BatchMux - Authoring middleware for AVStoDVD

[Sir Didymus]

Well, it is some time that contributions and updates on the matter were pending... Please accept my apologies for that...

The good news is that a new version of BatchMux has been released.... After some weeks of developments, the stress testing of the code is also ended... Apparently everything on the new or revised features seems working as expected; nevertheless the presence of some bugs newly introduced is very high, considering that more or less 20% of the code has been affected in the new release...

[edit 02/04/2016]
link to version 1.4.1
http://www27.zippyshare.com/v/aWv8EDJc/file.html

link to version 1.5.1
http://www27.zippyshare.com/v/7Bmc3T9e/file.html

link to version 1.6.1
http://www27.zippyshare.com/v/Ft0NRNKt/file.html

Changelog v1.6.1

// 07-02-2016 - Bugfix. Improper behaviours, under some circumstancies,
//              of the GetFileAttributes() call, leading to wrongly
//              assume that the destination folder is invalid
// 15-10-2015 - Added the capability of producing: one Title Menu, possibly
//              multipage, with up to 99 pages in the VMG; one Chapter Menu,
//              one Audio Menu, one Subs Menu, also possibly multipage, in the
//              VTSM of the VTS of the DVD; up to 99 Titles, one for each VTS
//            - Included in the default navigation (DVD without menus) the same
//              controls of the audio and subs menus, based on the usage of
//              the GPRM2 and GPRM3 registers, to set up audio and subs tracks
//            - Added entry "titles" in the dvd section of the -mcm
//              configuration file
//            - Added entries "chaptermenupages", "audiomenupages",
//              "subsmenupages" in the vtsmxx sections of the -mcm
//              configuration file
//            - Added entries "titlessseamlessplay", in the vmg section and
//              "chaptersseamlessplay" in the vtsmxx sections of the -mcm
//              configuration file
//            - Added the following arguments to the C/L and .ini options:
//              -[SEGi]hlmid[_j]; -[SEGi]hlmpage[_j]; -[SEGi]hlmtype[_j];
//              -[SEGi]hlvtsnr[_j]; -[SEGi]hllnktcnr[_j]; -[SEGi]hlpabut[_j]
//            - Removed entries "menutype", "titlebut" and "playallbut" from
//              the -mcm configuration file: replaced and extended by the
//              corresponding above -[SEGi]hl args
//            - Removed the following arguments from the C/L and .ini options:
//              -[SEGi]hlbutm{l}[_j]; replaced by -[SEGi]hlbutmode{l}[_j] 
//              -[SEGi]hloffsbutnr[_j]; replaced by -[SEGi]hloffsbut[_j] 
//              -[SEGi]hlfselbutnr[_j]; replaced by -[SEGi]hlfselbut[_j]
//              -[SEGi]hlfactbutnr[_j]; replaced by -[SEGi]hlfactbut[_j] 
//            - Removed the -norun C/L and .ini option; replaced by -foregndrun
//              TRUE|FALSE attributes, for consistency with the other options
//              and to correct some odd behaviour of the former -norun option
//            - Reworked the "-muxman" C/L and .ini option; it was not always
//              pointing to the correct MuxMan.exe file
//            - Reworked the "-l" C/L and .ini option; now disabled when MuxMan
//              is launched in foreground mode
//            - Changed the content settings for "-mcm" files. See the 1..8
//              examples, in the test cases validation folders, for further
//              details on the meaning and usage of each setting
//            - Reworked management and parsing of the "-ini" files and C/L
//              arguments; added warnings for unrecognised tokens
//            - Improved parsing of "-mcm" files; added warnings for
//              unrecognised tokens
//            - Changed the content settings for "-ini" files. The updated
//              summary is shown into the help screen. See also the 1..8
//              examples, in the test cases validation folders, for further
//              details on the meaning and usage of each .ini argument
//            - "-hcn", configuration of hard coded navigation, replaced by
//              "-mcm", menu and VM commands manager
//            - "-arglist" (general settings file) replaced by "-ini"
//            - Introduced the capability to collocate the segments in
//              different domains (titles, VMG, VTSM) of the project. This is
//              needed to implement ptt, audio and subs menus
//            - Bugfix. Some mistakes fixed in the parsing of the VM commands
//              (JumpSS handling was not ok)
//            - Added timestamps in the output log to keep trace of the elapsed
//              time during the BatchMux operations
//            - Added some check among the .bmp assets used to build the jacket
//              folder, before feeding them to MuxMan, to ensure they have
//              image sizes, A/R and TV standard consistent each other
//            - Added check for the 2-char language codes used in the audio and
//              subs assets against the ISO 639-1 table entries (184 codes)
//            - Totally revised and improved the consistency checks of the .ini
//              options; added warnings in the output log in case of oddities
//            - Bugfix. The control of some display modes for subpictures and
//              menu highligth was implemented nok, causing in some case the
//              misinterpretation and the skipping of title and menu assets
//            - Bugfix (esternal). Fixed an issue in the menu asset library
//              causing menu assets for the PS display mode to lead to wrong
//              highlighting and menu freeezing on some players & 4:3 TVs
//            - Bugfix (minor). Jacket format was handled properly but reported
//              wrongly in the output log, always as "FULLSCREEN"

