DVD Lab: no ifo, no menu

[ohhowhappy]

I'm running version 1.1, updated to 1.2.2. I've put together a project that contains 26 short clips linked to buttons distributed across 3 motion menus, all of which have the same video. This is preceded by a 15 second clip that plays on load. When I compiled there were no ifos, so I made some with Ifoedit. All that happens is that I get one large movie with 27 chapters (the intro clip is chapter 27) and no menus. I've puzzled over the connections diagram, everything seems ok, and I can see some bmp files in the temp directory that were for the menus.

Not having ifos generated seems to point to a more serious problem, so I tried to do something simple. First I tried to run a dummy compile of the same project, but I get a C++ error associated with "can't packetize sound file." I tried to track this down by creating a short project with just three movies. Got the same packetize error, even when I took out all the sound files (??) I didn't get this error when I did a full compile.

I'm stumped.

[maa]

Yes - know that message well - its a bug in DVD Lab. Actually I love the program but its very sensitive to audio. The compiler seems to get stuck. It has an "off" button which sometimes works in such cases but some revert to Ctrl+Alt+Del to see if its really stopped.
AC3 files that have been cut with other programs cause problems too so check them with AC3Fix or some such tool.

DVD Lab always creates IFOs - if not then you have a problem that you can't solve by making some new ones - your menus wont work

[ohhowhappy]

But the problem with AC3 would only be relevant if I've got sound in the project, right? In my test project I first did have audio, and then removed it, to no effect.

I just ran the main project again, and everything goes fine until, at the very end, it creates the motion menu, and then "can't packetize." BUT, there wasn't any sound in the motion menu. So I added sound in Vegas, rendered into elementary streams using the Mainconcept codec (I've used both Tmpegenc and Mainconcept), and added the resulting mpa to the motion menu. It still failed when it was muxing the motion menu.

So I finally took out the motion menu, replacing it with a still. Success. Can't figure why, the motion menu is the same format as more than half the movies. But thanks for your help.

[maa]

I suppose its a question of trial and error. Once the compiler didn't succeed at least close the program completely. Try different video clips, try reconstructing the same project again from scratch.
I've made multi menu/multi film projects with AC3 so it does work....

[ohhowhappy]

In my net wanderings I've often seen people struggling with video or sound problems due to the impact of rogue codecs. I wonder if that might be a problem here, though it would be a pita to track down. What's your OS? I'm win2k sp3.

[maa]

I'm using XP but the reason I point at DVD Lab is the fact that I can make working Title Sets with the same material with IFOEDIT....

[bb]

Be aware of the fact that 1.2.2 is still buggy. I prefer to use 1.2 for now, as this is the latest release version.

Regarding the problem with the motions menus: I remember a guy reported that you have to have audio in every clip, else the bug bites you... So try with a few seconds of silence. Maybe this helps.

bb