Using Title Menu Button to Skip Titles in Re-authored DVD Shrink Movies

[2COOL]

Using Title Menu Button to Skip Titles in Re-authored DVD Shrink Movies
Courtesy of 2C:cool::cool:L

Tool I used: IFOedit 0.95
DVDShrink used before this guide was v3.0 Beta 5

So you re-authored your DVD in DVD Shrink. You didn’t really care for the menu but you do want to have the option of skipping from Title to Title. In this guide, we’ll do just that.

I have re-authored a sample DVD with three Titles Figure 1) which DVD Shrink has put them in separate TitleSets. Below, is a visual layout of my files. Notice that I don’t have any 0.VOBs. These are our menu VOBs and since our re-authored DVD Shrink didn’t let us have them, then we don’t have any present.

Figure 1.

VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.IFO ___________
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO Title 1
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB ___________
VTS_02_0.BUP
VTS_02_0.IFO Title 2
VTS_02_1.VOB
VTS_02_2.VOB ___________
VTS_03_0.BUP
VTS_03_0.IFO Title 3
VTS_03_1.VOB
VTS_03_2.VOB
To repeat myself, re-authoring in DVD Shrink does not produce any menus so it is obvious that our IFOs do not have menu tables in them. Menu Tables are used to hold information of what’s in a menu, importantly the navigational commands. Let’s start our first step.
____________________________________________________
1. First, we need a menu table. If you look in your VIDEO_TS.IFO / VMGM_PGCI_UT, you’ll have this message. “There is no VMGM_PGCI_UT table”. We need one badly so find any DVD with menus and it doesn’t matter if it’s the DVD in your DVD drive or it’s already ripped onto your harddrive.
____________________________________________________
2. Merging Menu Tables

Open up your reauthored movie’s VIDEO_TS.IFO in IFOedit. Go up to your Title bar and select Tools / Merge Menu Tables. Browse to your DVD with menus and open that VIDEO_TS.IFO. You will see your IFOedit window blink. You now have a menu table.

So check it out. Go to your VIDEO_TS.IFO / VMGM_PGCI_UT. The menu you now have is the same as the DVD’s VIDEO_TS.IFO you just used. Merging menu tables in IFOedit also means “importing” menu tables. Nothing was changed in the IFO except our b]VIDEO_TS.IFO / VMGM_PGCI_UT[/b].

At this point, it’d be important to save your DVD Shrink movie now so do that.
____________________________________________________
3. Now that we have a menu table to work on, I like to show you first what DVD Shrink had in your VIDEO_TS.IFO / VMGM_MAT / First Play PGC / PGC Command Table. (Figure 2)
Figure 2.

First Play PGC

PGC Command Table:

1.Pre Command If GPreg<0> == (cmp-val)<1><' then Goto line# 4 [00 a1 00 00 00 01 00 04]
2.Pre Command If GPreg<0> == (cmp-val)<2><' then Goto line# 5 [00 a1 00 00 00 02 00 05]
3.Pre Command (JumpTT) Jump to Title: 1 [30 02 00 00 00 01 00 00]
4.Pre Command (JumpTT) Jump to Title: 2 [30 02 00 00 00 02 00 00]
5.Pre Command (JumpTT) Jump to Title: 3 [30 02 00 00 00 03 00 00]

As you can see, the value in GPreg<0> or General Parameter Register 0, plays a big part on deciding which Title to play next.

Another thing I want to you to see is your PGC Command Table for your 3 Titles.


Figure 3.

Title 1

PGC Command Table:
1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<0> [71 00 00 00 00 00 00 00]
2.Pre Command Break [00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00]
1.Post Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<1> [71 00 00 00 00 01 00 00]
2.Post Command (CallSS FP) Call First-Play domain PGC [Resume Cell: 1] [30 08 00 00 01 00 00 00]

Title 2

PGC Command Table:
1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<0> [71 00 00 00 00 00 00 00]
2.Pre Command Break [00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00]
1.Post Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<2> [71 00 00 00 00 02 00 00]
2.Post Command (CallSS FP) Call First-Play domain PGC [Resume Cell: 1] [30 08 00 00 01 00 00 00]

