Menu item selection doesn't work on DVD

[Dave McElderry]

I just created a DVD in V11 from a VHS tape copy - a simple project in which I added a submenu with 3 items linking to points in the video. For this I used the "Glass Flowers" theme. When I preview everything works fine, but when I burn the DVD and play it in PowerDVD I don't get any of the indicators on the menus showing which item is selected. On the main menu the selected item is supposed to have a little yellow square to the left of the text, and in the submenu the selected menu buttons are supposed to be outlined in yellow. Clicking on the faux remote control buttons does change the selection, it just isn't visible. When I play the disc in my standalone DVD player it acts the same way.

I'm inclined to think that there's something wrong with this theme template, but thought maybe there was something that I should know. I really wanted to use that particular template, but will go to a different one if necessary. If someone else has the time to just try a quick test project with that template I'd be interested in knowing your results. No need to actually burn a disc. It should be evident from the preview.

On another front, I've discovered that when in full screen DVD preview mode my taskbar covers the faux remote control at the bottom of the screen. I remember a couple of weeks ago someone else had talked about an issue where the program would not get out of the way of their taskbar.

[Dave McElderry]

I tried another template and it works fine. Looks like that template is messed up somehow.

[Dave McElderry]

Well now my frustration levels are getting high. The second template that I used was "Retro" and it turns out that the media displayed in the submenu buttons goes to black after being displayed for a few seconds. Doesn't make any difference if it's motion or a still. I don't see anything that controls this length PrEl. For a more serious project I'd probably be using DVDAS, but I thought it would just be soooo simple to do this out of PrEl.

[Gerlinde]

Dave, I found this over at the Elements User Forum: http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/s ... hp?t=75787

[Dave McElderry]

Wow. Thanks for the link Gerlinde. It's nice (I guess) to know that it's a known issue, but it especially worries me because this is different template that they're talking about. I wonder what the common factor is? The last post was two days ago and there was no resolution. Kind of disappointing to have only been playing with V11 for a couple of days and to find something like this already.

[Gerlinde]

Dave, I did a quick test project and used the glass flowers dvd template. As expected, I had the same result, the menu buttons did not work once burned to dvd. Since I also have PRE 10, I copied the template from there and replaced the faulty one in PRE 11. Guess what, that template has the same problem. If I have time, I will also test the template, that came with PRE 7.

On another front, I've discovered that when in full screen DVD preview mode my taskbar covers the faux remote control at the bottom of the screen.

This does work correctly on my computer.

Edit: the glass flower template is not available in vers.7. I can check vers.9 too, but I would assume it has the problem also.

[Chuck Engels]

Maybe one of us can fix this ....

[Dave McElderry]

Thanks so much Gerlinde. From the link you gave me apparently it's not the only template with problems. It's surprising that someone had not complained about this in V10 (or earlier). Maybe they have and I had just never heard about it.

Chuck, that would be cool if someone who has experience editing these templates could solve this! One thing that I did notice is that the selection does actually work, it just doesn't show the markers. If I use the remote to navigate as if it was working and then press the OK button it will play that submenu item. Also, in PowerDVD when I play it on the computer if I'm using the arrow keys to navigate I can see the screen "jump" just a bit each time that the selection moves from one item to the next, even though it doesn't show the selection. Pressing Enter at that point does play the selection.


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[Dave McElderry]

Oh, and I echo the sentiments of one of the posters from Gerlinde's link above: Doesn't anybody check these things before they release the program?

[Gerlinde]

Hi again Dave.
I tested the Retro template and it works perfectly in PRE 10. I inserted a video clip on the main page and it keeps looping and does not turn black. Buttons work all too. If I get a chance, I will also test it with PRE 11. This time I burned only to a folder and played the dvd with Windows Media Center. But that should be the same as a real dvd.

I have not used many dvd menus lately, since I don't have an external blu-ray player. I usually just share as a HD-wmv file and connect my laptop to the tv to watch the video.

[Dave McElderry]

Thanks for all of your time and efforts Gerlinde. For this project (actually two tapes) I abandoned PrEl and am just going to finish it in DVDAS. Unfortunately other work tasks have slowed me down. Crystal Flowers is a pretty good looking template though and I'd like to be able to use it in a future project.