the filter should allow the filebrowser to show. In this case *.srt *.ssa *.sub *.sup etc...
Properties, type a value in poster field, you want poster-image from 9th second, so you type 9, leave properties with "ok", move mouse pointer over file in medialist, it shows info that poster-image is taken from the 9th second. Reopen properties, the poster-image is not from 9th second, but 9th frame.
Settings, "Delete all files in temp" => It will not delete all the empty folders inside temp.
Visual bug in program, when I start the program, there is a picture-logo of multiAVCHD, when I minimize and reopen it again, there is no longer a logo, just text "multiAVCHD".
Menu, Menu preview -> "Main menu" will only show real poster-image if "motion title thumbnail" is selected.


Bye,
Dolsen

[Dolsen]

Hello,

Here is a list of different fixes and new features I thought about after testing out your great multiAVCHD for a period. These are just suggestions, nothing more... Your program creates very nice and cool results already, any more features are just huge bonuses. I'm very impressed with how devoted you are in adding features from users, and how quickly you does it. Can not remember seen this sort of user-support in any other programs I have used. I joined forum monday and there was 5 days I had to wait before I could post a reply here. During these 5 days I had to tick off many new features I had on my list, simply because you included those already during the last 5 days! :thanks:


Properties, Preview shows wrong aspect ratio when videoclip has aspect 4:3, its stretched to 16:9. It should preview with correct aspect ratio depending on videoclip in use.

"Open file" window has many fileformat choices, there should be a "all supported fileformats filter" that perhaps is the one selected when you want to add a file, and then you can choose if you only want to show one type of fileformats in the file-browsing window. If you have several different fileformats in same folder that multiAVCHD supports you currently have to select each fileformats in turn. I know you can drag and drop files directly into "Media" in the program, but often I add files within the program.

Media => Also possible to move an item all the way to "Top" or "Bottom", not just "Up" or "Down". If possible, drag and drop line sorting in the file list.

Media => Multi-select in the list of added files, to do possible actions (move/delete) on several at once. Multi-select should work if possible with drag and mark, or click first then shift+click last and ctrl+click to select individual lines in the filelist.

Properties, possible to skip other values forward and backwards, and not just one frame. Perhaps "<5","<1","<F" and "F>","1>","5>" to skip 1 frame/1 second/5 second.

Properties, possible to type a timevalue to jump directly to that time on the timeline.

Properties, a button to jump to the defined poster-position on timeline.

All different x&y values should have each a "Reset" button [R] that would reset selected x&y to same value used with buttons internal in the program when "apply button position settings" is not selected or the "default" values you had programmed in program when you added "Chapter menu" and "Setup menu" position feature. Just so the user could easy reset back to some decent x&y values if doing some wrong choices.

Could all font-selectors use same font-select window with a font preview when you want to select a font? Right now there are two methods used in program to choose font, with a window and with a popup-meny style (like in Menu>Fonts&Colors). Should have been same font-selector in all places...

Subtitles&Audio,Audio Conversion settings => AC3 bitrate fields should not be a type-field but a popup with all allowed bitrates.

There is several places in the program where you can choose language, could it be possible to have an external file that the program preloads during startup that makes it possible to have the language input-field turned into a popup-menu. And if the external file was a text-file, the user could rearrange the order of languages, so each user could put their most used languages at the top lines to easy select those, and not have to every time scroll so much in the popup-menu.

Could it be possible to user-select if user want to see AR info (4:3,16:9,1.85,2.35,etc..) of a title in the title info text?

Properties,"Menu page" and the linked "more" button is currently disabled, I assume the user can do some individual menu settings for each title when it's ready for use? Like enable/disable chapter menu and setting menu? Would it be possible to make the program automatically only add Setting menu or Chapter menu if there are more then one audio/subtitle/chapter in a title? Example: I have 60 titles in my project, and only 2 have extra subtitles/audio and only 3 titles have more then one chapter. With automatic, only 2 titles will have Play+Setting menu, and 3 titles will have Play+Chapter menu and 55 titles would only have Play.

Is it possible to make the Main menu support other aspect ratio and not have all titles posters locked to 16:9? All my titles with 4:3 aspect ratio get stretched to 16:9, should be shown in 4:3 or add black borders left/right and keep 16:9.

Background motion in Main menu stretches all titles into 16:9, even if they are in other aspect ratio. And titles with aspect ratio 2.35 which have black borders will also show black borders in motion background. Could it be possible to make the generated motion background zoom into video to get a correct 16:9 aspect ratio and have black borders removed from those with known and correct aspect ratio? Would this in worst case make the rendering of background motion alot slower? Perhaps make it user-selectable if user want to make faster rendering (stretched aspect ratio and black borders) or slower rendering with correct aspect ratio and black borders removed?

