Interactivity on DVD

[The Image Suite]

Hi All

I haven't yet needed to go the DVD route, (and besides my CD/DVD drive is in need of repair at present) but I have been asked by a client whether the DVD version of an Interactive Show retains the 'interactivity' through the use of the buttons if it is played through a DVD player/TV. If it cannot retain the interactivity through the DVD player/TV, is it likely to be able to retain the interactivity when played through a DVD player on a PC? (Or is that the same thing?)

Just thought that some of the more experienced guys like Ken, Lumux, and Al R may know......many thanks and my Christmas wishes to everyone on the Forum and at Beechbrook and Wnsoft.com

The Image Suite

[Ken Cox]

if i read this right

what you are asking is

for example is the nav bar active/seen when a show is burned to dvd

no it does not appear on the tv screen or is it active

only the buttons/icons that are put in by your dvd authoring program are active - by the dvd player's remote/or set controls

is this what you are asking

ken

[The Image Suite]

Hi Ken

Thanks for your speedy reply.

Not worried about the Nav bar.......

It is the 'interactivity' created by the buttons that one builds into the show from within the Object Editor function during show creation i.e. if I create a 'menu slide' that is linked interactively to other shows, would the interactivity of the buttons work on DVD through the TV handset......

The position is that I have created an interactive promotional CD containing 15 individual shows all linked through to 1 main menu and a sub menu.....it works fine as a CD naturally, but the client has now asked if it can be supplied as a DVD.

Many thanks

The Image Suite

P.S. I posed a similiar question to support, a while ago, regarding pda devices, but was told that the interactivity would not work, but I am not sure of the DVD/TV route etc and not having a fully functional DVD drive to test it right now, I cannot experiment.

[Ken Cox]

i used the nav bar as an example -- nav bar is a button

buttons created within the show proper are lost when you dvd the show

make separate shows

open each -- create avi for each

open as many as you want

do not click finish on any shows until the burn is complete

see what i told Michelle here c/w picts

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3876

import them into your authoring program

if you configure the layout of the authoring program properly you will separate buttons to navigate the dvd

HAWK might jump in here [ when he gets up]

and go a bit deeper -- he has found a move on Nero that enable go back to start - which i think you are looking for -- i have not tried it yet but he is excited -- he has been hunting it for a month

ken

[LumenLux]

I will only confirm Ken's answers and maybe just sumarize -

The inter-active part of PTE is only possible when the PTE.exe file is run. When you play a DVD, even in a PC, the EXE file is not operating. Any inter-action you want with the DVD must me created using the DVD authoring program. Nero, Roxio, Ulead, etc. all have enough features and quirks to empower and infuriate!

[alrobin]

Bob,

"Infuriate" is the operative word here. I still haven't been able to use any of this software to burn several shows and set up a menu so that I can pick and choose between them.

And, I'm following all the rules such as leaving each of the original shows open in a separate instance of PTE, until they are all burned to disk, etc. I've also tried saving the mpeg file on the HD before copying to disk, to no avail. For me, fortunately, this is all academic, as I don't have a particular need to convert to DVD, but it is frustrating.

[Guest Techman1]

Bob,

"Infuriate" is the operative word here. I still haven't been able to use any of this software to burn several shows and set up a menu so that I can pick and choose between them.

And, I'm following all the rules such as leaving each of the original shows open in a separate instance of PTE, until they are all burned to disk, etc. I've also tried saving the mpeg file on the HD before copying to disk, to no avail. For me, fortunately, this is all academic, as I don't have a particular need to convert to DVD, but it is frustrating.

Al,

I've been using Ulead Movie Factory 2 and now version 4. This works very well for this purpose. What software have you tried to do this? I've created multiple PTE Slideshows on the same DVD and have the menu setup where you can select the Slideshow you want to view. This was done using just Ulead's software and their authoring capability. The Version 4 now allows for 30 seconds of video as your background menu screen too, so that even makes it all look so much cooler! The quality isn't as great as the PC exe version, but we all understand why that is currently (I simply can't afford a 60" HD television....yet).

Let me know if I can help you or as you know there are many others here who have successfully done this also. Let's get you a DVD working with multiple shows on it!

Take care and have a great holiday season!

Fred

[alrobin]

Thanks, Fred, for your concern and offer of help. Maybe I can get a Christmas DVD made up to send to my non-pc friends and relatives!

I don't have ULead, (yet), but I have tried Pinnacle and Nero and Premiere "elements". Also "DVD-It" (I think) and at least one other "freebie" program.

Do you also need to use "TempGen" along with Movie Factory?

I did think I was going to have to prepare a DVD once, and that is the main reason for my interest in it, but like most things, if you wait long enough, the urge expired.

I did get the menus working in Pinnacle, and multiple shows installed, but each show was the same. For some reason, the program would not recognize my other temporary "avi" files. I'll try it out again on my new laptop, as it's set up for multimedia priority and has a dvd burner. It would also be interesting to see how the results look when projected at higher resolution than on the TV monitor.

If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to look around for a copy of "Movie Factory", as that seems to be the one that is most popular and most effective. I'll let you know how I make out. I promise!

