|
In concept, this is blisteringly
easy, although it took me a little while to perfect the method such that
various 'brick bats' thrown at it by DirectCD and PEx itself did not
prevent it working.
All we have to do is stop PEx partway
through the Make Disk stage, and replace its video files with ones of
our own, produced externally. In essence, PEx will provide the complex
shell in which our own video files will be structured, stored, and run, and will
also be responsible for burning the disks.
It sounds easy, when you say it
quickly, and it is an obvious thing to do - but it was not until I
discovered a way to get PEx to adopt our new files, when it had just
finished preparing its own video and support files (Video CD files on
the disk are not regular mpgs), that the process worked. (I got the same
buzz as when you finally unlock a door in one of those fiendish
adventure games). Anyway folks - it works! And I've got a fist-full of
excellent (S)VCDs to prove it!!!!
If you don't want to bother
reading the detailed description below, then here is a summary of what
to do. If you are adventurous, then no doubt you will be
in a mind to try to vary the way I have done it, to achieve a 'quicker'
or 'easier' result. Don't wander too far from this path though, or you
will find yourself in trouble as I have done on several occasions.
- Edit (with Studio7?) your
movie(s), and store them in DV-AVI format on your hard-drive.
- Transcode these files
externally into VCD/SVCD size files (mpeg-1 / mpeg-2).
- Ensure total play time does not
exceed disk capacity (allow 10% leeway).
- Start a new PEx project. Ensure
there are no temp folders with same name.
- Bring in all DV-AVI files as assets
to project. Do not use Scene Detection
- Design suitable menus - add
sound and backgrounds as necessary.
- Choose Menu Thumbnails from
DV-AVIs, then delete all subsequent footage.
- Set behaviour of movies when
they finish playing (Scene Edit Window)
- Go to Make Disk stage but do
not load a disk.
- Ensure all settings are
correct, then press Start.
- When transcoding is complete
(disk icon stops spinning) click Stop.
- Leave PEx running, and launch
Windows Explorer.
- Replace MPG files in
Temp Folder with new ones - ensure names/exts are correct.
- Load a blank CD-R/CD-RW, wait
until DirectCD (or similar) has responded. Cancel this.
- Press Start. Upper progress-bar
will redo part of previous processing then....
- Disk will now be burned with
our new files on board.
- Go and watch it............
Right - that's got rid of the
'Eager-Beavers' - now let's take a closer look.......
This method will only work if you
have a set of fully edited movies, that are going to
make up each of the menu items. You will not be able to use any of PEx's
editing facilities in a 'movie-meaningful' way. The only reason for
using the Editor is to help with the menu production, and to speed up
the process - which we shall see shortly. So, what you need to prepare
is -
- A group of edited files in the
DV-AVI format - One for each menu item. Since these files are
likely to be generated on a FAT32 system, they will be no longer
than approx.18 mins (4GB) which means you will probably have between
2-5 files, depending on whether you are using SVCD or VCD format
- Each of these files must now be
transcoded with an external TxC like TMPGEnc. I suggest, ultimately,
that you
experiment with various filter options until you get the best looking
movie, but for this first attempt it may be best to stick with basic
settings. Remember that the MPG files you produce must be in VCD or
SVCD size format. (TMPGEnc has profiles for these).
Make sure the total duration of
your files does not exceed the capacity of your disk. This will depend
on the movie format, and the size of the disk. Allow a couple of minutes
for the menus, and about 10% slack to be on the safe side. (Video CDs
use MPG encoding, but extra data is added too - PEx does this).
Before you do - Check in the Temp
folder with Windows Explorer, to make sure there is no folder with the
same name as the project you are about to create. If there is, delete it.
Now run PEx, and choose a New
project.
Right-click on the Asset List and
choose to NOT detect scenes. Select all the DV-AVI files that you need
for your project, then switch to Preview Mode.
You should know how to do this,
but here's an extra word of advice - Keep the number of menus to a
minimum. These all use up valuable movie space. If you can get away with
a single menu, this will be good - it means you can add a decent length
background music. You should know how much free time you have left,
over-and-above what your movies need, so base your music length on that.
Remember that your replacement movie files may be slightly larger than those
made by PEx. Do not be too concerned about all this, nothing will break
- it just won't all fit on the disk. If you are using CD-RW, then you
have multiple chances to get it right.
There is no need to transcode the
full duration of the movies. The only reason we bought them in, in the
first place, was to get the number of menu items correct, and to choose
appropriate thumbnail pictures. When you have chosen a thumbnail, you
should split the movie file around that frame, and delete the unwanted
segments. This will dramatically reduce the amount of PEx transcoding that
needs to be done. (All we need from PEx is a set of small mpegs with the
right filenames - which we shall ultimately replace).
PEx does not play smoothly between
menu items. It is best therefore that each menu item is treated as a
separate movie, and as such the player should return to the menu when complete.
There is an option to force this in the Edit screen - under Scene
Options button. If you have edited your movies such that each start and
end point is a fade to/from black, and the movies are related in some
way, then you may not want to choose this option - up to you.
Make a final check that you have
the VCD/SVCD mode set correctly, and the disk size is correct. If you
want to let the machine check the disk for you - do it now with the
option in Preview mode. Then remove the disk.
Now go into Make Disk mode. Check
write speed is correct (suggest staying at x2, regardless of drive
speed)
With no disk in drive press the
Start button. The Progress bar will begin to move, and the disk icon
will appear to rotate.
When the Upper progress bar shows
'Finished', and the disk icon is no longer rotating (the disk tray may
even open), click the Stop button. Clicking the Stop button is
the most important part of the process - without it, the next
stage will not be recognised by PEx, and the results will be
unpredictable. Note that you could also close PEx at this point and
continue at another time if you want,
Now it's time to replace the movie
mpeg files
with our better ones. Open up Windows Explorer, and locate the files
that PEx just made. Unless you have relocated the Temp folder, they will
be in the location shown below. The files we are interested in will
start with 'scn_', they will be in the same number order as the 'scene'
items in your menus
Now locate the new mpg files that
you want to replace those above. I suggest that you rename your files in
their present location to match those in the Temp folder, before copying
(or moving) them across into the Temp folder. In this way you will get
confirmation that you got the filenames correct (you will see a
'confirm' message).
When all files have been copied
(do not worry that they are so much bigger than the ones they replace),
you should close Explorer, and return to PEx.
Place a disk in your CD Writer and
close the drawer.
Wait for a moment for any messages that may pop up. If it was a blank
disk, then programs like Easy CD Creator may fire-up. Just close these
down. If it was a 'used' CD-RW disk then you will be asked for erase
confirmation - say yes.
When all is 'quiet', click on the
Start button. You should find that the upper Progress Bar repeats some
of its processing (PEx is adjusting to our new mpg files - this is the
reason we originally clicked the Stop button). Then
the lower Progress Bar will show the disk being burned. Just sit back
and wait for it to finish...............JOB DONE!
|
