Menu Help

[maccafan]

I have made my dvd with chapters, but i don't want a chapter menu if that makes sense. i just want 1 menu (the main menu) with only a play button (no other button). Can anyone help me do that?

[blplhp]

Then do not create chapter points in the DVD authoring module (Share|Create Disc). When you set chapter points within a video file in the media timeline, VS10 will automatically create a chapter sub-menu for that video file. If you have no chapter points selected, VS10 will only give you a main menu, as long as the Create Menu box has a check mark in it.

[Ken Berry]

There may be some confusion here. Blplhp thinks you don't want either chapters or a chapter menu. I think you want the chapters but not a menu.

Anyway, to qualify blplhp's comments, VS10 will only insert chapters at the points marked during the editing phase, if you have applied the VS10 patch OR if you ignore our Recommended Procedure and then insert the project file into the burning timeline, instead of a DVD-compliant mpeg-2 produced from the project. If you haven't applied the VS10 patch or you have in fact followed our recommended procedure, then as blplhp suggests, no chapters will be inserted automatically.

If I am correct, on the other hand, and you want to have your chapters but no menu, then you can do one of two things. The first involves inserting your chapter points in the editing phase. If you have the patch applied or insert the project .VSP file in the burning module, then VS should recognise the chapters in the burning module.

If instead you follow the recommended procedures and still want to create chapters but no menu for them, then insert your video clips in the burning timeline and check the Create Menu box. Click on the Add/Edit Chapters button. In the new screen, create your chapters, then hit OK. Then click Next. You then choose your menu template. But in the top left of that screen, you will see two tabs: Gallery and Edit. Click on Edit. Then in the middle left hand side of that screen, there is a button labelled 'Advanced'. Click on that and uncheck 'Create Chapter Menu'. Quite simple, but unfortunately a little hidden...

In both cases, though you still have to uncheck this last box even if you use the automatic chapter marks in the editing phase. Otherwise, the program will see the chapter points and assume you will want a chapter menu created.

[lakewud]

Read with interest this thread, as i wanted the same thing..thats before it got all complicated with the replies...as usual!!

A menu screen with only my own opening image.title etc..and the words....press here for scene selections / press here for movie to start.

I have VS9. How do you make that inital box that appears disapear. Have been told before on here about checking the various tutorials and also to 'simply' check the 'text only box'...wheres that?

I havent saved to video file, so my 40min project i bring into the timeline, and got down the create disk route...am happy with everything ive done...including putting chapters onto different pages etc...but ideally would love to just get rid of that box which appears on my main menu.


While im at it....WHY WHY WHY when the movie ends does it go back to the start of the movie and not the MAIN menu screen...i have even clicked on the 'return to menu' button while setting up chapters etc.


Any straightforward answers?

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi lakewud

Add one video file to the burner module.

Create chapter points for the video file

Next

Advanced settings

Un tick Add Title Menu, (will hide the Main root menu)
Un tick Create Chapter Menu (will hide the Chapter Menu)

Review the settings using the preview on the NEXT screen.
----------------------
You CANNOT have two buttons on the main menu, one for play and one for chapters.

The button on the main menu plays the disc, if no chapter points exist then the video plays.
If chapter points exist then the chapter sub-menu is displayed.
Selecting a chapter will play the video

Trevor

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Navigation controls
From the Project Setting cogwheel (Lower Left)

With ¡¥Auto repeat¡¦ selected----the video will play for ever, repeating its-self over and over.
Uncheck this box.

Clip Playback now becomes available.

Selecting ¡¥Continue to play next clip¡¦ should play the whole video from beginning to end then return to main menu. (assuming you have one)

Selecting ¡¥Back to Menu¡¦ will return to menu after playing the first video file.
Assuming you are using more than one video file.

The ¡¥navigation controls¡¦ are for controlling the main menu¡¦s NOT the chapter menu¡¦s

Trevor

[blplhp]

Ken,

I guess the confusion I had when providing my answer is what purpose do chapter points serve if you have no chapter sub-menu to get you to those chapter points within your video?

