Random play on DVD player

[jlund6 Profile Private message]

I made 10 show and tucked them under their own name. When I create a DVD, I choose those 10 shows to be a part of my DVD and a menu with 8 thumsnail images.

When my project is burned and I watch it on my DVD machine, I want to the various shows to appear in a random order, but when I press the "Random" button, the machine shows, that there is only one chapter on the DVD disc. Because of this, I can not move on to the next clip.

Should the disk not be divided into chapters, when I have done it this way?

I have tried other programs (Wondershare DVD creator), and this works allright, but I want to use Proshow Gold/Producer.

[heckydog Profile Private message]

ProShow's menu capabilities were never meant to be that sophisticated. It's focus is on slide shows and not dvd authoring.

What you might want to do is create your 10 shows as individual files in PSP, then input them to DVD Creator to create the final dvd.

Joe

[jlund6 Profile Private message]

As mentioned in my first thread, I have allready made 10 invidual shows (files) in PSP and attached them to a my DVD Creation project. I expect that I would see 10 chapters on my DVD player, but I only see one. It's not possible to make a Random play on this 10 files.

[heckydog Profile Private message]

My mistake. I thought your last sentence indicated you were able to make it work with Wondershare DVD Creator.

Making a dvd actually play files randomly is not a trivial matter apparently. Doing a little research, I found this page which delves into scripting for random playback of files. This is totally beyond my comprehension. http://www.dvdstudiopro.co.uk/tutorials ... -playback/

There are many authoring tools that can create playlists which would be quasi-random in nature. Each playlist would consist of a different sequence of the 10 videos. You can mix and match as many playlists as will fit on your dvd but each one will have to be in the order you specify and the user would have to choose one of the playlists. Each video would have to be a separate title (timeline), not a separate chapter, in order for this to work.

Joe

[jlund6 Profile Private message]

Hi Joe

Right I can use wondershare DVD creator, but I find it strange that a super program as Proshow Procucer isn't able to do the same as the cheap wondershare program. I will probably have to use wondershare

[im42n8 Profile Private messageWebsite]

If you created the DVD no menu, the shows should automatically play show one after the other in the order in which they were located in the project. At least, that's how I remember it happening for me. The default is a single menu option which is usually the first show. You need to customize the menuing list. The maximum provided by ProShow is, I think, only 7 or 8 items. It's easy enough to customize that list to include more shows. The order in which you place them during the customization will determine the order in which they will play. If you chose the one of the menu items they will play one after the other from one selected until the end of the list, if I remember right.

There is no random play that I remember. The order is predetermined prior to creating the DVD.

If you want more sophisticated menuing, you need to do the DVD Authoring program route. The system provided by Photodex is very simple and very limited. Even in the DVD Authoring program (such as Wondershare DVD or DVD Encore), however, you still need to create a menuing system of some sort. A "menu" could be a playlist, for instance. It would identify what plays next, what the a right arrow movement or left or down or up arrow menu change would do ... basically, telling the menuing creating process what show plays next (as such, the playlist represents you "quasi-random" play ... but it'll play in that sequence each time that playlist is played). If there's a "random" capability, the authoring system should provide it and tell you how to create it (I've yet to see any random play option myself, however). No menu setup for the shows and you get what the default for that program is. In ProShow, that "no menu" means that the shows start playing, in sequence (as defined by the order of the show you told the DVD creation process to use) once the DVD gets started. The "default" in a dvd authoriing program can be almost anything. It looks like Wondershare DVD has a number of menuing templates ... so, it appears you must select a template (default may only be the first show on the DVD) ... that template will determine the your show's order ... and you will probably have to tell it what shows / videos to play and what happens after a show is played (such as, go to a next video or stop playing.... or loop back ... or whatever).

Sounds like fun, eh?!

Dale

[jlund6 Profile Private message]

Hi Dale. What you descriped, is exatly what I have done. Proshow don't make any chapters, but Wondershare dos. When pressens Random play on my DVD player, Wondershare DVD jumps o'round between all movie clips, but Proshow dos not (because there is only one chapter).

[im42n8 Profile Private messageWebsite]

Well, Proshow has NO idea what a chapter is. I doubt it will ever provide an improved output menuing system (unless Photodex sees a "compelling" reason to expend resources). Right now, there's no compelling reason for them to provide a really good output system. It's simple, it's effective, it works. That's it.

There are no chapters in ProShow ... doesn't work like that. Sad but true. But, don't hold your breath for any improvements. If you've followed the last 2 version releases of ProShow, you'll realize that what's now v7 should actually be something closer to v5.8 (or there abouts). The added changes or features of v6 and v7 simply do not justify major number improvements. Lots of bug fixes and minor tweaks ... but that's about it. Have any changes occurred in the menuing? Nope ... it hasn't changed (effectively) since v3 (or maybe even v2). The output types may have changed (expanded) but not the menuing system (for the most part).

If I need something more ... or I want something more sophisticated (and/or professional), I resort to DVD Encore. Ah well, it's nice to have options. But, these options require (sometimes) an added cost to the pocketbook...

Dale