Returning to the menu after a title had ended

[Chance54]

So, I have 8mm films from the mid 50's (first one when I was still in my mothers tummy ) to the end of the 60's. I had this transferred to a DVD by a company. but they didn't do a very good job with it. The menu is very clunky and presented twice so while there are only 13 "real" titles there are 26 titles in the menu.

Furthermore they made one title for each roll of film regardless of its length so there are several 3-minutes and 9-minutes titles and also a 24-minutes one. I want to break this down to 30 3-minutes ones.

I have just started using MovieFactory and did a first test with splitting a 9-minutes title into three 3-minutes and it worked fine. However, when I play one of them they all play continuously. I though that was only supposed to happen with chapters within a title, not with separate titles.

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?

[sjj1805]

Yes - you're using the wrong program. You are using an authoring program for editing. Try the 30 day free trial of VideoStudio X2 instead.

[Chance54]

Yes - you're using the wrong program. You are using an authoring program for editing. Try the 30 day free trial of VideoStudio X2 instead.

I'm not sure I understand.

1. I have successfully edited a large title into 3 different titles so the editing seems to work fine.

2. Shouldn't an authoring program be good at exactly what I'm having problems with, namely getting the menus to work?

[sjj1805]

So, I have 8mm films from the mid 50's (first one when I was still in my mothers tummy ) to the end of the 60's. I had this transferred to a DVD by a company. but they didn't do a very good job with it. The menu is very clunky and presented twice so while there are only 13 "real" titles there are 26 titles in the menu.

Furthermore they made one title for each roll of film regardless of its length so there are several 3-minutes and 9-minutes titles and also a 24-minutes one. I want to break this down to 30 3-minutes ones.

I have just started using MovieFactory and did a first test with splitting a 9-minutes title into three 3-minutes and it worked fine. However, when I play one of them they all play continuously. I though that was only supposed to happen with chapters within a title, not with separate titles.

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?

Whilst you can do limited editing with MovieFactory and perhaps use the "Chapters" function as quick jump to points. What you appear to want is to have 26 separate 3 minute long titles with the ability to return to the main menu after each one. for this you will be better splitting the existing videos up into their separate 3 minute parts and thus creating 26 separate MPG2 files.

The Free trial lasts 30 days and with the project in front of you this can easily be done in a matter of hours. who knows you might even like the program so much you get yourself a copy!

[Chance54]

What you appear to want is to have 26 separate 3 minute long titles with the ability to return to the main menu after each one. for this you will be better splitting the existing videos up into their separate 3 minute parts and thus creating 26 separate MPG2 files.

Yes that is exactly what I intended to do and also what I have done in a limited way with three 3-minutes chunks.

And I managed to do give them titles in the menu too and the title I click starts as predicted. The only problem is that I don't come back to the menu after title have been played.

Sorry to be so slow in my understanding but are you saying that MovieFactory can't do this? It sounds a bit odd to me as it is a DVD authoring software.

[Ron P.]

Open your Project Settings by clicking on the cogwheel icon in the lower left. At the bottom you should see the Navigation Controls, which provide the following options:

• Auto fade out first play to menu
• Play all clips first before menu
• Auto repeat when disc playback ends
• Clip playback and a drop-down menu having the following:
• Continue to play the next clip
• Back to menu

I think the very last one is what you want..

[sjj1805]

What you appear to want is to have 26 separate 3 minute long titles with the ability to return to the main menu after each one. for this you will be better splitting the existing videos up into their separate 3 minute parts and thus creating 26 separate MPG2 files.

Yes that is exactly what I intended to do and also what I have done in a limited way with three 3-minutes chunks.

And I managed to do give them titles in the menu too and the title I click starts as predicted. The only problem is that I don't come back to the menu after title have been played.

Sorry to be so slow in my understanding but are you saying that MovieFactory can't do this? It sounds a bit odd to me as it is a DVD authoring software.

Perhaps this flow chart will help you understand:



Whilst you can create 26 separate videos from your existing material using just MovieFactory - it is a bit complex and you have to use the "Fast Export" function - the location of which tends to vary from one version of MovieFactory to another.

It sounds a bit odd to me as it is a DVD authoring software.

Don't confuse Video editing with DVD authoring

Editing means to cut the video up into smaller videos - and if you were doing any other project other than this one - joining them together again perhaps in a different sequence, perhaps with transitions and titles and so on.

Authoring means taking hold of those (edited) videos and making them into a "DVD" complete with menu(s) so that you can navigate your way about the disc.

Let us examine just one of your 9 minute titles.

there are several 3-minutes and 9-minutes titles and also a 24-minutes one. I want to break this down to 30 3-minutes ones.

Keeping in mind your aim

What you appear to want is to have 26 separate 3 minute long titles with the ability to return to the main menu after each one

Keeping that 9 minute video as it is you can create chapter points at 3 minutes and 6 minutes into the video giving you 3 START points
1. Start at the beginning
2. Start 3 minutes into the video
3. Start 6 minutes into the video.
Irrespective of which start point you select you MUST watch all the way to the very end of the entire 9 minute clip. You CANNOT start watching at 3 minutes then return to the main menu when you reach the 6 minute point.

Instead you need to cut that 9 minute video up into 3 smaller ones each of which is 3 minutes long - then you WILL be able to watch one of those 3 minute clips and return to the main menu.

If you do not want to download the 30 day FREE trial of VideoStudio then your alternative is to split those videos up using Windows Movie Maker which is built into your Microsoft XP Operating System.

Irrespective of which editing program you use to split the clips up into separate 3 minute clips, you can then use MovieFactory to author the DVD

[Chance54]

That worked like a charm! Thank you so much, Ron!

I also want to thank you, Steve, for taking the time to explain everything in detail, but I do think I understand the difference between editing and authoring. I bought MovieFactory as an authoring tool, that's why I was pretty sure that it could do what I asked about in my first post. I just didn't find that setting in preferences.

It has, as you point out, limited editing functions but so far they have been sufficient for my simple needs, and I didn't even need to use the "Fast Export" function. Should I need something more powerful then I will certainly have a look at your suggestion about VideoStudio X2.

What would one do without a user-to-user forum?

Once again, thank you so much for your support, both of you.

[sjj1805]

Ooo I like <<---- that !

Glad you got it working the way you want.