maestro authoring newbie

[sky_dave]

Call me whatever, just answer my questions!
What is sub-picture?
What the difference of 16:9 letterbox and 16:9 pan/zoom and the other?
What's the meaning of "Timeout" in Maestro?

[Arky]

Originally posted by sky_dave
Call me whatever, just answer my questions!
What is sub-picture?
What the difference of 16:9 letterbox and 16:9 pan/zoom and the other?
What's the meaning of "Timeout" in Maestro?

Come on, this is VERY basic stuff - if you read a few webpages or the manual/helpfile, you'd find this info very quickly!

No matter.

"Sub-picture" can mean a couple of things - most commonly, they can mean the graphic (bitmap) overlay in a menu. Basically, all DVD menus are comprised of a background (which can be either video or still image), and a graphic image which sits on top of the background, and is used to 'highlight' buttons, when the cursor is moved over a defined field within the menu. These fields are defined by the authorer during the authoring process.

Alternatively, "sub-picture" can mean subtitles, where a series of consecutive bitmap images of words are placed in a track which runs parallel to the video data stream. Each consecutive image is assigned a specific timecode which tells the player at what point, during playback of the video stream, each subtitle image should be briefly displayed (normally subtitle display duration is approximately 2seconds, but this state of affairs is changing with more complex titles which use animated subtitle techniques - that's a complex story so I won't detail it here). This subtitle stream can usually be switched on or off, as the viewer prefers.

Yet another possibility is the use of subpictures for what is known as "button-over-video". This means that an image can be placed in a track which (like subtitles) runs parallel to the video data stream. in this instance, though, the image is not (necessarily) of text, but rather of a button, or icon, image, which switches on so as to display only at a very specific point during video playback. This can be authored so that it is actively linked to a chapter point, or to an entirely separate video stream. Thus, when the video is played back and the point is reached where the button-over-video becomes switched on, the user can "press" the subpicture image/icon of the button-over-video, and the desired action can occur.

"Timeout" in Maestro generally refers to what happens to (for example) a menu, after a pre-defined time period has elapsed. For example, if I set a timeout on Menu2 of 30seconds, I can make my DVD return to Menu1 after 30seconds of Menu2 being displayed without any user interaction. This is particularly useful where one does not wish a menu to have to loop repetitively. If I chose to, I could also make Menu1 timeout and jump to Menu2 after 30seconds of inactivity of Menu1. In this manner, neither menu would need to loop - they could just keep jumping between each other at 30second intervals. As you are probably aware, this feature can be specified during the authoring process in Maestro by looking at the bottom of the menu-editing screen - it's in one of the tabbed dialogues.

That's enough from me - I'm off to bed now!


Arky ;o)

[sky_dave]

I love doom9
Ok...no mo question

[Arky]

No, you are very welcome to ask questions, and I DID give you some answers, didn't I? :p I was only gently pulling your leg that perhaps you might easily have found what you were looking for if you'd done just a little research on the web! ;)

We are all here to help, on Doom9's forums, and don't ever be afraid to ask questions. We all have to start somewhere, and I asked a HECK of a lot of questions when I started DVD authoring. I would suggest that you get into the habit of browsing the forums on a regular basis, even if you are not actually searching for a specific answer. I always browse recent posts, and it's amazing what you can learn from other people's projects and experiences. Some of it only becomes relevant to you months later, but you are then grateful that you did some background reading months earlier, and you can invariably perform a forum search and rejoin the old thread, posting additional questions if necessary, to get you up to speed on your own project.


Arky ;o)

[sky_dave]

No. i mean...i really love doom9
and you've answered my question nicely.
Thanks Arky.

[TRILIGHT]

Arky is much nicer than I am. :devil: I spent a LOT of time reading things before asking questions. Therefore, I'm a LOT less tolerant of such laziness.