Summary table of the Test Cases (v 1.6 - examples of application):

# Test case 1  --> Skip the menu at the DVD insertion: play all titles
#              --> until the end and then go to the title menu
#              --> Function "Skip menu, play all titles"
#
# Test case 2  --> Start with Title x upon DVD insertion (3 in the test case)
#              --> then play all titles until the end and go to the
#              --> title menu
#              --> Function "Skip menu, play all titles starting from X"
#
# Test case 2a --> Compilation without menu.
#              --> Start with Title X upon DVD insertion (3 in the test case)
#              --> then play all titles until the end and exit
#              --> the access to titles 1 and 2 is still possible
#              --> (only via remote control buttons)
#              --> Function "Play all titles starting from X"
#
# Test case 3  --> Start with Title 1 (the first) upon DVD insertion
#              --> then play all titles until the end, then restart
#              --> from the beginning (infinite looping); the title
#              --> menu is still left available by activating the
#              --> related DVD player remote control button
#              --> Function "Skip menu, play all titles, looping"
#
# Test case 3a --> Compilation without menu.
#              --> Start with Title 1 (the first) upon DVD insertion
#              --> then play all titles until the end, then restart
#              --> from the beginning (infinite looping).
#              --> Function "Play all titles, looping"
#
# Test case 4  --> Start with the usual title menu;
#              --> set subtitle track #1 ON before the play of title #2
#              --> set subtitle track #1 OFF after the play or upon
#              --> interruption of title #2
#              --> Function "Autoloading of subtitle X for title Y"
#
# Test case 4a --> Compilation without menu.
#              --> Start as usual with Title 1 (the first) upon DVD
#              --> insertion; set subpicture track #1 ON before
#              --> the play of title #2; set subpicture track #1 OFF
#              --> after the play or upon interruption of title #2
#              --> Function "Autoloading of subtitle X for title Y"
#
# Test case 5  --> Start with the usual title menu;
#              --> then, once a given title is
#              --> selected, play it and continue with
#              --> all the others, until the compilation
#              --> has finished
#              --> Function "Play all, starting from title X"
#
# Test case 6  --> Start with the usual menu, then, once a given title is
#              --> selected in a given menu page (page 2 in this test case),
#              --> play that title and continue with the other titles in the
#              --> page. Once the last title in the menu page has finished,
#              --> the playback restarts with the menu
#              --> Function "Play all in the menu page X"
#
# Test case 6a --> Extension of the function "Play all in the menu page X"
#              --> (Test Case 6) to all menu pages in the DVD compilation:
#              --> start with the usual menu, then, once a given title is
#              --> selected in whatever menu page, play that title and
#              --> continue with the other titles in the page. Once the last
#              --> title in the menu page has finished, the playback restarts
#              --> with the menu
#              --> Function "Play all titles in the leading menu page"
#
# Test case 7  --> Simple validation test case, including the creation
#              --> of the Jacket Folder for the DVD, composed by
#              --> 11 menu pages, leading to 99 titles.
#              --> Function "11 menu pages, 99 titles, jacket folder"
#
# Test case 7a --> Bug fix validation test case, including the creation
#              --> of the Jacket Folder for the DVD, composed by
#              --> 99 titles (no menu, default structure & navigation).
#              --> Function "99 titles, jacket folder"
#
# Test Case 8  --> validation test for release 1.6, mimiking OCEAN'S 13:
#              --> 1 main title (34 cells, 34 programs, 34 chapters)
#              --> 1 extra title (3 cells, 3 programs, 3 chapters)
#              --> 1 title menu - 1 page, static, ws+lb+ps, with "Play Movie",
#              --> "Scene Selection", "Special Features",
#              --> "Languages" and "Subtitles" buttons
#              --> 1 chapter menu - static, ws+lb+ps, with 34 chapter
#              --> buttons, distributed in 4 menu pages
#              --> 1 audio menu - static, ws+lb+ps
#              --> 1 subs menu - static, ws+lb+ps
#              --> 1 "special features" menu (a dedicated type of chapter menu)
#              --> - static, ws+lb+ps
#

Link to test cases release 1.6 (single zip file, including DVDs for all test cases):
[edit 02/04/2016] - link removed (expired); examples, use cases, etc. will be provided on request.