[blplhp]

lakewud,

Trevor is right, you will only get one "hot spot" on your main menu for each video file you have in your media file timeline. That "Hot spot" is there for the purpose of jumping to that particular video file within your total movie composition. However, if you want to cheat and create an "extra" hotspot for the purpose of having, say, a "Play Movie" button instead of using the default navigation play arrow, add a dummy video file to your media file timeline. What I do is add a 2 or 4 second black color clip that has been converted to a DVD compliant MPEG-2 file (which I did back in the Video Editor and then select Create Video File). Place this dummy file either before or after your main video file(s) and you get the extra hotspot. Then go to your main menu and hide the navigation play arrow button if you don't want to have two options for playing the video straightaway. To hide it, just right click on the arrow button and select hide object from the drop-down menu.

[GeorgeW]

Ken,

I guess the confusion I had when providing my answer is what purpose do chapter points serve if you have no chapter sub-menu to get you to those chapter points within your video?

Even though there's no Chapter Menu, the chapter points can still come in handy for navigating the DVD during playback (i.e. hitting the NEXT/PREV buttons on the remote control to jump to a pre-defined chapter mark within a Title)

Regards,
George

[Black Lab]

...what purpose do chapter points serve if you have no chapter sub-menu to get you to those chapter points within your video?

My son played in a baseball game that was broadcast on local television, of which I made a DVD. He made several plays in the field as well as had some at-bats. Rather than make a menu with chapter points for all his plays, I chose to just have the chapters. So now if I don't want to watch the entire 2+ hour marathon, I can just hit the "next" button on the remote to go to the next play.

[blplhp]

GeorgeW,

Ok............forgot about that method of jumping around your video, although you would be doing that kind of blindly, not knowing exactly what points you were searching for, but it would provide a quick way for advancing or rewinding thru your video. Thanks for the reminder.

[maccafan]

Dear Ken,

Thank you so much for your help.....it was of great assistance. I have one more question though. I uncheck the "create menu" selection and it's fine. But when I preview it, there is still a circle (that I can click on) that is not the play button. The play button is there, but I don't know what that other circle is for (I think it can be clicked on). How can I delete that extra option and just have the play button. Again thank you for all of your help. It really helped tremendously.

[maccafan]

I have chosen the background music for my menu and I love it. When the 30 seconds is up it starts playing the menu video again, which is fine. But on the song, it plays maybe one second of it and the starts over again and plays the entire thing. I'll try to explain further using the words of the song. The song starts out with "a certain softness in her eyes" and then continues. When the menu plays again, the music will only play "a certain softn" and then start over again from the begining and play the entire way through. The menu video is fine, it's just when the song loops, somthing happens when it starts playing again. Any help would be great.

[blplhp]

By chance do you have a Menu In effect chosen on the edit tab of the menu creation page? If so, this has been known to cause the "skip" you are experiencing. Select no Menu In effect, which should be the large "X" icon within the choice of Menu In effects and this should solve your skip problem in the audio loop. Having a Menu Out effect has not caused any problems in the audio loop that I am aware of, just the Menu In effect. I experienced this same problem a few months ago and this recommended fix solved my skipping problem. Let us know if this fixes your problem.

[Ken Berry]

Maccafan -- re your hotspot question: can you tell us which menu template you are using and anything else you might have done in the menu creation phase.

I just did a test run, manually creating chapters in a single video in the burning module but not creating a chapter menu. I used a randomly selected template which uses moving image buttons. I also checked with a Smart Scene menu template. With either of these, in preview, I can select either the moving button or the play arrow to start the preview.

But what appears on screen will vary according to the template you have chosen... That is why we need to know which one you are talking about. When I chose a text-only menu template, for instance, I still get two hotspots: the first is the text title; the second is the play arrow (against a dark circle background) towards the bottom of screen. And again, both work to start the video. But I don't get a second circle which is also active.