Making a simple menu with 22 songs on a music DVD

7Phil77

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2009 02:54 Messages: 195 Offline

Solved by

Oct 23, 2014 10:29

I haven't used PowerDirector for several months.
I just downloaded a 22-song music video from YouTube and split the video into the relevant 22 sections/chapters, naming each one with the relevant song title.
Then I went to "Create Disc" and changed the title to the title of the video, hoping to get maybe all 22 songs on one page.
With the help of YT tutorials (2) I then looked at the menu structure and saw my title page at the very top and underneath it 11 more "My Videos" pages, each with a menu of 2 songs. Yes, 11 "My Videos" x 2 songs each = 22 songs.
Yes, I was so happy I could nearly fly!
I have no idea whatsoever how to get out of this complete mess and no tutorials have been of any use whatsoever.
All I want to be able to do is choose any particular song from the first page if possible but don't mind much if it has to stretch to another page or two. It is very simple really but PD seems to think I want a much more complicated set up sort of coded so that only the elite insiders who are privvy to the code can understand how to untangle it and play the song they want to hear and see.
Can anybody please help?
Thanks. Phil
Tell the truth - but gently.

PD14 Ultra
i5-6600K OC CPU, Asus Z170-P Motherboard, 4G Asus GeForce GTX 960, 240GB SSD, 1 x 1TB Seagate HDD, 1x 1TB SSD external backup HDD, 8GB RAM

Fenman

Senior Contributor Location: Cambridge, UK Joined: Nov 24, 2011 04:44 Messages: 731 Offline

Oct 23, 2014 13:10

Ah, yes - the PD Create Disc module, what a nightmare!

For standard-definition DVDs I use a third-party application that can do all you require and more. Unfortunately it is no longer supported although still available. Since it doesn't handle Blu-Ray and is not being developed I have been forced to use the PD Create Disc module pro tem and I must say it is a total PITA. I'm still looking for a suitable Blu-Ray authoring application that won't break the bank. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Oct 23, 2014 15:44

It's not that bad. You have to be creative. The manual does not tell you everything. Use a DZ menu such as ynotfish's Earth 10-2 and you can have 10 song titles on 1 menu of each title chapters page, or you can use my last one uploaded to the DZ which allows thumbnails and long file names. You can modify any of them to provide different background and more song entries and/or thumbnails on mine. I don't know exactly how many entries for DVD in earlier versions of PD.

One easy way to do it is the Create tab.
1. Use ynotfish's Earth 10-2 menu
2. Choose Play the selected title only.

After you see that it is working properly then you can confidently add more entries to the menu until the max is reached, maybe 15 or 20 or more. You can then change each background pictures. You can then change the menu opening music, etc. You did not say what version of PD you have. The later versions allow a lot more entries on the menu.

Let us know if this helps.

7Phil77

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2009 02:54 Messages: 195 Offline

Oct 23, 2014 18:54

Thanks guys.
Yes, I managed to forget to say I am using PD11 and have not updated my "Specs" which does say PD10 still.
I also just downloaded the PD11 Manual which doesn't actually say on it "PD11" anywhere that I could find.
But it, much like the YT tutorials, goes into much more detail than I actually need so becomes completely confusing. In the end you don't know where you are. In the manual there are 17 pages of instructions. It is virtually impossible to work out from that what I need to do.
Yes Fenman, I agree that it is a nightmare!
tomasc, I will try to find that Earth 10-2 menu by ynotfish but can you tell me how many songs can I fit onto a normal menu from PD?
Phil
Tell the truth - but gently.

PD14 Ultra
i5-6600K OC CPU, Asus Z170-P Motherboard, 4G Asus GeForce GTX 960, 240GB SSD, 1 x 1TB Seagate HDD, 1x 1TB SSD external backup HDD, 8GB RAM

ynotfish

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

Oct 24, 2014 18:06

Hi Phil -

PD's Menu Designer has never had a reputation for being "user friendly".

Here's a modified version of that Earth 10 menu template... with an extra button. i.e. 11 buttons per page (2 pages).

http://directorzone.cyberlink.com/detail/131986054

Unfortunately, in PD11 you're stuck with the Root menu page. In PD13, you can choose not to have it (which is what you want).

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

7Phil77

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2009 02:54 Messages: 195 Offline

Oct 24, 2014 19:50

Tony,

Thanks so much! I have downloaded it and will now attempt to use it! Ha!
More later. Phil
Tell the truth - but gently.

PD14 Ultra
i5-6600K OC CPU, Asus Z170-P Motherboard, 4G Asus GeForce GTX 960, 240GB SSD, 1 x 1TB Seagate HDD, 1x 1TB SSD external backup HDD, 8GB RAM

7Phil77

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2009 02:54 Messages: 195 Offline

Oct 24, 2014 21:37

Update - everything went perfectly and the disc was burned satifactorily with 11 songs on each of 2 pages.
Your 11 item menu appeared at the bottom of the Menu Preferences list and as soon as I clicked on it it automatically listed 11 songs on two pages. I was very impressed!
There was only one minor thing left out - the thumbnails for the songs did not appear on the 2 menu list pages so maybe I missed doing something there. The thumbnails do appear on the Menu Structure preview though.
Thank you very much Tony! Phil
Tell the truth - but gently.

PD14 Ultra
i5-6600K OC CPU, Asus Z170-P Motherboard, 4G Asus GeForce GTX 960, 240GB SSD, 1 x 1TB Seagate HDD, 1x 1TB SSD external backup HDD, 8GB RAM

ynotfish

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

Oct 28, 2014 01:31

and there I was thinking you wanted a "simple" menu. I took that to mean "no thumbnails".

I'm glad it worked for you Phil.

If you prefer to have motion thumbnails, this one should fit the bill - http://directorzone.cyberlink.com/detail/131986058 (the thumbnails are necessarily smallish so they don't overlap).

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

7Phil77

Senior Member Joined: Feb 29, 2016 16:31 Messages: 195 Offline

Oct 28, 2014 10:05

and there I was thinking it was me again! Ha!
But yes, I am very happy with the way it worked so easily.
I am sending the video abroad as well as local here in Perth.

I had a look at the link - is that your design too?
I didn't particularly want motion thumbnails though.

When I checked I actually found that I have PD10 and not PD11 and then found that they do not give upgrade discount from 10 to 13.
This means the full purchase price for PD13 (plus all the extras) is AUD$150. A bit steep for me.

Thanks,

Phil. Phil
Tell the truth - but gently.

PD14 Ultra
i5-6600K OC CPU, Asus Z170-P Motherboard, 4G Asus GeForce GTX 960, 240GB SSD, 1 x 1TB Seagate HDD, 1x 1TB SSD external backup HDD, 8GB RAM

ynotfish

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

Oct 29, 2014 03:51

Hi Phil -

PDR 10 offers you two flavours of menus - well - one really! You can have motion thumbnails or nothing.

The "list" style menus (without any thumbnails) have been made by modifying Jeff's (JL_JL) K.I.S.S. menus.

So - that's it, I'm afraid. List or motion thumbnails. I'm sure the recipients of your discs will be happy with a list.

Another thing to consider, if they're likely to want to watch a particular song then return to the menu, is the Playback Mode. See the attached screenshot.

Cheers - Tony


Filename	Playback Options.png	Download
Description
Filesize	67 Kbytes
Downloaded:	61 time(s)

Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!