Info: Authoring Help with DVDStyler & IMGBurn

solkap said:
I have created a project in DVDStyler … But the menus didn’t seem to burn properly. The buttons didn’t look the same or do what they were supposed to and the background image quality changed for the worse as well.

I’ve used DVDStyler (a SourceForge project) but not over version 2.8, which is recommended in the “portable version” only because that has no forced “crap-ware” installations. It’s an excellent shell that organizes several freeware programs (included in the installer) to do the actual work (which also can be run independently, if you learn how to use them, for your own specialty creations).

For proper menu background/image quality, go to the Configuration > Settings menu > Core tab. The default for Menu video bitrate is some low value. Set it to 6000 and your menu backgrounds and everything else on them will look perfect quality. In fact, it’s a good idea just to wander through all the settings just to see what’s there. You might find other settings that may need some tweaking.

So I was hoping to be able to author some very simple menus, with nothing but background images, that would let me navigate chapters and turn subtitles on and off.

No, no! Go the full route! DVDStyler makes it easy! Gander at this motion-menu (with equal length vids from the two movies – you specify where to start each loop of your specified time; 8 seconds in my case). I quickly put it together – nothing special, nothing hard, just good lookin’!

solkap said:
I had planned to use a DVD-DL so I could use a larger file for better image quality, but the idea of a pause at a layer break really bugs me.

Imgburn allows you to select where the layer-break occurs – best set between low-action shots. Or you can split the file itself exactly where you want it to layer-break (obviously, each part must fit to each layer) and select the 1st file for side A and the 2nd file for side B.

It has all the chapter stops, but DVDstyler doesn’t recognize them, instead assigning a break every 10 minutes.

In DVDStyler, you’ll see the default chapters of every 10 minutes. You must change that to your actual chapter stops – starting with “0” as the first chapter.

But, in theory, no problem. Because I can just change those points to match the ones posted by “oojason” here, right?:
http://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/906589

Right, enter those numbers (in the format as shown with the default values).

But DVDStyler does offer an option to assign a frame # for a picture instead of the image it defaults to. BUT … I can’t seem to find a simple media player that will give frame #s for MKVs instead of using HH:MM:SS format.

Just do the math of 24 frames per second for your time . .
24 x ( [HH x 60 x 60] + [MM x 60] + [SS] ) = frame number
. . and fine tune several frames at a time.

BTW, what version of DVDStyler are you using?

Be certain to obtain any files from DVDStyler's own website (with download links to Source Forge). Complaints may be the result of using unauthorized sites for downloads that have been compromised. Also, browse around on Source Forge - DVDStyler itself. I validated the latest download (2.9.6 win32 and it’s “portable”) at VirusTotal, which was referred to in a user’s comment. Only one questionable item was identified as probably okay, in both versions.

Latest versions are generally a must. DVDStyler tends to complete non/partially operational place holders for new or altered features. And, with new code, there are fixes to deal with after a release.

Definitely make use of both site’s documentation and discussions. Someone else may have identified/solved your problem(s) there.

If you’ll post your DVDStyler “saved project” file (no media; it’s just the program code) somewhere (https://www.wetransfer.com/ seems to be a good, free service), I can look at it.

Glad to help (only because it should be easy & I’m time-squeezed too). If you don’t mind letting others know what problems were encountered and how they were addressed, put your link here. Otherwise, a PM is fine for the code, and then I’m back to comments here (as long as that’s okay with you).

I’ve used wetranfer once before and did it completely anonymous. It’s just – do an upload (click on the sideways-V graphic and choose “link” to bypass all that e-mail info), get the download link (which is good for a week or so), and put it out for anyone to use.

Or use anything else you know or for which you are already set up. I’ve DL’ed from GD but it’s very slow for me. But a small download, of ZIP'ed up files, won’t matter much.

Browsing this thread I just wanted to ask did you (solkap) have any troubles converting from MKV to your chosen format (ACVHD)? I did my first OG Trilogy Harmy Edition download with ensuing three film DVD creation this past January. Using Handbrake to convert to MP4, then DVD Flick (for the simple menu creation) and built in IMGBurn (for the layer break) on my Verbatim DVD+R DL media.

