16X9 Menus Not Working In Letterbox Viewing

[scav2000]

So I recently upgraded, and I'm trying out the 16x9 menus.

 

I have a regular tv, 4:3, so my DVD player is set to letterbox widescreen. (4:3 Letterbox)

 

I'm finding while the menu pages render correctly, the submenus, the "button selection glow" for the buttons are in the wrong place...above..below..to the side..

 

I've tested on two dvd players and it's the same on both.

 

(similar problems if the DVD players are set to 4:3 pan and scan)

 

Is this a known bug? Is it there a setting I don't know about? Is there a fix?

[tsantee]

Interesting. Thanks for pointing it out. Yes, it a flaw in how the 16:9 menu appears on a 4:3 screen. The same happens with the 16:9 menu with Toast 10.

 

I may have found a workaround. Click the Customize... button and select the Menus tab in the window that appears. There is an option there to select 4:3 menus instead of 16:9.

[scav2000]

Interesting. Thanks for pointing it out. Yes, it a flaw in how the 16:9 menu appears on a 4:3 screen. The same happens with the 16:9 menu with Toast 10.

 

I may have found a workaround. Click the Customize... button and select the Menus tab in the window that appears. There is an option there to select 4:3 menus instead of 16:9.

 

But I'm trying to use 16:9,so that the DVD's are still good when I move to a widescreen. I'm playing around with MyDVD Edit to see if I can fix something.

 

Edit: Well it's clear that the subpicture is staying the original size, rather than being shrunk for letterboxing..

 

Not sure if I can figure out a way to code around that.

 

That this has been a problem since Toast 10 is very discouraging. As a DVD authoring program, you'd think Roxio would make sure it could, you know..author DVDs correctly...or course, I've been wondering why they don't allow for background music in menus since Toast 7.

[tsantee]

But I'm trying to use 16:9,so that the DVD's are still good when I move to a widescreen. I'm playing around with MyDVD Edit to see if I can fix something.

 

Edit: Well it's clear that the subpicture is staying the original size, rather than being shrunk for letterboxing..

 

Not sure if I can figure out a way to code around that.

 

That this has been a problem since Toast 10 is very discouraging. As a DVD authoring program, you'd think Roxio would make sure it could, you know..author DVDs correctly...or course, I've been wondering why they don't allow for background music in menus since Toast 7.

About the only thing I can think of is to choose a 4:3 menu and then use MyDVDEdit to change it to 16:9/letterbox/pan&scan. That should stretch it to fit the 16:9 frame when needed. If you have Photoshop CS or later you might try modifying how the menu style is created, but that is beyond me. Please send Roxio feedback via the link in Toast Help.

 

If you like audio in the menu why not use iDVD? There wasn't audio in the Toast 7 menus, either. The Toast menus have always been this basic, but I wasn't aware of the button frame problem until your post.

[scav2000]

About the only thing I can think of is to choose a 4:3 menu and then use MyDVDEdit to change it to 16:9/letterbox/pan&scan. That should stretch it to fit the 16:9 frame when needed. If you have Photoshop CS or later you might try modifying how the menu style is created, but that is beyond me. Please send Roxio feedback via the link in Toast Help.

 

If you like audio in the menu why not use iDVD? There wasn't audio in the Toast 7 menus, either. The Toast menus have always been this basic, but I wasn't aware of the button frame problem until your post.

 

The problem with iDVD is that it doesn't except VOB files. I like control over my encoding.

 

Toast is good for simple DVDs..I use iDVD for when I want fancy menus with motion, and then use DVD Remake on a pc to combine the two. BG music is a simple add on the authoring side...much more difficult on the post side. It would be simple for Roxio to implement, but they never have.

 

Sadly, there's not (to my knowledge) a nice DVD authoring program that combines the simpleness of Toast with the option for more advanced features. There's some that let you do music, but the menus are garbage...Toast's ability to make your menus with photoshop is a big plus.

 

 

On the topic, stretching a 4:3 menu into a 16:9 won't work--or at least won't look good. I wonder if there's a different way to fake it.