Is there a way to create an transition between one menu page and another?
All i see is a fade-in and fade-out gacility!

Unfortunately, no.

The effects you are talking about are only for the menu background, not necessarily the menu page.

The fade-in/fade-out is only for motion menus to help make looping smoother.

This was already asked by me with DVD Authoring 3, but you ignored it.
Now you have this brand new "thing" called Authoring Works and still there's no sign of it here. What gives? This is so simple and minor tweak that it's unbelievable you can't include it in.

So, once again:

Would it be possible to implement a black (or any other colored ) box background to subtitles as a new layout? It would a great help to hide burned-in subtitles or just subtitles that are scrolling up or down.

These forums are not officially moderated, so if you are expecting an official response, you'll be waiting for a long time. To make sure they hear your request, you should contact user support.

I know CUDA can currently be used for video filters. But so far that's all it does. I'm sure it's on the way, but if it's not, please work toward CUDA enabled video encoding in future releases.

>I know CUDA can currently be used for video filters. But so far that's all it does. I'm sure it's on the way, but if it's not, please work toward CUDA enabled video encoding in future releases.

It must be possible, considering that Badaboom encodes using the GPU (of course, Badaboom's quality sucks, but I'm sure that has more to do with the codecs used)

I agree with this comment totally. GPU encoding on my cheesy 8600GTX was quite fast. I bought TMPGEnc 4.0 with the notion that it would encode in CUDA and cut down on some of my long encoding times. It is fast in some circumstances, but so far, I am still wishing that more processing took place in the GPU. - I also agree that Badaboom's quality sucks.

I am trying to combine some avi files, but can't figure out how to do it. I have numerous AVI files from an older digital camcorder. Some of the avi files I want to combine into one whole sequence and others I want to make into individual chapters. Can't seem to figure out how to combine the set into one scene. Anyone else ever do this with tmpgenc authoring 4 software? It seems like an obvious thing to do.

I'm still on version 3 but I gather from some screen captures that the process is the same in version 4.

In your SOURCE window:

To make an AVI a separate track, click Add A Track. Then, making sure you've highlighted the new track (you might want to name it), click on Add File. Find your AVI in the Windows selection dialog and click OK.

To combine AVIs, just click Add File twice (or 3 times, or 4). Each time you'll add a new file to the same track. You can use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to get them in the order you want. Pile on all the files you want in a track. In the Source/Track editor, they are treated as any other chapter. In the output process, they are all joined together as 1 single file per track and output that way.

Richard, thanks for the response. I do understand how to add more files to a track. My issue is trying to add files together with no chapters. Basically to add multiple avi files but take away the chapters from some (or combine them so they show as one file). For example if you had 5 avi files and you wanted to make the first 3 avi files to run seamlessly together and to show on the menu as 1 chapter, but then show the next 2 avi's each as a seperate chapter. For a total of 3 chapters (5 avi files, but 3 chapters in the final outpu dvd). Does the software have the capabilty to do this?

I don't think you can actually join movie files together, but what you can do is select which chapters will be displayed in the menu.

To do this, click on the Global Menu Settings button in the Menu Stage. It will be just under the "Launch the Menu Wizard" button.

This opens the menu settings window. In the window, click on the tab named "Chapter display." From here, you can select which chapters will appear in your track menus. Simply uncheck the chapters that you don't want displayed.

Jamieson,

Sorry, I didn't grasp your query at first reading. No, you can't actually "join" files but you can get them to play as though they had been (and that's the goal, isn't it?)

Add the files to a track.

Make sure in the Track properties that you select to Link Clips. In V3 this is found by highlighting the track then clicking the SETTINGS button for it. The pop-up dialog has a tab labeled General. You'll find the Link Clips option on that tab.

Next, use the Track editor. In V3 there are several ways to flag a chapter to NOT appear in the menu. One way is to click the little green "light" on each chapter icon. Another is to right click the chapter icon and select "do not include in the menu"

So, in essence, link all your clips together, and for the clips that you don't want a menu item for, mark them as "do not include in the menu."

You'll still have separate clips in TMPGEnc, but when the DVD files are built, they'll play as 1 clip. Make sense?

