MenuEdit - Tool to edit DVD Menus

[Dimad]

... I had successfully recreated the whole dvd from PAL to NTSC (sound and video) ...

Do you mean by this that you have:
1) converted to NTSC all original cells in all vobs;
2) corrected all ifo files so that they are "aware" that everything is in NTSC now;

regarding menus:
3) multiplexed scaled highlight(subpicture) stream into all cells in menu vobs;
4) transferred scaled buttons into new menu cells (I think I finally figured out what should be done to transfer buttons correctly, so next release of MenuEdit will be able to help you with this task (may be it will even do scaling for you) )

[vtwin0001]

Yes, it actually really easy....

I just demuxed every VOB file in a separate folder for each VOB, so that in each foler I get the orginal m2v file, the m2v NTSC file, the original .ac3 and the NTSC ac3 file, along with all subpictures

then i just remux with ifoedit, copy the original ifos to a new folder and put everything together (renaming eveything back and ignoring the resulting ifos from the mux process done by ifoedit, of course) the i just ifoupdate everything, check with ifoedit and change every instance PAL to NTSC (and its corresponding screen size) ....that includes of course video_ts.ifo

So the only thing left to do is what you say (i think) which I call remapping of menus or 'the (what you said) multiplexed scaled highlights .sup stream into all cells in menu vobs

:)

[Dimad]

Sounds good. Exept I don't know what IfoUpdate does - hope everything what is needed. :) And also, when you remux with IfoEdit you do get video/audio partitioned into the "same cells" as in original, right?

[vtwin0001]

I do not know either what IFOUpdate does, but I suppose it just changes all the PAL instances to NTSC instances (since it checks for the old file, the new vob files and then updates the new files (with the info from the old and updated with the new))

When remuxing, just checking back how it was, since the DVDs I have tried to convert are very simple, they do not come out with a 0x082 in the audio thing but start where they are supposed to.... 0x080 (or something like that, you get the idea)

However, if that's not possible, just by using good old scenarist (with ReAuthorist will do to correct the problem or maybe DVD Maestro, and specify where to put that stream, I dont think that would be too much a hassle)

...since I don't know how to program (or make applications) I could even suggest you to do a 1-click solution for a Whole PAL DVD -> NTSC application..... I would even pay for it gladly (and I suppose some other people too, most of those who like good cinema, and not just hollywood $h17, but that's another story.... :) )

[MackemX]

I dunno if you got my email Dimad but I'd be happy with a simple multiple cell remove/replacement option

I hope it's coming :)

[Dimad]

I got it. Sorry for silence I was busy with new release.

I'm not sure if it makes sence to make interface more complex by allowing multiple selection for mass replacement. Now only 2 mouse clicks are needed to replace cell (if same replacement cell is used). As usual it is faster with keyboard. What I can add in next release: replace all cells in vob with the selected cell.

[MackemX]

sounds good

[Dimad]

Originally posted by MackemX

...Did you fix the issue with the ALT + R ...
..when you click replace it gives you the option of keeping original cell ID and buttons....

Are you working with latest (2.2.0 at the moment) version?

I've been thinking about changing the name... may be...

[MackemX]

Originally posted by Dimad
Are you working with latest (2.2.0 at the moment) version?

I've been thinking about changing the name... may be...

nope. I downloaded 2.1.1 when I initially got MenuEdit on the 8th of this month and you were away according to your site

when was it released?

Have I been missing out on something??????

I'm signed up to recieve update news etc but ain't recieved anything

:EDIT: just checked site and new version came out on 16th!!!!, so I have been missing out :(

I do hope you change the name and I'm sure others will agree ;)

[canti]

I know this is kind of a silly thought, but...what if we could just add buttons on the fly? It's a super pain to have to re-author something just to change a menu, or to learn a different program because you need more buttons than the perfectly good one you're using allows. I'm still trying to make a menu with 29 buttons without having to re-author the whole damn thing ;) (Scenarist is turning out to be a little difficult to understand...why are all the faqs for super-complicated projects? Where's the 1-movie, 1-sub track, 2-menu guide? >.<)

Just an idea...would it be very complicated to add? From a layman's view, it seems like it could be, but probably isn't.

