DVD creation questions

chuckpuckett

Member Location: Alabama Joined: Jan 30, 2011 09:41 Messages: 95 Offline

Solved by

Mar 09, 2012 21:22

Hmm. I am really dense.
I don't usually make DVDs, rather I create youtube targets. But I wanted to make a DVD, and immediately got flummoxed. To wit:

First of all, there are almost no DVD menu templates delivered. The "Download Content" route is maddening. Kept asking me to login (multiple times). No indication how to install the download content (found out by accident). And these things have themes, but no way to search the 5000+ entries based on themes. Really?

Once I got a theme loaded, I applied it, then previewed. Now, I started with a a single project that I had divided up into chapters. But when I previewed, I saw the root ("Bimini Road, February, 2012"), but each chapter was situated below some introduced hierarchical node ("My Videos"). Why wouldn't the chapters just be located root node? And more to the point,how to get rid of the intervening menu node? NO clue.

The downloaded menu template had music (!) that I did not want for each node I did not want (!). I see no way to remove all this unwanted stuff in a global manner.

Any ideas/suggestions? Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 10, 2012 02:31

OK Chuck - I'll chime in, even though I'm not a great DVD burning whizz.

• Dot Point 1, I'm assuming, referes to downloading templates from DirectorZone. Yes?
Did you only try accessing DZ through PD, or did you try it directly through your browser? Not sure what the multiple login issue was - never had that.

• Dot Point 2 - Sadly, that is how PD's menus are structured & it doesn't seem to matter how many users scream out for the Root menu/Chapter/Scenes menu to be more flexible... it just stays that way! Chuck - that's just how it is. That's the reason you have NO clue. There isn't one!

• Dot Point 3 - Whether you choose to add a SmartSound track or any music, there's an Apply to All Pages option. Is that what you mean by "apply globally"?

Cheers - Tony
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chuckpuckett

Member Location: Alabama Joined: Jan 30, 2011 09:41 Messages: 95 Offline

Mar 10, 2012 09:46

Tony,

Thanks for the info. The really surprising thing, I think, is the lack of flexibility w.r.t. menu. That's just plain dumb. And, imho, the default they enforce (additional hierarchy) is the wrong default. Sigh.

As for music Apply, I was trying to leave a background music on the pages that had chapter selections, but remove it from the chapters themselves. But perhaps I misinterpreted what that meant. I basically wanted the music to play when the menu selection was up, but not for the video itself. But removing it from one removes it from the other. In retrospect, I doubt PD would arbitrarily overdub whatever was on the video during the video itself. That's probably not what it does, but the GUI is ambiguous and unclear.

Here's a surprise: when PD renders to write a DVD, it doesn't seem to save away the rendered video. I exited PD and came back to burn a couple more, and it had to re-render. That seems very inefficient. BUt wait, I just noticed there's a Create Folder option. I'm trying that now. I bet it saves the rendered stuff in there. Having grown so use to PD rendering youtube videos to a local file, I guess I expected it do do the same for DVD. And "folder" does not read the same as "file".

ttfn Chuck Puckett
"I don't want to steal the show. I only want to borrow it for a while"
http://www.puckettpublishing.com
http://www.chuckpuckettsongaweek.com