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How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Specific to Premiere Elements Version 11.

How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby HSA » Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:26 am

How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Using Premier Elements 11 on Windows 7.
Learning and working on my first project.

My goal, if possible, is to place two 1/2-hour movies and a short slide show on one DVD. (I’ve seen commercial DVDs that have two (usually old and only 90-minute) unrelated movies on a single DVD.) Mine are both 720x480. For simplicity, assume I just have two movies: Movie-1 and Movie-2.

I’ve been studying the learning books and it appears that there is no way to have two separate Premier Elements projects (Movie-1 and Movie-2), burn them each to the SAME DVD and have a single, simple menu that appears upon inserting the disc in a DVD player. (But please correct me if that is wrong.)

I have observed no discussion specifically on the matter, but from certain references (see Steve’s Premier Elements 11 book, page 227), I infer the following:

1) I keep my Movie-1 project in Premier Elements, as is.

2) From the separate Premier Elements Movie-2 project, I EXPORT Movie-2 project in a format that may then be loaded as a “Project Asset” in the Premier Elements Movie-1 project.

3) Back in the Movie-1 project, I drag-and-drop the file representing my Movie-2 project to the end of the Movie-1 timeline, probably keeping an inch of dead space between the end of Movie-1 and the beginning of Movie-2. So what I have now is one long Premier Elements project.

4) I place a green Menu Marker at the beginning of each of my Movie-1 and Movie-2, and a red STOP Menu Marker at the end of each movie. (I definitely do not want any other scene markers, and Movie-1 must not run-on to Movie-2. They are separate.)

5) I’m still learning about creating Menus but, if possible, I would like to be able to insert the final DVD in a DVD player and have a single Menu appear onscreen that would have buttons to select and play Movie-1 OR Movie-2. At the end of each movie it would stop and pop back to the Menu. (Reading Steve’s book, I believe that is what the Red, STOP Marker will do.)

Do I have this procedure about right?

However, it appears (though I am not sure) that Premier Elements cannot create a direct, one-screen, movie selection screen. There MUST be a “Main Menu” and a “Scene Selection” submenu, wherein the latter I would have only two buttons: i.e., for selecting either of the two separate movies, Movie-1 or Movie-2 on the DVD.

Do I have the theory and procedural steps about right? Is there a better or preferred way to place two separate movies on a single DVD such that the second move will not automatically run after the first movie; each must be selected separately?

Final important question: If I understand the above procedure correctly, then my Movie-2 must be EXPORTED from Premier Elements in an optimal format to allow for further editing when IMPORTED into the Movie-1 project.

In Steve’s Premier 11 book (page 244 and page 249), he is quite clear that the EXPORT format (for use in a separate project) should be “DV-AVI”. But as Steve has more recently pointed out to others (his Premier Elements book was published in 2012), today, in 2019, there MAY be a better EXPORT format if one is intending what I have described above.

All of my intended video projects will begin with capturing from old VHS tape, probably 720x480. Though I am just learning, so far Premier Elements 11 seems to be up to the task. Nonetheless, if the priority is the best possible final product, should I still stick with EXPORT format DV-AVI or update to Premier Elements 2019 where, seven-years after Steve’s original advice, there might now be a better EXPORT format?

Thank you,

Howard
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby Steve Grisetti » Thu Mar 14, 2019 2:13 pm

Premiere Elements is probably not the best tool for this, Howard. With a program like DVD Architect, you can add as many movies as you'd like as separate features.

But there is a way to add two features to one DVD in Premiere Elements. It needn't be as complicated as you describe though. Check out the "Adding Bonus Features" tutorial on this page.
https://muvipix.com/products.php?search ... =0&btn.y=0

That will get you two separate movies on one DVD. But that's as far as you can go. You can't add a third or a slideshow. (You can, though, with DVD Architect.)
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby Bob » Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:07 pm

You're pretty close. But, there are a few gotchas.

Both movies do need to be on the same timeline, but don't place any gaps between them. Gaps, even a single frame, have been known to cause problems when exporting/rendering. Instead, place a Red stop menu marker at the end of the first movie and a Blue main menu marker at the beginning of the second movie. Green menu markers are "scene" menu markers which is what you don't want. You don't need a Blue main menu marker at the beginning of the first movie (Premiere Elements puts a "play movie" button on the menu which plays the movie at the beginning of the timeline (you can edit the text to name the movie); if you put a Blue main menu marker there, you will get two buttons that play that movie.) You likewise don't need a Red stop menu marker at the end of the last movie on the timeline. Premiere Elements automatically acts as if there is a stop marker there and returns to the main menu. In fact, placing a Red stop marker there can cause problems. If you have more than two movies, be sure to place both a Blue main menu marker and a Red stop menu marker on the movies in the middle.