[MackemX]

glad to see the changes in the new version Dimad as it that makes the replacement process a lot quicker and I hope it continues to get even better :D, keep up the good work

I've got a few more ideas and I hope in time they can be implemented

I've made some blank cells just in case anyone is interested in replacing the stuff they are removing with a message instead of the boring blank and can't be bothered to disable buttons, link in sig

guess it's time for updating guides again as the process has changed so my flash guide is out of date

[vmesquita]

Hello everyone,

I am having that problem to open 1 Gb files. I read the whole thread and the Q&A, so I tried to defrag my partitions, formated a 1.5Gb free partition and created a pagefile there, using WinXP defrag utility to make sure it was continuous (the file was a big green area, so it was continous) but nothing helped. I still get the "MapViewOfFile failed" error with older versions, and the latest 2.2.0 starts to process but crashes. The VOBs were created using IFOEdit.
I'd like to use MenuEdit to change VOB-Ids, since VobEdit method keeps increasing vob-id number and I just want to change.
I already mailed Dimad about this problem, but I thought that posting here would be useful, maybe someone knows a way to fix this.

[]'s
VMesquita

[Arianos]

Download the latest version. Problem gone :)

[MackemX]

Hi Arianos :)

I think he has the latest version 2.2.0 :( and it still crashes

@vmesquita

have you got enough memory and hard drive space?

[vmesquita]

Thanks for trying to help! :)
I am running MenuEdit in a partition with 10 Gb free, and the VOBs are in the same partition. Previous versions gave the error message, the latest 2.2.0 crashes with an "Microsoft Visual C++ RunTime Library"-"Run Time Error Program: Menuedit.exe"-"abnormal program termination", then an "Instruction no 0x... made reference to memory on 0X..... Memory can't be read. Click Ok to finish" and then a Windows "Send report to M$" Windoes. :(
I have 256 Mb SDRam and I have already tried to create 1500 Mb pagefile.

[]'s
VMesquita

[Dimad]

Free version of MenuEdit 2.2.0 handles vob files "old fashioned way". And it may "choke" on large files on some systems.

[Arianos]

Ahhh... That probably ...'splains' it :)

[vmesquita]

So maybe it's a good idea to update the FAQ to show that this function in freeware 2.2.0 is still buggy, only registred version is working perfectly, because the way it is, it's misleading.

[]'s
VMesquita

[canti]

OK, here's my query ;) This is what my VTS_01_0.VOB looks like in Menuedit:
Vob ID: 1
-Cell ID: 1 (9 buttons)
Vob ID: 2
-Cell ID: 2 (29 buttons)

Unfortunately, the button in Vob ID: 1 that connects to Vob ID 2 isn't working...what would I manually set the button's command to, in order to connect these menus? Thanks!

[2COOL]

@canti

Originally posted by canti
OK, here's my query ;) This is what my VTS_01_0.VOB looks like in Menuedit:
Vob ID: 1
-Cell ID: 1 (9 buttons)
Vob ID: 2
-Cell ID: 2 (29 buttons)

Unfortunately, the button in Vob ID: 1 that connects to Vob ID 2 isn't working...what would I manually set the button's command to, in order to connect these menus? Thanks! :eek: My crystal ball is still kinda hazy right now but which of the 9 buttons in your menu (Vob ID:1) are you referring to? I'm assuming this is the main menu. Now what menu is VOB ID:2? Why is it not working? Did you authored a movie and you didn't link the button? With the button in question in your VOB ID 1 menu, what is the button command that MenuEdit displays?

[canti]

Well, the button in the first menu is a link to the index menu; VOB ID 1 is Main menu, VOB ID 2 is Index Menu (chapters). I'm not entirely sure why it's not linked; the "original" command it has is LinkTailPGC (button 0); however, that command does not take me to the index menu (I replaced the index menu with a menu from another vob. This may be part of the problem.)