Background motion system supports 777 frames of video/audio. Could it be possible to have a setting to have user-selectable length of the motion? ~32seconds , ~16 seconds and ~8 seconds? It would really help people with slow computer, like myself. Each background motion takes 8-10 minutes on my computer, have a shorter sequence would drastically shorten the creation of the project.

Title menu, that can show many titles at once to select among. Could it be possible to have the thumbnail in other sizes, so the user could place front side of dvd/bluray cover as the thumbnail image? It means there must be a file-field inside Properties of each title, and a switch to choose either the normal title menu, or title menu with user-selectable thumbnails. And perhaps possible to select how many thumbnails pr row and column on each Title menu page.

I have tested the 480p Popup menu, but only with a PAL (576) title on my Playstation3 and it works. But 480p popup menu is not perfectly placed just above the timeline in Playstation3 compared to the popup menu when displayed on a 720p or 1080p output. It's alot higher on the screen, almost in the center of the screen. Also the red line below each item in the 480p popup menu is not as long compared to the popup menu when displayed on a 720p or 1080p output. My Playstion3 system is setup to output NTSC/PAL movies in 480p/576p and not upscaling because I have external videoprosessor to do my upscaling.

Uncrop feature: Is it possible to place the top black border below to have 100% below, and not 50% above and 50% below?


Bye,
Dolsen

[Dolsen]

Hello,

I have some thoughts about how the user-interface could be some more user-friendly in some parts of the program:


All input-fields should have same background color (in my system it's white). There are some that uses a background color which wrongly tells the user this field is not user-editable. Like input-field in Properties,chapters, the input-field uses a background color that tells me I can not type there, but I really can type there. Same wrong color in "External subtitles" where you define what language subtitle is. There could be more input-fields that has wrong background color. When you select/deselect "Use eac3to" it correctly disable some input-fields, but the background color should not be white color when disabled.



Select-boxes that is unique, like you can only choose either XMB, Slide or Carousel menu should use a select-style like the buttons when you right-click on start menu in Windows, and select properties, and you can choose either to have "start menu" or "classic start menu", that kind of buttons. Is it called radio-buttons?


Many parts of settings should be some "smarter" and enable/disable parts of user-interface when you select/deselect different settings to visual inform the user that "you have to select/deselect" something else to be able to edit something. It might perhaps sort out some of the complexity of the program?

Here are some examples of different relationships, many more relationships exists in the program:

General,"Create chapter" or "Create audio/subtitle pages" = if not selected, all user-inputs in all text-fields related to Chapter and Audio/Subtitle in "Menu buttons" should be disabled. Also x&y values of Chapter and Setup should be disabled. Transparency slider of Chapter and Setup should be blocked too.
Menu buttons,"Apply button position settings" = if not selected, all fields and select-boxes inside "Button positions" should be disabled.
Author,Playback sequence, "Skip welcome screen" = if selected, all fields and select-boxes inside "Welcome screen" should be disabled. *example removed since already does it*
Menu,"Background image" should be disabled if you choose motion menu type. And all other settings both there and in "Advanced" only linked to static image menu should also be disabled. If you choose static menu type, all settings linked only to motion menu type in "Advanced" should be disabled.



Bye,
Dolsen

[Dolsen]

Hello,

I just want to tell my user experience as new user with multiAVCHD.

I was frustrated how slow preview was in Properties and menu preview when I started using the program, because all previews and creating finished project and menu preview was so sloooooooooooow. I started timing it and found out it was always exactly ~32 second from I wanted to see a preview until the preview was displayed.

Also during creation of project my system was not usable because something was hijacking my focus-point in Windows. No matter how much I clicked nothing happend in other programs. Then I had control for some seconds and lost control again.

Also during creation of project "mx264.exe" sometimes crashed.

I knew something was wrong and I started reading some pages in this forum, and suddenly there was some tips to someone else to enable "Show spawned tools" to debug some other problems that person had. I turned on "show spawned tools", and suddenly I figured out why I had this slowness and lost focus on mouse-clicking and the crashing of "mx264.exe"!

What was it? ffdshow was asking me if "mx264.exe" should use or not use ffdshow, and there was 30 second countdown. I never got asked this question from ffdshow before, only when I turned on "show spawned tools". I choosed that "mx264.exe" always should use ffdshow, and now multiAVCHD is fast again. Preview update takes now just 2seconds, not 32seconds (2second + 30 countdown from ffdshow) like before. Also the strange hijacking of mouse focus-point and crashes of "mx264.exe" was gone.

This should have been informed to new users, when they start using the program, so they don't walk into my start-problems...


Bye,
Dolsen