motion menu -> still menu

[M!ro]

The idea came from this thread How to freeze a motion menu (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=73299) and after i saw motion menu that was 20sec of same image. So the question is... is it posibile to take just first frame of motion menu and create still menu withot reauthoring whole menu? If i try to cut the first frame with DVDShrink it deletes all menu information... can i "cut" just fist NAV pack from VOB including video stream and menu subtitle stream (The way it's represented in VobEdit)?

[$$$]

Why not just capture a still image from that menu and encode it into an m2v which you then remux with VobEdit into your menu VOB?

$

[Dimmer]

I have some idea about how to do it, although I can't promise that the result is going to be 100% standard compliant. Of course, in addition to VobEdit we'll have to use IfoEdit. In the method below, we assign the first NAV pack of the cell we're truncating its own unique VOB ID, and then we strip the original VOB ID from the menu.

1. Open IFO file corresponding to the menu you want to update and check VMGM_C_ADT table to find out the number of VOB IDs in the menu.
2. Open the menu VOB file in VobEdit and select the first NAV pack of the cell that's going to be truncated. In the DSI Stream section, change VOB ID to the number greater than the maximum VOB ID in step 1. Set Cell ID to 1 just for a case (not sure if it matters).
3. Check the Button box. Set both Highlight End Time and Button Selection End Time to -1. Close VobEdit.
4. In IfoEdit, find a PGC corresponding to the menu in question. At the bottom in the section Cell Position in VOB, set the Cell ID to 1 and VOB ID to the same value as in VobEdit in step 2. Set Cell Still Time to 255 for the cell.
5. Click Menu Extras and perform mock strip of the Language Units. This will update VMGM_C_ADT table with the new VOB ID.
6. Click Menu Extras again, this time perform Strip VobID's keeping all the VOB IDs except the original ID of the cell we're truncating.
7. That's it. Close IfoEdit, replace the original VOB/IFO/BUP files with the output of the last strip operation, and do Get VTS Sectors.

As you can see, this method heavily relies on IfoEdit's ability to fix IFO and VOB files. The result would certainly work on a computer, but please feel free to provide feedback about standalone compatibility and standard compliance of the method.

[M!ro]

I've just tried remuxing with VobEdit (thanks $$$) and result was just fine!
1) Used DVDShrink author mode to get just the one frame of menu video.
2) Demuxed m2v from DVDShrink's output
3) Split original menu vob by VobID
3) Remuxed m2v in desired VobID
4) Joined all VobID's back together
5) Fix ifo with IfoEdit's MenuExtras keeping all VobID's

The menu had audio track which i didn't remove so i left everything else intact. Tested it on computer and Sony DVP-NS333 standalone player and menu worked just fine.
I've shrinked it with DVDshrink before burning and testing it on standalone. I don't know if result is 100% standard compliant but is's working for me and it's not too much complicated :)

[Dimmer]

@M!ro
Could you please check the length of the updated cell in IfoEdit? As I understand, remuxing an m2v into a cell doesn't change the cell's length. So if there was some audio in that menu, it should still play for 20 seconds same as original.

Also, if you happened to compare the size of the cell in Kb before and after remuxing, was there any significant difference?

[M!ro]

@Dimmer
The cell length is same as original. They both play for 44sec, and the only diference is that video is truncated to one frame gaining 19MB on file size. From 20.518.912 bytes to 1.544.192 after. New m2v is only 250kb.
In VobEdit this final vob has first NAV pack followed by subpicture, video and audio packs, and after that just NAV packs followed by audio packs. And this can be found in other still menus with audio so i think that's good.

[Dimmer]

Okay then, it means you turned a motion menu not really into a still menu but into a slideshow menu. Real still menus can't contain any audio and remain still due to the Cell Still Time set to 255. At least you saved 19Mb. Although I find myself the looping audio clips kind of annoying after a couple of minutes, but it's great as long as it works for you.

[VidHack]

Dimmer,

Hello to you! I have been following these threads on "Converting a Motion Menu into a Still" - Very interesting stuff here.
I have been hacking up some VOBS and making some cheasy tools to do the job, with hopes of getting a working app that does the intire process. Just to let you know, I made a simple Frame cutter in VB, that cuts a Motion Vob after the First I-Frame, thanks to your info on this subject, I will alter it to cut after the second Subpicture NAV Pack - Thanks.

Also, to remove the audio, I have been playing around with VOBedit. All you have to do is alter the audio CRC. The audio chunk will still be in the miny cut VOB, but the audio decoder will just dump the AC3 pack, since it thinks its currupt. Then all the pointers are still correct. Again thanks for your posts on this subject, my hope is to roll all this knowledge into a beta - App, then to forward this working procedure to Dimad of DVDreMake.

Thank - you.

VidHack

[Dimmer]

@VidHack:

Glad you found my posts useful. There is one more piece of information that might help you in your development. In order to disable the audio, you simply have to set the Audio Stream Status to 0 in IfoEdit for the PGC you're working with. It works equally well for both menu and title PGCs. That would probably be safer in terms of standard compatibility than intentionally corrupting the audio packs.

Good luck!