[Groucho2004]

Originally Posted by Sir Didymus

Authoring sw for AVStoDVD

I thought AVStoDVD is an authoring software, among other things.

[Sir Didymus]

Yes, of course! It uses BatchMux as frontend for preparing the MuxMan script... In fact it's MuxMan that implements the actual authoring... Let's call BatchMux an authoring middleware... I will change the thread name accordingly, if feasible...

Cheers,
SD

[MrC]

Wow! Can't wait to have the new release available! What about anticipating the new features list?

If you need some alpha/beta testing, I'm here.



Bye

[Sir Didymus]

Yes sure!

[EDIT 06-04-2016] D/L link of BM 1.4 removed - version deprecated, see first post.

Changelog v1.4

// 11-09-2015 - Added option to insert, append or replace precommands,
//              postcommands and cellcommands in the authoring project.
//              This allows, for instance, to set up the automatic activation
//              of subtitles at the DVD insertion, to directly jump to any
//              wanted title upon the DVD insertion, to automatically replay
//              the compilation (looping instead of exiting after the last
//              title), etc.
//            - Added option to log information and errors to a specific file
//              (overriding stdout) with the new argument -bmlog
//            - Added support to the -js and -jf cli arguments, newly
//              introduced starting from the release 0.16.7 of MuxMan
//            - Unified output to stdout for warnings and stopping errors
//            - Reworked handling of the DVDPREPARER option
//            - The presence of the destination folder in the file system is
//              now verified before launching MuxMan
//            - Internal clean ups in the management of the dynamic memory
//              resources

Let's start with the "bad" news...
1. The old issue of the 99 titles bug [the current limit of BatchMux should be around about 60 titles] is still there... I preferred to cover other issues, more critical, imho, and to prepare things for the needed improvement, still left as tbd, for the moment...
2. The introduction of Chapter, Subpicture and Audio menues is feasible, this is confirmed, but needs to be implemented afterwards...

Well, then the simpler things:
1. BatchMux now is aligned with MuxMan 0.16.8, including the capability of creating a jacket folder in the DVD compilation. The options to use in the project.ini or in the command line are -js and -jf.
2. The destination folder is now mandatory. Its presence is checked and if it does not exists, BatchMux exits. It should work this way...
3. Ha, that's nice... :-) There is now an option "-bmlog" to log all BatchMux activities to a file...

Then I have added only one complex thing:
- The hardcoded navigation file (.hcn) now supports the possibility to change the default navigation and the menu structure in a very deep manner. It is possible to insert, to add and to replace the precommands, postcommands and cell commands of the compilation. This implies it is now possible to implement some features asked repeatedly by some users... For instance the use cases that I tested in some stress test include:

[EDIT 24-09-2015] Test Cases summary table removed from this post. It is reported (with updates) in the first post of the thread.

Well, other functions are also doable, but... How to say... It's fundamental to know very precisely what to do for using properly these options... It is an unpleasant side effect: complex things are now feasible, but it needs some complex configuration to exploit them...

For testing this new release of BatchMux, I would start with replacing BatchMux.exe with the new version (and of course also replacing MuxMan.exe with the 0.16.8 version)... Everything should continue working: hopefully the full backward compatibility with the previous release has not being broken...

OK... I am here for whatever additional info or clarifications...

[MrC]

Tanta roba! We say in Italy...

Great job Sir Didymus! We have been waiting for this update for so long!

Ok, now some questions from a lazy guy, who does not want to google...

Originally Posted by Sir Didymus

1. BatchMux now is aligned with MuxMan 0.16.8, including the capability of creating a jacket folder in the DVD compilation. The options to use in the project.ini or in the command line are -js and -jf.

What are exactly jacket folders?

Originally Posted by Sir Didymus

2. The destination folder is now mandatory. Its presence is checked and if it does not exists, BatchMux exits. It should work this way...