No prob, and it was a pretty quick, just a few days job for the set. Woohoo not too bad for a noob - even though I ran into converting issues with Empire and Jedi, where the spoken audio was off sync from the actor’s mouths by like 2 seconds. So I wanted to try again, which led me to…

Discovering the super duper mega awesome editions I had no idea about (the multiple audio languages/commentaries & Catbus’ massive subtitle files to boot). So I chose to start a new personal Harmy set with all the bells and whistles. Full on ordered blu-ray cases and custom covers chosen to be printed/used for said disc cases etc.

But, I’m super stuck trying to convert the mega gigabyte Harmy/Catbus Project 3PO versions where I didn’t have a problem with the smaller GB MKV file before (which also contained burnt in subs which I hated, so hence the new Trilogy project).

I just finished a 24 hour convert from the new MKV file using Handbrake…and the finished MP4 conversion file won’t even play in a VLC Player tester session. Not to mention anytime I tried to add the subs along with the audio tracks Handbrake would crash, then when I didn’t add subs, it would scan and encode fine (24 hours fine lol)…but now the frakking file won’t even frakking play. Frak!

Didn’t mean to hijack this thread, I needed to vent a bit, and may just give up trying Handbrake again and try a different converter or format (ACVHD perhaps?). The main MKV files are great, I’ve watched the Trilogy a few times on my PC, all the audio tracks click and play easy peasy (same with the subs) when viewing on my VLC player…but holy moly I think I’ve gone past my tech abilities trying to create a DVD set with these more advanced Harmy/Catbus Editions.

Darth Raider

PS - I’m just gonna dig into my recently purchased Episode VII blu-ray (the Target version with the additional digital special features) and take a couple days to recharge, and then come back to tackle this DVD project fresh.

solkap said:
I bought the Blu-ray Trilogy just so I could have a clear conscience about getting the Despecialized films.

And, in many/most countries, that makes you legal for backups and copies for alternate media devices, even if altered and made by an agent (someone else). No need to constantly look over your virtual shoulder for the maniacal Hollywood Police.

… would there be any advantage to saving as an ISO and burning with ImgBurn instead of burning straight from DVDStyler?

I’ve never saved as an ISO or burned directly in DVDStyler. I always save as a DVD folder (it just duplicates the simple file structure that’s on a DVD) for easy testing on most any player before a burn. Once I like everything, then I burn that folder to DVD in Imgburn (saves wasted test discs, but you need the extra harddrive space for it’s size).

(UPDATED INFO)

I gave your files a look-see and tried a few things.

First off, I like this new version of DVDStyler (I DL’ed v.2.8) over a very older version I had been using. Many work-around-features I made are now part of the program. Once I’m back on a real computer, I’m upgrading.

Your project file needed some tweaking to work without your original media. Pathnames are absolute, so just picking up the project folder and moving it breaks the paths. Fortunately, the project file is text and MS WordPad displays it’s format nicely (NotePad doesn’t). Therein I changed all the pathnames to where I put the files (all in the same folder was easiest).

Then I DL’ed a short YouTube video and made multiple copies as placeholders for your video files (not included, of course). This should’ve worked but as the video files were very short and your subtitles were for a full length movie. I guess DVDStyler didn’t like trying to link them up and threw a FAILED message on DVD creation. The subtitles were removed and that allowed the DVD creation to finish. (BTW, once there is some error, that situation might skew what the program expects and it throws out all kinds of odd errors about illegal boundaries or such. Once the original, real error is found and corrected, all those other errors vanish.)