Thank you thank you, thank you. I have been racking my brain trying to figure this out and like I thought it was right there in front of me. Sure am glad this software can do this! :)

I have had problems getting your excellent program to encode PAL 720x352 Half D-1 (4-6hrs) recorded DVD-R+R the same as it does 720x576 Full D-1 kepping the letterbox format. The Xpress program will read all DVD but handles them differently when its time to Encode.

I know the bitrates are lower for Half D-1 typically 2,800 Mbps but can we have a standard filter that will resize and keep the letterbox format as my Philips DVDR 3380 records in both D-1 formats

I have found this workaround and saved as a filter is there another way?

1: Resize full (center) using lanscos3 to 720x432 (75% of 576)
2: Picture Crop tick left and right 8 pixels to give 704x576
3: Select PAL 720x576 DVD Video as you normally would for Full D-1 with 2,130 kb/s this means you can get about four 40 mins TV shows on one DVD with your own custom menu. Minus all those annoying adverts.


SpideRaY

Sorry Typo meant to say 352x576 for Half D-1

When creating a Slideshow Chapter, cannot multi-select the files as the documentation states. Have to select individually and set properties for each. Very time consuming with many photos. A working Multi-Select would be very useful if it worked. Anyone else notice this Defect?

I don't see this mentioned in the Help file. It does talk about selecting multiple files when you are importing the images (which does work), but I don't see where it says this in regards to the actual slides.

Would be a nice feature though.

Are there any chance for outputting to mkv? It would be much more valuable than the DivX support.

I read through the entire feature set , but not still sure about these couple of features come as part of the software.

Although basic features i still would need to confirm before i buy the software.


1. Will it be possible to mix audio from multiple audio sources with the video. ex 1st minute of the video with say audio stream 1 and 2nd minute of the video with audio stream 2.


2. is it possible to work with multiple video streams.

regards

bijoy

I think both are not possible yet, but may be some day they could add such features.
good luck

I've read enough here to know not to actually install an update from version 3.1.2.176 to version 4.anything. At least not since I don't wish to be a "beta testor in production mode."

Nevertheless, I'd like to get some thoughts/advice from those who have the products and/or have dealt with Pagasys in the past.

1. There is currently a good upgrade discount of 40.00 USD. Does anyone see a *total* waste of money by buying the update and just leaving the installation file(s) sitting on my disc for about 6 months? That is, I'm not going to actually apply the upgrade, just buy the files, and do the upgrade at some later date when the product is stable and reliable. I'd hate to miss out on a 40% discount six months from now.

2. Has anyone actually run the 4.x Trial side-by-side with the 3.1.2.176 production version? Does installing the Trial foul up the production version (e.g., does it overlay DLL files so the production version will no longer run?)

3. Can a version 3 Project File be imported into version 4? At any one moment I might have 2 to 4 projects going. As I close down one, I start another. Most of the time I'm waiting on feedback from the person who's hired me, so I leave their project alone while I go work on another. When I eventually do upgrade, I'm likely to have active project files that need to be readable by version 4. That is, I don't think I'll ever be at a point without even one Project File being "live."

4. Templates. OK, let's get real. Downloadable templates are absolute compromises for my clients. Clients have their own images and font preferences, they want this blurring effect or that outer shadow, etc., all on their own image backgrounds.

I've never found a way to fully build an entire menuing template in version 3. I know I can download more, but as I said, those are a total compromise and not of any interest to me. Can I build an entire menu template in version 4? By this, I mean I might like to place thumbnails in a diagonal from top/left to bottom/right, or arrange them in an oval on the screen. Apply my own button graphics. Apply my own default template background image. Apply my own font choices for various pieces (1 font for the title, another for the track list entries, etc.) Then save it all as a menu template, choose the wizard, apply my template and I'm mostly done.

I have 3 clients so far that routinely have me put their vacation videos onto DVD and apply a menu. They always want the menus to look and act the same. The theme more or less creates a suit of DVDs, all of them looking the same with the same colors, fonts, etc. Right now I have to build each one by hand. I'd like to create templates and name them for my clients.

Can I do this extensive work in version 4, or are templates still a deep, dark secret held by Pegasys who for some reason feels they can't put that power into the hands of their customers?

1. I don't think it's a total waste, but I also don't think you need to rush to make a decision since the upgrade price will probably be around for a while.

