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Built DVD only works in PC
Hi, I built a project using Encore 2.0 which is pretty complicated – about 90 menus, 16 timelines, 25-odd chapter playlists and a couple of standard playlists. It fills up a dual-layer DVD. The only errors I get when checking the project are the ones informing me that a timeline end action won’t happen because the last chapter has an end action set (on all my timelines, as I need to play individual chapters and then return to menus). Now, having burned a DVD, it seems to work fine in a computer using a software player, but in my DVD player the links are all messed up. Some of the links that should be playing video will go to other menus or wrong timelines, and when the menu root button button is pressed during a timeline it will link to another chapter (always the same one from a different timeline) instead of going back to the previous menu as it should. Has anyone come across this behaviour before and how can I fix it? Getting a bit desperate – thanks!! Mish.
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16 Replies
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First: Overrides.
Do you have any set? For any project element? If so, why do you think you need them? Your disc seems complicated enough that they might be needed to accomplish your planned navigation, but the probability is very low. Even if your disc navigation is set up correctly, using overrides when not necessary will mess things up horribly.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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Thanks for the response. No overrides set anywhere in the project, I’m afraid. Could it be a problem with calculating the returns to last menu? I’ll try explicitly setting all of my menu/end action links instead of using rtlm. Any other advice gratefully received, M.
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“timeline end action won’t happen because the last chapter has an end action set (on all my timelines, as I need to play individual chapters and then return to menus)”
Step-by-step here, sorry. 🙂
Try deleting each of the end actions from the last chapters, and instead making the timeline end action link to where you need it to go. I can’t think of a scenario where you would need the last chapter of a timeline to have its own end action, whether it was different from the timeline’s end action or not.
Note: Please make sure you do any further testing with an RW disc or two. No coasters. 😉
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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Hi again – thanks for the response. I removed every “return to last menu” end action in the project and explicitly linked everything to where it needed to be, I also removed all individual chapter end actions so there were no errors when I checked the project. I also renamed all my buttons so that there were no similar names anywhere in the project… and when I re-built it was a lot better, but still has problems when it plays in a DVD player. Many of the buttons that should link to their own timelines go instead to somewhere in the timeline I added to the project last (which is one of the 2 longest timelines) when played in a DVD player. Should I import the largest timelines first? Does it make a difference?
Finally, I have to write the thing to a DL DVD so I can’t use rewritables 🙁
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[Cheesefather] “Many of the buttons that should link to their own timelines go instead to somewhere in the timeline I added to the project last (which is one of the 2 longest timelines) when played in a DVD player”
This is either caused by overrides (did you miss any? The suckers can be hard to find) or by “pilot error” when the links were set. Double- and triple-check your links. If you’re not already, try using the Flowchart to examine the structure of your project’s navigation.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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I didn’t set any overrides anywhere in the project and I have double-checked those links – I know they aren’t wrong because if I put a built DVD in my computer and play it using windows media player (for example) then the links go to the correct timeline (or chapter playlist for the one I just checked), but in my DVD player they don’t. I’m going to try starting the project again from scratch and importing the largest timelines first. Is there a specific order of doing things that works best? For the moment, if I want to build a section of the DVD with a menu with a play all function (that links to a chapter playlist) and a play chapter function (that links to somewhere in the same chapter playlist) my order is as follows:
1. import menus (created in photoshop)
2. uncheck sync button text/name
3. set custom navigation for each button
4. set next/previous/home links
4. import timeline and set individual end action
5. create/name chapter points
6. create chapter playlist(s) with individual end action
7. link buttons to chapters/playlists
8. add main timeline to easteregg playlist (plays entire disc)I really don’t understand what’s going wrong 🙁
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Your workflow seems to be OK.
The order that you create your timelines is the order that they will be written to disc. Typically on a DL disc that can help solve layer-break issues, but you don’t seem to be having problems with the layer break. Unless you have omitted important details about your disc navigation, I don’t think changing the import or creation order of your timelines will make any difference. But it can’t hurt to try if you are rebuilding your project anyway.
We talked about chapter end actions – I recommended removing the end action from the last chapter of each timeline. You said you removed them all and the disc navigation still worked on a software player. That’s a potential problem area, since you apparently thought you needed end actions on individual chapters initially.
There is a bug in Encore 2.0 that can cause problems if you have more than 19 chapters from a single timeline in a chapter playlist. I don’t know why 19 is the “magic number”, but if you have one or more chapter playlists with around 19 chapters in it, I recommend breaking it up into 2 or more chapter playlists.
What brand of blank media are you using? Verbatim is the generally accepted standard for dual-layer +R discs. Other brands (Ritek?) are of lesser quality and may cause problems once burned. DVD burners in computers are often able to read discs better than stand-alone players.
Also burn at no more than half the rated speed of the blank media or burner.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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Hi – thanks for the post. I am mid-way through a project re-build, but have saved it to return to later after reading your post.
I had indeed removed the chapter end actions from the timelines – though this was due to a request from the guy the disc is for – I pushed him in the right direction – previously the idea had been to play individual chapters (as well as a play all) and then return to the menu, and as there were numerous chapter playlists referencing each timeline, each chapter needed an end action. All gone now though.
A few of my chapter playlists do have over 19 chapters in them so I am going back to the original saved project and splitting them up… with fingers very crossed.
Re: media – I was using Verbatims and had tried writing at 2.4x, 4x and 8x with no effect. The last few I wrote were Philips as they’re a bit cheaper and I seem to have no alternative to creating coasters.
I’ll let you know how it goes – thanks for the help!
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No joy after removing the 2 chapter playlists with over 19 chapters in them. I’ll continue the new project…
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I finished recreating the project, I started with the largest timeline and then the second largest etc. After finishing each of the 16 main sections I built a disc image of the unfinished project (I seem to remember being convinced that this helped a project in encore 1.5 I once had problems with). End result, the whole thing works perfectly EXCEPT for one section – the second largest, where links go to the wrong place again. This leads me to think that the problem is related to the order I am adding things and how the layer break is being handled. The 2 largest sections are 1.08 and 1.05 GB each, so would both fit on a single side… the whole thing is made up of 16 timelines totalling 7.7 Gb of (16) MPEGs. How should I work out where it needs to put them (as it doesn’t seem to be doing a good job itself) and thus the order in which I should add them?! Thanks!
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