multiple ar menus in scenarist

[moko]

I'm trying to author a dvd that has two menus that are actually the same menu only one is for 4:3 and the second for 16:9. What I want to do is, that the player will automatically select the proper one. I know how to do it in maestro but I need to know how to do it in scenarist. Only take in mind that I have a limited scenarist knowledge so please try to explain it as simply as you can. Oh, and my sceanrist version is 2.7.

[dan]

Do you mean that the user can choose between aspect ratios or that the player picks the correct one depending on what display mode it is set?

If it's the first one, just make your first play a menu that allows the user to choose between the two.

If it's the second one, that's what panscan is for. [Sorry if you know this already, but...] There is actually just one video stream that is 16:9, but has panscan information so that it fills 4:3 TVs instead of being letterboxed. The player takes care of this automatically, provided you've authored the disc correctly.

I made a pretty complete guide for making these menus a little while back... search for "widescreen menus for scenarist guide" or something like that. If you're just copying a DVD, skip to the bottom where it talks about how to import, and set them up in Scenarist. Also, if it's just a copy, the subpictures for the different display modes should all be there within the VOB of the menus.

Any problems or questions, just post again...

Thanks,
Dan

[dvdboy]

If you do want the player to pick the right one, I think you have to play about with SPRM-14, which according to the Scenarist manual "Specifies the inital display aspect ratio and the current display mode".

NOw, I'm not sure what values you have to look for, but I'm guessing if you have to sets of menus, which you have specifically designed for 4:3 or 16:9 you can then read off the sprm and depending on the result direct the disc towards a seperate menu.

Hope this helps

DVD-Boy

[moko]

dvdboy: actually it's not helping me very much... as I said my scenarist knowledge is curentlly very limited and I'm still working on it, so talking about SPRMs is not an option right now...
But thanks anyway, maybe I could use it in the future.

[dan]

Though an SPRM check could check to what display mode the player is set, it shouldn't be necessary. Not to start an argument or anything, but the DVD player automatically picks the correct (corresponding) display mode for the menu, you do not need the SPRM check. For panscan [or letterbox, though very few 16:9 menus are configured to be able to be displayed in the letterbox mode], that's the display mode that the player will use if set in either 4:3 mode, as in Scenarist, you can specify "panscan only".

Anyway, you'd only need the SPRM check [though you said you didn't want to have to worry about stuff like that] IS useful if you wanted a completely different menu [background picture, background video, etc.] for each display mode.

As long as the menus are the same, but are displayed differently [according to the display mode...those little letters next to the subpictures in the track window in Scenarist...W, L, P], you need only one video track, provided its display modes have been correctly defined in the track menu and that it has been imported into the project as 4:3 PanScan or 16:9. Moko, I don't mean to sound demeaning or anything to you, but if this paragraph doesn't mean much to you, just say so, and I'll [or someone else will explain more thoroughly].

Basically all Hollywood DVDs have menus that are 4:3 PanScan...that's why they look "wide" on widescreen TVs and on computer players, while taking up the whole screen on regular TVs. It's just one video track [with a subpicture for each display mode...which, in Scenarist, you need to import both, while in Maestro, the process is automated once you have the wide subpicture imported].

Moko...it sounds like you're new to Scenarist, so to better help you, are you using assets that already exist (from a DVD or otherwise) or are you creating them yourself? If they already exist, the work ahead of you is must less...Anyway, if you have any questions or anything, just ask...

Thanks,
Dan

[moko]

dan: fisrt, I am pretty new to scenarist. I know how to do most of the basic stuff but not anything advanced (such as dealing with SPRMs as I mentioned).
The projects that I was talking about this time was one with menus that I created. But I think I'll just stick with what you said and set the menu to 4:3 p/s and input two subpictures.
I actualy tested a DVD movie I have on my HD: the menu was displayed in widescreen but the VOB was encoded as 4:3.
Still it looks kind of weird to me, because I can't remember that menu was looking "slim" due to the face that it's supposed to be 16:9, and either that it was cropped one way or another...

[dvdboy]

Sorry Guys,

I didn't mean to confuse anyone, as Dan said my solution was for if Moko had designed seperate 16:9 and 4:3 menus.

From what I've seen, quite a few DVDs with 16:9 menus are flagged as letterbox, which brings with it a seperate set of problems (your graphics might look great on a 16:9 tv, but how do they look on a letterbox 14" screen?) This is one reason why a seperate set of 4:3 menus are sometimes included as you can increase the type face, or visual layout of the screen going from letterbox to 'square' - Sade: Lovers Live is one example where the sprm is checked.

Pan and scan kicks up different points, because some dvd players take their cropping co-ordinates from the top left of the screen not the center. As such you have to make sure that either way your buttons are not lost when your menu is cropped.

I'm sorry my response didn't help you Moko, my point of reference was more Dan's reply to your post. SPRMs are explained pretty clearly in the manual when you do get aroudn to the more advanced stuff.

DVD-Boy

[drpaulng]

I think I have (incidentally) answered your question.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59663

The SPRM/GPRM conditional jump is for "advanced authoring". You do need to revise on the basic bit/bite/word...computer basic before mastering the decimal corresponding value for the "bit8-bit9" counting from left to right starting from 0,1,2,3...and so on. I myself learn from some common mistakes I think everyone may encounter at the beginning of the learning curve:

bitwise sum = or (not "and")
bitwise product = and (not "times")
bitwise exclusive or = xor

It's pre-defined so, you should not apply your previous maths knowledge or everyday language to the computer world. Bitwis sum never means "sum or plus or and".

Double-click on the "precommand" to start the SPRM/GPRM "advanced conditional authoring" which is much more complicated than the simple unconditional jumps.