[Cheesefather]

Jeff, you are a genius! I tested the DVD in a couple of other players today and it worked pretty much as it was supposed to (a couple of issues with going to the wrong menus when the menu button was pressed, but I think if I add back in all the “return to last menu”-s it’ll be okay). I had no idea compatibility was that low with DLs, but I guess you live and learn. Feel slightly foolish now that I’ve wasted a week…

I’m assuming that when I send the disc to be mastered everything will be okay…

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for all your help,

M.

[Cheesefather]

Hi Jeff – thanks for the reply.

How many hardware DVD players have you tested?

So far just the one, but as the errors change based on the order I output the project, I ruled out the hardware. I will try and find another one…

Are there *any* glitches in the burned disc when played on a software DVD player?

I haven’t found any so far – it all seems to work fine.

Do you have any navigation features set in your project that would respond differently to a software player as compared to a hardware player?

No – there’s not really anything non-standard going on with the links…

When the hardware player jumps to the wrong place, what operation triggers the bad jump?

It’s a button on a menu – for example if I go into a non-working section and click on “play all” it might take me to the wrong timeline, or sometimes into the middle of the wrong timeline – but where it takes me is always the same, and I think every button that should go to one timeline will take me somewhere on the same wrong timeline, i.e. all the chapter links in section 1 will instead go to chapters in section 10 for example.

Thanks.

[Cheesefather]

Okay I worked out an order to lay them out on disc that meant there was the same amount of data on each side (to within a couple of meg) and added timelines in that order when recreating the project (again). I built the disc – same type of errors, with links going to the wrong places. I tried the project again, building an image between adding sections. Same thing. I created a disc of just those timelines with no chapters, playlists or chapter playlists and only a couple of menus and it worked, but nothing complex was going on – this just confirmed that the software could write the video properly. I made an image of the disc and wrote it on a different computer, I built a folder and wrote it on a different computer – same errors, so it is definitely the software at fault.

Now, in the last disc there are 3 sections that do not work and they are the first 3 sections I added to the disc. The answer must be in the order that I import timelines (see table below), but this project is already well overdue and I’ll have to buy a copy of scenarist or something if this isn’t sorted… but I’m so close! Please please please advise on the order to add the timelines – I’m sure that’s where the problem is. THANKS!!!

SECTION MB
1 1110
2 816
3 492
4 386
5 338
6 338
7 310
############LAYER BREAK (in theory)
############TOTAL SIDE 1: 3790 MB
8 1080
9 506
10 450
11 396
12 314
13 304
14 276
15 247
16 216
############TOTAL SIDE 2: 3789 MB

[Cheesefather]

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!

[Cheesefather]

No joy after removing the 2 chapter playlists with over 19 chapters in them. I’ll continue the new project…

[Cheesefather]

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!

[Cheesefather]

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 🙁

[Cheesefather]

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 🙁

[Cheesefather]

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.