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

"Terry Pinnell" <terrypin@dial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:rop4f3ldfugn2t5fdared8bvso6gq3e2ds@4ax.com...
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

"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:SrydnYa4hpKbHG_bnZ2dnUVZ_s2tnZ2d@giganews.com ...
OK, the quickest way I've found, using free or common
tools is as follows:

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

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.

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#.)

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

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

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

Click on "Get VTS sectors" and save. Try the PlayDVD button,
but don't worry about how it plays, just the image size and AR.

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

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

Luck;
Ken

"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:lbydnWgqx_ADJW_bnZ2dnUVZ_oOnnZ2d@giganews.com ...

Whoa, I must of left something out, the one I made isn't
working right. It runs smoothly in PowerDVD but not
elsewhere and the subpicture got left behind, somehow.
Back to the drawing board. (It looks nice in PowerDVD
though as far as the picture and AR)

Luck;
Ken

"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Thanks Ken, appreciate the thorough practical help. I'm off to bed
right now but will pick this up again tomorrow. Look forward to your
further thoughts.

FWIW, the final DVD did not look all that bad. I need to do some
methodical work, but meanwhile I'm guessing that maybe the distortion
was in the ratio of 720: 768. Must dig out some old posts from Jukka
about this entire AR scene.

Am I right that most players somehow *recognise* a 'DVD-ready' 720 x
576 MPEG for what it is, and stretch it back out to its proper wide
size?


--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

"Terry Pinnell" <terrypin@dial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:0io5f35sckluo9phj1rlrgvk312bjpla89@4ax.com...
There is a flag in the MPEG header that gives the pixel AR.
You can set it yourself using tools like VideoReDo. Players
can display the video pixels in several different AR, the point
is getting it matched to the original video image AR, to avoid
any distortion. The players usually default to "keep the AR"
and that is to the AR set in the MPEG header. The players
usually can also be set to play at an AR of your choice.

Remember the DVD standard sizes can be displayed as
4:3 or 16:9.

Luck;
Ken

"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Just repeated those steps here.

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.

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

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.

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!)

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.

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

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.

OK.


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.

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*.

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

"Terry Pinnell" <terrypin@dial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:5at6f3pijc7s11h65dica0musl751ecap0@4ax.com...
While I still think it could be done, either with these
tools or with DvdReMake, I've kinda lost some of my
interest in tracking it down.

I have almost all my video as AVC files on hard drives
now, including some from DVDs I've authored. I put a
new 750GB drive in my HTPC yesterday and moved a
lot off my terastation. In fact, I just spent a couple hours
creating a new set of my MMB menus, with some updates
and all the references to the media share on the terastation
changed so they refer to the drive on the HTPC.

It may be that, if 16:9 menus are needed, it just makes
more sense to use a newer authoring program. But since
I don't author DVDs anymore, I guess I'll let that tech.
pass me by for now.

As I get more into HD I seem to be getting further away
from DVDs and finding my MMD Menus more convenient.
(You can have the equivalent of an awful lot of DVDs using
AVC on a 750GB hard drive)

I'm sorry if this leaves you in a bind, but I'd rather spend the
time on a project I'll be making more use of . This may just
be one area where TDA 1.6 has to give way to newer
programs.

Luck;
Ken

"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Thanks anyway Ken, no problem. It obviously makes sense to spend your
time on stuff that you use yourself. Some of these superficially
simple issues prove seriously intractable when you get stuck into them
a bit ;-)

Anyway, now that you've introduced me to IfoEdit, I may play with it a
bit more. Then again, I may not. I too find time too short to do all I
want. It's no big deal even if I can't get 16:9 menu backgrounds. In
fact, after watching that first DVD I made with a movie clip menu
background last night again, I found it rather distracting, and I may
drop that approach. I guess the *sound* was the most intrusive. Also,
as the background clip I'd made included a very early clip from the
DVD, it rather spoiled the dramatic effect. (It was Gershwin's
'Rhapsody In Blue', by Nobuya Sugawa.) I could set the sound option
off in TDA, but then a couple of the other short clips (digicam movies
with narrative) wouldn't make sense. So I reckon I'll probably revert
to my usual style of a large 'play button', with a silenced movie
clip. (I don't believe you *can* have sound from a TDA thumbnail frame
anyway.)

I know almost nothing of that advanced area you're now in. But I have
just encountered a 'DVD versus hard drive' issue in a small way
myself. I've recently had a Sky+ box installed. It's a PACE 3100
(DVR2) type, with 160 GB hard drive but with "80 GB for personal use".
After less than 2 weeks, I've already used nearly half of that! (Let's
skip the sort of questions my wife is asking about when I plan to
*watch* all this stuff I've recorded!) Anyway, I aim to add a DVD
recorder, but I'm now spoiled by the sheer convenience of hard drive
recording and playback. (Pity that 'HD' is now an ambiguous acronym,
BTW.) Right now I'm about to study an FAQ about possibly expanding the
drive at http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=156344

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

"Terry Pinnell" <terrypin@dial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:vro9f3lg0midhdq0lru2b2048o3q84s0l9@4ax.com...
Your ears can't tell what in your menu is providing the sound.
Just make a mpg clip with a still for the video and audio that
you want for the "play button". Your background and the
button clip should have the same loop time.


Personally, I find 720p as all the HD I need for normal
viewing. Using that flavor of "HD" and AVC compression
at ~5-6Mbps lets me put a lot more HD on a Hard drive.

I also find that a lot of 720x480 DVD and even TV
captured material can be "upconverted" by my display
system, very well. AVC compressed files of such video
can take up very little space. (Even my old 1/2 D1 TV
captures are turning out great encoded to AVC at
720x480 with ~1.2Mbps average setting [4Mbps max.])

Luck;
Ken

"Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Nice tip - hadn't thought of that, thanks!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK