More than one Title on DVD

[paulsmithy]

Getting really confused!

Can someone please advise of the easiest way to get more than one title onto a DVD. Do I do one project, finish it, burn it then start another? Or create timelines for each?

[Black Lab]

A Title is simply a separate project which is rendered to a video file and inserted at the burning stage.

I often do several titles throughout the year: basketball season, baseball season, vacation, school activities, soccer season, the holidays. Each one is rendered to its own video file. At the end of the year I insert them all, in any order I want, in the burning stage time line.

[Ken Berry]

A 'title', as I think you realise, is one, single, complete 'movie' or video. To get more than one one a DVD, you have to make the separate titles, each with its own project. When you have finished editing each project, you go to Share > Create Video File > DVD, and this will render the project into a DVD compatible mpeg-2. When that is done, you close the project. Then you do the other projects in turn the same way.

When you have all the projects rendered into individual mpeg-2 videos, and know that they will fit onto a DVD (4.3 GB or less for a single layer DVD, 8.5 GB or less for a dual layer DVD), you close your last project, and open a new one. Don't bother about giving it a name -- the objective is merely to clear the editing timeline.

Then choose Share > Create Disc > DVD. The burning module will open. You use the top left button (Add Media) to manually insert each of your mpeg-2 videos in the order you want them on. Go to the middle of the three icons in the bottom left of the burning screen and make sure the box beside 'Do not convert compliant mpeg files' is ticked. Build your menus -- you will note that each title will have a separate thumbnail (or title if you use the text menus) on the main menu page. Then burn.

[remell1960]

Hi Ken,
I'm running VS 9.0. When I "share", "create Disc", I add 2 projects (or videos) so my "number of titles" is 2. On my "Menu Template" page, I have saved a custom menu and unchecked "Add Title Menu". On this page it is now greyed out and "checked", I assume, because my title count is now 2. What I really want is to not have the title menus at all. Is there a way around them? Thanks for your help!
(Background of the issue: I've made 2 VSP files with overlays, titles, etc. and would like to merge them into one DVD. I'm making different versions of these clips to send to relatives with trimmed content for stuff they really aren't interested in as much.)

[Ken Berry]

While you can of course insert project files (.vsp) into the burning module, they still need to be rendered there to DVD-compatible mpeg-2. We find as a general rule that it is often better to do this rendering as a separate final step in the Editing module (i.e. when editing is finishing, go to Share > Create Video File > DVD). That way, when you open the burning module (Share > Create Disc) you can manually insert the new mpeg-2s instead of the .vsps. It is less demanding of computer resources that way and thus less prone to errors occurring during the burning process.

That being said, now to your menu question. However, I am not absolutely clear what you want. Do you want *any* menus at all (i.e. no menus period) or you just don't want the title menus (i.e. chapter menus but not title menus)? I don't currently have VS9 on any of my computers, though I think it is roughly the same as subsequent versions in this. If you don't want *any* menus, simply uncheck the little box up towards the top left corner of the opening page of the burning screen which says something like 'Create Menu'.

If you only want chapter menus, then of course you first have to create chapters. On the first burning page, above Create Menu, there is also a button to 'Add/Edit Chapters'. Click that and a new page appears which allows you to either create chapters manually (dragging the jog bar beneath the preview screen to the points you want to mark as chapters); or by scene or fixed time. Once that is done, move to the Gallery/Edit page. On the Edit tab, about mid-screen far left, there is an Advanced button. When you click that, you can see that you can untick the 'Add Title Menu' entry, which means that you will no longer have the main title menu page on your DVD, but only the chapter menus.

If you also untick the Create Chapter Menu, it will mean you will not have any menu at all. However, the chapter points you just created will still be there, and you can use your DVD player remote control to jump between those chapters when the DVD is playing, even if there is no chapter menu as such...

[remell1960]

I don't want the "title" menus. I only want the chapter menus. I have gone to the Advanced button you discuss. That is the one that is checked and grayed-out, so I can't un-check it from there. It happens at the time I add my second file ("number of titles" is 2 or more). THe add/edit chapters button functions as advertised. No issues there.

[Ken Berry]

But have you added Chapters to *both* titles?

[sjj1805]

Does this diagram help explain?



You can read the full article here:
Authoring a DVD

[remell1960]

Yes, I have chapters for the Clips. I used the "auto" generate, then added and deleted chapter markers after that.

[remell1960]

I understand the concept of titles and chapters. That is not how I want my finished menu to function though. What I'm looking for is to show Chapter 1 through 4 on the first screen the user sees, then Chapter 5 through 8 on screen 2, etc. I have it set up so when the user select Chapter 2, it plays it, then immediately plays Chapter 3, etc., unless they press the Menu button. It would take them back to the Ch. 1 - 4 screen. It doesn't seem like a big deal until you realize I have lots of DV tapes that will be a separate VBP and I need to combine 3 or 4 sets to get my DVD finished.

[Ron P.]

With VS9 to have Chapter Menus and no Title Menu, Click on the Advance Settings button to the bottom right of the preview window where the Menu Templates are selected, and Uncheck the option to Add Title Menu..

[sjj1805]

It is not a god idea to have a username = your email address because you are encouraging spammers to spam you. If you ant me to alter it for you please send me a PM with a few alternative names in order of preference.
I say a few in case your first choices are already taken.

Regarding your DVD Menu structure I think you are looking at the wrong issue here. It is not a matter of Titles -v- Chapters. It is a matter of whether you want your DVD to have either or both of a Title Menu and a Chapter menu.

Please view:
Title menu, Chapter Menu, Play Next clip etc.

[remell1960]

First, thank all of you for your suggestions. Second, in VS9, when there are 2 or more titles added, the "advanced" button will not let me untick the 'Add Title Menu' entry. The selection is greyed out and the software is automatically checking it for me because there are 2 titles being included. I can untick the 'Add Title Menu' entry when there is only one title/video/VSP included to be burned. What I will do is build a single VSP and just drag in each clip I want to do for each DVD and each version of it and re-do all my titles/overlays/edits/etc. I don't know of any other way to get what I want.

[Ron P.]

That's correct behavior of the program, for using more than 1 title (video), if you're wanting a chapter menu. You can use more than 1 Title and not have a menu too..

[ramblreb]

I have a question along these lines. I have a project in VS11.5 that has two clips and both clips have chapters. It has a main menu and two chapter menus. The problem is this, with "back to Menu" selected in the navigation options I have two issues. When the play arrow is selected from the main menu the first clip plays through to its end and does not go back to the menu, instead it goes right to clip two. The other issue is that when the play arrow in the chapter menu of clip two is selected it plays clip one instead of starting at clip two. Is this by design or is there something wrong? I would hate to think that I have to buy $300 worth of other software just to get something as simple as this to work.