2. Installing the trial for Authoring Works 4 shouldn't affect your DVD Author 3 production version.

3. You can import version 2 and 3 files into version 4, provided that the source files are still in the same place. If you used templates that don't exist in version 4, then they'll probably be replaced with a different template.

4. You can save custom menus as templates in version 3 and 4. Once you've built your custom menu to your liking, click on the "Edit menu" button in the Menu stage and select "Save current menu as a new template". Once you do so, it will show up as a template in the template list. It'll save effects, backgrounds, fonts, etc.

Version 4 also lets you create your own button sets for custom menus.

I suggest you download the trial and try it out and see for yourself whether it will be worth the upgrade or not.

Thanks. I never knew about the template "save as" option. Looked at the help text (pretty much useless) and searched the forums but never found anything. A request for help from Pegasys several months ago only yielded advice that I could download the templates they made, but they circumvented my question about creating my own.

I'll download the demo and install it side-by-side with version 3, per your advice.

One thing about upgrading: I think that once you purchase the upgrade, your DVD Author 3 license becomes invalid, so you wouldn't be able to use version 3 and wait for version 4 to become better.

However, you should be able to use both versions 3 and 4 if you purchase version 4 with the user discount which is a $20 savings.

Hello everyone,

I need a little help with authoring my first family movies with TMPGEnc Autoring Works 4. I created some mpg-files and wanted to bring them on DVD. Everything works just fine, the only problem is, that only 40-50 minutes fit on one DVD which seems much too little for me. The files are standard resolution 720x576 PAL, so it should be possible to bring 2 hours of film onto one single DVD or not? It is possible to make it fit on one 4,7 disc, but I think it implicates quality loss this way. Do you have any ideas?

It would be great if you had any suggestion, thank you in advance!
StarFishes

I'll take a stab at some suggestions for you, bearing in mind I have version 3, not 4.

In version 3, you can assign defaults for all new projects and override those settings on a case-by-case basis. The defaults are found under Options.Preferences.

Take a look at your audio settings. Did you record the Berlin Philharmonic, or did you record your children playing soccer? Do you need super, high quality sound? Now, I'm an audiophile and I can hear the difference if I'm listening on good headphones, but for everyday stuff over external speakers, I find a sampling rate of 48000Hz, 16 bits and 192 Kb/s bitrate is just fine for spoken sound, and 96000Hz for music. My point here is, the higher quality you use, the more space on the disc it takes to record it. Back off on the audio settings if you don't have movies that demand impeccable sound.


Are your menus animated? That is, do you have thumbnails to select scenes and those thumbnails themselves are small, short, movie clips? Try making single-frame thumbnails.

Just some ideas.

Richard

Besides the excellent suggestions by Richard, your only other choices are lowering the video bitrate (which it sounds like you don't want to do) or use a dual layer DVD.

Hi Richard and tkrave,

thank you for your suggestions! I did some experiments in changing the video and audio bitrate which has been very high set by my video capture card. I found out that a constant video bitrate of 4000 seems to be acceptable, the audio I set to 168 and now everything works just fine.

The only question I have now is what the application does with the setting Fit on DVD 4.7. It doesn't ask me anything about compression.

Greetz,
StarFishes

When I want convert any video to QuickTime MOV, TMPGE show me error message:
An error occured during the file output inicialization. (-50)

Others video conversions working.

Sorry for my english.

Do you have the latest version of Quicktime?

Yes, I have

I have Vista OS 64-bit , QuickTime 7.5.5(990.7).

I'm using a Sony Vaio Z Laptop with a GeForce 9300M GS running XP doing a lot of video editing work with TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress. I bought this machine because of its small size and because its takes advantage of the GeForce 9300M GS and CUDA Technology for faster renders.

However, the latest version of TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress shows a grayed out area on the Preferences tab under options when i try to activate CUDA.

I confirmed with Nvidia that for sure the GeForce 9300M GS supports CUDA and I tried both Sony official Nvidia drivers for the Z (which include the CUDA.dll files) and also the latest Official Nvidia Drivers with CUDA support.

No luck with any drivers. I was under the assumption only the GeForce8800 GTX/GTS video card using the G80 core were not supported! :( As a $100 piece of software with basically no support, Im extremelly upset.

Contact support, it's possible that it's a known issue and they may have a temporary solution.