MenuEdit - Tool to edit DVD Menus

[royrose]

Can any one tell me if I can use menuedit to adjust by a small amount where in a VOB a menu button starts play?

I created a DVD with 5 video clips captured from my Hi8 camcorder using my standalone Panasonic HS2 video recorder. The HS2 capture quality is superb but the DVD menus are simple and boring. I copied the VOBs into my computer. I then authored a dummy DVD to produce a new menu with 5 buttons. I then put the new menu and the HS2 VOBs in a folder and used ifoedit to correct pointers and audio setting.

After some trial and error, the new menu works but 4 of the buttons (all except the 1st) start a little early, towards the end of the previous clip rather than at the start of the intended clip.

Using menuedit, I see that the buttons are labeled jumpVTS_PTT 2:1, jumpVTS_PTT 3:1, etc. I don't understand how to get the buttons to start play at the start of the clips. Can menuedit do it or can some settings be changed through ifoedit or vob edit to accomplish this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Roy

[Black Hole]

Well, Jump VTS_PTT command means a jump to a part of a title defined in VIDEO_TS.IFO ... the parts are the chapters, and they are defined in the respective VTS_0n_0.IFO ... it's like you have your cell points in a wrong position. I use real DVD authoring programs to do this job, as IfoEdit is quite tough to manually change things at that deep level, such as VOBU pointers and so on ...

I'm afraid MenuEdit will not help you here, because the problem lies in the timings inside the IFO itself.

[Dimad]

Originally posted by mpucoder
...you must interpret the P/S offset ...

Thanks for info. And where this P/S offset can be found? Don't see it in nav-packs. Is it a constant for a cell or it floats for each frame?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by VidHack
... the actual background picture doesn't need scaling, the rectangles need to be shifted to the proper X/Y location to line up to the background image, depending if the background is 4:3 or 16:9...


Either way something needs to be scaled in preview (unfortunately). It is not enough to simply show button rectangles from different group :(

VidHack thanks for your help with tracing bugs! I appreciate it VERY MUCH!

[mpucoder]

Pan-Scan information is contained in the video itself in the Picture_Display_Extension. If you have IEC/ISO 13818-2 see section 6.3.12 (available form Ookami's Programmers Corner http://ookami.videoxone.de/programmers.html )
A brief description is here http://www.mpucoder.com/DVD/mpeghdrs.html#picdisext

If the offsets are not encoded they are assumed to be 0, which places the display rectangle in the center of the frame. Also, only a horizontal offset is allowed, since the window is the same height as the frame.

[riprazor]

First, compliments to Dimad for a great tool!

I am trying to understand how to get a button to point at a different menu location. I have the following situation:

The VIDEO_TS.VOB has a menu button labeled "Chapters". Clicking on it takes you to the menu page in the VTS_01_0.VOB file that has menu buttons for "chapters 1-13", "chapters 14-27", and "chapters 28-41". I would prefer that when clicking on the "Chapters" button it would take me directly to the page that the "chapters 28-41" button leads to rather than the overall chapters selection page. If I set the action of the "Chapters" button to be identical to the action of the "chapters 28-41 button", it takes me to a completely different menu page. Is their a solution to my dilema?

Thanks,
Riprazor

[Dimad]

@MPUCoder Thanks, now I see. Another question to you as to moderator: This thread is getting rather big. People ask different questions and its really hard to find answers. Is it possible to create a "subforum" (or whatever it is called) for MenuEdit, or I need to open forum on my site(don't really want to do this)?


MenuEdit 1.3.1 is out. Big change is that it can export buttons layout as bitmap. I guess authoring people will be happy :)

[mpucoder]

The subject of sub-forums came up before in another forum. Basically no one likes them. But it is perfectly acceptable for people to ask MenuEdit questions in new threads. In fact, it is preferrable, especially if the question has nothing to do with the release, or, in many cases, the program itself (such as riprazor's).

This also raises another common problem - deleting posts that are in the wrong place. Users CAN delete their own posts, but it isn't intuitively obvious. Check the "Delete?" checkbox, and then click on the "Delete Now" button immediately to the right of the checkbox.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by riprazor
First, compliments to Dimad for a great tool!