[Ken Cox]

AL

are you using a full suite or a bundle version of nero

the full suite has vision express+a whole lot of other features

'Hawk says he will give his comments when he gets the words right:)

why didn't you shout sooner

geez i have benn making multiple shows on the dvd burner since a year ago last july when the new box was built

and now Hawk has figgered out a different way to do them

as Bob says each one has its own terminolgy -- very frustrating

ken

[Guest Techman1]

Thanks, Fred, for your concern and offer of help. Maybe I can get a Christmas DVD made up to send to my non-pc friends and relatives!

I don't have ULead, (yet), but I have tried Pinnacle and Nero and Premiere "elements". Also "DVD-It" (I think) and at least one other "freebie" program.

Do you also need to use "TempGen" along with Movie Factory?

Al,

I'm not sure I even know what "TempGen" is, so I believe the answer is "NO". I originally purchased Ulead Movie Factory 2 on ebay (new copy) and it was really cheap ($15 US). The Ulead MF4 version came with a new Panasonic DVD Burner (Dual Layer) I purchased onsale for about $70. The full version of MF4 came with this. When using PTE 4.44 it recognizes the MF4 files without problem.

I been creating DVD's using this setup for the past year now and have produced numerous DVD's for a large number of clients. They are always extremely happy with the end results.

Anyway, as Ken pointed out there are several other software products that seem to have been successful with PTE, so hopefully someone will chime in here to give you detailed instructions on using one of the products you do have.

Good luck Al!

Fred

[Hawk]

The Image Suite

Sorry for a late reply - been a busy 2 days, that time of year.

Ken and LumenLux have answered your question in regards to a DVD player not being able to interact with your .EXE Menu Object Links when you convert to DVD, and pointed out all must be done at the DVD authoring level.

So to dwell a bit on authoring tools and a work around as to a possible solution to what you want to achieve ( using Nero Vision as an example ), as this is the program I use. I am sure others have a similar feature.

As a DVD Menu background Graphic you could use your existing .EXE Menu Image ( without showing button links )

Depending on your size of your 15 presentations and once converted to .AVI or MPEG2 as to fit on a DVD disk one would add these files to ( Nero Vision ). Once at the Create Menu Page you can choose to use your original Menu Image – click the “ More “ section and direct your presentation to Start Playing with Menu. Also a switch is there to “ Jump to Main Menu “ when finished playing title.

Create your PTE Shows in such a way keeping the DVD Menu in mind for interaction by your viewer.

For instance at the end of First Main Show or All Shows you could have a Menu with titles directing the viewer as to what show to view for more information.

Hope this explanation helps in determining if this is at all possible with your presentations. As only you know of its contents and links used.

Also there are functions as to be able to create " Chapters " that I have not really got into.

This may also be a possibility on displaying portions of a LINK ?

** New to Nero, all shows were running in sequence for me until I discovered this “ More Option “ that Ken mentions “ When finished playing title “ Jump to Main Menu “ – exactly what I was looking for – ( guess I best wear my glasses )

Merry Christmas also to you and your family.

[alrobin]

are you using a full suite or a bundle version of nero

the full suite has vision express+a whole lot of other features

Yes, I'm using the full suite of Nero (version 6 - "the ultimate CD/DVD burning suite"). I found the options for doing titles and menus less user-friendly than with Pinnacle, plus the fact that the rendered shows would only play back at high-speed and not like in the original PTE show - something was off with the timing.

Menus and titles in Pinnacle are fairly straight-forward, as you just dump things onto a timeline, but as I said before, I couldn't get multiple shows to record. So, I'll try again with my laptop and see if I have the same problem. I also had a problem running some DVD's with my desktop DVD player around that time so suspect there may be a common problem with either my hardware or software. I didn't really have time to follow it up, but will do so now while I have some time before Xmas.

[LumenLux]

now while I have some time before Xmas.

I don't know if I have ever heard such a statement - from anybody!

[Ken Cox]

Fred to help you - had me scratchin as well:)

the proper abbreviation is

TMPGEnc

http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html

free version

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/TMPGEnc.htm

if you search back to when we started vcd/svcd/dvd burning there were a lot of discussion on it's merits

ken

[alrobin]

Thanks, Fred, & Ralph, & Ken for your kind advice. Through your concerted efforts I was able to finally get Nero to burn a viewable dvd for me, so it's onward and upward to try a full-blown multi-show dvd with titles and menus, etc. It actually looked better than I had expected. Will report on my progress.

As I mentioned to Ken & Ralph, I discovered that the PTE "Push" transition (pan) doesn't translate too well into video. "Shimmer", and "jerky" in places. Have to experiment some more. Gives me something to do while waiting for Santa.

[Ken Cox]

well somebody has to help out the "COLONISTS"

suppose you will be selling DVD's outside the big bldgs to pay for that laptop:)

ken

[alrobin]

suppose you will be selling DVD's outside the big bldgs to pay for that laptop:)

Maybe I can put together some ads and sell them to the politicians!

[The Image Suite]

Hi Guys

(Sorry for the delay in collecting these responses and replying but I've been away on a shoot and just returned with a heavy cold)......

Wow! Thanks for the time and effort you guys have put into my enquiry.....I shall certainly pursue the recommended actions once my laptop is returned from the manufacturer in January. I don't know the workings of either Nero nor Ulead (although I know of their purpose) but have both so I think that there is going to be an element of trial and error and education before I can crack this.

Anyway, my sincere thanks to all those who have participated in this thread and who continue to so do.

Best wishes to you all over Christmas and the New Year.

The Image Suite