Title 3

PGC Command Table:
1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<0> [71 00 00 00 00 00 00 00]
2.Pre Command Break [00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00]
1.Post Command Exit [31 01 00 00 00 00 00 00]

The commands in these titles are similar in a way except for the Post Command in Title 3. Also we see GPreg<0> is being set too.
____________________________________________________
4. Hexediting

Let’s work on our menu table in our VIDEO_TS.IFO. Go to VIDEO_TS.IFO / VMGM_PGCI_UT / PGC-Menu_1 / PGC Command Table. PGC-Menu_1 is your Title-menu, as shown in your VIDEO_TS.IFO / VMG Overview / Menu Language Unit section. (Figure 3)

Figure 4.

Language Menu Unit 1: [English]
Menu 1: [Title-Menu] (entry PGC) (Programs: 0) (Cells: 0)
When you press your Title button on your remote, your DVD will immediately jump to this Title Menu Hence the name, “Title Menu” button.

Now before, we go any further, this is a good time to backup your IFO and BUPs to another folder. If you mess up in your hexedits, you can always copy your original IFO and BUP over to replace your badly edited one. With that said and done, read on.

Basically, in this step, we want our PGC Command Table here to be exactly like our First Play PGC’s PGC Command Table (Figure 2). I wish we can import that PGC Command table but unfortunately, we have to do it manually by hexediting. It’s not that difficult. But first, we need to edit the following to reflect our Figure 2.

We have 5 Pre Commands so double left click on line. Change the values as below.

PGC Command Table:
Number of Pre Commands 5
Number of Post Commands 0
Number of Cell Commands 0
You should now have 5 miscellaneous Pre Commands present. Here’s is where we start our first hexediting. Double left click on Pre Command #1 and you will have your HexEdit Module window. In the window, you will see something like this.

00000000 ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ......

The ##s represent the hex value that you will edit as below, taken from Figure 2.

1.Pre Command If GPreg<0> == (cmp-val)<1><' then Goto line# 4 [00 a1 00 00 00 01 00 04]

Using your mouse, click in the ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## and enter exactly as your Pre Command #1 in your First Play PGC. Remember to have your CAPs lock off or else you can’t enter any letters.;) Press OK when done.

Refreshing Screen Tip
To refresh your screen, here’s a personal trick I do. At bottom left of IFOedit, check and uncheck your “Show Reserved Values” checkbox and your screen will refresh. A single check will do too. Anyway, scroll down to your PGC Command Table and confirm your hexedit. Repeat if wrong.

When your done, you should have the same PGC Command Table as Figure 2. Save your IFO and BUP, if you don’t want to go through that long hexediting again.;)
____________________________________________________
5. Now we will work on our Titles’ PGC Command Tables. Let’s start on Title 1 first so go to VTS_01_0.IFO / VTS_PGCITI / VTS_PGC_1 / PGC Command Table. You should see the same as Figure 3.

Title 1

PGC Command Table:
1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<0> [71 00 00 00 00 00 00 00]
2.Pre Command Break [00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00]
1.Post Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<1> [71 00 00 00 00 01 00 00]
2.Post Command (CallSS FP) Call First-Play domain PGC [Resume Cell: 1] [30 08 00 00 01 00 00 00]


We’re not going to touch our Post Commands in our Titles except our last Title, which in our case is Title 3. This will be explain at a later step. If you decide to press your Title Menu button to skip to the next Title, your Post Commands will not be executed. You can say they were bypassed. All we’re going to do is just edit our first Pre Command. We want GPreg<0> to hold the same value that’s also programmed in our Post Command.

Here’s the flow of navigations if you don’t press your Title Menu button during Title 1’s play. GPreg<0> is set to 0 prior to video clip of Title 1 and holds that value till video play ends. When video has ended, GPreg<0> is then set to the value of 1 and while holding that value, it makes a jump to your First Play PGC. In your First Play PGC (see Figure 2), Pre Command #1 is executed and checked for trueness and since GPreg<0> IS 1, it makes a jump to Pre Command #4 to begin our next video clip, Title 2. Makes sense? I hope so.

Anyways, let’s edit Title 1’s Pre Command #1. Like in Step 4, hexedit Pre Command #1 to our new value as follows.