I liked your DVD design. Some suggestions:

• Forget their default buttons, which don’t match your theme, and use text buttons (with a frame around it to show it’s a button) with color changes for the various states: normal / highlighted / selected
• DVDStyler is semi-smart and determines the next button to highlight (for example, auto(button5) or auto(none) ) when you press your controller’s arrow keys, which you can trust; you can manually change it in “button properties” to any other selection you want or don’t want a move in a particular direction for a particular button; same holds true for “action” when pressing the controller’s center key for the proper video / next menu to show
• Your chapter pictures can easily be made into motion menus by specifying the same duration time for all the pictures (I used 10 seconds, but you can make it longer, and it does look cool if you select your clips carefully); be certain to specify “loop” for the menu or the pictures will play once and then stop
• You can also put in a loop of music for the menus; the best procedure is to edit some music that sounds complete when looping smoothly; under 30 seconds is reasonable; that duration will be used for your pictures, too
• You put your menu backgrounds in as foreground pictures; I think I see why you did that – you saw the “safe area” overlay (turn it on/off with a right-click on the safe area for “view”) as an “edge of screen” and tried to make the picture fit that – but it’s really only a guide, for buttons and text; remove those pictures and make them menu backgrounds (right-click on the menu background for “properties”)
• Some of your pictures that you complained looked poor quality on DVD creation were actually poor quality to begin with, especially for being high-def; I tested DVDStyler with a clean 1920x1080 wallpaper and it looks perfect in the complete DVD creation (my old version had no smooth resizing so this now is so nice)
• From your development process, some program “garbage” was left that the interface no longer saw but was still in the code – if you make changes that doesn’t “register”, it’s probably this problem; you must look at the text file and delete garbage from there; for example, your 1st menu background had 2 background color statements:
  <rect width=“720” height=“405” id=“backgroundColour” style=“fill:#000000;”/>
  <rect width=“720” height=“405” id=“backgroundColour” style=“fill:#000000;”/>
  Even though I changed the background color in the program, it refused to accept the change. By manually removing the duplicate code in the text file, I got that to work in the program again.

Now this worked for me. If you are having problems, make a copy of your project file to work on. On the copy, try deleting, for example, the subtitles (since that was my problem), and see if you can complete a DVD creation. Keep working backwards, in small steps, until it works and then go forward to find what when wrong in the previous step. BTW, select “just generate” when DVD creating to use your media player to test without wasting DVD's.

I’ll keep checking your original project for code that is obviously glitched. In the meantime, try a creation and post what error messages it may give you. If your problem isn’t creation but operational, describe where & what happens or doesn’t happen.

UPDATED (twice):

Well, I went back to your file …
[deleted rest of the original comment – I wasn’t using the most up-to-date DVDStyler v.2.9.6]

Now, with this newest version (must be the one you’re using, too), there was no problem with DVD creation, subtitles and all. However, I made a test change in the video setting and lost the menu pictures (had to manually put them back in). That’s weird and suggests we’re not entirely stable here. (Be certain to do frequent “save-as” with progressive numbers to easily backtrack and try again.)

As my place-holder video is very short (2 min.), the subtitles don’t show (begins at almost 3 min.). I changed the first entry to 1 min. and it shows just fine! … but only after my player’s option was ticked to have subtitles “enabled” (and I thought technology was supposed to make things easier).

Everything seems to work fine but every button had to be checked to confirm proper navigation (a few were wrong) and proper action (a few wrong there, too). Also, the main video was set (or mysteriously reset itself) to “copy” for video and audio when it should have been “720x480” and “AC3 48K” (because we’re creating an MPEG2 video for DVD). Check your settings there, too. You should be able to generate successfully and operate the DVD normally.

Gotcha…after combing this thread again (and taking a nice break from trying a 2nd Trilogy convert) I checked out some of the links above, and I’m going to try some of the suggestions via the VideoHelp site to see what route to take next. Thx again for the reply and GL on your set.

Darth Raider

solkap said:
Ugg. This whole attempt has just become one big headache. I’m done messing with it.

Too bad you were having trouble getting what you wanted (or problems getting it to work?). But glad you tried to work it out. If you didn’t, I’d still be using an older version and missing the finished features (seems faster, too) of this newest one! 😃

As shown above, I increased the menu bit-rate from 6000 to 8000 (probably not necessary), removed “shadow” from your text, & increased the size from 12 to 14, & set them to “bold”. (Originally, the text was too thin and small to render sharply.) See how very cool it looks now in motion (reduced 50% to an animated GIF @ 3frames/second, to be manageable in the forum) . .

I did notice when something with the video is changed (ex: deleting and adding a new subtitle file), it resets associated settings (ex: video frame display defaults back to it’s chapter-break position). I take that as a bug and will submit a bug report.