I am trying to understand how to get a button to point at a different menu location. I have the following situation:

The VIDEO_TS.VOB has a menu button labeled "Chapters". Clicking on it takes you to the menu page in the VTS_01_0.VOB file that has menu buttons for "chapters 1-13", "chapters 14-27", and "chapters 28-41". I would prefer that when clicking on the "Chapters" button it would take me directly to the page that the "chapters 28-41" button leads to rather than the overall chapters selection page. If I set the action of the "Chapters" button to be identical to the action of the "chapters 28-41 button", it takes me to a completely different menu page. Is their a solution to my dilema?

Thanks,
Riprazor
Didn't see this post was moved to it's own thread. Moved my reply to http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52047.

[VidHack]

Dimad,

MenuEdit Ver. 1.3.1 FATAL CRASH. Sorry to post this message in the open forum, but hopfully you can fix this one fast. This is easy to duplicate and users are downloading your new version already.

In Function():NoSymbol, you will get an fatal exception (Crash) if you Open a VOB. Click "Show all cells", then choose a CELLID with 0 buttons, and choose 'Edit', then crash...It crashes both the registered and non-registered Versions of 1.3.1. Yowser, perhaps letting me beta test (Torture/Debug) a new release for a day, might want to think about it? Before you go public. Hey thanks for the new features.

You should be able to duplicate this, but if you need files...Let me know....

VidHack

[Black Hole]

Well, you shouldn't be sorry to publicly post failures of the program. All users who are reading this thread should be interested about the behaviour and evolution of the program, just in case the bugs appear in someone else's computer. Some people get puzzled and it's comfortable to see that you're not alone.

I hope I get my registered MenuEdit as soon as I can axs a CC :p

[roach76]

Great program Dimad, I've got my registered version.
I was wondering if I could be so blunt as to make a request? Is it possible to have the the edit window resizeable? Cause I can't see the buttons on the bottom. I run at a resolution of 800x600 because I have a 15in monitor where my next highest and only resolution above that, is 1024x768 with an annoying refresh rate of 60Hz (I'm so used to 85). Only if it is possible, I'm not trying to pressure you either, implement the features and bug-fixes that you wish to do first.

[VidHack]

New MenuEdit Version 2.0 Released. Good Job Dimad.

[mikegun]

hm, just registered 2.0 but this version seems to do not work at all but crashes immediately after opening a vob file with the following error (Win98SE):

MENUEDIT verursachte einen Fehler durch eine ungültige Seite
in Modul MENUEDIT.EXE bei 0177:00401bce.
Register:
EAX=00000018 CS=0177 EIP=00401bce EFLGS=00010246
EBX=00000000 SS=017f ESP=0065f508 EBP=0065fd5c
ECX=00780020 DS=017f ESI=83ad302d FS=0f2f
EDX=00000000 ES=017f EDI=00000000 GS=0000
Bytes bei CS:EIP:
8a 30 8a 50 01 8b c2 eb 03 83 c8 ff 33 d2 8a 77
Stapelwerte:
0065fcec 00000000 0065f5ec 83ad3407 00408308 83ad3000 83ad302d 00000000 0065fcec 0065fcec 00000001 00416220 00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000

any comment ??

regards,

mike

edit: ver. 1.3.1 works perfectly

[VidHack]

Could you please tell us the name of the DVD?
NTSC or PAL?
Exact VOB name you tried to open?

I have got debugging MenuEdit down to a science, and I will try to duplicate the problem and report back to Dimad the exact cause if I can. Thank-You. I sorry that this error occured, thought all the bugs were out of this version for sure...

VidHack

[mikegun]

hi,

I can not open any menu file. ntsc or pal, doesn't matter.

regards,

mike

[VidHack]

Thanks for replying and helping, perhaps you can help a bit more...

So, if I understand correctly...MenuEdit does start correctly? Then when you go to OPEN the file it crashes or does it PROCESS the file then crash? or does it crash when you have loaded the file and you press the EDIT button on a registered copy of MenuEdit? I hate to sound anal about this, but knowing the exact moment and steps of the crash will help to duplicate it. Thank you for helping.

PS: Dimad check your email, I have also been able to crash it, but not in the same manner as described by Mikegun.

Thanks to all.

