[Paul Benson]

I’m surprised Jon Geddes hasn’t responded to this, since it is directly tied to the article he wrote here:
https://www.precomposed.com/blog/2009/07/hd-to-sd-dvd-best-methods/

I use a very similar process with just SD footage since these tools do a much higher quality video for the amount of bytes.

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

Using the button highlights seems like an elegant solution, but you run into what you pointed out – button overlap. That is a DVD spec issue, not Encore.

To do that effect you need to create multiple menu screens and have buttons ‘auto-activate’ to the menu with the text you want. Lots of tutorials on how to achieve this using Encore.

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

I have had some audio issues with Encore and Dynamic Link. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes issues, and it seems tied to the encore session. In the end, I create a WAV file in Premiere and import it into Encore. Link to my previous issue:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/145/865758#865828

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

I think I know what you are trying to accomplish. It sounds like you have multiple pictures (one on each layer, I assume) and you want to feather the edges of each one. Unfortunately, there is no quick method for this that I know of.

It seems like you could use one of the effects, but I tried playing around with the inner stroke effect with a gradient following the shape. The gradient’s opacity could be changed, but you always need a color. It would be an interesting stroke effect that just modified the opacity level.

Next best solution I know of is to create an action. For this technique, make sure each layer has the picture on a transparent background. You can’t have a colored background since that color may be in the picture. Also, you will need an area that is transparent across all of your layers. Your action would be:
– Magic wand tool (have ‘contiguous’ and ‘sample all layers’ unchecked) and click in that common transparent area. This should select all of the transparent areas for that layer.
– Invert selection. This should now just have your picture selected.
– Select->Modify->Contract (choose a number of pixels that work for you)
– Select->Modify->Feather (use the same value for the pixels that you used above)
– Add Layer Mask

Run this action on each layer.

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

Some players are finicky, and since it works on a computer, there is some evidence that you have a functional DVD.

Try different media. For example, if you are using a -R, then try a +R, a -RW, or a +RW. Or try a different brand of disks. The player in my car refuses to read RW disks, but my old Sony player does better with the RW.

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

I don’t have an answer for you, but I hate it when I post a question and get no responses, so it may be time to debug.

I have not encountered this lag (knock on wood) after doing multiple projects with subtitles. When I preview, the subtitles pop up exactly where I placed them, and the burned disk behaves the same.

Do you see this lag in the Encore preview?

Do you have chapter points towards the end? If so, what happens if you jump to that chapter point? I am curious if the lag is some cumulative timing build up that may be bypassed by jumping directly to the chapter, or if the subtitles are truly skewed in the build.

Is this lag seen on different DVD players?

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

First I would use a DVD copying program. Maybe your DVD drive or system came with one? Look for Nero or RealDVD. There are also some on the net.

Second, I think you can use Encore, though I have never done it. In the build menu, one of your choices for the ‘Source’ is ‘DVD Volume’. Try pointing to your DVD drive and see what it does. You may need to copy the files from the DVD to the hard drive if you want to write back to a DVD.

Next, you should be able to pull those .m2v and .ac3 files as assets into your timeline. You will likely need to re do your chapter points and menus, but it should allow you to replicate the disk.

Finally, and as a lesson learned, I always output to a DVD Image. I have a hard drive full of images (and backed up, of course). Encore lets you build DVDs from images.

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

Might need more details on what you are trying to achieve, but it sounds like you have a shape & color you want to show while a menu item is selected and then a second shape & color you want to show when activated.

Make sure you have the transparencies for each bitmap set correctly for each state. It sounds like you want your (=1) image to be transparent when activated.

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

This is what I have used:
https://www.convertvobtoavi.com/

Pauley

[Paul Benson]

Magic wand with the non-contiguous option is the poor man’s choice.
Select Color Range is likely what you want. Plenty of tuts on the net about it.

Pauley