DVD Text like, understand, commercial, creation, programs

andy

Hi All,
Thanks to this thread
I now understand how to make JacketPicture for my
home movies.  I am now investigating DVD Text.  This
field is used by my Sony mega changer to display the
title of the disc (Kind of like CD Text) and is very
useful.  Only about 20% of the commercial DVDs come
with this field.

I know that you can add DVD Text using Maestro or
Sceneartist.  But those programs are a little too
complicated for me for chapter/menu creation.  
I am using DVD Workshop and Studio 8 to author my
simple DVDs.  However neither of these programs
offer DVD Text.  I know that this is part of the
main IFO file.  I don't think IFOEdit has any support
for this.  If any one can point me to any other tool/method to
add this information, I'd be grateful.  May be it
doesn't exist?

Thanks
Sarat.

Scenarist and Maestro don't make menus, and Maestro is very easy.

But... in Nero you can choose it if you absolutly can't use either one.

Originally posted by dvd_master
But... in Nero you can choose it if you absolutly can't use either one.

Hmm.. I can't find this setting in Nero.. I'll look again.  If you
can point me in the right direction, I'd much appreciate it.
Thanks for the pointer.

Sarat.

dvd_master:

I too am interested in where in Nero you can do this?

I think DVD_Master may be confusing CD Text with DVD Text.  AFAIK, there is no way to do this outside of including it in the original authoring.  Scenarist has a specific place to set it.  In Maestro, if you go to the properties of the project, you can put a check mark to write it.  It will write whatever the Maestro project file name is saved as.

I approached Derrow a long time ago about including an ability to write this information in the IFO files using IFO edit.  He said that he would work on it but that, as things were, there was no way to ADD information that did not already exist in an IFO.  You can only change things.  Hence, if there is no space in an IFO file for DVD Text data, it could not be written after the fact.  This feature was never implemented in IFO edit and I can't help but wonder if it is even possible.  I too would like the functionality but, as it stands now, you cannot add DVD Text after the fact.

Originally posted by TRILIGHT Hence, if there is no space in an IFO file for DVD Text data, it could not be written after the fact.  This feature was never implemented in IFO edit and I can't help but wonder if it is even possible.  I too would like the functionality but, as it stands now, you cannot add DVD Text after the fact.

I too have been looking for this ability for some time...  

Tonight I have successfully added DVD Text to several movies that had NO TEXT prior.

I will be doing more testing in the coming weeks and eventually post a guide with my procedures, results and limitations... If you guys have seen any other info regarding this in the past year I'd love to know about it...

Regards...  Jeff

It's possible and only takes a couple of minutes once you get the hang of it. You need Ifoedit, a preformatted sector from a text file, and a hexeditor. The guide can be found at forum/archive/t175537.html. You might have to do a few steps different depending on your hexeditor, but it gives the general procedure. If the VMGM_C_ADT is more than 1 sector down from the first non zero number above the VMGM_TXTDT_MG then add the sector in place of it. Ex 1 2 3 4 0 8 9 then put the text sector at 8 then move the other two down 1 2 3 4 8 9 10. Sometimes the tables are bigger than 1 sector.

Got it down...  I have used my procedure to do about 20 movies now... Takes about 1 to 2 minutes...  and they said it couldn't be done  

I am still planning to write a better guide...  That one you reference makes it seem too complex and it's hard for a novice to follow...  The guide also makes the sector ranges out to be rocket science to figure out which is totally unnecessary... and the method described to calculate the sector numbers is flawed...  

Also the sample sector file does not download...  

I'll post again in a week or so after the MY GUIDE and sample HEX data file is loaded to my web site...

Regards...  Jeff

Well if you have a easier way, then let us know. After searching all over the web that was the only one i found. Personally i don't use all the steps involved, because of the way my hexeditor works. For example i just use a jump width of how many sectors i need to go to the spot where i insert the text file, no need for calculations. And the rest is simple as far as correccting the pointers. Well anyway let's see what you got. Oh by the way Happy new year to everyone here on the forum, i know it's a few days late.

The guide over at dvdrhelp contains a very important link that anyone interested in DVD Text should have, so I'm repeating it here. It's the Guidebook for DVD-Video Text Data Usage from the DVD Forum (pdf).