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Nothing but motion menus
I’m trying to improve an existing marketing DVD for a client.
I’m wondering whether to create the whole DVD (which consists of many separate chapters of video) as a series of motion menus. That is, we see and hear all the same video material, but there are buttons onscreen which allow the viewer to jump into a related video, or back to the main menu, at any time.
I’m using Adobe Encore on the PC (although I have DVD Studio Pro on the Mac) because I’m familiar with it, and because I am also familiar with using Encore with eDVD (I need to add some PDF material for use on computers).
I’m aware of the 1 GB limit on menu space. I believe I’ll be just a little under that.
I can’t see any reason not to use all the video assets as if they were motion menus, but I wonder whether there are any gotcha’s to this approach, perhaps in terms of broad playability. The client wants the DVD to play well on DVD players as well as computers.
Thanks for any light you can shed on this idea. My personal reason for suggesting it is that (1) this particular DVD is very modular, with lots of little videos, so I think it would lend itself to this, and (2) I suspect that viewers are so accustomed to seeing video on the Internet now, that they are sort of expecting to be able to cut a video short and go to a related topic, as soon as they either “get the point” or “get tired of” the current video.
bob C
MacPro 2 x 3GHz dualcore; 10 GB 667MHz
Kona LHe
Sony HDV Z1
Sony HDV M25U
HD-Connect MI
Betacam UVW1800
DVCPro AJ-D650 -
5 Replies
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It seems like that approach might work considering your source content.
Out of curiosity, how many short clips are you talking about, and what is the total duration/playing time?
One thing the viewer won’t be able to do is FF/REW through video (a menu in your case). But that might actually be a good thing (depending on how long each segment is).
Does DVDSP have Buttons Over Video — perhaps you could keep your video Titles, and insert BOV’s (instead of using all menus)? You could add some UOPS to prevent FF/REW so that the BOV’s stay active.
Regards,
George -
[George Wing] “how many short clips are you talking about, and what is the total duration/playing time?”
No more than 15 clips, about 40 minutes total.
I googled “Buttons Over Video” for DVD SP, and found that it does exist. This may be my motivation to learn that program.
How does BOV in DVD SP differ from Motion Menus in Encore? I’m a little reluctant to jump to DVD SP for this project just because I also need to program using eDVD, which seems easier on the PC side.
And, if anyone has advice on good intro tutorials for DVD SP, I’d be most appreciative.
Thanks!
bob C
MacPro 2 x 3GHz dualcore; 10 GB 667MHz
Kona LHe
Sony HDV Z1
Sony HDV M25U
HD-Connect MI
Betacam UVW1800
DVCPro AJ-D650 -
[Bob Cole] No more than 15 clips, about 40 minutes total.”
40 minutes with audio will put your video bitrate down about ~3,100 kbps (if you need to stay under 1gb). The visual quality might take a hit (depending on your source content and encoding methods).
[Bob Cole] “How does BOV in DVD SP differ from Motion Menus in Encore? I’m a little reluctant to jump to DVD SP for this project just because I also need to program using eDVD, which seems easier on the PC side.”
The BOV’s go over the Title clips (in he Title Domain) — so you can author with Chapters and playlists as usual, and still have some button options (btw, they can always hit the menu button on the remote to go back to a menu — assuming you have not disabled menu calls).
I don’t use eDVD — but can’t it take an authored dvd from either package, and add a “layer” to it for the “extras” from a dvd-rom drive?
Regards,
George -
eDVD will work with Mac or PC.
re: BOV’s in DVDSP — Does that have the 1GB limit?
MacPro 2 x 3GHz dualcore; 10 GB 667MHz
Kona LHe
Sony HDV Z1
Sony HDV M25U
HD-Connect MI
Betacam UVW1800
DVCPro AJ-D650 -
[Bob Cole] “re: BOV’s in DVDSP — Does that have the 1GB limit?”
It should allow you to go over 1gb, but you should disable some uops such as FF/REW so that you don’t lose your BOV’s during playback.
Regards,
George
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