Ok, nice.

Originally Posted by Sir Didymus

3. Ha, that's nice... :-) There is now an option "-bmlog" to log all BatchMux activities to a file...

Great, that's very useful for realtime and post-process debug, without redirecting the stdout.

Originally Posted by Sir Didymus

Then I have added only one complex thing:
- The hardcoded navigation file (.hcn) now supports the possibility to change the default navigation and the menu structure in a very deep manner. It is possible to insert, to add and to replace the precommands, postcommands and cell commands of the compilation. This implies it is now possible to implement some features asked repeatedly by some users...

And this complex thing opens to many new possibilities.

Many thanks. I hope to run some test very soon.



Bye

[Sir Didymus]

We have been waiting for this update for so long...

You have no idea about how much I am afraid for that... Really, please accept my apologies for that...

OK, back on the point... The support for the jacket folder creation is a feature that not many authoring applications have... However, how to say... it's not a feature of strategic relevance...

When you press "stop" on the remote when you are seeing a given title, the title stops, but what is presented on the TV is then normally some default screen depending on the DVD player firmware. Sometimes it is the logo of the DVD player producer, or some other "creative" default static picture.

Instead, if a folder exists in parallel to VIDEO_TS, named JACKET_P, and containing suitable assets (three pictures of different resolution) the player loads the largest image in the folder and displays it. I am not sure about, but I think that all players nowaday support this feature.

The filenames and resolutions should be:

For PAL:
J00__6L.MP2 --> 720x576
J00__6M.MP2 --> 176x144
J00__6S.MP2 --> 96x80

For NTSC:
J00__5L.MP2 --> 720x480
J00__5M.MP2 --> 176x112
J00__5S.MP2 --> 96x64

Muxman 0.16.8 allows, by starting from suitable .bmp or .m2v assets, to create the jacket folder and its content.

Easy... But I say again, it is not the most important feature on the earth; well, the C/L switches of MuxMan are there, so - if someone is interested - now BatchMux allows their usage... :-)

[SuLyMaN]

Whoaaa! Looks great. Impatient to see it coming to AVStoDVD with auto subtitle loading Thanks a bunch.

[Sir Didymus]

Yes, it's nice! Thanks for confirming it is something still interesting for some users... It was the test case #4 above...

By the way, while we talk about subtitles, [worth to note that even nicier would be the introduction of another long waited element, e.g. the presence of a dedicated subtitles menu], I was thinking about the "switching off" condition...

I mean, it is obvious, for what you (properly) call as a subtitle "autoactivating" function, the switching on condition should happen at the title start. That's OK.

However, in the test case #4, the disabling of the subtitle happen at the start of the title2... This is OK only under the circumstance that the playback of the titles is linear (e.g. title1, title2, title3, ...). If the user, by means of some menu or by using the remote control activates a different playback sequence (e.g. title1, title3, title2), then the subtitle would be still active also for title3... Which is not what is wanted, I think...

Maybe we will refine in the next days a little bit this test case...

Cheers,
SD

[EDIT 19-9-2015] OK, It seems the single viable solution to improve test case #4 is to include in the precommands of the title 1 the stream activation command, and to deactivate the stream in all other titles. The revised example and documentation will be uploaded together with the release of BM version 1.5, that is addressing the more relevant issue of the 99 titles... It will be in the next week, most probably... :-)

[EDIT 27-10-2015] The whole content of this post is now obsolete: with the release 1.6 of BM, a dedicated GPRM register is adopted to control the activation and de-activation of subtitles. Test case #4, demonstrating the subtitle "autoactivating" function, has been then reworked and simplified (see first page of the thread).

[MrC]

Just to report that I have successfully tested the new -bmlog feature from release 1.4

So far, so good, SD



Bye

[Sir Didymus]

Thanks for the verification!

Let me take the opportunity to report that the development of BM 1.5 is also concluded... I am taking some other few days to carry out extensive testing before the release; It is also necessary to clean up and rewrite the test case samples. I would like to have these examples a little bit more detailed and available as individual zip files, containing also the DVD showing exactely what is the "result" of the implemented functions...

Ha... one funny thing that I discovered during the reworking of the sw code is that BM 1.3 was already capable of producing DVDs with up to 99 titles! In all compilations INCLUDING menus there are no problems at all; the issue exists only for compliations based on default structure and navigation (no menus)... However, now the problem seems fixed definitely, in all conditions...

