For my home videos and such, I often have three tracks: video track, slideshow track, and finally a credit track which contains date, location, etc...

I have several videos in the video track, and several slideshows in the slideshow track, but I only have one credit page.

So far, I've been able to fit the credits on one screen. So I add just one file (a dummy file) in track three but un-check it so it won't show up on the menu. I also remove the play button. Then I put the credits on the background image. Finally, all you see are the credits and a Return button.

But if the credits cannot be fit onto one page, I would like to create a slideshow of 2 or 3 pages of credits, but unlike the other tracks, I would like this one to auto-play. - Otherwise, the user must click track 3, and then click play (which is redundant because there would be only one slideshow).

Is there a way to do this in TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5?

Thanks again for all.

I doubt that this is possible, so I want to let it be known that this is now a Request!

for what you TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5 Batch authoring tool can be used?

You use the batch authoring tool if you have multiple projects that need to be output. The batch tool will output them one after the other, allowing you to do other things. It will not burn to disc, just output the necessary files that can be burned to disc.

I used DVD Author 3 for a few projects and it worked great for the most part. However there were a couple of things I wanted it to do but they didn't seem to be possible, which sadly prevented it from being an ideal solution for my needs. To be honest it surprised me somewhat as in my opinion they seem like they should be quite basic features. Any remote chance that either of these have become possible since?

1) Excluding a track from Play All. For example: say you had four episodes of a show plus a featurette or some other kind of bonus material (each one presumably as its own track), the "Play All" button would play all four episodes but not the featurette - that can only be selected separately.

2) On DA3 I would go into the Track Menu to play an individual track. However once the track finished it would always return to the Top Menu, meaning I'd have to manually go back into the Track Menu again to select another track - very irritating on one particular project which had a vast number of tracks spread over three menu pages. What I really needed was for the track to finish and return to that same track menu page, ideally with the track I just played still highlighted or maybe the next track in the list, but I could never seem to make this happen with DA3.


And on a somewhat separate note: I've recently been looking into some way of creating "interactive game" DVDs, with a multiple-choice Q&A structure that could keep track of how many correct answers the player gives and play a different end video depending on the overall result. I'm pretty certain that sort of thing isn't possible in Authoring Works right now and I'm not sure what the chances are of such a feature ever being introduced in the future (probably slim to none!) but I just thought I'd throw it out there. ;)

As for item #1, I'm quite sure it's not possible, but it would be a nice feature, and I would think that it would be somewhat simple for them to implement. They may have to add a new track or chapter field which, when un-checked, the "Play all" button would skip.

As for #2, in ver 5, Options for track playback end action: Display top menu; Display track menu (or top menu if none), Play next track; Play next track (disc loop)

As for the interactive game, it's not possible in v5. I also can't imagine this being a feature they are working on?

Thanks for your reply GLD, appreciate you taking the time to respond. :)

Sounds like there's no need for me to upgrade at this point then. Might as well just stick with DVD Author 3.

I import multiple camcorder files from a Sony camera to create a Blu-Ray or AVCHD file structure for playing on my media player. Typically this would be around 100 clips to make a final merged file that plays for around 1 hour. What I would like to do is to create a DVD style menu structure that has 12 regularly spaced buttons/chapters across the merged files. The only thing I can get from TAW5 is a chapter for each separate file; ie around 100.

So far, the only option I seem to have is to merge the files outside of TAW5 and then start the authoring process from that one merged file. In that way, I can add the 12 chapters automatically without an issue.

This workflow seems to be unnecessarily convoluted. Is it possible to tell TAW5 to insert the chapters based on the final merged file rather the individually contributing files?

Sadly not, I have a similar situation of 70+ files and being fed up of having to chapter each one, one at a time. So I mentioned about including a "all media files chaptered at once by timed intervals" feature to Pegasys and they say they will add it to their list of maybes for a future update or release. So fingers crossed.

Is it possible to create an .ISO image of the AVCHD DVD?

If not:

Is it possible to verify the burned disk with the source files?

I'm a newbie at authoring my DVDS. But I've had Authoring Works 5 about 3 months. Authored about 6-8 dvds. Used the same templates each time. They're simple but functional. 1 track title page with title, play button, chapter button. 1 chapter page with 6-10 chapters. Last time I attempted the same process, I could only get a chapters button. Can some one help me figure out how to put my play button back? Thanks, Don

When I select "Write to DVD/BD" as post-process option for a Blu Ray project, a disc is never written to, even though AW 5 indicates the operation has completed successfully. I can launch the disc writing tool from the dialog box that appears when disc writing is normally complete, and it then creates the BD successfully - it just won't perform the operation as part of the initial post processing.

Running Win 7 64 Bit Professional.

Thanks.

This is mostly a user forum, contact support directly for this.

