DVD menus - play movie, select by scene

[jparnold]

Someone gave me a (homemade) DVD movie of a recent trip.
The opening menu has the following selections -
Play Movie - selection of this plays the entire movie from the start
Select Scene - selection of this results in another menu where you can select to start the movie at a particular scene.

This is similar to many manufactured DVD movies and I cannot see that VideoStudio will allow you to create such a menu - please advise if I'm wrong.
But if VS does not allow this then what other DVD authoring software will allow such a menu.
Thanks

[sjj1805]

VideoStudio does this. Please view:
Authoring a DVD

[jparnold]

Thanks Steve
I have now read that (excellent) tutorial twice and still cannot see where it explains how to achieve my desire. Maybe I explained it incorrectly.

Firstly I have a number of separate rendered clips and they all follow one another to make a full 'movie'.

I want my DVD to START with a MENU which allows selection from the following -
Play Movie - selection will result in the entire move playing from start to finish.
Select Scene - selection will result in ANOTHER MENU being displayed which contains thumbnails of each CLIP. Selection of a thumbnail will result in that clip being played and then return to menu OR continue playing subsequent clips depending how I set it up.

Where in that tutorial is this covered?

Also is it possible to create a menu which doesn't have thumbnails, only TEXT.

Regards
John

[sjj1805]

Firstly I have a number of separate rendered clips ....

In DVD Language these are termed Titles. In the example in my post
Title menu, Chapter Menu, Play Next clip etc. the "clips" named
Athens
Cephalonia
are both "Titles"

Play Movie - selection will result in the entire move playing from start to finish.

Providing you have set this option correctly

Select Scene - selection will result in ANOTHER MENU being displayed which contains thumbnails of each CLIP

You are confusing terms. Clip is a Title, titles appear on the Title Menu.
What you are attempting to achieve is by pressing the thumbnail for a title you want a CHAPTER menu to appear.

Also is it possible to create a menu which doesn't have thumbnails, only TEXT

Yes of course it is - select them from the drop down list of Menu Styles in the area "A" on this screen shot.

[jparnold]

Thanks Steve

But I must be missing something so let me start again.

I have a movie which will consist of say 6 separate titles (rendered video files) eg Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 etc. All these titles make up ONE MOVIE (day 1 to day 6).

I select SHARE then CREATE DISK

I ADD VIDEO 6 times once for each title.

I then want to create 2 menus.

The OPENING MENU displays
PLAY MOVIE
SELECT DAY

On selection of PLAY MOVIE the ENTIRE movie plays starting at day 1 and continuing through to end of day 6.

On selection of SELECT DAY a SECOND MENU is displayed showing DAY 1, DAY 2 etc and allowing the viewer to select any day which then plays that day - whether or not the following days are played automatically after the selected day is immaterial.

I must be thick as I still cannot work out how to do this.

[sjj1805]

.....The OPENING MENU displays
PLAY MOVIE
SELECT DAY

On selection of PLAY MOVIE the ENTIRE movie plays starting at day 1 and continuing through to end of day 6.
.....

That bit is easy because whenever you create a DVD with or without chapter menus you have a "Play All" button. It is often a sort of [ > ] shape button.

Regarding your second wish.
You have 2 choices available and you have to decide which is the best for your particular project.

Option 1.
Using the VideoStudio Editor place all 6 Titles (or if you prefer clips) on the timeline and then render ONE new video containing the material from all 6.

Now when you go to the SHARE - Create Disc phase - you then create CHAPTERS. Do so manually selecting each chapter point at the location where each of the 6 previous clips began.

This will cause a TITLE menu to be created with a Play All [ > ] button, plus one thumbnail (or text if you have chosen a text only menu).
Clicking that thumbnail will then bring up the CHPATER menu where you will find 6 thumbnails - one for each of your chapter points.

Viewers can start watching from any chapter point but must continue to watch all that remains on that title until the very end (Unless they of course press the "Menu" button on the DVD remote)

Option 2.
Keep the 6 clips separate thus creating 6 TITLES.
Doing so will create a TITLE menu containing 6 thumbnails - one for each title, plus a Play All [ > ] button.

Viewers can watch any title and then return to the menu without viewing other titles, or they can press the play all button [ > ] and watch the entire DVD.

To do things any other way would require different software such as
DVD Workshop 2.

[jparnold]

Understood now.

Not quite what I was trying to achieve though - have the opening menu like many manufactured DVD movies which have an opening menu which displays -
Play Movie
Select Scene
and other things (not required by me) like Deleted Scenes, Alternate endings etc.

By the way one of your suggestions was to place each title on the timeline and re-render into a single file and then use 'chapters'. Wouldn't it be preferable to drag each individual PROJECT onto the timeline and render as this would save re-rendering as doesn't re-rendering result in loss of quality?

Lastly aren't you burning the "midnight oil" as your last post must have been done around 6am where you live?

I will be touring near you next September (Wales) staying in B & B's - really looking forward to that.

[sjj1805]

I am on night shift due to finish in 45 minutes.
Regarding use of project files in the authoring step please view
Suggested work flow by SJJ1805 for Video Creation

Wales - lovely country My wife and also my grand parents originated from South Wales.

[Torch]

And yes it is possible. I have done exactly what you are looking for, but it was when I was first learning the program (not too long ago) and I did it by mistake! I didn't even want that result!

I thought it happened because I had to go back and edit my chapter points after I had set them once already... I know that this is not very helpful for you, but I'll go back to my files and check to see if I can figure out what I did and I'll get back to you.