DVD Architect

[VernonRobinson]

Started scanning the manual. Looks like I can add a Picture compilation. But it seems to want me to set a slide duration. What I am trying to achieve is to have the picture stay on the screen until you press the next arrow or some button on the remote. I have been unable to find that in the manual. Any ideas? My thought would be to set a really long duration, but I would think that DVDA would then render a segment that long.

Thanks,
-Vernon

[cdeemer]

I've never explored that area of the program. Sorry. The manual sort of sucks.

[UKPal]

VernonRobinson:

I see that there is Version 4 and Version 4.5. I will have to check out the difference.

One difference, for those who are interested, is that 4 is not Vista compatible whereas 4.5 is.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Sorry. The manual sort of sucks.

A masterpiece of understatement.

[VernonRobinson]

Does anyone know how to do the DVD extra bit, where a picture stays on the screen until you press the arrow key or something else on the remote? I have sent a message to Sony, but it seems they have outsourced their tech support to India. They say a response is due within 24 hours, but it has been almost a week and customer service says be patient. The answer will be here today. This is nuts!!!

-Vernon

[VernonRobinson]

According to Sony, what I want is not possible with DVD Architect. See the tech support response below:

Hi Vernon,

Thank you for contacting Sony Creative Software.

This can't really be done with DVD Architect Studio. The Picture Compilation must assign a length of time to each picture displayed. The Next button on the remote will toggle the DVD to go to the next picture in line in the Picture compilation however, but it will need some length of time defined to it. However, we are always open to your input and your suggestions. Please feel free to send a product suggestion request at the following link - it goes directly to the development team: http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/suppor ... estion.asp

If you still have a follow-up question on this particular incident, please feel free to update it. If you have a completely different question, please create a new incident.

Sincerely,

Matt K.
Customer Service & Technical Support
Sony Creative Software Inc
www.sonycreativesoftware.com

[RJ Johnston]

You could use PGCEdit to put pauses in after each picture. PGCEdit edits the files in the VIDEO_TS folder. However, for every picture you have, you have to type 255 in the cell time box and uncheck another box for each picture in the title, where 255 = infinite pause. In DVD Architect Studio you make the length of each photo/still about 1 second so Sony doesn't complain that the chapter markers are too close together.

[VernonRobinson]

You could use PGCEdit to put pauses in after each picture. PGCEdit edits the files in the VIDEO_TS folder. However, for every picture you have, you have to type 255 in the cell time box and uncheck another box for each picture in the title, where 255 = infinite pause. In DVD Architect Studio you make the length of each photo/still about 1 second so Sony doesn't complain that the chapter markers are too close together.

Robert,
Since using PGC Edit is working with the rendered output, I would think it is possible to do the same thing using output from PrEl also. Is this correct thinking? I haven't had time to go into it with much detail, but it seems that the menuing capability within DVD Architect studio is more complete than what ships with PrEl. It seems that you can nest Menus. Haven't tried it yet. Thanks for the tip on PGCEdit.

Regards,
-Vernon

[RJ Johnston]

Yes, you can do the same thing using output from PrEl.

[VernonRobinson]

OK Robert,
I finally got around to testing my movies extras. Needless to say, I crashed and burned. I added both Menu Markers and Scene Markers from PrEl7. I changed the Cell Still Time on the scene markers to 255. However, the DVD software just played right through it. So I must have not fully understood the instructions. Here is a screen capture from PGCEdit. Any idea on what I am missing?

Thanks,
-Vernon

[RJ Johnston]

Vernon, That's the wrong place to put the pauses. You are showing one of the pages of the menu, not the title. You want the title. The last line in the list on the left, the one with "Title 1" will contain the cells you need to change. The title doesn't have any buttons.

[VernonRobinson]

Robert,
Thanks for the reply. After some more playing around, I finally stumbled upon that solution. My next question is about the menu itself. I started out with PrEl7 and tried to use a button that says "Extras" to jump to that section of the timeline. However, it seems that anytime that I put a Chapter Menu on the timeline, the Menu templates want to add a page for it.

I have not quite figured out how to configure a multi-layered menu in DVD Architect yet. So I am still working along two tracks. I just had a thought, Do I need a chaper marker for each picture, or do I only need it for the "Start" of the Extras section? I will test this out.

Any other tips on using DVD Architect to help speed this along? The methodology of how they use the tool has not quite clicked yet.

Thanks,
-Vernon

[Chuck Engels]

Vernon, Are you sure you don't really need a Main Menu Marker instead?
Have you read Steve's article on Using DVD Markers in Premiere Elements?

[cdeemer]

If you go to the LEFT window, and RIGHT CLICK "Menu 1" and select INSERT, you'll see SUBMENU ... that's how you add a submenu, ad infinitum. Note you can make as many submenus as you want, and layer them any way you want, then import whatever you want onto each individual menu. You also can change the "Menu 1" text etc to anything you want by selecting/clicking it, right click, Edit Text.

Hope this helps.

[VernonRobinson]

Vernon, Are you sure you don't really need a Main Menu Marker instead?
Have you read Steve's article on Using DVD Markers in Premiere Elements?

Chuck,
I said it poorly, but what I meant to say was that once I add a menu template to the project. It creates a main menu and then additional pages for each of the chapter markers. Normally this is not a problem in that I only have enough chapter points to go to the points of interest. However, in order to do the DVD Extras thing, you need to set a chapter point for each individual picture. Now the menu template wants to create additional pages for each of the chapter points. This is not what I would like to have happen. I will work on it more over the weekend.

Thanks,
-Vernon