VidHack

[mikegun]

ok, no problem, it goes like this:
- start menuedit
- press open
- select vob file and press open again -> crash (I can see the processing window in the background)

regards,

mike

[VidHack]

Thanks for your help. I have sent some files to Dimad, but no reply yet. If you would like to open a new thread, call it something like, "MenuEdit Version 2 Bugs" (If its OK with the Moderators) then you could test some ideas out that I have. This thread is getting sooo long, I dont want to add troubleshooting to it. If you dont want to thats OK also, just wanted to see if I could help Dimad out, and that others could follow the progress, if they wanted. The problem is in that FUNCTION:<nosymbols>, and Version 1.3.1.1 was rock solid - no bugs, so some of the code must have changed when Dimad migrated to Vers. 2.0.

[Dimad]

To me it looks like the effect of "internal defence" of MenuEdit. For some reason it thinks that you are runninng hacked version. I will get in touch with you tomorrow. For now could you please try to start MenuEdit from other directory (say from the root dir of some drive) ant report to me what is the result.

Sorry for troubles.

[Dimad]

Hi, mikegun!

Your VOB file is marked as read-only! Just remove read-only flag in the properties of this file.

And, please, for the future: don't scary me saying that MenuEdit crushes when it nicely pop-ups window with the message that it can't do something :)

Sorry for the delay answering,
Dimad.

[mikegun]

hi,

that may be (hard to believe anyway) but as I wrote before. it crashes on every menu .vob file I tried to open and I checked if the files I try to open are really menu files.
I checked file attributes on every file I opened and there is archiv bit set only.
And there is no nice pop-up message telling me anything !!

regards,

mike

[Dimad]

Problem reported by mikegun is fixed. If someone runs into similar problem before next version is released - let me know. I'll send you fixed pre-release version.

[mikegun]

thank you dimad for this fast fix !!!

[Nuhim]

At me the same problem. At opening IFO there is a mistake. In the version 1.3.1 all OK. OS - Win98SE Rus.

[FilipeAmadeuO]

I´ve got the same problem as roach76
Please put the windows resizeable.
I can't see the buttons on the bottom

[Dimad]

Some bugs (among them problem reported by mikegun) overlooked in 2.0 are fixed in 2.0.1. It is ready for download at http://menuedit.dimad.net

[quinn]

Just a little ugly I just discovered - Making a button "automatic" does NOT work when the button is jumped to by a menu.

I tried to make a "widescreen" vs. "full" button automatic, but no player I've tried this on (ZoomPlayer, PowerDVD, WinDVD) will automatically "press" the button.

If I use the arrow keys to move from Widescreen (the default) to "full", and "back", when I move back from the "full" button, the "automatic" feature kicks in and starts playing the movie.
:>(

[Dimad]

Yep, you are right default button does not "jump" on menu start up. There is nothing can be done about this (at least I have not found a way of doing it).

By the way, standalones also will not automatically "press" the button.

[ViRuS2k]

hey mate ! welldone, Your program is a god send to a newbie like me.

Ok could you possibly implement a vob menu editor into MenuEdit,
or if you cant thats ok the problem i was haveing was i could delete the menu links perfectly problem is the NAMES are still on the menu due to the fact becuse the menu`s are in a vob file aswell

it would be great to have a program that killed links aswell as killed there names.

the movie im trying to do is Resident Evil NTSC,

is there a fix ? as i noticed in this vob file that all the menu`s where located at diffrent intervils


thankyou !

again great job.

[quinn]

Virus2K - if you want to get rid of the "names", you're actually going to have to pull the menu apart, use something like photoshop (if it's a still menu) or premier (if it's a motion menu) to "edit" the name out.

The backdrop of a menu is a picture or movie - it's not like the "names" are text somewhere that can just be blanked out......

[ViRuS2k]

Originally posted by quinn
Virus2K - if you want to get rid of the "names", you're actually going to have to pull the menu apart, use something like photoshop (if it's a still menu) or premier (if it's a motion menu) to "edit" the name out.

The backdrop of a menu is a picture or movie - it's not like the "names" are text somewhere that can just be blanked out......

hmm well thats gonna be imposible for me then :(

the backdrop is a motion menu

i would be able to do this easy if you know a guide i could follow ?
im shure i could get all the tools needed.

or if you could do a guide for me ? that would be sweet
im only about 3 days old in the dvd sceane just got my dvdr burner 2 days ago hehe

im great at svcd or vcd or xvid

but this dvd stuff is mind boggleing hehe

thx for your time. though im not gonna have much luck with out a motion/still guide to follow.

