FYI: reducing episodic movie menus w MenuShrink or Menu2Still(VOBblanker)

[Surf]

Hello you 2 J&J,

Today I came upon this thing about reducing menus:

Band of Brothers ntsc disc1, 2 episodes, 1 main menu branches into 2 sub-menus. Created a coaster for not "still-ing" at the cell level. The resulted still-ed menus, audio/sub-title page only refers to one of the episodes, no longer the other.

Just an fyi ;) .

[jeanl]

Surf,
can you provide more details? Your post is a bit cryptic. Are you saying that menushrink created a coaster, but vobblanker worked fine if you did it at the cell level?
I'd like to get more info, I haven't seen menushrink create a coaster, I'd like to see what happened!
jeanl

[jsoto]

I've the DVD (PAL version) but need to find some time to test. It would be better to have more clear indications.

Does VB do a coaster in non-cell based mode?. I cannot understand this. The process is exactly the same than "still-ing" by PGC (with the only differenve you can select the I frame you want)

jsoto

[Surf]

MenuShrink and Menu2Still work beautifully !!!!
Sorry Jsoto for creating an unnecesary concern. The coaster is strictly MY fault for being slightly careless.

Each disc of Band of Brothers has 2 episodes. One starting menu branches into two main menus. My mistake was creating the still at the menu level which is a no-no. I should have gone deeper and go to each PGC's cell level instead and create the still for each cell! So if I blank at the menu level, I will only end up with menus for Episode one, not the other.

Again, as far as the proggy's concerned, they are poifect !

[Surf]

uh-oh Jsoto, I got into trouble again with disc 5 & 6 of Band of Brothers, strangely disc 1 to 4 didn't have any problem.

I was using the menu2still function at the cell level, tried to still one cell, the still screen popped up, I chose "custom" from the dropdown and started the slider to the desired frame and press MARK. VOBblanker crashed! I was politely asked if I want to contact Micro$oft or Jsoto. :p Open the app again and tried other cells with similar result! What's so strange is that disc 1-4 didn't give me any grief...

Any idea?

[jsoto]

I was politely asked if I want to contact Micro$oft or Jsoto. I suggest you to ask Microsoft. :D

Well, unfortunately, my copy of Brand of Brothers already has a still menu.
Seems a problem in preview seeking(I do know I have to re-write this code..). Just to confirm:
Are you moving the upper slider, aren't you?. Do not touch the one at the bottom.
Things to check:
- Try using "next" and "Prev" buttons and let me know.
- Do your ripped DVDs (the ones you open in VB) open in shrink?

jsoto

[jeanl]

jsoto,
sorry to barge in, but Surf said it crashes when he clicks "Mark" not really when he moves the slider, apparently. Do you think the crash has something to do with preview?
jeanl

[Surf]

Now what would Micro$oft know a thing or two about x-frame or y-frame huh? :D

Yep, the crash did NOT occur when I move the slider, top or bottom, prev or next. Only when I pressed MARK. aaaaarggh. "Don't send! Don't send! Bill wouldn't know what to do!" :D

[jsoto]

@jeanl
I said "preview seeking". My code, not yours ;). May be I've got some strange values when moving the slide and when try to store them (when Surf hits mark) it crashes.

jsoto

[jsoto]

How big is your menu? And the cell? Can you extract it with VB?

EDIT:
Are you sure you are working in the menu domain?. There is a bug in VB and I'm *apparently* allowing to do "still-ing" in titles domain at cell level. Nothing good will happen if you play with this bug...
My copy (PAL) has no motion in menus...

jsoto

[Surf]

Hi Jsoto,

I'm recalling from memory(am @work), am guessing it's about 458mb, give or take. There are about three PGCs in 100 to 132mb sizes. I stopped still-ing at the menu domain(level) after the lesson from Disc One. Each of these big PGCs has about 3-6 cells approx 10-30mb in size. Like I said, recollecting.

(edit) there's no reason to extract so I didn't. But I did check the integrity of the vob by running it through Showtime, not I know it certifies it or not. Another thing, the ripped folder was opened by DVDshrink without any complaint, so I guess menu vob structure's ok...

[jsoto]

@Surf
Bill has sent me a fix :) . Please check:

http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/temp/VobBlanker_1606b1_exe.zip

I'm blind, because I do not have a motion menu version of BB's (here, in R2, they are stills with audio), but I think I found the problem

BTW, you have your PM and email disabled...

jsoto

[Surf]

Got it! Glad it's not over 1 floppy disk size, pheeew!

Mucho Danke!
(Learn from me Blu, Jsoto won't be able to give me language lessons :D)

[Surf]

Ole Jsoto! Viva la Jean!

Both passed !

Jsoto, I gave the newer version a gruelling test. Chose CUSTOM setting for every single cell! No polite invitation to inform Mr. Gates!:D

Now there is audio truncating bit....why is this happens when the frame is chosen from the middle of the cell? Shouldn't the audio stream be left alone?

[jsoto]

Originally posted by Surf
Ole Jsoto! Viva la Jean!

Both passed !

Fantasctic!

Jsoto, I gave the newer version a gruelling test. Chose CUSTOM setting for every single cell! No polite invitation to inform Mr. Gates!:D You're a patient man... It takes a lot of time to select a lot of IFrames..

Now there is audio truncating bit....why is this happens when the frame is chosen from the middle of the cell? Shouldn't the audio stream be left alone? No, it should not be as you say... Audio is truncated if buttons start in the middle of the cell. May be I have to put an option, but the culprit here is a devil DVD from r0lZ. It has, IMHO, a very poor authoring: in the same cell you have:
- A trailer of a couple of minutes. (yes, minutes)
- A menu with buttons.
If I do not trunk the audio, I'll have to propagate all the buttons to the previous Navs.. It can be done, of course, but the audio of the trailer has nothing to do with the audio of the menu, so it will be a little bit strange...
In this case, the best option is to truncate the audio. But may be in other situations this is not the best solution...

jsoto

[Surf]

"You're a patient man" <<< it's the least I can do for tu(you?). Zee pleasure is all mine :p.

"...but the audio of the trailer has nothing to do with the audio of the menu" <<< AHHHA !! So now that the CUSTOM option is behaving, maybe truncate/start the audio at the start of the button frame(improper termino)?

From now on I'm changing preference to keeping the audio on the main page and silence on sp.features, scene selections and setup pages. In case any reader's wondering why is this: I would have the menu music to wake me up if I fall asleep.:D

[jsoto]

Originally posted by Surf
"...but the audio of the trailer has nothing to do with the audio of the menu" <<< AHHHA !! So now that the CUSTOM option is behaving, maybe truncate/start the audio at the start of the button frame(improper termino)?
Nope. Audio truncation is not related with the selected I-Frame. It's just a matter of how the cell is authored. If the first Nav of the cell hasn't buttons, but there are buttons in the cell, the audio will be trucated.
jsoto