[canti]

OK, so, if you've noticed my previous posts, I'm working on making chapter menus for azumanga dvds...which have 29 or more buttons. Obviously, Maestro can't do this (maestro is capped at 25 buttons)...and using scenarist, something was never quite working. I tried Adobe Encore, and when it spit out my lovely menu, I was actually able to grab the menu, and keep it...and not screw up anythin else. For whatever reason, I DID have to use the previous version of MenuEdit, but I think I figured out the problem. Using Maestro or whatnot, I've had the background color set to something specific of my choosing. Now, I find that my background was set to a grey (1) , or if I chose didferent color settings, green (2), or transparent (3). Probably my button backgrounds were set to transparent in previous cases, which is exactly what my problem was.

In any case, I just thought I would say "Hey! It worked! It's a little grey instead of a little pink-orange, but who the #@%@#% cares? It worked!" Thank you, Dimad, for letting this silly little project finalize. And thanks to everyone else for letting me boggle on the forum. So...Yeah. :)

[vtwin0001]

does anybody know a way to reauthor the menus of a dvd?

i am trying to reathour the menu of 'The Deep' dvd; i dont want to take buttons out, instead, adding a menu before the first one (its a flipper), so I would be able to choose which side to play

i know this might not be the right place.... but, just in case any of you know, i will be more than thankful

[Darklistener]

Hi

I have a button with the command
g[0] = 25701 ("de"), LinkTailPGC (button 0)

i want to relink the button so that
if i push him it will open the id 17 of the menu

does someone know the right command?

thx :)

[Methanoid]

Just registered my copy.. very impressed.

I'm keen on the Export to BMP for the background but what would be VERY cool (and I couldnt see [yet??]) would be the Import from BMP.

Example:

Backing up Outer Limits (1960s) DVDs.. some have 4 eps on disk. Want 2.

Use MenuEdit to remove links to the 2 eps I am not backing up. All buttons gone. Cool. Export menu background to BMP. Remove references to "missing" 2 episodes. Then (if poss) import amended BMP as background.

Bingo.. all done. That would do me very nicely. Can it be done???

[Dimad]

There are so many mpeg encoders nowdays, that I'm not exactly sure it will make sense to add another one to MenuEdit (and make it more expensive). Although it would be "typical Windows" way of doing things. Put everything into one program, make it big, buggy and charge more, MORE, ... :)

[VidHack]

Dimad - Hello to you,

Just a few short things... Perhaps @Methanoid has the correct idea, but doesnt fully understand Mpeg2 complexities. I realize you dont want to add an encoder routine to your app, but perhaps a IMPORT MPEG2 Frame Option. We (the user) could encode the BitMap using CCE/bbMpeg/Nero/Whatever.., then after encoding this Frame to the proper spec/size, you could just import (internally in MenuEdit) swap the bytes of the MPEG2 Frame. Just the video, leaving the Nav Packs/Timestamps from the original. Thinking about it, this would be a mess for a "Moving Menu" - Huh? (I might try this theory using a manual Hex-Editor) if its possible, I will get back to you.

Also, could you take a peek into the Developer Forum, @DoC hEx, released some good VB MPEG2 decoder code QUOTE "This new version now includes Aspect ratio correction, resizing, and cropping." Perhaps looking at this could resolve the Aspect ratio bug in your viewer, that the buttons dont exactly line at certain ratio's.

Anyway, putting a zip for you together.. Will send soon...

VidHack

[Methanoid]

Yes, Vidhack is correct. I can encode a single frame! Most people have access to one MPEG2 encoder.

Don't get me wrong, I am impressed with MenuEdit and glad I registered.

This just seemed to me the next thing for it to be able to do. If U can export then why not import? :D

Then at least my Outer Limits episodes would not need to be transcoded!:devil:

[Dimad]

What you need can be done in few steps:
1) demultiplex cell with your menu into: video, audio, subpicture (just delete all other cells from the .vob file using MenuEdit and then use any demultiplexer you have);
2) do what you want with the video (or just create a new one from the bmp exported with MenuEdit);
3) multiplex video/audio/subpictures back into vob file (say with IfoEdit);
4) open your vob file in MenuEdit 2.3.0, get into menu of interest and save buttons layout as .mbl (not as .bmp);
5) replace menu cell with what ever you've prepared;
6) go back to edit dialog and import saved buttons layout;
7) delete any unused buttons;

Done.