OLD > 1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<0> [71 00 00 00 00 00 00 00]
NEW > 1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<1> [71 00 00 00 00 01 00 00]

When done, save your IFO and BUP and test out your new edit by pressing your DVD Play button in IFOedit. If you press your “Title Menu” button in IFOedit, you should skip to Title 2 as it shows in your Status Window of your DVD Play Panel. It works? Great!:D
____________________________________________________
6. Press your “Get VTS sectors” button
____________________________________________________
7. Repeat Steps 5 & 6 with the rest of the other Titles EXCEPT the last one. This will be explained in the next step.
____________________________________________________
8. Optional: Endless Loop in Play

We don’t need to do any changes in our Pre Commands for our last Title or last Titleset because it’s working the way it suppose to. The way the Post Commands in your last Title works is that if you didn’t press your Title Menu button and let the video play to the end, your DVD will stop playing. Notice the “Exit” in your last Post Command? An “Exit” basically means to stop executing commands and cease play. So as an optional step, if you want your DVD to loop back and play from the start again at Title 1, here’s what we’ll do. Hexedit our last Post Command #2 as follows.

OLD > 1.Post Command Exit [31 01 00 00 00 00 00 00]
NEW > 2.Post Command (CallSS FP) Call First-Play domain PGC [Resume Cell: 1] [30 08 00 00 01 00 00 00]
____________________________________________________
9. Save your IFO and BUP.
____________________________________________________
10. Get VTS Sectors
____________________________________________________
That’s all to it! Enjoy!:D

To summarize what my edited Titles look like, here there are. I decided to do Step 8 and have my whole DVD in an endless loop.

Title 1

PGC Command Table:
1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<1> [71 00 00 00 00 01 00 00]
2.Pre Command Break [00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00]
1.Post Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<1> [71 00 00 00 00 01 00 00]
2.Post Command (CallSS FP) Call First-Play domain PGC [Resume Cell: 1] [30 08 00 00 01 00 00 00]

Title 2

PGC Command Table:
1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<2> [71 00 00 00 00 02 00 00]
2.Pre Command Break [00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00]
1.Post Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<2> [71 00 00 00 00 02 00 00]
2.Post Command (CallSS FP) Call First-Play domain PGC [Resume Cell: 1] [30 08 00 00 01 00 00 00]

Title 3

PGC Command Table:
1.Pre Command Set GPreg<0> mov (set-val)<0> [71 00 00 00 00 00 00 00]
2.Pre Command Break [00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00]
1.Post Command (CallSS FP) Call First-Play domain PGC [Resume Cell: 1] [30 08 00 00 01 00 00 00]

[windtrader]

2COOL,

You come up with amazing tweaks! What about joining the VOBS with VOBEDIT then generate a new IFO using IFOEDIT? Basically, this would covert the separate titles into chapters. Buth then it would not show off your superior knowledge of IFOland. :)

[2COOL]

Originally posted by windtrader
What about joining the VOBS with VOBEDIT then generate a new IFO using IFOEDIT? Basically, this would covert the separate titles into chapters. Buth then it would not show off your superior knowledge of IFOland. :) Thanks windtrader. Yes, it could work using the VOBedit/IFOedit method but if my Titles had chapters with more than one cell, I would have to fix the chaptering in the new Titleset. Also, keep in mind that joining VOBs with different attributes,e.g. subtitles, audio, aspect ratio, etc, would not work well. Besides, you'll never know when this would come in handy. I've seen alot of off-the-wall requests here in the forums. ;)

[windtrader]

2COOL,

Right. I did MIB2 yesterday and see another one second cell in each of the Extras title VOBs. This would mess up as you say.

I've followed many of your posted tweaks and am really curious why you choose this approach to modifying the target DVD IFOs?

The methods you devise do work but it got me thinking about authoring tools and it seems DVDLAB and TMPGEnc DVD Author are the two most popular and featured tools for all except the big-time pros who probably use Secnarist.

It seems that pulling the assets into one of these tools could accomplish the same thing with less error and probably a lot easier for the non-techie.

I could not come up with a leaning either way. Probably, my ignorance is hindering my ability to form any opinions.

What is your opinion of these two authoring tools and the pro/con of using these vs the 2COOL trick of the week :-)?

