[Daniel Ludwig]

the most easy way is to create a STL-file. but you might be awared that the need to give you the ISO-coding (UTF-8, UTF-16), otherwise it could be possible that special character will not be correct with other languages.

most subtitle-applications could convert STL to any other format that you need, like the encore-format.

for example STL looks like this:

// Format for Spruce Maestro/DVD Studio Pro
//—————————————–

// Title: Track – English Copy
// Author: No Author
// Language: English
// Date: 03/16/13
// Offset: 00:00:00:00
// Format: 24p – 24

$TapeOffset = False
$FontName = Helvetica
$FontSize = 23
$Bold = False
$Italic = False
$ColorIndex1 = 7
$ColorIndex2 = 1
$ColorIndex3 = 1
$ColorIndex4 = 0
$TextContrast = 15
$Outline1Contrast = 12
$Outline2Contrast = 6
$HorzAlign = Center
$XOffset = 0
$VertAlign = Bottom
$YOffset = 0
$FadeIn = 0
$FadeOut = 0
$BackgroundContrast = 0

$Italic = True
00:01:10:13,00:01:16:00, You get 50 points for the next question| about Burkina Faso.
00:01:18:17,00:01:20:05, Ready?| -Yes.
00:01:21:10,00:01:28:08, What do the farmers in this| village eat for lunch?
00:01:29:12,00:01:32:03, 1. Nutritious dirt.
00:01:34:17,00:01:36:08, 2. Beetles.
00:01:38:08,00:01:40:03, 3. Spaghetti.
00:01:47:17,00:01:50:00, Number 3, spaghetti.

while encore-text looks like this, it´s a so called FAB-text:

1 00:01:10:12 00:01:15:22 You get 50 points for the next question
about Burkina Faso.
2 00:01:18:15 00:01:20:04 Ready? -Yes.
3 00:01:21:08 00:01:28:06 What do the farmers in this village eat for lunch?
4 00:01:29:09 00:01:32:00 1. Nutritious dirt.
5 00:01:34:15 00:01:36:05 2. Beetles.
6 00:01:38:06 00:01:40:01 3. Spaghetti.
7 00:01:47:14 00:01:49:21 Number 3, spaghetti.

cheers

danny

[Daniel Ludwig]

Ginger,
there are subtitle-tools for MAC and PC, some are free, some not.

for example PC-software: https://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Other-VIDEO-Tools/Subtitle-Workshop.shtml

for mac you can use annotation edit from zeitanker: https://www.zeitanker.com

premiere itself could not import/export any subtitle-format because of its title-tool-implementation. you can´t even import FCP-XML and work on the text, simply not possible. annotation edit can generate subtitles that will work within encore.

zeitanker is also selling the annotation trascriber app, this is for transcription – very easy, 29€ cheap and very good for quick spotting.

afterwards the project-file could be exported using anntation edit to go to encore – very easy – one klick.

cheers

danny

[Daniel Ludwig]

MAC od PC?

[Daniel Ludwig]

Stan,
sorry to say that – but dissagree!

BD-specs said that jumping from one title to another will have a black picture before the next starts.

what happens, when looping a menu is, that you have a non seamless loop within your playlist that´s been created by adobe encore abstraction layer – it will freeze and start at the beginning if the player will do this. you can´t create seamlessly looping playlist-items within encore.

another encore-issue:
sometimes for heaven sake there will be added a 2nd playlist-item that will also contain a 1 GOP black-frame at the end, this is happening especially with H264.

and last but no least – all software-player I´ve seen (and I´ve tested a lot) are all behaving different on different multiplexed BDs.

the same is happening, when you try different players from different manufacturer. I´ve found out for myself, the best choice is to check on sony + pansonic-players, as they are acting very differnt on BDs, but if you have some more it´s even better.

you might know I´m working most with tools like scenarist or BD-Author, spec-authoring-tools.

cheers

danny

[Daniel Ludwig]

Hagop,
you should use NO transcoded material for your menus! encore is transcoding every menu of a blu-ray to MPEG2 itself. makes no difference if allready transcoded or not, or if your project-settings are H264 or MPEG2.

the menus allways will be transcoded as 23.98 MPEG2 – doesn´t matter if you are on a 1080i29.98 or 1080i25.

cheers

danny

[Daniel Ludwig]

the simple answer is – NO, it wont do that!

and: the auto-start-function of the dvd-player-software behave different on all machines, as it´s a user-preference.

by the way – you should set a track as first-play instead of a menu, that helps to keep your players resume-buffer happy.

cheers

danny

[Daniel Ludwig]

David,
you might have asked these question before you start your dvd-project.

there are several issues you could get in touch with, especially if your disc will go to replication.

if its just a 100-charge that will duplicated with a DVD-robot, I guess that should work ok while playback, but no one could skip through the “play-all”-clips, as it´s not possible.

it´s not a big deal to create one single film from several ones using FCP or premiere.

be awared to have a small timeline (3-5sec. black or disclaimer) at the start of disc prior your first menu. disable all UOPs on this track, it´s to keep the DVD-players resume-buffer happy 🙂

good luck

danny

[Daniel Ludwig]

David,
this is very simple to say: it´s not possible at all – as DVD-specs denies this.

the only way to change ths is to go back 20-30 years and change the dvd-specs 😀

to work out a “play all”-feature, you need to think the other way round with DVD.

you should have one timeline with all content. for all single play-options you need to create a playlist which contains the necessary parts (chapters) of it.

NOTE: don´t put all your allready encoded elements/assets in one timeline, this could cause a muxer-problem, you should encode the entire film as one MPEG2+audio using adobe media encoder and set chaptermarker for the single parts of it.

and of course – you need to re-programm your DVD nearly from scratch!

danny

[Daniel Ludwig]

Josh,
if you need to burn an iso-image to a disc using mac os, you must use your disc-utility to do so.

you can´t use finder to burn such disc, as finder will allways burn HFS-volumes that couldn´t be read within stand-alone-players, and if you´ve burned an iso-image using finder you will get the wrong file-format for the entired disc.

DVD needs to have the UDF-file-format.

danny

[Daniel Ludwig]

David,
every timeline will be multiplexed into a seperate VTS (video title set) which is a vob-file within your VIDEO_TS-folder.

they are present as:

VTS_01_X.VOB
VTS_02_X.VOB
.
.
.
.
VTS_XX_X.VOB

by dvd-spec it´s not allowed to jump from one timeline (at/over the end/beginning) to the next timeline (even some players can do this) with the skip-buttons.

when encore is creating a playlist, that plays all theses titles – it navigates through the VMG, and plays each item after the other.

what you would like to do – wouldn´t work anyway.