[Sir Didymus]

BatchMux Version 1.5 has been released.

I did some editing to the first post of the thread to include the download link, the changelog and the summary table of the revised test cases. These last have now the shape of application examples (quite complete and easy to understand, hopefully, also for end-users), including some verbose details, where needed, in the .ini and .hcn configuration files.

[EDIT 06-04-2016] D/L link of BM 1.5 removed - version deprecated, see first post.

Changelog v1.5

// 24-09-2015 - Bugfix. Achieving up to 99 VTS (titlesets) was not always
//              possible in the previous releases. This is now implemented,
//              with 1 title for each VTS; 999 segments
//            - Changed DVD layout and PGC organisation for compilations based
//              on single page and multipage menus. See details in the notes
//              and support information regarding the .hcn configuration files
//            - Changed DVD layout and PGC organisation for basic compilations
//              with default navigation, sequence play of the titles and no
//              menus: added two dummy PGCs for each title in the VTSs to
//              implement jumps to prev and next titles by means of the remote
//              buttons
//            - Improvement in the compiling and postprocessing of the VM
//              commands. Added a more consistent coverage at the VM level for
//              the different possible PGC custom commands
//            - Bugfix. The addressing of the "Test for Resume" PGC was wrong
//              in the VTST PGCs for compilations based on single page or
//              multipage menus

[edit 02/04/2016] - D/L link for testcase 1.5, including sample DVDs, removed (expired); examples, use cases, etc. will be provided on request.


OK. Next issue to deal with seems the missing of chapter menus capabilities, right? Let's focus on that... :-)

Cheers
SD

[Sir Didymus]

There is some news with BM... Chapters, Audio, Subs menus have been implemented. Everything is apparently working. I just need a couple of further days, to walk again through the complete test set, checking there are no trivial bugs, before making an official release. So, stay tuned... BM 1.6 will be a major release, with many changes and significant improvements implemented. I am very happy and proud about...


Some screenshots related to the new structure of the menus are attached hereafter. The pictures show just one of the different possible layouts, with a title menu, a chapter menu, one audio menu and one subs menu. In this example the "additional features" are implemented by means of a dedicated type of chapter menu. All of these menus could be composed by a single page, with a motion clip or a static background, with or without some background music, or by multiple pages (ptts in the same PGC). Apart the title menu, which is unique in the DVD, collocated in the VMG domain, all other menus are placed in the individual VTSM of each VTS, so up to 99 different chapter menus, audio, subs menus are supported by BM!

[Sir Didymus]

BatchMux Version 1.6 has been released.

I did some editing to the first post of the thread to include the download link, the changelog and the summary table of the revised test cases. The links to the other recently provided versions are added to some of the announcement posts above.

Well, what to say... No other tickets are pending in the BM todo list. For the future I am available for bugfixing work and releases, that I will surely try to provide, depending on the MrC and AVS2DVD users feedbacks. No other features are foreseen, ATM, to extend the current BM capabilities.
:-)

Cheers
SD

[MrC]

Hi SD, many many thanks for the efforts to upgrade BM. The chapters and audio/subs selection capability is definitively a big big improvement.

Unfortunately in the following weeks I do not plan to start the implementation into A2D. Actually I will hardly have the time to download and test release 1.6. House move and awful working hours are nasty enemies of hobbies... especially programming... But I hope in better times.



Bye

[Sir Didymus]

Yes, I know what you mean; I have been myself into this unpleasant "0 spare time" condition for years, until just recently. So, let me cross my fingers for you having some time, in the oncoming weeks/months, to dedicate to the integration of the new features of BatchMux into AVS2DVD. Regarding these improvements, introduced in the version 1.6 of BM, yes, I agree... :-) They are really a milestone - if I can say this... Waited since long time... So, no rush from my side... Whenever in the future you or other users need support or additional information/clarification on the content of this thread, please just do a "bump"...

Cheers,
SD

[Sir Didymus]

Ok. As anticipated, this post shortly reports the development status of BM, mainly for tracing purposes.

As pointed out in the main thread on AVS2DVD, one issue affected the releases 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 of BatchMux, leading to misrecognition, in many cases, of the destination folder for the authoring project. The version of BatchMux which fixed this problem is the 1.4.1.

The releases 1.5 and 1.6 of BM, already distributed, are deprecated. They are replaced by the releases 1.5.1 and 1.6.1, respectively.

The d/l links for these "dot one" bugfix releases are reported in the first post of this thread.

Cheers,
SD