DVDAuthorGUI help wanted

[Peter1234]

I have successfully used DVDAuthorgui 0.994 to generate several DVDs with a single video and audio stream and no menu. I have generated a single frame m2v still menu which loads correctly. I am able to add buttons (at least the coordinates get entered) BUT when I try to get the program to accept the buttons it always shuts down without any error messsages as soon as I click the accept button. I am using NTSC on a P4 computer running XP. Any suggestions on why this is happening? I have loaded 2 video and audio streams but have not generated any chapters.

[liquid217]

This sounds like a mpeg2 directshow filter problem. Certain filters work perfectly fine, while others make the entire program close on exit. I personally have powerdvd, and have tested with the ligos filter with excellent results. I have tried installing the GPL mpeg2 filter, and it seems to work just as well (although it doesn't include an mpeg2 splitter)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gplmpgdec/

also, have a look at the 3rd troubleshooting topic:
http://www.videohelp.com/~liquid217/readme.html#troubleshooting

[Peter1234]

liquid217,
Thanks for the reply. I have both PowerDVD and WinDVD installed. This is the only program that has problems. I will let you know if I get it working.

[liquid217]

Sometimes programs will interfere with the directshow filter chain, so you may not actually be using powerdvd's filters (even though it is installed). You may want to reinstall powerdvd to ensure its filters are being used. Good luck.

[Peter1234]

liquid217,
I installed the GPL mpeg2 filter, but the same thing happens.

[liquid217]

I came up with what I think is a fix for the problem, but since I am unable to replicate the problem, I am not sure. You can find the test version here:
http://www.videohelp.com/~liquid217/dvdauthorgui0.995test.rar

replace the existing gui, with this one. Also, there is a readme in this version that explains how to accurately test what directshow filter is actually being used to decode the mpeg.

[Peter1234]

liquid217,
Great. I will try it and let you know how it works.

[Peter1234]

liquid217,
I downloaded the test version and tried it. But, it produced the same results. I loaded Gspot and the following is displayed when I click the render button:
(S) --> MPEG-2 Splitter --> InterVideo Video Decoder --> (R)
So it seems that the WinDVD filters are still the default even after installing GPL mpeg2. I do not know how to change the default filters.

I should point out that DVDAuthorGUI produces good DVD files if I do not use a menu. Also, the video file plays correctly when I use the Visual editor to set chapter points. So the program does seem to be able to use the default DirectShow filters. However, when I click the Chapter window "OK" button the program shuts down without any error messages (just like when I click menu window "accept" button). I know nothing about the program, but I would think that the problem is in writing the menu and chapter point data files. I am using a P4 computer with SSE2 and had similar problems with FreeEnc and QuEnc shutting down when data was sent to the AVcodec.dll. That was caused by a data alignment problem in the dll (fixed by SSE2 hack). Could this be a similar problem?

[liquid217]

Thank you for reporting back. Personally, I would love to get away from using media player/directshow, but at the moment, i don't know enough of the gdi/api to move away from it. You can change the priority of the filters by using radlight filter manager.

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/radlight_filter_manager.html

go into the directshow group, and locate the intervideo filter, and either set it to do not use, or at a very low priority. You may even want to set the gpl filter to a higher priority. You will need to log off your system, and log back in for the changes to take place. I will begin testing with the windvd filters, on a P4 system to see what I can come up with. thanks

[Peter1234]

liquid217,
Success! Thank you for your help and thanks for the info about the Filter Manager program. I changed GPL mpeg2 filter to highest merit value and the test version of DVDAuthorGUI works great. I will test the standard version next. However, I am confused about using the Filter Manager program. There is a buttom called "Register" which I assume is to register the changes in the Registry. Should I do that? I didn't and the changes were made anyway. I only clicked the "Set Value" button. How do you use the program?

[Peter1234]

liquid217,
Success with standard version 0.994 also. I did notice that slider gets to end of window long before video reaches the end in the chapter visual editor. Thanks again for your help and for the great program.

[liquid217]

Your very welcome. Thank you also for confirming that the issue was related to the directshow decoder, specifically intervideo's.

'Set value' in this case is the only option needed in radlight. The 'register' button is useful if you have a directshow filter you want to install.

[Peter1234]

liquid217,
I forgot to mention that I am using version 4 of WinDVD. Other versions may not have this problem.