Thanks, Don

[maa]

Actually apart from the "IfoEditPhobia" its a five minute job and the more you practice with IfoEdit the more you become independant of the quirks in authoring tools. This is the real power and understanding and it doesn't cause any unneccessary copying/re-muxing of the VOBs.
The guide may look long but its well writen with great explainations for newbies.

[windtrader]

Hi maa,

It took me a bit to get past the IFOphobia to follow 2COOL's guides but I am able to follow along pretty well now.

I'm sure every tool and method has it quirks and pluses-minuses but I guess what seemed pretty cool is you can fairly easily create neat and functional simple menus with graphics, custom navigations, etc. with a DVDLab type tool. The 2COOL tweak method was not really intended to do this and it will never be replaced as a way to get under the covers and do internal IFO tweaking.

It just seems to me that one can expand what can be done with user authored IFO/VOBs and if these tools cover some of the more basic tweaks, why not use it for that, the expanded authoring features they do do, and still use 2COOL for the special stuff.

Do you have much experience with the ahtoring tools we are discussing?

[2COOL]

@windtrader

Some time this year, I've read somewhere here that someone wanting to do exactly like my guide is intended for. I had an idea but to make my plan work, I needed to have a menu table in my movie-only files. Maa just enlightened me that I could've done this all this time. Anyway, I had this guide as a draft a couple of months ago and with that secret ingredient, I had finished up the guide.

Anyways, the authoring tools that are currently available are not, should I say, the holy grail of backup softwares. They still have irks, quirks, and areas that are limited to what me and you want for us to have the best backups. That's why I come up with work-around methods prior to or after using specific programs. A lot of times, people around here would use other tools to fix/improve each other.

As for the authoring tools you mentioned, I do use TMPGenc DVD Author sometimes but DVD Lab, which looks promising, I haven't worked with that fully. You may want to talk to Maa on that since he has a guide on using IFOedit with DVD Lab. TMPGenc DVD Author is still new and you will have menus created. You don't have an option to do a complete movie only. Having menus is not a bad thing. TMPGenc DA can do what my guide in this post can do and it does through the track menus. You would have to browse through the menus and select which Title you want to see. So the advantage to TMPGenc DVD Author is you have menus for Title skipping since it authors them into separate Titlesets. If it didn't, then this method in this thread would be useful. I only wished that TMPGenc can let us author in more than one audio and also include subtitles.

I'm a little mentally drained right now so I hope I answered your question.

[maa]

Yes I use DVD Lab because it makes more or less any menu I can think of. It is of course a creation tool but you can also re-make menus or parts of menus from backups. Its easy to cut up bits of menus with DVDShrink in re-author mode and use the files in DVD LAB.
It allows all types of buttons from normal text to underline to invisible hotspots to imported overlays and vector objects.
Moving menus, moving button backgrounds - skys the limit on that.
The draw backs 'till now are :
1. It doesn't output multiple VTS (all films go in one tittle set)
2. It doesn't create multiple audio streams (althouth it will import VOBs with multiple streams that you can change with the remote.)
There is a guide for this here (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/169251.php)

And thats why I wrote the guides:
Making a multiple VTS with Ifoedit for a Menu produced with DVD Lab (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58791)
Guide to a Multiple Audio Menu with DVD Lab and IfoEdit (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61173)

[windtrader]

Maa,

I finally got around to evaluating DVD Author and DVDLab. So far DVD Author is the winner since I can not get DVD-Lab to get past the fatal compile error as you also encountered.

http://www.mmbforums.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1490

So, just why did you lead me down this rat hole?? :-) You forgot to mention that it crashes.

Don

[maa]

Ah - you mean the 1.3BETA 2 ?

Well the completed version 1.1 works as I mention at the bottom of that same post.
Try it if you need better menus :D

[windtrader]

Actually, I am getting the error using version 1.1.

FYI - there is this last parting comment in the last post. :-)

Well I found out how to change the time code by running it throught the cut / join feature of TmpegEnc but it didn't help DVDLab - it just doesn't work.


I will play around with DVDLab more today to see if it was just ad odd condition.

btw - what is your opinion of DVDit and Ulead Workshop? I was going to give them a spin as well,

[maa]

Actually thats not funny - you are quoting me out of context - anyone reading this thread will missunderstand and you make it look as if my words are not to be trusted. Read the whole thread.