[quinn]

Sorry - can't help you on that one - for me, life is too short to try and remove that kind of stuff - just removing the button is good enough for me.

Good luck.....

[VidHack]

This is planned for the next Version of MenuEdit, its in a beta stage now. Hold tight. Dimad is on it.

VidHack

[[3nRiC0]]

i have one idea :)

You can add to Menuedit the fuction for extract Background Menu Images, and for change it with others

for example

if you delete a button can be good modify the background images by clearing the button image

[Dimad]

MenuEdit 2.1.0 is released.
You can find description of new features as well as guide on how to use them on MenuEdit website: http://menuedit.dimad.net

Regards

[Dvd@Best]

WONDERFUL !!!

nice and coool program.Great Work.
I would love to have a option to change menus graphically.Would be great.

DVD@BEST

[fourtyfour]

servus...

small Problem:

Situation:

Road to Predition R2 (German), Menuedit 2.1.0 registered


"animated" menu.

I can delete button for extras without problems.

But after opening movie with powerdvd, the button is still there.
If I select Audio/Subtitle or Chapters and move back to Main Menu, Extras button aren´t available any more!

I think there will be another "button-VObID" for first start but I can´t find them.

There are about 80 VobIDs and I´ve checked each one about these first button-dialog and I can´t finde them.

maybe someone here can help me or Dimad knows how to detect these buttons?!

[VidHack]

Hello to you,

Just to be specific, this is not a MenuEdit problem. The code is solid. This is a DVD Title specific question on How to detect buttons that span over multiple VOB ID / CELL ID's. I have backed up this movie, but the NTSC version. It is flawless, using MenuEdit. I hope someone in this forum can point out the exact VOB ID/ Cell ID's you need to delete the 'Extras' button as it must have multiple existances, sometimes in single cells.

I just want to point out that you wrote "small problem" and I dont want people who read this thread to think there is a bug in the actual program. Dimad has done an excellent job on this tool. I personally want to THANK him for adding the VOB ID / CELL ID byte changer option, and all the work he has put into the program.

I will try to dig out my copy of the DVD and see if I can help you out, buy posting the exact ID's.

VidHack

[Black Hole]

@fourtyfour:

I think VidHack is completely correct. MenuEdit, being itself a powerful program, was intended to help users who had a prior understanding of IfoEdit. The program has evolved, being made easier to use in every new release, but you can't skip at all certain degree in DVD inners.

It's a common thing in DVD menus to have a "intro + menu" video and another one with the same menu alone, just to skip the intro when you come back from a submenu. This can be done at cell level, or using another VOB ID (for example DVD Maestro cannot generate PGCs within menus) and storing the menu video twice in the DVD.

If there are a lot of IDs you need to browse all of them manually (or with the help of VOBrator) or follow the Pre/Cell/Post Command Sequences of TTN's in IfoEdit. It's always a good thing to know where you are and where you're sent to, because there can be code which branches the playline. It's a matter of knowledge and patience ... out of the scope of Menuedit itself ;)

I still haven't tested new MenuEdit 2.1.0 ... maybe MenuEdit is evolving into a more complex VOB editor :p

Time will say. Peace!

[Dimad]

My sincere apologies to everyone. When I split MenuEdit into free and registered versions I've overlooked it. 2.1.0 has an issue with cells that have segments with different amount of buttons.

This is fixed in 2.1.1.

[VidHack]

I have yet another feature request, based on questions posted in this thread. Would it be possible to add a feature to find all existances of a button? When you select a button to delete it, when the confirmation dialog pops up, could you add a option to also 'Search for duplicates of this button'. Then you could parse the VOB again, using the button 8-byte word as a search variable, when the deleted button matches another buttons byte word, you could populate a ListView dialog box to show the VOB ID / CELL ID results. In effect creating a basic hex search routine, that finds all matches of a buttons HEX value. This would solve the problem of 'moving menus'.

Again thanks for all the hard work and effort you have put into MenuEdit. Thanks for listening, and for adding very usefull features.

VidHack

[b0b0b0b]

On the menuedit support page, the faq link goes to "faq.htm" when it should be "faq.html"

Thanks for working on this cool program.

