as im not alloweed to post a commnet to the previous question about sonics dvd a creator and that wilkes gave the guy an answer..and that the clver people here thiught that anyone else who moight turn up later with a good answer is deemed pointless...such bizarre logic....any answer at any point matters..is there a time limit oh answers to questons what is the meaning of life--sorry you have only five seconds to answer.who thought that rule up? absurd...OK since I am here...in answer to wilkes..clever reply..well ive used chrome 2 and its awful..true it does the audio..but oh god it messes up big time on the menu and highlights sometimes the highlites dont even appear...so on playback you dont even know what to press or click on..and as far as the menu graphic quality...fine if you like looking a degraded jpeg.picture... so whoever try chrome 2 but dont rely on it...now then about the 60 day rule business...if it saves someone some money or helps out surely we can at least be bit flexible here, eh?
The background images are not jpeg, but mpeg-2 encoded. I suspect this has happened because you have sailed through the player limitations on the ASV (Audio Still Video) usage? Try asking Minnetonka Audio - your copy is a legal one, right? As far as highlights not appearing. With Chrome, as it does not support correct import of BTN images, and neither can it create them from the SPHL image you create, you must draw your own. Also, are you creating the SPHL images in the correct colours? For the maopping to work, you should be using just 4 colours, indexed, delimited to White (Background), Black (Foreground), Red (E1), Blue (E2). Further, I have seen people not using strict RGB values (Even though the colour map is to be indexed, the map tables must be correct. Black must be 0,0,0 - Red must be 255,0,0 - Blue must be 0,0,255 and white must be 255,255,255 or it may not translate correctly. You set the desired SPHL button colours using the maps. A knowledge of the structure & layout of the AOB files on a DVD-A is required, or custom menus will prove quite impossible to create with any degree of interesting stuff going on.
ok..yes i do know that the background images ate mpeg2 and not jpeg..i was referig to the quality..as they are often severly compressed.to the degree that often parts are so 'fuzzy' you cant make them out. yes i do draw my own higlights for them...and ive experimneted with the 4 colour structure..diving between photoshop and chrome is a natural order for me..'too many colours' or not enough colours..so its back to photoshop and...use poster palette and save as gif.it can be tedious..often the highlites are out of alignment or parts are missing..even though you have dragged an area that seesm to accomadate the area...Ive even done hybrid Dvd Audios with the video_ts directory.I havnet quite figured out more complex things like muliple menus and slide shows..its a simple menu with a one button 'play all' often the tracks are a single mlp file of thewhole album..which mostly a SACD coversion..chopping up 15 6 channel files from one big one takes time..but I .will persist..it does seem to me that the structure of DVD Audio seems a litle complex to me a whole more than dvd video..i havent quite wrapped.my head around it all yet.perhaps i have to read up on it. but.all i am saying is that often this program produces odd results...
Okay. Firstly, your highlight images are incorrectly created. These MUST be 4 colour, Indexed, Delimited files. The colours MUST be Red, Blue, Black & a white background. GIF will *not* work. Highlights can only be created from the 4 core colours. ANything that is not 255,0,0 - 0,0,255 - 0,0,0 - 255,255,255 will simply not get picked up. Menu Sizes What are you designing at? You must use 720x540 Square Pixels, design menu. Rescale to 720x480, it will look squashed - this is correct. Any other method is not right. You *must* learn the correct structure. All issues with Chrome should be dealt with by their excellent support. You do have a legal copy, don't you?
thank you sir...funny that..ive been using gif files as highlites mostly that way..i can have a transparent background to them ...also why is that professional DVD Audio discs dont always have red, blue, black and white highlites...and anyway the colours come up fine..its just parts are missing and often out of alignment...the background pix arent squashed..as i use them as should be its just that the compression looks a little severe at times..Also since authoring programs are marketed in away that suggests 'anyone' can do it at its 'easy' one doesnt always consider that you need a bachelor or science degree to use it...otherwise only 6 people would buy it...well i paid enough for it even though i bought it from a guy who couldnt make head nor tail of it.. reasonable discount..got a receipt too i think..you want to see it..?...ok..lets just say it could be better graphic wise - a little too simplistic....and basic....is their better out there..i guess it depends on whether there is a market for DVD Audio or not..but thats another debate...
Okay - you don't know what you are doing then. This is plain. I am talking not about the actual button appearance, but the SPHL layers that define the button shapes. These are created with Indexed Delimited images of strictly 4 colours - Red, Blue,. Black & White background. The actual button COLOURS that appear onscreen are mapped from the CLUT maps that are defined with Background, Foreground, E1 and E2. I actually do know what I am talking about, as I do this for a living. As your copy is legal, you won't mind telling me how you authorized it then? And for DVD-A, you DO need to KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. CHROME assumes a working knowledge of the DVD-Audio structure & layout. Feed it properly formatted assets, and it is more than capable of delivering clear enough images. Feed it GIF files, and the old adage "Garbage In, Garbage Out" applies. Also - MLP Lossless. How did you activate that application - what is the copy protection mechanism? The best application is Sonic's DVD-Audio Creator, as it gives complete access to the specs. Chrome is an abstraction layer tool, but still has to be given the correct assets.
Thanks again wilkes. (this is becoming a habit.. me sending thanks for info) More fantastically informative posts there. You really are a goldmine of info about every aspect of DVD-A