Sorry I havn't tried DVDit and Ulead Workshop.

[windtrader]

Maa,

I did not mean to create any understanding or mistrust. You are always supportive, knowledgable, and helpful. I did go back and reread the whole thread. I read the whole thread initially.

Just to claify - I get compile errors using 1.1 today. You had the error using Version 1.3 beta 2, redid it using 1.1 and it worked for you. So we have two different experiences.

The point I want to make is DVD-Lab has bugs and can not assemble relatively simple movies as you have reported. I had no intention of creating misunderstanding or any mistrust.

Sorry for the confusion,
Don

[maa]

Ok, then lets see if we can solve the problem (if you want to continue with DVD Lab that is)
DVD Lab supports one VTS but can misslead people with its "Movie" windows to thinking they can mix sources. Well that doesn't work. All source material must be of the same type and ratio. The audio in each movie must be the same type too.
The menus can be of a different ratio and audio source than the movies but must be consitant from menu to menu.

What material are you testing with Don ?

[windtrader]

What material are you testing with Don ?

Maa,

I have a number of trailers that I have collected and saved away on HD. As a way to test/eval the various tools, I was trying to combine a few of them together and a create a menu structure over them.

I did various things such as create multple titles, some titles have multiple clips from the trailers, combined as chapters, others have a single vob asset as a title. I tried capturing a single frame from the trailer and using it as the menu button.

Maybe I was pushing the tool too hard by combining some many features into a single output. If I get time I can go back and do a few very simple jobs. However, it would only demonstrate that DVD-Lab can do simple jobs as DVD Author can.

I'm also looking at Ulead, Sonic, and Premier tools for feature comparison, tool robustness, and stability.

[maa]

As long as DVD_Lab remains single VTS its not really suitable for that kind of job. Its aimed at creating DVDs for new material from a NLE app. Multiple VTS is comming later according to the author.
It just outshines the competiton with its menu making abilities thats why I like it so much and why I worte the guides to do the rest manually.
I hope you find a tool you like.

[windtrader]

Maa,

I've been busy evaluating a few authoring/editing tools. DVD Author is really nice and easy to use. It will all easy adding of chapters and setting the begin-end points of the clips.

As you say, DVD-Lab is more flexible and powerful. I did find the fact you can trim the end only quite a limitation. The fatal compile error I was getting was coming from a out of disc space condition. Once I pointed the work and temp areas to an open drive, the error went away. I set up some transition menus and more fancy backgrounds etc. Quite nice but it does take more time to learn and get going.

The ulead products are good too except they started acting up on my system. I could swear they handled AC-3 but after awhile I lost the ability to process any AC-3 audio in the clips. This pretty much put the end to those tools; however, they had pretty nice features and it was pretty easy to learn.

[manic_d]

2CooL, your guide was very useful as usual but now I was wondering how to start (resume play) a re-authored movie from a stopped condition. On my set top player when playing a Shrink re-authored movie and pressing the stop button on my remote the only way to resume play seems to be to eject the disc and reload. Pressing play does nothing. So what does the program logic do when the play button is pressed? Is there a guide to what the remote control buttons relate to in the IFO program language?
cheers
manic_d

[maa]

Didn't search then ?

Hardware Resume (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=374473#post374473)

It also depends on your player.
Mine comes with a message about resume if I press stop once, a second press causes the DVD to be re-started on Play.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by manic_d
2CooL, your guide was very useful as usual but now I was wondering how to start (resume play) a re-authored movie from a stopped condition. On my set top player when playing a Shrink re-authored movie and pressing the stop button on my remote the only way to resume play seems to be to eject the disc and reload. Pressing play does nothing. So what does the program logic do when the play button is pressed? Is there a guide to what the remote control buttons relate to in the IFO program language?
cheers
manic_d I was going to reply earlier but maa beat me to it. Stopping your movie and having it play at the lat spot you were at is a player's feature/option. Look inside your set top's setup menu and browse through it.

[r0lZ]

PgcEdit has a function that allow exactly to "Use the Title Menu Button to Skip Titles in Re-authored DVD Shrink Movies" in two mouse clicks.