[stanleycup]

I've come across a small problem with Menuedit. I'm new to
using Menuedit so I'm not sure I've done something wrong. I just
purchased the full version so I should have access to all the features.

I just finished coneverting a DVD using DVD Shrink 2.3
There are 4 options in the main menu and I wanted to disable
the 2nd button (Bonus Material). I go to disable it using Menuedit
using the "Replace with NOOP" button and then play the DVD through WinDVD app. The 2nd button is still accessible. If I choose any of the options in the main menu then come back to the main menu, then the 2nd button is now disabled properly (like I wanted). I play the DVD through my DVD player and see the same problem.

I have also tried the "Jump to non deleted button" option also when deleting the 2nd button and it gives me the same result.

Does Menuedit delete all instances of a button that I delete or do I have to manually delete every instance? I went through all the menus
and I only saw one more instance of the Bonus material button which I also deleted but it still gave me the same result.

Am I doing soemthing wrong?

Any help is appreciated.

[DnGermany]

Maybe u overlooked something, but usually you have to check all the cells for the button that will be deleted. Great program, gets better every release.

[SillyWabbit]

This isn't a bug of MenuEdit. It's the way the DVD was put together. I bet the DVD that you're backing up plays animated or clips of the movie while the menu is being displayed. So instead of having a still picture displaying the menu options (i.e. Play, Special Features, etc.) you have a moving picture displayed along with the menu buttons. So when you deleted the Bonus Material button you thought the button would be disabled as soon as the menu scene came up. The reason the Bonus Material wasn't disabled as soon as the menu screen came up was because a VobID with zero cells (no option for disabling buttons) was played before the VobID that held the menu buttons that you were able to modify (delete). In essence, the animated or movie clips are held in one VobID and the menu buttons that are editable in another VobID. And this movie clip starts to play before the menu button are displayed. This is why when you went to another menu then back to the main menu the Bonus Material was disabled (because the VobID holding the movie clip did not play... the DVD simply went directly to the menu). To confirm this, play the DVD and wait 30 seconds or a minute to let the clip play and you will see that the Bonus Material button is not available. You didn't have to go to a different menu and then back again to see that it was disabled. You can either accept this or delete the VobID that holds the movie clip. The downside to this is that when you play the DVD from the beginning you won't get the movie clip at all. The DVD will simply go straight to the menu. All depends on how interesting the movie clip is as to whether you want to keep it or not. Use Vobrator to see what VobID holds the movie clip and use MenuEdit to delete the respective VobID. Hope this helps.

[[3nRiC0]]

Originally posted by [3nRiC0]
i have one idea :)

You can add to Menuedit the fuction for extract Background Menu Images, and for change it with others



can you adds the function for substitute a CELL with an IMAGE ? I don't see the possibility to LOAD an image, you can only substituting e CELL with an other cell from an other VOB and not with a BMP file

[[3nRiC0]]

for example

i have one Animated Menu and i want to change the animated background with a static IMAGE.
I edit with Menuedit the animated cell and i save the backgroung image as BMP.

Now i want changing the animated cell with the static BMP, but the MENUEDIT can only change a CELL with an other CELL and not with an image.....

please add this feature

this can be good just for reduce the dimension of original menu

[SplinterMgs]

Hi all

I'm a newbie and just tried the latest version 2.1.1 and here's an example with 4 buttons:
Before
1
2
3
4

After
1

When I deleted 1-3 and trying to keep 4, button (index) 1 actually replaced what was in 4. In other words, I'm not able to keep the functionality of button 4.

Button 4 is now connected (acting) as button 1. What am I doing wrong? I just selected and deleted the unwanted buttons but didn't expect it move functionality (shift from top to bottom). Please help as I don't understand why this is happens.

Many thanks in advance.

[Dimad]

I just selected and deleted the unwanted buttons ...
Let me guess... you are doing it for language or subtitle selection menu?

In some cases index of the selected button is used by the code in the ifo file to make a decision on what to do next. Very often this approach is used in language and subtitles selection menus. So it is not a very good idea to actually delete buttons in these menus.

[Mobius]

Is it possible to completely remove the button after deleting the button's function? That is, the button wouldn't even show up on the menu. Sorry if this has already been answered elsewhere.