I need urgent help on this:
I have a PAL DVD project with many chapter marks (corresponding to menu entries, etc.)
I have to make a NTSC version.
I have already transcoded the video tracks with TVMW5 (using the original 25 fps HD source clips, this would presumably give better visual results than letting TAW5 do the transcoding from the PAL SD clips).
I have exported all chapter marks from the PAL version as keyframe list files.
I then "open with conversion" the project, replace the original clips with the previously encoded NTSC clips, and try to import the keyframe list.
The problem is that all chapter marks are now offset. I guess this is because the keyframe list works based on frame number, not absolute time (and due to 25 fps to 29.97 fps conversion, we have now have a time offset).
Is there a faster way to import the PAL chapter marks into the NTSC version, than moving each of them to the appropriate time code manually ?
Note: if I use the "brute force" method, i.e. when I simply "open & convert" the PAL project (and let TAW5 do the transcoding to NTSC), the chapter marks are OK, but the video quality is lower for the reason explained above. The problem arises only when I replace the PAL clips with previously transcoded NTSC clips in the project.

Its natural that you get a time offset on the chapter marks, there is a speed difference of 4% between PAL and NTSC.
This requires that you have to change all the chapter marks also, manually that is due to the speed difference.

It does not matter if you use TAW5 or another similar tool, you are required to do so in every DVD/Blu-ray authering software, when you want to change the image format from PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL in a already existing project.

Didn't MW5 maintain the chapter marks after the transcoding process? You try transcoding again with MW5 or another application, using a fast, low-quality preset (DIVX for example), setting the option to keep the chapter marks. Then, you can export/import those into your DVD project.

FWIW, I have found an acceptable workaround as follows:
In the PAL project, export the KF list (it's a simple CR-LF limited text file)
Convert the keyframe list using the formula KF.NTSC = KF.PAL*29.97/25, using your favourite spreadsheet program. Export the result as text file with .keyframe extension.
Create or convert the NTSC project, and import this new .keyframe file.
Voilà :)

Just to flag up that after the latest update that the projected project size counter is totally off.

Currently sitting on a 90 min 1080p lpcm project, being reported as not even being 2Mb!!!!

I am having similar problems. When I set a custom size for the BD output, it may or may not work. I use AVCHD and when it doesn't work the output is drastically smaller than requested. For example, I request a size of 8000 MB so it will fit on a double layer DVD, I get about 4500. If I change the request size to 14000, then I get about what I want (around 7500). Because it is so unpredictable, it is completely maddening. And I haven't found any way to set the bitrate manually to get any consistency.

I have a folder containing videos and photos and I created a taw5 project which I saved in the same folder.

It turns out that if I rename or move this folder, my taw5 project (which is still in the same folder as its files) can no longer find its files.

Is there a way to fix this?

What if I buy a new computer down the road, do I have to copy those files on the new hard drive with the same letter (ie: G: or whatever) and have the same tree structure? I'm just giving the scenerio that I may want to bring modifications to the project.

Thanks again for any and all help on this.

Basically, the source files have to be in the same location for TAW5 to find it.
The project file can be anywhere.

After renaming the folder and loading the project, does it ask you to locate the missing files? I recall that when it can't find the file, it allows you to search for the current location. This is one way to update the location of the source files.

What tkrave said is correct. You should have the "Browse..." button and be able to locate your files easily. It shouldn't be an issue with photos and single video files. However, if a project uses the DVD/BD/TS reader, there is no Browse button and things get tough. This should be fixed.

I created a 16x9 HD project, and TMPGEnc outputs the project into an AVCHD folder which contains the BDMV folder which in turns contains index and movieobj files and other folders.

But the Post-output process checkbox is grayed out, and I can't tell it to write to DVD/BD after outputting.

I tried using the disk writing tool. I selected the Blu-ray drive, but I'm not sure what file to select, and if I select the BDMV folder it says: "You have selected a folder containing a AVCHD file structure but it is not for DVD. The folder addition cannot continue."

I just installed an ASUS BW-16D1HT Blu-ray writer and inserted a BD-R disc.

Any and all help appreciated.

Ok, I think I know what I did. In the Start window, I selected AVCHD as the Output Format selector. Now I have to figure out if I can change this without re-starting the project!

Download and install ImgBurn and use that one for burning instead, its freeware.
There you just choose to burn folders to a disc and then drag and drop the BDMV and CERTIFICATE folder to its main window.

Now set the propper burning speed, me surgesting no more than 4x for safety reasons, just to prevent burning errors on these expensive BD-R discs and then burn the disc.
It might tell you that it has detected a BDMV folder and that this usually means that its Blu-ray video and some settings has to be changed and it can do this for you, in that case you just choose that it is OK that it changes the settings for you.

I have always used ImgBurn for burning the DVD and Blu-ray authored projects i have created with TAW5 and it works every time.

My main menu has 3 text links: Videos, Photos, About. I don't like the type of highlights that I have seen so far, so here's what I did.

I set the background black, I re-named the 3 links to the greater-than sign character (looks like an arrow), I set them black and made the Highlight Color white. Then I added my own text next to the greater-than signs.

Now it looks like cool white arrows appearing next to the selected items. Unfortunately, my background must be a solid color, and not an image. Is there an option to have bullets appearing next to the selected links?

Not with this software. You have to throw at least $1000 more on the table and buy a professional software, like the ones that the movie industry uses to create their DVD and Blu-ray menus.

But there is perhaps a way you can pull it off any way. You create a image with solid color background and bullets in a photo studio like Adobe Photo Shop or Corel Paint Shop Pro and use that created image as a background in TAW5.
Then its just about placing the bullets at the correct place on the image when creating it in the image studio that you choose to use.
You could make the image size at 1920x1080 uncompressed JPG to give it a propper image quality.