Remote controller of DVD player

[sjj1805]

Of course the real answer to all of this is quite simple:

We want WS3! We want WS3!

Come on wake up Ulead / Intervideo / Corel or whatever you now wish to call yourselves.

[snoops]

Hi Pygmalion,

Oh gosh. I opened DVD with PGCEdit.

I was waiting to see a reaction. That's why I said not to ask for details. I had also spent time and figured I could just change the next and prev PGC entries with PgcEdit... until realizing that this had no effect due to the rest of the "programming" from Ulead.

I read somewhere that enabling prev/next remote keys in a menu can cause problems. Not sure if I'm mixing things up. Anyway, I gave up.

But PgcEdit does allow a few (simple) changes that MF doesn't offer. Especially the auto-action after N seconds. And changing the button highlight colors to match my background.

[Pygmalion]

I had also spent time and figured I could just change the next and prev PGC entries with PgcEdit... until realizing that this had no effect due to the rest of the "programming" from Ulead.

Well, PGCEdit preview shows that NEXT and PREV buttons work OK! What do you mean by that?

But PgcEdit does allow a few (simple) changes that MF doesn't offer. Especially the auto-action after N seconds. And changing the button highlight colors to match my background.

This is interesting. Can you tell me how to change auto-action after N seconds in PCGEdit? What about PLAY button? Is the situation there even more complicate than with PREV and NEXT buttons?

Marko

[sjj1805]

You might wish to look at the various user guides for PGCEdit
http://www.videohelp.com/~r0lZ/pgcedit/index.html

[htchien]

First, make sure you have installed all the update patches for your DVDMF.

http://www.ulead.com/tech/dmf/dmf.htm

Install the update packs from the General and the Program Updates section that match your DVDMF version.

If you press some remote controller buttons but the player shows "Cannot do that" message, that means your player does not support such DVD navigation commands.

It's possible DVD authoring softwares do burn the DVD navigation commands onto the DVD properly but the player cannot support some of the navigation commands so it would not behave just as the preview in the software. Sometimes it would fix by using another DVD player that supports the commands.

However in Marko's case it might not be the case. I think you might have misunderstood the button meanings in a DVD menu.

In a DVD menu, DVDMF would define the following relationship between navigation buttons and commands:

Prev. Chapter (|<<): no command. In the preview DVDMF would gray the button on the virtual remote controller because in the DVD menu you can only select a DVD title, not a chapter.
Next Chapter (>>|): no command (grayed in the preview also).
Up key: move the selection to the button or title above.
Down key: move the selection to the button or title below.
Left key: move the selection to the button or title on the left.
Right key: move the selection to the button or title on the right.
Play (>): if current selection in the DVD menu is the Play All button on the screen, then play the DVD from the begining; otherwise play the DVD from the selected title.

There is a button on the DVD menu screen named "Next Menu" which is on the right of the Play All button if you have multiple DVD menus in the DVD. You need to use the cursor key to move the selection to that button then press on OK to move to the next menu.

The (|<<) and the (>>|) buttons on remote controller are only been used for chapter navigation when DVD playing so it will not work in DVD menu.

I think it's different with what Marko understands and this is not a bug. Please read the user manual on this. Also, please try any commercial DVDs to see if what you wish to do is been done by any commercial DVD producers.

If you want more advanced menu controls such as defining the playing list in a DVD by yourself, it's a much more professional feature and maybe you can try DVD WorkShop at http://www.ulead.com/dws/ . DVDMF is a consumer level product which will have its limits.

Hope this helps.

H.T.

[Pygmalion]

First of all thanks to all your answers.

OK, I think we all cleared out that DVD behaviour is not a bug, and that PREV and NEXT buttons are not used on purpose.

I do not know how menus work in commerical DVDs. I do not have many commerical DVDs. I bought DVD player primarly to see home movies of my children. The problem is that I want my children's grandparents - not very technical people - to be able to watch DVD as well. DVDMF design is CONFUSING, as buttons on the menu does not behvae the same way as buttons on remote player. Moreover, it takes many DOWNs and RIGHTs just to make simple task - DVD player playing the whole DVD. To conclude - even if commercial DVDs do not support NEXT and PREV buttons, I do not give a damn, because I do NOT make commercial DVD.

It seems that that PGCEdit can fix the problem with NEXT and PREV buttons, but not for PLAY button as well. Is there any other program that can fix PLAY as well? Can DVDWS do that? And maybe DVDMF designers could think about the fact that most of their users do not make commercial, but home DVDs, and maybe usual rules of making DVDs should be altered?

Best regards,

Marko

[snoops]

Hi,
the settings for auto-action are in the advanced options of the PgcEdit menu editor. It is simple:
Choose the button number (of Play button) for "When the menu playback ends..." and then set a time in "Force Action Button after" like 30 seconds or whatever.

You don't need to change anything about the play button.
You just need to make sure your project settings don't use "Back to menu" after clip playback, but "Continue to play next clip".

When the DVD is loaded, just press the remote Play button.
Or wait until the auto-action kicks in (see above), which will play everything (if project settings are correct).
This is as simple as it gets for old folks.

[Pygmalion]

Another alternative - I would prefer - would be that by default "PLAY" button is selected. In that case both OK and PLAY keys on remote would start playing the whole DVD. Is it possible to change which button is selected by default?

Marko

[snoops]

Marko,

the DVDs I tried with MF5 all have the Play button selected when I load the disc in a player. There is no option in MF. (Maybe this is a player-specific issue)

But PgcEdit also allows you to change the default to any button in the menu. Same place where the other setinngs are.

[Pygmalion]

Thanks snoops for all of your help!

Marko.