[George Wing]

Assuming Encore DVD 2.0

1) You have a single timeline, with its END-ACTION pointing to itself.

2) Button-1 activates the timeline in STEP #1 (this is your looping button). This button should NOT have an override.

3) Button-2 activates the timeline in STEP #1, but you also add an OVERRIDE to go back to the menu. This is your Play-once button.

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Make the END-ACTION jump back to the START of the timeline. This is your regular loop button.

Then for the PLAY-ONCE button, point to the timeline, but use an OVERRIDE to go back to the menu.

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[Jeff Bellune] “Your design is flawed. The DVD Specification imposes a 1 GB limit for all motion menus in a disc.

A better solution would be “buttons over video”, which, unfortunately, is not supported at this time by Encore.

I think DVDLab Pro supports this feature.”

I thought the limit for menus is 1gb per VTS. So you could get around it if your Authoring software allowed you to manually move your menus around in different VTS’s. NOTE: I’ve never had menus that large, so I’m not 100% sure on that…

Either way, I agree that BOV’s would be a good choice on this — DVDLab Pro 2.x and DVD Architect 4 allow this (and of course Scenarist)…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

I’m wondering if the folks who could not play your discs was due to the “Invalid Streams” issue that Sony tried to fix with DVDA4b.

Run your DVD Folders through PGCedit, and when the popup asks you to fix the number of streams, select yes. Then burn that resulting VIDEO_TS folder to disc and see if that allows those folks to read your DVD.

For firmware updates, check with the manufacturer or supplier of your burner unit. Also google search on the burner for firmware updates (make sure to follow all directions when updating firmware).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

How are you burning? Letting DVDA burn to disc, or using other burning software?

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

At one time there was an issue (with some players) when your DVD did not contain at least 1-gigabyte of burned material. So padding the disc to include at least 1-gb helped resolve issues for some users. Also, some burning software will automatically burn up to 1gb (if your project is less than that).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

I read about the “DVD-DOWNLOAD” format that was approved earlier this year (which allows burning CSS to DVD-R). It requires special burners, and special discs, and is supposed to be coming later this year.

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[Super Neal] “Any ideas or equipment that would speed this up?”

When dealing with mpeg source vide, Vegas lacks something called “Smart Render” — this feature only renders edited sections of your timeline, and then outputs the rest of the timeline without re-rendering.

To speed up your process, you could get a set-top dvd recorder to capture/convert the video. Then use software such as Ulead VideoStudio and/or MovieFactory to Import the mpegs from dvd — add you fades, and output the timeline to mpeg (using the same settings as the originals should allow “Smart Render” to work). Overall, this will cut out the time it takes to re-render the entire timeline…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Have you loaded some of the standard templates — they have hidden buttons that get highlighted when the button is selected.

NOTE: This only shows a “highlight” when the button is selected. To get full-color buttons for “selected” state is a different story (more complex, and not necessarily as “responsive” during playback).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[John Rich] “Overall, can Encore do stuff these other programs can’t? It seems pretty cool, but then the only thing I’ve compared it to is MyDVD.”

Hi John,

As David said — outside of Scenarist, there’s always going to be “differences” from package to package. Personally, I use a variety of tools for Video/Audio Editing, Conversions/Encoding, and DVD Authoring — I haven’t found a single package/bundle that can do everything. NOTE: some of those CS3 Packages/Bundles look very interesting 🙂

Encore DVD 2.0 does have some features not found in the likes of DVD Workshop 2.x, DVD Architect 4.0, and DVDLab PRO 2.x. One of its strengths (as David mentioned) is its tight integration with other Adobe applications. There are things Encore cannot do that the others can, but perhaps the CS3 version will close those gaps (I heard it adds BluRay Authoring, but other than that I’m not sure what other SD DVD features were added).

Regards,
George