DVD menu won't highlight

[kaygreenhaw]

I've had so many problems with VideoStudio I'm just breaking them down. I get no answers from Corel support.
I've built a video to be delivered on DVD. Needs menus. I have an intro., 16 selections (pieces of music), each with 4 sub menus, and a Review, total 17 items on the 2 main menus. I have the sub menus working fine. However, the main 2 menus will not highlight so the user doen't know which is selected. On the computer a hand shows up and the links work. Just no highlighting. On the TV via DVD playing --Nothing. I've tried with and without the check box checked. To further (or is it farther) confuse me, the first item on the first main menu does highlight yellow. The forward and play buttons highlight.

[Davidk]

You said a 'video' and later identified it as an intro and 16 items of music. So, clarify some details please.
1. the intro - is it something like a production trademark eg the MGM movie roaring lion, or the pixar 'moon' ?? If so, and you only want it shown once per DVD play, then make it the 1st item in the burn clip list and tick the box labelled 'use first clip as introductory video'. When you play the final disk, this intro clip will play and then the menu appears.

If the intro clip isn't a trade mark of sorts but an explanation of what the disk contains, you could still use it as a product intro.

If you don't mark the intro clip by ticking that box mentioned, the intro clip will appear as a menu playable item when you get to step 2.

2. The menu.
Make sure you have the menu dialog box ticked at step 1. It's a default, but if you don't need a menu, check it off.

At step 2 - the menu - the file items in the clip burn list are listed, as the file name. You can edit those to a more user friendly label: rt click the menu item and choose the details (font, colour, size etc). The 16 music items presumably have a visual component - something you see whilst the music plays. A band, orchestra, suitable background or whatever. If you don't then the visual part of any item so afflicted will be black, and you are basically just making a music disk. If you don't have visual component to your music items, that may be where the issue is: VS would expect a visual part to a video. I suggest you create one - edit into each music item vsp, render then separately and then load each rendered file into the burn module.

To get the menu item indicator showing, you have to tick the 'show highlight button' box in step 2: every time. It doesn't persist, so check it before doing any file creation or burning.

3. check the results of your composition first by creating a disk image - you can burn a disk when you are happy, but this step avoids making drink coasters. Use VLC to open the .iso disk image file and play it.

Ken has summarised these steps in another post here viewtopic.php?f=1&t=63558

Update
I tutor a class in movie making using VS, and as burning a DVD correctly is one of the most visited topics, I made a handout with text and screenshots covering the process. I tried to attach it FYI. However the attachment limit is 2Mb whereas the pdf doc is 7.5Mb, and zipping it only reduces it to 6.5Mb. Apologies. Maybe the board admins could get doc limit raised to 10M??

[kaygreenhaw]

Thanks for the reply. I'm still not getting any kind of highlighting on the main menus. The sub menus work fine. I'm wondering...I have nine picture buttons on the main menus and only four on the subs. Could that matter? I went back and checked that the box was checked. Still no joy. I still can't get it to burn correctly either. I even bought a new DVD burner. Mine are old and although it seems like they are burning the 8.5 double layered disc I'm thinking maybe not? The new one I know is designed for the DL. It has been three days of this when I thought I was finished.

[lata]

Hi

Can you tell us which menu template you are using?
You say you have 9 buttons on the main menu, yet VS only supports 8, unless I am missing something?
For DVD you have a few choices, Smart Scene, Thumbnails and Text.

From Edit – Advanced Settings is an option to show Thumbnail Numbers
Have you selected that option,

As you are having difficulties I would suggest you create a disc image ISO file.
You can play the iso using VLC Media Player to check quality and test the menu.

Then burn the iso to disc.
By the way how long is the movie, total length of all video clips used?

[kaygreenhaw]

Thanks for the reply! All of this information was very helpful in eliminating possibilities. Ultimately I solved my problem by selecting a different template then going back to the one I wanted. I had to re do all the titles but the thumbnails were still there. Like a reboot or unplug and count to 30, it sometimes solves the crazy stuff that just SHOULD work.

Angain, thanks for the help!

[Davidk]

Tips on burning DVD's
1. Avoid double layer (DL) disks. Firstly, the burner has to be able to burn them and an old burner may not. But secondly, I've never had any success with them, and AFAIK very few others on the board have. Basically, the disk has 2 layers of memory material, which is burned (a laser burns a dot/spot in it to represent a '1') in successive operations. To read it, the laser shines alight on the dots and has to be able to discriminate between reflections of both layers re what is on the bottom layer, which is the data above 4.7gb. My failures always were about 20% into the 2nd layer - ie, on playback more than halfway into the disk it would not read correctly and the image pixelated and jammed. Changing the brand of disk made no difference to the result. I ultimately gave it up and found it more effective to plan on using more than one normal DVD disk and in the disk title included a phrase like "disk 1 of 2" et al. And it's more economical - standard DVD's cost around 50c each now, whereas DL disks are not commonly available and you will be paying several dollars for each one.

2. In the burn step, before burning for each disk, click on the info button and make sure that the data rate selected in the list box does not exceed the disk capability. The disk will have something like 16x on the barrel and the hub of the disk - so burn at that rate or slower. If you try to feed data to be burned at a rate (faster, eg 20x or more) the disk cannot accept, all you do is corrupt the data on the disk and playback is horrible.