Note: In the "Adding Bonus Features" tutorial Steve linked to, it says to add black video between the two features. That isn't strictly necessary and the menu markers he added prevent the black video from becoming part of the DVD, but if you want to set off the two visually in the timeline that is an excellent way to do it as it avoids the gap issue. Also, Steve mentions in the tutorial that only one "bonus" item can be added. I don't know if that is the case now with current versions of Premiere Elements, it certainly could be, but back in version 7, which is the version of Premiere Elements I last used, you could add more than one. Try a test project with three and see what happens. Also, slide shows will need to be exported as movies.

If you don't use green scene menu markers, you won't get scene menus. But, if you have more main menu markers than the template you chose can display, you will get multiple main menus. Choose a menu template that can display more than one movie button.

Don't get hung up over the format of the exported movie. When you create a DVD, the movies will be rendered to DVD specification format as part of the authoring process. It's unlikely DV-AVI over MP4 is going to make any visible difference in the DVD. Use whichever you want.

The DVD specification is what limits your ability to place multiple DVD projects on a single DVD. The spec only allows one top level main menu. Premiere Elements provides basic DVD Authoring capability. There are applications, such as Magix DVD Architect ($99) that Steve mentioned, that give you much more freedom in designing your menus and incorporating your exported movies. But, Premiere Elements will likely meet the majority of consumer level user needs.
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby HSA » Thu Mar 14, 2019 5:26 pm

Bob and Steve, thank you for your in-depth help. I'll experiment with all that you wrote.

Prior to your recommendations, there was little that I could find. I inferred the procedure for creating two separate movies on a DVD, or in one project, from what I could find in Steve's book and others.

Steve, in the next edition of your book, this may be a good subject to add as a subsection under an appropriate chapter.

Thanks again,

Howard
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby HSA » Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:52 pm

Ok, Steve and Bob, I may have a surprise for you.

First the background:

I reviewed Steve’s “Adding Bonus Features” tutorial in conjunction with all that Bob explained to me about Marker types, Black Video and the like.

In my test project I deleted all GREEN scene markers from the timeline and applied BLUE markers and RED as Bob explained in his post and Steve in his video tutorial.

Steve stated that only TWO movie selection buttons can be applied to a Main Menu. So I intentionally added THREE Main Menu Markers on my timeline.

My test:

I pulled up the Movie Menu tool and for the theme I selected: General > “Fun theme” (a random choice).

Result: The initial “Create Movie Menu” monitor panel showed the “Play” button and the additional Main Menu buttons (three in total). But in the “Preview Disc” function, only the “Play” button and the first of my added Main Menu buttons appeared (i.e., only two). So Steve was correct that only one additional Main Menu selection button (Steve calls it a “Bonus Feature”) will appear on the Main Menu.

But not so fast there, Bub . . .

I tested another Menu Theme. I chose General > “Faux Widescreen” as it appeals to me as being more businesslike.

Recall that I had earlier placed three Main Menu Markers on the timeline.

Result: As before, the initial “Create Movie Menu” monitor panel showed the “Play” button and the additional two Main Menu buttons (three in total).

Then I executed the “Disc Preview” function and ALL THREE selection buttons appeared on the Main Menu! Moreover, they ALL worked! They each initiated a movie beginning at one of my test Main Menu Markers. So I added yet another blue Main Menu Marker to the timeline, and it too produced the additional Selection button on the Main Menu and played the “movie” from the appropriate beginning point.

Lastly, I tested a couple of other Movie Menu themes. They worked in the manner of the first: Only two selection buttons allowed on the Main Menu screen.

So what’s going on with the “Faux Widescreen” Menu theme? It allows EXACTLY what I was aiming for in the first place: no Scene Selection or buttons, only a Main Menu allowing for selection of each of two movies and one slide show.

Did I accidentally hack something? Too bad there are not additional more-businesslike Movie Menu themes in Premier Elements.

I know you’ve got to test what I reported, to wit: is this guy nuts!