What, you don't have v 2.3.0? And can't export/import buttons? Hm-m-m...

Well, no one does. :) But if you want you may have latest beta where this all implemented. Just let me know (send me e-mail with your reg info).

It gets a little bit more complicated if you want to add new buttons. You will need to modify highlights(subpictures) with some other tool. Even current beta does not do it.

[Eyes`Only]

vtwin0001: Interested in helping my app acquire PAL->NTSC (and vice-versa) capabilities? Together with NuMenu4U I'm sure we can make an entire conversion keeping optimum quality. I've been thinking about adding this for a while now.

[vtwin0001]

Yes I am :)

As a matter of facts I have succesfully converted 2 PAL DVD's to NTSC (with menus and all), however I had to redo the whole thing, so its extremely slow...

Right now I am working with Ring 0

The other 2 dvds were 'The Royle Family Season 1 DVD' and Ring 2

The first one was done with DVD Lab without deinterlacing, so the output was poor viewed in NTSC set top and TV.
For my second attempt (Ring 2) I used your app (DoItFast4U) to rip the DVD and Deinterlace. Once that was done I just took all the videos and transform them to NTSC with Main Concept MPEG Encoder

The menus were ripped using DVDDecrypter in file mode, by Cell ID, converted in Main Concept to NTSC, no deinterlaced.

The most painful process is of course redo the whole subpictures menu thing, so It will be very interesting to beta test (since I dont know anything about encoding) your app.

For Ring 0 I was doing the same method as for Ring 2, but this time I was going to use Scenarist for the Subpicture thing in the menus. (I'm not there yet, still converting video to NTSC)

Also I would like to note that the Subtitles have to be Changed to NTSC, but you already know that...... :D

Cheers!

EDIT ---> Strange enough, Ring 2 uses the same Audio as the original (it was untouched), there in no acceleration with the audio, any how I converted it to NTSC and I got a really accelerated audio, so I used the original one. For The Royle family, I converted the audio and video with mainconcept and then the audio to ac3, using scenarist....

[Dimad]

MenuEdit 2.3.0 is released.

Added:

Import/Export menu buttons;
Create new buttons.
Bad news: MenuEdit does not change menu graphics neither modifies menu highlights yet :( so this should be done in some other app and then imported in MenuEdit.
Good news: I'm working on it :)

Modify menu color table. Actual color paletes are specified in IFO file. MenuEdit let you select what colors from these palete menu uses and change transparency(contrast) of highlights.

Enjoy!

[vtwin0001]

So, you mean that this will work to convert from 720 x 576 to 720 x 480, so all we have to do is convert the video to 29.97 and deinterlace?

[Dimad]

As I said MenuEdit does not edit or multiplex subpictures (button highlights) at the moment. If you can recode everything (video and subpictures) from PAL to NTSC and multiplex evrything back then the rest is simple. Automaticaly change size of buttons is not a problem. It is not in this release (I just forgot - you already sugested this feature) but it will take like 10 minutes to do it. :)

[geffroman]

I want to remove buttons from the main episode menu VTS2/VOB ID-1.

However, Menuedit 2.2.0 says there are 0 buttons. There are in fact 5 buttons. 4 for episodes and 1 for Special Features.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards... Jeff

[Arianos]

@geffroman:
You have to have the registered version, if you want to see the light! :)

[geffroman]

Can you explain..? I hate to waste your time and mine on being mysterious.

I have been using MenuEdit for about a month to see if it's something I want to BUY. However, I don't understand why the registered version would work properly in this situation and the FREE version would not.

Before I pay to find out it does not fix my problem I would appreciate input from anyone that understands the issue.

[Arianos]

Quote from here:
http://menuedit.dimad.net/advanced.html
There are weird people and there are weird menus. Some may have different amount of buttons throughout the cell. Unregistered version can't treat them correctly.

This picture is also from there, and it explains why you don't see the buttons
http://menuedit.dimad.net/images/diff_buttons_f.gif
this option has saved my sanity on several occasions. There are more 'weird' menus than you can imagine, out there! :)

Sorry to have sounded mysterious, :) but I had just woken up, and I wanted to give a brief answer.

