Peculiar menus

[Iaganack]

I am new to this Web board but have been using DVD WS2 for a few years... I have ben learing how to "work around" some of the problesm (like manually adjusting the lottery style button navigation results of DVDWS2 by using MenuEdit, and so on).... but such simple things should be addressed by the software manufacturers!

My main frustration with WS2 is that what you see is NOT always what you get! I have spent many sleepless nights tearing my hair out trying to author a master DVD for mass replication. The "Finish" stage gives me what I want (except for menu navigation).... but then the resulting DVD Folders often give something different (e.g. Default button changed to another button, some audio track other than track 1 becoming the default track, subtitle track playing by default instead of the default subtitles OFF, etc). Even more frustrating, when I burn the DVD Folders, the finished product might be something different again.

I have just authored a VERY simple VCD (still used here in Asia!)... 2 video tracks, selected by presssing "1" or "2" at the start-up menu... at least that is what happens at the Finish stage of DVDWS2. BUT... the burned VCD plays track 1 when "1" is pushed, but presssing "2" brings no response. Rather, track 2 plays when I press the PLAY button!

I am attached to DVDWS2... it is relatively simple to use. But PLEEZ, PLEEZ, Ulead/Corel, send us a patch or upgrade to rescue us from imminent baldness! I won't have much hair left to pull out at this rate!

[skier-hughes]

Blimey, if I had your troubles I'd have given up long ago, thank goodness it always works for me.

[Devil]

I've split your post off from the We want WS3 thread, because it merits its own thread.

Personally, I cannot imagine what is going wrong with your system. Your hardware seems more than adequate. I certainly don't see the results you do. Have you installed all the updates? What is your version no.? (tools icon|About Ulead...)

Did you have the same problem with your older hardware (from what you say, you must have been using it on a different set-up)?

[Iaganack]

This is very gratifying... 2 replies to this newby in that number of hours! Shows there must still be some people out there still using DVDWS2 ... and looking for answers to problems the original developers seem to have considered not worth fixing!

My version should be up-to-date, as I check every now and then for updates (of which there seems to have been none for a couple of years!)

I'm using Ulead DVD Workshop 2.232 (D1), with Ulead AC-3 PowerPack 1.0.

Yes, I have used it on various machines. We actually have 4 editing computers (2 desktop and 2 Notebooks) in our office, all with legal copies of DVDWS2. We use DVDWS 2 a lot... reasonably "harmless" for simple, single language, simple menu, no subtitle projects. But once we start getting into 3 languages (both audio and subtitles) with several pages of Menus.... aaargh! That's when the hair-pulling and desk-pounding starts!

If you have any suggestions to turn our DVDWS2's into rip-roaring WYSIWYG machines, that would be WONDERFUL!

[Devil]

Hmmm! Nothing apparently wrong there. I have done sub-title projects with no difficulties, but the only time I did a multi-audio thing was when beta testing. All I did was a short test clip with a choice of alternative music tracks, with an audio menu on a separate page. It worked fine.

This leads me to another question. Are the menus that get buggered up for audio, sub-titles, titles, chapters or what? (You can see I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel, but it may give me a clue as to how I can reproduce it)

[Iaganack]

Let me see if I can describe my most recent frustrating problem... this past week I worked on 2 DVDs, each with 3 audio tracks, 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Also 3 subtitle tracks, 1, 2 and 3. We are printing 50,000 copies of each commercially, so I wanted to get them just right!

At the Finish page, playing the DVD WITHOUT going to the Setup Menu to set a particular audio and subtitle combination, we get Audio 1 and NO subtitles by default... all honkey-dorey ("OK").

So I wrote the DVD folders, played them with Power DVD, and lo-and behold, we got Audio 1 AND subtitles 1 by default! I decided that would have to do, since it was already 2.00am! So I burned a DVD from the DVD folders and what did I get?... Audio 2 by default, with NO subtitles! Not once, but TWICE (after re-writing the DVD folders from DVDWS2)!!

I delete all the files in the DVD folder before re-doing the write DVD folder stage, by the way, as I figured once that leaving stuff there might have been confusing DVDWS2... but I am the one being confused by this unwanted gremlin!

Actually, there seems to be no consistency in the way problems occur. Sometimes the default menu button (in any sort of menu) will change to another button at random when the DVD folders are written. This is why I said earlier that it would be great to have some fix so that we actually do get what we see in the Finish page! I am tiring of this constant lottery, which wreaks havoc with my state of mind when rushing to get a Master DVD ready for the factory! I have seriously considered researching other authoring packages now that our work load is increasing... the down-time when using my favourite software, DVDWS2, will soon reach critical mass!... unless... unless... our good friends at Ulead (or is it now Corel?) can come up with a major fix.