We’ll await your assessment,

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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby Bob » Fri Mar 15, 2019 2:00 am

Howard,

I don't remember those menu templates, so I reinstalled my copy of Premiere Elements 7 to see what you were talking about. Assuming the templates are the same in 7 and 11, it comes down to how many movie buttons are supported in the template. The "Fun" template supports only two movies per main menu: The "play" button that points to the first movie on the timeline, and a second "Main menu 1" which points to the next menu marker. Here's a screen capture:

Fun.JPG


The "Scenes", "Main Menu", and left/right arrows buttons are navigation buttons, not movie buttons. "Scenes" points to a scene menu if there is one, "Main menu" points back to the first main menu if more than one exists, and the arrows allow stepping from one main menu to the next in sequence if any exist. If your project has more than two main movie segments, multiple main menus should have been generated.

The "Faux Widescreen" template, on the other hand, supports four movies per main menu: "Play All" points to the first, "Main menu 1" points to the next, and "Main menu 3" and "main menu 4" point to subsequent movies if they exist. The other buttons are navigation buttons just like in "Fun". Here's a screen capture:

fauxWS.JPG


Remember, once you apply the template to your project you can edit the movie buttons to better describe the movie. You can also rearrange them to adjust spacing or placement.

Of course, the templates could have changed since version 7, go by what you see.
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby HSA » Fri Mar 15, 2019 10:05 am

Hello Bob,

Yes, I found exactly what you say, including the options to customize movie selection buttons.

Since in my initial tests the templates allowed for only two movie selection buttons on the Main Menu, and this corresponded to Steve's mention on his "Bonus Features" video that only one additional (besides the "play" button) movie selection Main Menu button was possible, it seemed that I found an anomaly with the "Faux Widescreen" menu template.

Your new piece of information today is that that "Faux Widescreen" Menu template is inherently designed to allow for four selection buttons on the Main Menu. That seems then to address my need for a Menu template having three Main Menu selection buttons and NO scene submenu.

I wonder if there are any other Menu templates that allow for more than two movie selection buttons on the Main Menu screen.

Thanks for all you help,

Howard
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby Peru » Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:39 pm

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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby HSA » Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:21 pm

Peru wrote:You can edit the menus.
Have a look here:
viewtopic.php?f=81&t=7467&p=66691&hilit=edit+menu+template#p66691


Thank you, Peru. I've not before seen the thread topic you referenced. It is quite "on point" to my issue.

I have been using an older, but FULL, version of Photoshop for a few years. If the process of adding Main Menu buttons (and bypassing scene selections altogether ) to a Premier Elements Main Menu is as easy as Steve described to that other subscriber, it would address my issue.

Furthermore, I need a couple of Menu backgrounds that are more simple and businesslike than those generally provided in Premier Elements templates. Since the backgrounds of Menu templates are Photoshop files, it well may be that I can begin with a "flowery" or "family fun" Menu template having the buttons I need, delete the background detail and create a plain or color-gradient background.

I'll give it a test. Thanks again for your help,

Howard
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby SUeTheWriter » Sat Dec 26, 2020 6:23 pm

Hi,

I've been following Bob's instructions, and so far, so good. One question, tho:

If you put a red stop menu marker and a blue main menu marker on the same place (you did say don't leave a gap, right?), how can I access whichever one of those I need to to edit them without moving them? There must be a way to do this, but I can't seem to find it.

Also, where the red one is, there is a vertical bar as well, and I haven't yet figured out what that means. Any idea?

Thanks!

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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby Steve Grisetti » Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:31 pm

1) I do recommend you add a little black video between the stop marker at the end of the first movie. Don't leave a gap. Add black video. A gap in your timeline can cause your render to glitch.
2) Do NOT put a stop marker at the end of your second movie. That too can cause a glitch. Stop markers are only used BETWEEN movies.
3) I don't know what the vertical bar is you're referring to. But if you'll post a screen capture showing it maybe we can identify it.
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby SUeTheWriter » Fri Jan 01, 2021 2:55 pm

ScreenCap1.PNG


Thanks for replying!

Um, how does one add a little black video? Is there an actual menu choice for such a thing? Or do I have to go record black video like I did in the olden days of VHS editing?

Okay, let me see if I can get a screenshot in here . . . okay, not sure why it's way up there, but I'm not arguing with it. :)

Once I get past this, I'll figure out a simple menu and rendering. (I'm not editing Gone With the Wind here; I don't have the patience for that. TBH I never have, that's why there are actual professional editors, right? I'm just trying to get stuff from one type of media to another in a useful format.)
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Re: How to Place Two Separate Movies on One DVD?

Postby Steve Grisetti » Fri Jan 01, 2021 4:03 pm

If you go to Panel Options, in the upper right of the Project Assets panel, you'll find, under New Item, Black Video.
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