The procedure I used in PgcEdit is totally inspired by your guide, 2COOL! Thanks for this great idea.

PgcEdit is discussed in this tread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77980

[Chetwood]

I've been away from this board for a while and I've just stumbled across PGC-Edit.

Originally posted by r0lZ
PgcEdit has a function that allow exactly to "Use the Title Menu Button to Skip Titles in Re-authored DVD Shrink Movies" in two mouse clicks.

The procedure I used in PgcEdit is totally inspired by your guide, 2COOL! Thanks for this great idea.

PgcEdit is discussed in this tread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77980

And unlike 2Cool's method using your tool allows to open the modified DVD in DVD Shrink again! When I manipulated the ifos as explained in 2Cool's guide I could not open it again in DVD Shrink cause it 'Failed to open file video_ts.vob'. I guess this is related to the fact that you gotta merge menu tables from an unmanipulated DVD to have a PGC-Menu under VMGM_PGCI_UT. The ifo you merge from (no matter whether from the original DVD or not) seems to link to the video_ts.vob which logically isn't there anymore on a re-authored DVD.

Your tool seems to use a different implementation of 2Cool's guide cause DVD Shrink has no trouble at all opening a manipulated DVD (for whatever purposes).

I've got 2 requests for the both of you, just in case either of you has too much free time on their hands (maybe 2Cool can dig up a way of how to do it and r0lZ can implement it in his tool):


is there any way to make the title button NOT skip to the first ep when it's pressed during the last ep is being watched? Currently it works this way: I have three eps on my DVD and everytime I press the title button on my remote the next ep is shown. So even when I press the title button in ep 3, it jumps to ep 1 instead of doing nothing or stopping playback.

I'm requesting this feature since most of my friends do own a cheap no-name (or do you say 'brandless'?) DVD player like Redstar 230G most of which use a Mediatek chipset which do miss some digits on their display. So when you playback a DVD all you see is:


12 00:00
| | |
| | |- seconds
| |
| |---- minutes
|
|------- chapters


as opposed to my player which depicts:


01 12 0:00:00
| | | | |
| | | | |- seconds
| | | |
| | | |---- minutes
| | |
| | |------ hours
| |
| | -------- chapters
|
|------------ title sets


So if you jump between titlesets the display won't help you to see which titleset (read episode) it is you're watching atm. And since the title button function 'loops' through the eps, counting those episode jumps you already did gets a bit difficult especially as sometimes there's a lot of stuff happening on such an evening with friends so it's easy to forget which ep you stopped at last time as well as which position on the DVD you are at.

And since episode DVDs tend to start with summaries of previous eps they quite often start with the same scenes so it can take a while to realize which ep it is you're watching, which sometimes happens too late so you see some scenes of an ep you hadn't even watched before.

how about trying to implement the way DVD2ONE lets you navigate between titles? When using non seamless 'join' mode (ie. titles are put into different titlesets) you can select 'advanced navigation mode' which allows you to the left and right buttons on your remote to jump back and forth between eps?

Problem with this solution so far is that it does only work on software players like PowerDVD at least none of the three standalone players I've tested so far did work with this method.


Thanks for your time.

[r0lZ]

Originally posted by Chetwood
Your tool seems to use a different implementation of 2Cool's guide cause DVD Shrink has no trouble at all opening a manipulated DVD (for whatever purposes).Yoy're right. PgcEdit 'DVDShrink Title Button' utility create the necessary tables to got a working Title menu, but don't create the tables related to the VIDEO_TS.VOB.


is there any way to make the title button NOT skip to the first ep when it's pressed during the last ep is being watched?Yes. Simply insert two pre-commands in the Title menu PGC (commands 2 and 4):

********** pre commands:
[71 00 00 0F 00 00 00 00] 1 Set gprm(15) =(mov) 0 ".."
[00 A1 00 00 00 00 00 04] 2 if ( gprm(0) == 0 ".." ) then { Goto line 4 }
[30 06 00 00 00 00 00 00] 3 (JumpSS-FP) Jump to First Play PGC
[30 01 00 00 00 00 00 00] 4 Exit

Another way to know that you are at the end of the DVD is to add a short title as the last title of your DVDShrink compilation. A still frame would be sufficient: you may change the delay with PgcEdit in the Pgc Editor cell list (don't use the PGC Still Time).


how about trying to implement the way DVD2ONE lets you navigate between titles?I don't use DVD2ONE and therefore don't know this method. But I will have a look at how it is implemented. I suppose that the method is related to invisible BOVs (button over video). If this is the case, PgcEdit will not be able to implement a similar method, because the VOB files must be modified to include the invisible buttons, and PgcEdit is not dealing with VOB files.

