Multi chapter DVD with VS9

[Trikie]

First try at creating a DVD, I successfully burned a single 1 hour project. I am now trying to do another, copying the same material broken into 6 chapters. I have created 6 new projects but trying to burn them I get a message that the project is too big. Removing one at a time I get the same message, even getting it with only 2 chapters.

What do I need to do to get them all onto one DVD?

[Ken Berry]

It depends on what your workflow is. But I suspect your problem is that you had a single big file which you used for your successful DVD. But now you have tried to divide that one big file into 6. Right? So you had your, say 4.3 GB big file in the timeline, and made your first cut and deleted all the rest, then saved it as Project 1. Then started again, made your second cut and deleted the parts you did not want, and saved that as Project 2. And so on...

The problem is, if you are doing it this way, you may think you are cutting and deleting the bits you do not want and have six smaller files. But in fact you are not. Video Studio is a non-linear editor which moreover uses virtual reality. So in fact, each of the 6 separate projects might only show one sixth of the original video, but the full 4.3 GB file is still there where it always has been, and is there for all six projects. So if you then drop each of these project files into the burning timeline you will in effect be putting in the equivalent of 25.8 GB.

If this is roughly what you have been doing, there are various ways of doing it so you get smaller files.

First, when you make your cuts and delete what you don't need, you have to select Clip > Save Trimmed Video. This will then create a brand new file, and not just a virtual one, with a new name. Do this for all six separate parts and you will then have 6 real files whose total size will now only be 4.3 GB.

The other way you could achieve the same thing would be, after making your cut and deletions in each project, would be to render the project into a new video file using Share > Create Video File > Same as first clip (or DVD -- using the same properties as the original video). And do this six times. That way you will also end up with six new DVD-compatible files whose total size will only be the original 4.3 GB.

There is a third way, though it depends on what you mean by wanting 6 separate chapters. By the sounds of it, you are currently creating 6 separate videos (as described above) and these are, in editing terms, called titles. They are not chapters. A title can be broken into chapters. So in effect, if you now merely want to create a DVD using your original video, and have this divided into 6 chapters, all you have to do is put that original project or large single video file into the burning timeline. Then you select Add Chapters up in the top left of the burning screen. A new screen will appear with your video showing the first frame in the preview screen. The only active button is 'Auto Add Chapters. But if you drag the job slider under the preview screen to the point where you want to start your second chapter, the 'Add Chapter' button above the Auto Add one becomes active, and allows you to manually mark chapter points. (Your first chapter, of course, starts with the first frame of the video). And so on till you have 6 chapters.

Click OK to close that window, then Next to move to the next screen and choose your menu background etc. To change the layout, you select the Edit tab in the top left of screen to the right of the Gallery tab. You make all your settings. Now if you want a main menu, and then when you click on that, want it to show your 6 separate chapters, leave everything alone. But if you don't want the main menu, but only the 6 chapters showing as the 'main' menu, click on the Advanced Settings button about half way down the left side of the screen. Then simply un-tick 'Add Main Menu' but make sure that 'Create Chapter Menu' is ticked. Then you click Next to preview how the DVD will look, with its menu. If satisfied, you can then burn it.

[Trikie]

Ken, many thanks for taking the time to write such a helpful reply.

Yes, I was trying to do it the way you thought - knowing what goes on behind the secenes makes it easier to understand (something I didn't get from the manual)

[Trikie]

Ken, sorry to trouble you again but after my first attempt worked perfectly I've had several partial failures with the next project.

I'm using your suggested third way - separate chapters without a title.

The menu on finished DVD should have 4 chapters. The one I used had 2 on a page. However the DVD shows the first 2 but trying to go to the second menu screen I get the red "no entry" circle symbol and can';t go forward.

Clicking on the first chapter I can view the whole DVD, clicking on the second I can view everything fom there to the end. Clicking on either and then using the Next control (>>l) jumps to the start of each subsequent chapter.

Can you point me to what bit I am getting wrong? Something I did first time but haven't done since.

Thanks

[sjj1805]

Please view:
Authoring a DVD