[bigcrushjake]

i am working on a dvd movie about my band. my plan is to divide it into seven chapters. i finished the first chapter last night, its about 6 minutes long, includes 80 different live clips (40 of which are black panel for dissolve transitions), and all three audio tracks (native turned off) filled with music, sound fx, and commentary. pretty involved for my first time with this software.
anyway, i wanna be sure i dont run into any problems when i go to make the dvd home menu (complete with chapter selection buttons, and maybe a special features menu). so my question is.. should i break this up into seven productions to match the seven chapters in the movie? i dont think it would be good to have all this stuff in one production and try to split it up later. ??
Also if you all do advise me to break it up into seven productions, will they play through seamlessly when the DVD is played? or will there be some kind of hiccup when the chapter ends and the next begins?
any advise would be appreciated. thanks guys, jake

[sknis]

i am working on a dvd movie about my band. my plan is to divide it into seven chapters. i finished the first chapter last night, its about 6 minutes long, includes 80 different live clips (40 of which are black panel for dissolve transitions), and all three audio tracks (native turned off) filled with music, sound fx, and commentary. pretty involved for my first time with this software.
anyway, i wanna be sure i dont run into any problems when i go to make the dvd home menu (complete with chapter selection buttons, and maybe a special features menu). so my question is.. should i break this up into seven productions to match the seven chapters in the movie? i dont think it would be good to have all this stuff in one production and try to split it up later. ??
Also if you all do advise me to break it up into seven productions, will they play through seamlessly when the DVD is played? or will there be some kind of hiccup when the chapter ends and the next begins?
any advise would be appreciated. thanks guys, jake

Think about this terminology and then edit your post to use it.

A movie is a stand alone video. It will show up on the menu page. Unless you play with the navigation, the DVD will return to the menu after the movie is played.

A chapter is like a chapter in a book. You can have several chapters. The chapters will show up on a "sub" menu page. If you have chapters, when you press the movie on the main menu, you will go to the chapter sub menu. After a chapter plays, the movie will continue on to the end. There is no way that you can set the menu so that the DVD returns to the main menu (or the chapter menu) after playing the chapter you have selected.

You can add all of the movies so that they play after another by selecting all of them in order (via Windows CTRL-Entr).

I think that you can still have a "Play all button" along with individual movie buttons.

Do not mess around with the location of the buttons; add movies in the order you want them.

I'm sure that I did not answer many of your questions but perhaps we will understand each other better.

RW discs are a great way to experiment, just do a quick erase and start again.

[Jim_Hardin]

Something else that is troubling… I think you are doing all of this in MyDVD?

Somewhere in your other posts it was mentioned you do all of the editing in VideoWave and only use MyDVD to do the menus and burn.

If you don't do it that way, VW/MyDVD, you are going to get badly burned if you reach a point that you have to discard your project and start new.

You never want to go off too far before you test with RW as Steve described!

[bigcrushjake]

yes i am using videowave then MyDVD to create the dvd and menus. thats way to do it right?

what i was trying to ask is, should i create the entire movie in one production document in videowave, or should i create several movies to add into MyDVD as their own chapters.

and when the DVD is playing and one chapter changes to the next.. is it a smooth transition between chapters or is there a little hiccup?

i am experimenting in MyDVD right now.. and its a little tricky to get used to.

i cant seem to get the chapters to play one after another... after a chapter is finished, it brings me right back to the main menu.

[sknis]

yes i am using videowave then MyDVD to create the dvd and menus. thats way to do it right?

what i was trying to ask is, should i create the entire movie in one production document in videowave, or should i create several movies to add into MyDVD as their own chapters.

and when the DVD is playing and one chapter changes to the next.. is it a smooth transition between chapters or is there a little hiccup?

i am experimenting in MyDVD right now.. and its a little tricky to get used to.

i cant seem to get the chapters to play one after another... after a chapter is finished, it brings me right back to the main menu.

From above:
"A chapter is like a chapter in a book. You can have several chapters. The chapters will show up on a "sub" menu page. If you have chapters, when you press the movie on the main menu, you will go to the chapter sub menu. After a chapter plays, the movie will continue on to the end. There is no way that you can set the menu so that the DVD returns to the main menu (or the chapter menu) after playing the chapter you have selected."

[bigcrushjake]

ok i figured it out. you divide your movie up into chapters IN MYDVD... you dont split them up in videowave prior to adding them. thats what i couldnt figure out.

is there a button you can place on the main menu that will allow the viewer to play all chapters in a movie without having to go to the chapter sub menu and selecting the first chapter?

[sknis]

ok i figured it out. you divide your movie up into chapters IN MYDVD... you dont split them up in videowave prior to adding them. thats what i couldnt figure out.

is there a button you can place on the main menu that will allow the viewer to play all chapters in a movie without having to go to the chapter sub menu and selecting the first chapter?

Then why have chapters? If you want the entire movie to play from the main menu, you don't need them. Just add as many separate movies as you wish. Some menus have 4 movies you can add on one page; others have more. If you exceed the preset, it will ask you if you want to add a new menu page.

[bigcrushjake]

because just like any commercial dvd... it would be nice to be able to play the whole movie from the main menu and also pick through the chapters in the sub menu to find a specific part in the movie

[ggrussell]

You can have two buttons that point to the same file. here is what I do:
Add your VW project.
COPY that button to the clipboard.
Move the first button up
Paste the button back.
Rename the first one PLAY VIDEO
Rename the second one SELECT SCENES
Right click on the second one and then set your chapter marks.

Done.

This post has been edited by ggrussell: 13 December 2008 - 01:18 PM

[bigcrushjake]

i will give that a try. thank you

[bigcrushjake]

i just tried that. both buttons take me to the chapter menu.

is there a way to have a button that plays the whole movie directly from the main menu, along with a chapter selection button that directs you to the chapter selection menus?

-i just now working on the dvd menus even though this post is almost 2 months old.

[sknis]

i just tried that. both buttons take me to the chapter menu.

is there a way to have a button that plays the whole movie directly from the main menu, along with a chapter selection button that directs you to the chapter selection menus?

-i just now working on the dvd menus even though this post is almost 2 months old.

I'll bet you set your chapter marks before doing the double button thing. Since you already have taken a lot of time to add in the chapters, why don't you just add the movie again? It will take up more room but if you have the space then it should not be a problem. If your video is about 1 hour long, then you have to do it the long way.

[bigcrushjake]

yup. that makes sense. the movie is exactly 1 hour 5 minutes so i'll have to do it the long way.

thanks

[bigcrushjake]

success!

thanks