[Dimad]

@ Arianos : Thanks for help.

@ geffroman
...why the registered version would work properly in this situation and the FREE version would not.
Just becouse I wanted to have something special for thouse who have registered ;)

You are FREE to join the club.

[vtwin0001]

Hello geffroman, I am going to tell you why I think there are 0 buttons

Maybe its because of this:

Sometimes menu designers create menus so they show off more, they design a menu for each button, so the highlight looks great, so in a way if you press, say, the right button on your control, you will see highlighted the right button, but actually is another menu

I found that out in the 'Awakening of the Beast' PAL (Mondo Macabro Version) DVD, while converting to NTSC and dealing with the menus, there was a part where there was a slide show, and for every button that can be highlighted, instead of having a highlight track for it, it has another menu with the highlight painted on it, right in the menu. You see, a Normal Menu unlike that has 3 tracks:
1 The Picture
2 The Highlight track
3 Music

The menu you are dealing with has probably 1 or 2 tracks (The Picture and, probably the Music) but no Highlight, thats why Menu Edit reports there are Zero buttons, because when you are doing it on the Authoring program, you dont create a 'Hot Spot' where the button is supposed to be.

I hope you could understand my explanation

The best thing you can do is use IFOEdit and edit the navigation of the DVD

[Dimad]

...The menu you are dealing with has probably 1 or 2 tracks (The Picture and, probably the Music) but no Highlight, thats why Menu Edit reports there are Zero buttons...

MenuEdit reports buttons. If it says there is 0 buttons for the cell segment - it means there is no button there, i.e. there is nothing in this segment which could be selected with "Select" button on your remote. Highlights have nothing to do with this.

there was a part where there was a slide show, and for every button that can be highlighted, instead of having a highlight track for it, it has another menu with the highlight painted on it, right in the menu.
I wonder how that menu looked like(worked). Button "highlight" running through possible choices? And when you hit "select" it jumps to "highlighted"? I would think there should be a button (without highlights) somewhere on each of these slides to implement selection.

[geffroman]

It appears that if I pay for a full registered version of Menuedit the problem goes away. I'll have to think about that. I understand the PAY version having more actual features. I respect that. But I am having a little bit of a problem with the idea that Menuedit (FREE VERSION) can but doesn't always work in it's basic functionality.

I will probably REGISTER... but I object to cripple-ware. I assure you that I have donated more money to IFOEdit and DVDDecryptor than I will pay for MenuEdit Registration. I paid full price for IC7 & IC8. I even tried to donate unsuccessfully to DVDShrink.

But I am bothered by the marketing method used by Menuedit. Add more features for paying customers YES... But crippled functionality that works only sometimes on the FREE version and ALWAYS on the Pay version to force users to REGISTER just feels a bit shady.

Just my two cents.

Regards... Jeff

PS - I am a 15 year Computer Graphics Hardware & Software Sales & Marketing Executive and business owner. I feel qualified to offer my marketing opinion.

UPDATE: I have Registered. Yes my problem is solved. Menuedit works if you PAY for it. Having the preview is awesome and saves me time. I would have happily updated just for that feature 2 weeks ago if the program had worked in it's most basic funtionality on the FREE version. So instead of having a happy customer two weeks ago and $16.50 in your pocket two weeks ago, you had a semi frustrated user trying to evaluate your software unsuccessfully.

In the end it is a nice program. And worth the money.

[Dimad]

[quote]
...But crippled functionality that works only sometimes on the FREE version and ALWAYS on the Pay ...
[/qoute]

Jeff, sorry if whatever I've said or done make you fill this way.

Free MenuEdit works in like 99% of all DVD I've run into (as you said you've been playing with it for a month and just now run into this). And in other 1% cases it does what free version is designed for - remove buttons, just does not do some deeper analysis of cells and can't recognise them.

Some time after registration was introduced I've discovered that there are some really strange dvds. After figuring out what is wrong I've modified reg. version so that those who has paid get most out of my DVD knowledge.