Edit: Confirmation: DVD2ONE is using BOV to implement the advanced navigation features.

[Chetwood]

Originally posted by r0lZ
Yes. Simply insert two pre-commands in the Title menu PGC (commands 2 and 4):

Great, thanks for your fast reply. Being a clueless newbie I assumed that using


[00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00] 4 NOP


would make the last titleset continue playing rather than stopping playback entirely (which would require starting playack and skipping titles again) but obviouisly I was wrong cause playback stopped too. Is there any other command sequence I could use to achieve continuous playback of the last titleset ignoring 'title' keypresses?

Adding a certain still frame is a thing I'd rather avoid. Speaking of convenience, do you think you'd find the time to add this feature under utilities in your next version of PgcEdit?


Confirmation: DVD2ONE is using BOV to implement the advanced navigation features. [...] PgcEdit will not be able to implement a similar method, because the VOB files must be modified to include the invisible buttons, and PgcEdit is not dealing with VOB files.


Got it, however, is it possible to implement a similar method using 'regular' navigation commands? I mean, if you can designate the title button to execute a certain function why not use the 'right' or 'left' button to do it?

Of course I've got no idea how navigation is actually done on DVDs nor what limitations exist and if it weren't for 2Cool's guides and tools from ppl like you I'd still be stuck with less flexible methods of backing up my DVDs. I did do complete reauthroings with DVDlab & Co but it's too time consuming...

[r0lZ]

Is there any other command sequence I could use to achieve continuous playback of the last titleset ignoring 'title' keypresses?I can understand your request in two ways:

1. If you press the title button when the last title is being played, then go back to the beginning of that last title.
In that case, here is the method: go to the last title commands (in this example, let's assumes it's title 3), and modify them so:

********** pre commands:
[71 00 00 00 00 03 00 00] 1 Set gprm(0) =(mov) 3 ".."
********** post commands:
[71 00 00 00 00 00 00 00] 1 Set gprm(0) =(mov) 0 ".."
[30 01 00 00 00 00 00 00] 2 Exit
********** cell commands:

The 3 in the first line must match the number of your last title.
Note: If you have asked to loop back when using the 'DVDShrink Title Button' utility, the last command would be:

[30 08 00 00 01 00 00 00] 2 (CallSS-FP) Call the First Play PGC, resume cell 1

This doesn't change the logic, so leave it as it is.

2. You don't want the Title button to take any action when pressed during the last title play.
In this case, don't modify the commands. Simply select the last title and press the "Edit PGC" button followed by the "Prohibited User Operations" button, then set the "Menu Call - Title (1024)" checkbox on. This will inhibit the Title button during the last title playback, and therefore you will not be able to loop back to the beginning.
I hope this answer is what you wanted.



Adding a certain still frame is a thing I'd rather avoid. Speaking of convenience, do you think you'd find the time to add this feature under utilities in your next version of PgcEdit?
It is already possible to import a titleset with PgcEdit (with "Import VTS Titles"), and it is easy to find a blank still frame titleset around. But modifying the commands to let this new title play after the last episode is up to you. So, I recommand adding it directly with DVDShrink.
Adding a 'Create blank, single frame titleset' utility in PgcEdit is therefore a little bit redundant. What should be really usefull is to add a feature to the "Import VTS Titles" that will try to modify the original DVD commands to let it play automatically, but this is really verry difficult, because there are so many different logics in DVD authoring. And it is difficult to assume that this new blank title has to be played after the last title.



is it possible to implement a similar method using 'regular' navigation commands? I mean, if you can designate the title button to execute a certain function why not use the 'right' or 'left' button to do it?
The Title and Root Menu buttons of the remote are designed to automatically call the (global) Title menu PGC and the (VTS specific) Root menu PGC.
The cursors and enter keys, in the other hand, are related only to the menu stuff that is in the VOB files. From within a PGC program, there is really no way to know if thoses buttons are being pressed.
If you really want this feature, you must therefore use the BOV method. Actually, only professional DVD authoring softwares (and DVD2ONE, apparently with some problems) are able to do this kind of stuff. Sorry.