Thanks for racking your brains to try and help... much apprecaited!

[Devil]

Can you please tell us your menu hierarchy and what is selectable on each?

Do you have specific menus for choosing the s-ts and audio? Do you have titles or chapters in each, mixed with s-t/audio etc.? How many menus and how many items in each?

[sjj1805]

Without actually creating a test DVD to test this, the following should (theoretically) work but obviously will take up a bit more space on the DVD.

For 3 Audio tracks and 3 Subtitle tracks you will need 9 copies of each menu, all identical in appearance. You would then set the button play list properties
like this:

Menu 1.
Button play list will include audio 1, subtitle 1
Menu2.
Button play list will include audio 2, subtitle 1
Menu 3.
Button play list will include audio 3, subtitle 1
Menu 4.
Button play list will include audio 1, subtitle 2
Menu 5.
Button play list will include audio 2, subtitle 2
and so on until all possible combinations have been created.

You will then need an Audio / Subtitle selection menu.
Dependant upon the combination chosen by the user will depend upon which of the above Menus the user is directed to.

What you would do is create one complete set of menus with
audio 1 / subtitle 1.
You then copy / paste those menus - creating a duplicate set, then alter each buttons play list so that audio 2, subtitle 1 is active.
You again copy / paste creating a further duplicate set, again alter the play list so that audio 3, subtitle 1 is active
Repeat the process until all possible combinations have been made.

I do not think you can simply set a global audio / subtitle track by pressing one button alone. Perhaps Devil can correct me if my thinking is wrong.

[Devil]

What I would do under these circumstances would be to have a Languages button on the Main Menu, taking you to a text menu with something like:

Audio __ Sub-titles
French __ Serbian
German _ Croatian
Polish ___ Swahili
None ____ None

Return to Main menu

Each of the optional languages would set the audio or sub-title language and return to the same menu.

I wouldn't try to have the 9 combos that Steve suggests, although that would work. With my suggestion, the audio and s-t languages would be chosen independently.

[Iaganack]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

My problem is not with the menus per se. DVDWS2 actually provides a sample menu for selecting audio and subtitle tracks ("SETUP")... each audio or subtitle track is selected in turn, and this selection effects every title in the DVD. This menu always works fine for us, except that on most stand-alone DVD players there is a longer-than-needed pause while the audio or subtitle track is being selected (after pressing the requisite button).

The problem I described above is with the DEFAULT settings randomly changing... in a "normal" DVD there is no need for viewers to select specific language settings in a SETUP menu before watching the DVD. The default audio should play, with subtitles switched off.... this is what the Finish page presents. The PROBLEM is that the DVD folders finally produced, and then the DVD actually burned SOMETIMES (not always) end up different to what the finished product looks like in DVDWS2... and this includes not just audio/subtitle tracks, but also which button is set as default on each menu page. It's this hit and miss affair which is so disheartening ... and time-consuming!

How I got around the problem this last time was to add a blank subtitle track #4 to each title on the DVD, then in the main menu on the buttons for selecting each title I added Audio 1 and subtitle 4 in the Playlist before the actual video track. Ths means there is an unnatural pause after selecting each title, while the DVD connects to these tracks (as mentioned above)... but at least viewers get what they are supposed to get!

I still have the SETUP menu which viewers can go to if they want different language settings... and this works fine... including a choice for "Subtitles OFF" which links to the blank subtitle track 4, since DVDWS2 has no way of switching off subtitles after they have been selected... a "work around" until such time as DVDWS3 comes out!

[sjj1805]

Thanks for clearing up the bit about being able to globally select audio/subtitle tracks. It has been a long time since I created a DVD with more than one.

Regarding the various matters you brought up concerning default navigation buttons - take a look at a free program PGCEdit.
This will also enable you to set up the navigational structure of the menu when you press the up / down / left / right buttons on the DVD remote.
You can alter most aspects of a DVD and so you will probably find that this will also help you with the audio/subtitle issues.

I am not an expert with PGCEdit but am aware of its capabilities
Link to PGCEdit Homepage

There are lots of websites and forums dealing with the many aspects of PGCEdit Google search result

Basically you author the DVD with DVD Workshop and burn to a hard drive folder and then use PGCEdit to tweak it.