[George Wing]

I don’t think so (keeping/re-using original menus/buttons from external DVD’s).

Did you try DVDRemake (the free version)?

Another application that can do it (to some degree) is DVDLab PRO (using the “Attach External VTS” feature).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Forgot to mention that you can also do it for FREE using tools such as PGCedit to add the BOV after authoring and burning to your hard drive. But you will have to know how to setup the proper commands for the BOV to give you the navigation you want…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[John Rich] “Am I correct in assuming that all the programs that have the BOV capabilities are in the 10,000 dollar range?
Thanks again.”

Hi John,

DVDLab Pro is only $245 — and it has alot of other functionality if you like to create your own dvd scripting.

DVD Architect 4 (Full) comes with Sony Vegas 7 (Full). It can be purchased for a few hundred dollars (depending on where you purchase it — and as a bonus you also get the functionality of Vegas 7 for editing).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

A tool I use to “Merge” DVD’s (and retain their original menus) is called DVDRemake Pro (the “Pro” version is not free, but they do have a “lite” version that I *think* has the “merge” function).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[John Rich] “You would have to use the movie during which you want the selection to take place to be the background movie for the menu and you could only have the selection take place at the end part of the movie and not in the middle.”

If you set the END-ACTION for the menu to link to a Timeline, you can “fake it” so that the motion menu (i.e. fake video with button selection) comes in the middle of a movie. You have to plan it properly to mask the transition between video to menu to video (i.e. fading to/from black).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

yes — but it’s a “workaround”

The best approach would be to use an authoring application with BOV functionality…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

That “Make Movie” button is in the “Movie Studio” version — do you have the Full or Movie Studio version?

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

I think you are talking about Buttons Over Video (BOV). As David mentioned, Encore 2.0 does not have that feature — and in addition to David’s list (Scenarist and DVDLab PRO 2.x), another PC application that has BOV functionality is DVD Architect 4 (Full).

How long is your total video duration, and can you “mask” a transition to different assets using fade to-from black? If so, then you might be able to “fake” it by strategically setting up playback playlists that utilize video timelines and Motion Menus (with the hidden button).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

When you play the DVD On your computer, do you see eveything (on left/right)? If so, then it’s a matter of the Overscan Area — as you mentioned, you our outside the “safe area”, and with a TV you don’t see all the way to the edges (due to the overscan area). The amount you don’t see can vary from TV to TV (but it’s generally ~10%-20% around the outer edges).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[Donna] “When making a video to be used in dvd architect, I usually use the mpeg2 option video stream for dvd architect. What is the best format to use for dvd architect that will play best in most dvd players? Also, any opinions on which is better…dvd-r or dvd+ r? Thanks.”

Which version of DVDA are you running, and are you using any “Advanced” features such as Multiple Angles and/or Buttons On Video (BOV)?

If you are using “Advanced” features such as these (and if they cause DVDA to re-render your assets), then you might get better results by rendering out to the native format of the originals, and letting DVDA do the mpeg encoding (this would avoid multiple mpeg encoding). If DVDA does NOT need to re-encode your assets, then you could go with the mpeg2 DVDA templates from Vegas. NOTE: mpeg1 can also be dvd-video compliant, but DVDA will not author a DVD using dvd-compliant mpeg1 “asis” (it will re-encode to mpeg2).

For compatibility across a wide range of DVD Players, you might consider keeping the total bitrate (video bitrate plus combined audio bitrate) to <= ~7500kbps. If using +R discs, check if your burner/software will allow you to set the booktype to dvd-rom. Regards, George