Re: TDA 1.6 menu background - size?

"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Terry Pinnell" <terrypin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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I've been using TMPGEnc DVD Author (TDA) 1.6 for some time to make
many DVDs in PAL widescreen format. But I only just got around today
to making a *movie* background for my menu, instead of the usual still
image. My first results are puzzling me because they are not playing
at the correct aspect ratio. They are squashed inwards from the sides.
Yet the same file plays OK externally (in WMP, PowerDVD, etc). Is that
because these players recognise the 720 x 576 file as a DVD-ready MPG,
but TDA's menu-player does not? TDA seems somehow inconsistent,
because if I specify the same 720 x 576 file for the menu's PLAY
button, that plays correctly.

What is the best way to get an undistorted moving menu background
please?

I tried resizing the original 32 MB MPG in VirtualDub MPEG-2 from 720
x 576 to 1024 x 576 (16:9). That gave me a (1.8 GB!) AVI, which I
could convert (in Womble, MemoriesOnTV or MovieMaker) to MPEG to use
in TDA. But (assuming this would solve the AR issue), presumably the
quality would deteriorate (twice)?

Coming at this from another angle, maybe I should have made the MPEG
background file differently? My method was to use VideoRedo to extract
and join clips from the DVD-ready MPG file I created in Womble (i.e.
the file used as Source in TDA).

I'm sure I'm making heavy weather of this, but aspect ratios have
never been my strong suit ;-)

Hopefully Ken or Jukka or some other expert will straighten me out.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

One of the forces moving people on from the 1.6 version
of TDA, is that it only does 4:3 menus (as per the basic
DVD standard). There should be a number of ways around
that, though. It could be as simple as using PgcEdit on the
authored DVD before burning it. I'll take a look. Jukka is
the aspect ratio expert though, and he is your best bet.

Luck;
Ken


OK, the quickest way I've found, using free or common
tools is as follows:

Just repeated those steps here.

First I authored a test DVD with a motion menu (4:3 squashed
from 16:9 source)

OK. Used a DVD-ready MPEG-2 clip which GSpot reports as:
pic (w x 720 x 576), sar 1.250 (5:4), par 1.422 (~10:7), dar 1.778
(16:9). It was originally a 640 x 480 (4:3) AVI from my Canon digicam.
Has a circle in it for testing distortion. Used same MPEG-2 for both
the background and the play button. I opened the resultant IFO in
PowerDVD (I have that as the file association), and it played as
expected. IOW, menu background squashed in from 16:9 to 4:3, button
undistorted, DVD track itself fine.

Then I ran the VIDEO_TS.VOB through VideoReDo and set
it to 16:9 during output as a .vob. So then I had two VIDEO_TS.
VOB files, one original 4:3 vob and one 16:9 vob.

OK. First time I've re-saved as a VOB. I initially saved it to
original folder with a new name, VIDEO_TSwide.vob.

Then I opened the VIDEO_TS.IFO with IfoEdit. (It should load
fine as we still have the old 4:3 vob with all the proper associations
and ID#.)

I'm now in uncharted waters, as I've never used IfoEdit before. It is
v0.971 (Public version). Unless I'm mistaken, I see no Help file? On
opening VIDEO_TS.IFO I first got a message asking if I wanted to make
VIDEO_TSwide.vob upper case, and confirmed yes. That made me realise I
probably should have kept the wide VIDEO_TS.VOB away from this folder,
so I moved it out and repeated that step.

Then in the Video Manager Menu attributes:
double-click on the Video line, and change the aspect ratio.
Save.

OK. Got "Do you want to save it as .BUP, aswell?
Attention: Existing file would be overwritten," to which I said yes,
albeit without any solid understanding. Presumably I should not yet
have closed IfoEdit? (I did so!)

Now replace the original 4:3 VIDEO_TS.VOB with the 16:9
one you made earlier.

OK. With that wide version now renamed to VIDEO_TS.VOB, I replaced the
4:3 version.

I re-opened VIDEO_TS.IFO with IfoEdit.

(Then in IfoEdit I clicked on create new IFOs but I don't know if
it did anything.)

I assumed the IFO was revised from the earlier step, so didn't use
Create new IFOs.

Click on "Get VTS sectors"

Got "Do you want to process ALL IFO files?
ATTENTION: This will automatically re-save IFO files."
Wasn't confident about this? Presumably the other IFO, VTS_01_0.IFO,
should *not* be changed? I'll try a No.
Got another unintelligible message: "Corrected sector addresses in
table [VMGI_MAT]:
Last Sector of VMG: [old: 6569] [new: 6509] (VIDEO_TS.VOB)" and duly
clicked OK.
Then "Corrected sector addresses in table [VMG_PTT_SRPT]:
Title_1: [old: 6570] [new: 6510] (VTS_01_0.IFO)". Clicked OK.
Then "Finished correcting sector addresses." Clicked OK.

and save.

OK.


Try the PlayDVD button,
but don't worry about how it plays, just the image size and AR.

Got "* No valid DVD-Video volume could be located
Do you still want to continue?" Clicked Yes, and got one cycle of the
menu playing, with correct AR.

Now when you play the DVD off your hard drive with PowerDVD
or whatever you should have a 16:9 motion menu.

Opened VIDEO_TS.IFO with PowerDVD and it played one cycle of the (15
sec) menu OK. But then stopped, and couldn't get any further. In fact
had to forcibly close it.

BTW, one (presumably inevitable) minor downside is that the Play
button clip is now stretched *outward*.

I hope I didn't forget any steps, let me know if that works for you.

As per your subsequent post, please let me know what further progress
you make. Even if I don't follow the reasoning, I'm happy to work by
rote if it gets me a result!

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
.

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