[Chetwood]

Originally posted by r0lZ

2. You don't want the Title button to take any action when pressed during the last title play.
In this case, don't modify the commands. Simply select the last title and press the "Edit PGC" button followed by the "Prohibited User Operations" button, then set the "Menu Call - Title (1024)" checkbox on. This will inhibit the Title button during the last title playback, and therefore you will not be able to loop back to the beginning.

I hope this answer is what you wanted.


Yep, that's what I meant. However, I'm not sure which file and which position in it I gotta open now and where is the 'edit pgc' button in ifoedit 0.96? Could you be more specific please?

If you really want this feature, you must therefore use the BOV method.

Well, thanks for pointing that out. I guess, I just gotta live without this function then.

[r0lZ]

I'm not sure which file and which position in it I gotta open now and where is the 'edit pgc' button in ifoedit 0.96? Could you be more specific please?
The button is extremely visible... in PgcEdit: go to the last PGC (this must be your last title), and check the Title Menu Call PUO here.

[Chetwood]

Originally posted by r0lZ
The button is extremely visible... in PgcEdit: go to the last PGC (this must be your last title), and check the Title Menu Call PUO here.
DOH! Silly me, I thought you were talking bout Ifoedit :o

And I'm also quite forgetful, cause those cheap DVD players I'm speaking about in my 2nd posting to this thread competely ignore UPO! So if you put in a DVD you can easily skip the FBI warning, menus or whatever and you can always switch audio/sub streams without having to use a darn menu.

Usually this rocks big time but in my case it's more of a disadvantage. So I'll give it a last try to get MY personal perfect DVD: is there another way of manipulating the ifos to achieve no effect when pressing 'title' druing playback of the last titleset?

I fumbled a bit with the ifos and changed


PGC Command Table:

1.Pre Command If GPreg<0> == (cmp-val)<1><' then Goto line# 4 [00 a1 00 00 00 01 00 04]
2.Pre Command If GPreg<0> == (cmp-val)<2><' then Goto line# 5 [00 a1 00 00 00 02 00 05]
3.Pre Command (JumpTT) Jump to Title: 1 [30 02 00 00 00 01 00 00]
4.Pre Command (JumpTT) Jump to Title: 2 [30 02 00 00 00 02 00 00]
5.Pre Command (JumpTT) Jump to Title: 3 [30 02 00 00 00 03 00 00]


to


PGC Command Table:

1.Pre Command If GPreg<0> == (cmp-val)<1><' then Goto line# 3 [00 a1 00 00 00 01 00 03]
2.Pre Command If GPreg<0> == (cmp-val)<2><' then Goto line# 4 [00 a1 00 00 00 02 00 04]
3.Pre Command (JumpTT) Jump to Title: 2 [30 02 00 00 00 02 00 00]
4.Pre Command (JumpTT) Jump to Title: 3 [30 02 00 00 00 03 00 00]


cause I considered the 'jump to title: 1' unnecessary cause the DVD starts with it anyway but it did not work. Maybe you know a way?

[r0lZ]

Try this in the Title menu PGC:

VMG / Menu-LU 1 (en) / 1 (Title)

********** pre commands:
[71 00 00 0F 00 00 00 00] 1 Set gprm(15) =(mov) 0 ".."
[20 A1 00 00 00 00 00 10] 2 if ( gprm(0) == 0 ".." ) then { RSM }
[30 06 00 00 00 00 00 00] 3 (JumpSS-FP) Jump to First Play PGC
********** post commands:
********** cell commands:

Line 2 has been added and will return to the last played title, at the point it was interrupted when you pressed the Title button.

Note that some settop players will show up a little pause. So, it's a good idea to combine this solution with the Title menu call prohibition, in case you will play your DVD with a 'full featured' player.

Also, there is a bug in IfoEdit: NOP is actually displayed instead of RSM.