EMC picks a thumbnail for each clip. Is there a way to change which frame is shown on the video clip thumbnail? Sometimes the thumbnail is black as it is first frame. I have looked in the VideoWave help and clicked on all the menus and find nothing. Appreciate your help.

What happens when you right click on the thumbnail? Do you have a menu that allows you to change it?

Videowave or MyDVD? Try to be more specific when posting a question.

I just assumed it was MyDVD but since that question has been asked many times before.

Know what you mean. Just didn't want to be guessing though. I wonder if changing thumbnails is even available in MyDVD 8 Essentials?

I was trying to use VideoWave to change the thumbnail, but would use any program that would work. Right clicking on the video clip does not give me any option to change thumbnail. In MYDVD under DVD menu there is an option to select thumbnail, but it is grayed out. I am using mpeg file, and the videowave production file. Thumbnail option grayed out in both clips. Suggestions to try, or is it not possible?

The manual and help for EMC is really horrible. I am so glad you guys take the time to respond to these questions.

I'm a bit confused. How are you trying to 'change the thumbnail' in Videowave? Videowave is for editing the video only. What you are seeing in the storyboard is technically not a 'thumbnail', but the first frame of the video clip.

MyDVD is the DVD authoring application. That is what you should be using to 'create' the disc menus and mark chapters. When you 'add image/video', that creates a 'thumbnail' that represents the movie. To change THAT thumbnail, right click on it and choose 'Select Thumbnail'.

It's probably greyed out because it's not active in the Essentials version.

There are really 2 scenerios regarding thumbnails of each vidio clip. I have 5 video files that make up one mpeg video. The first thumbnail of the series is black as it is the first frame of that segment. I would like to change that thumbnail to a scene from latter in the clip.

Second scenerio. I take one of the segments, split it and discard the unwanted portion. The thumbnail for the "new" clip retains the thumbnail from the original clip, even though that frame is no longer in the new clip. Again, I would like to change the old thumbnail to a scene that is in the new version of the clip. Surely there must be a way to do this.

Try this. Add an image; the one you want for the thumbnail as the first image in the show (VideoWave) and select a short duration (play with it). . The program should use that as the thumbnail but it will be so short that you won't see it in the video.

As for the second scenario, go to tools, options and delete the proxy files. They will be rebuilt (it may take several minutes). That should get rid of the old thumbnail.

There is, but we still don't know which application you are using or which version. If you have MyDVD 8 Essentials version, this feature may not be available to you.

In Videowave just delete the "blank" frames at the beginning of the video clip and you should then see the 1st non-blank frame in the panel (what you call thumbnail)