I'm not a marketing specialist :( (although time to time I feel like it is a good knowledge to posses), so would you mind giving me good advises in the future? :)

[vtwin0001]

@ Dimad

No, there wasnt since I was reauthoring the whole DVD, I searched for the highlight track everywhere in the DVD and there was nothing, so I had to create one Hightlight track so the menus works normally, instead of pressing select so it changes to the highlighted one.

Before that DVD I read about that possibility somewhere in the internet, where you use Photoshop to create menus and Highlights. In that guide they stated that creating the highlighted button on photoshop would be better than the subpicture, because you had the option to use more than the standard colours.
I didnt read the whole thing, but I noticed that highlight issue

[Arianos]

Hi all.
I really didn't know where to post this, as there is no DVDStripper thread, and DS is not really a 'one clicker', but, as it involves menu editing, I think this is the place.
(Mods or Dimad, feel free to transfer it wherever you see appropriate.)
Here goes:
I think I may have discovered a way to mod the menus while using the new beta version of DVDStripper. I associated the alternative player to Menuedit, checked Viewer/Menu Items/alt viewer and now when I click an menu item to play, Menuedit opens with the VOB ID displayed and it's much faster as it's only loading the menu VOB I want and not the whole VOB!!
But there are two tricks involved:
1. You have to open Menuedit, open a VOB (any vob), check 'Show all cells' and hit exit. That's it!! Next time you double click an item on the Menu list, it opens with Menuedit.
2. One has to have the new 2.3 registered version, which shows all cells and has a full preview.

So now, I have MP2 to view the Item List, and Menuedit for the menus! Super!
When menus are extra heavy, I have MP2 as main viewer, and change viewers on the fly when I encounter one that needs button changing. So for of a 600mb file on the more sophisticated menus, which takes ages to open and then you have to find the stupid menu, edit and save, which normally would take about 10 minutes, now I can spot the menu I want changed using MP2, and do it in seconds!

Thanks Dimad+TMG+MackemX!!!!

[vtwin0001]

....so, as a suggestion to this tool

For converting PAL DVD Menus to NTSC DVD Menus, there are 2, maybe 3 involved, so its relatively easy (I think)

Convert all the Subpictures (where the highlights are) to NTSC (resizing the images)
Convert all the Still Menu Pics to NTSC
Convert the video, this is very easily done by adding the following 2 lines to the Footer of the AVS script:

bilinearresize(720,480)
convertfps(29.97)

............is that possible???????

Please :confused:

[DMagic1]

I'm interested in registering but the 5 time activation in 1 year concerns me. Because of a problem with my machine I already reinstalled XP twice in one week. If I was a registered user that would be 3 of my allowed 5 activations right there. What happens if I have to reinstall another 2 times within a year? Anything could happen causing me to need to reinstall XP. Alot of people install their OS 3 or 4 times a year without anything really being wrong with their system.

If this was addressed before forgive me.

[geffroman]

Originally posted by DMagic1
I'm interested in registering but the 5 time activation in 1 year concerns me. Because of a problem with my machine I already reinstalled XP twice in one week. If I was a registered user that would be 3 of my allowed 5 activations right there. What happens if I have to reinstall another 2 times within a year? Anything could happen causing me to need to reinstall XP. Alot of people install their OS 3 or 4 times a year without anything really being wrong with their system.

If this was addressed before forgive me.


Some one correct me if I am wrong but I don't think reinstalling your OS and reloading MenuEdit is an issue. You save the registration code and just use it again. The 5 registrations is for when you change computers... If you are buying more than 5 new computers a year then you might have a problem.

I am under the impression that the registration code keys off of your hardware configuration. Don't change computers and you don't have an issue.

[Dimad]

Well. Computer ID which MenuEdit uses could change when Win is reinstalled.

5 menuedit registrations per year is just a number. It is done to make sure someone's registration is not wondering around in the Net. It is not set in stone. Any reasonable amount is ok.

For majority of MenuEdit users it is more then enough. Occasianally there is a need for more regs - people just contact me and we have it resolved.

[DMagic1]

Thanks for the help. Sign me up. :)