OT: DVD menu appearance when played on PC

terrypin wrote on 12/21/2018, 12:00 PM

I've always been aware of the limits of SD DVD resolution. But the example I've illustrated below seems to show a rather worse comparison than I can recall from the many DVDs I've burned over the years.

This is what the chapter menu of my DVD looks like when in MEPP 2016 or 2017, crisp and clear. And that's not much different when viewed after burning to a physical DVD (with ImgBurn) and playing on my inexpensive DVD player to my HD TV.

[I'm consistently getting 'Error uploading' when I upload my images. The thumbnail appears but disappears after a few seconds, with that error message. So I've had to use links instead.]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/scrohadtjf83qzj/MenuText-MEP.bmp?raw=1

But this is the poor appearance when I play the DVD folder on my Win 10 PC (with Intel Graphics HD-530), using VLC or MPC-HC:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qwwhnokmrw3h7q8/MenuText-PC.bmp?raw=1

Yet those two apps both play the main content on my PC very satisfactorily (including its many smallish text captions).

Should I be concerned or am I fretting needlessly?

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 12/21/2018, 1:03 PM

Hi Terry

. . . . Should I be concerned or am I fretting needlessly? . . .

No and 😟

I think the menu as seen in the program is at the resolution of your monitor, after creating the DVD or ISO and playing it on your PC the menu resolution is a miserly 720 x 576 being enlarged to the resolution of your monitor.

You can also see that the AR is different 16:9 compared to what looks like 4:3.

HTH

John EB

terrypin wrote on 12/21/2018, 2:41 PM

Hi John,

Thanks, appreciate the fast reply. But what I don’t fully understand is why this happens only with the menus?

johnebaker wrote on 12/21/2018, 2:53 PM

@terrypin

Hi Terry

. . . . I don’t fully understand is why this happens only with the menus . . . .

As I see it, menus, unless containing active video, are static images incorporated into a very short video, as low as 1 frame, clip ie the first VOB (VIDEO_TS.VOB) in a DVD played repeatedly while the menu is displayed.

Unlike an active menu ie one with longer video clip in it, there is no movement to 'disguise' the actual low resolution of the DVD menu.

An analogy would be comparing a single frame from a movie on film to the projected version at say 24fps.

HTH

John EB

terrypin wrote on 12/21/2018, 3:12 PM

Thanks John, that makes sense. Although how would it explain the AR being 4:3 only in the menu?

johnebaker wrote on 12/22/2018, 7:45 AM

@terrypin

Hi Terry

. . . . how would it explain the AR being 4:3 only in the menu? . . . .

Good question for which I have no answer yet as I cannot replicate the problem.

If you look at the 2 menu images you can also see that the buttons have a 4:3 AR in the DVD menu compared to 16:9 in the Preview

Can you create a small project that shows this and zip it up for me to test.

Thanks

John EB

terrypin wrote on 12/22/2018, 8:06 AM

Hi John,

Will do, hopefully later today - if I can get out of ‘Husband at Christmas’ mode, inlcluding getting the tree up 🙂

terrypin wrote on 12/22/2018, 10:55 AM

Hi John,

Here's a very small extract (22 MB):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0x83a36brif6vjf/UK%20Hits%20Extract.zip?raw=1

And here are the equivalent screenshots, showing appearance in MEP and VLC respectively .

As before, it's only the 4:3 AR of the still menu that is a mystery when viewed from the VOB folder with VLC or MPC-HC. Its quality is also poor (exacerbated by the distortion from 16:9) but your reply explains that.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

johnebaker wrote on 12/22/2018, 2:58 PM

@terrypin

Hi Terry

Thanks for the extract - issue reproduced burning your extract project before making any changes. It is also reproducible using any HD menu template and burning to DVD - the Chapter menu is 4:3 AR

The issue looks like it is caused by the size of the image used as the Chapters menu background 😕.

The original image is 1920 x 1080, I resized it, in PSP, to 1600 x 900, saved it with a new name and then, in the arranger, replaced the Chapter original background with the new one.

Burned to ISO and played played with VLC and the chapter menu is the correct AR.

HTH

John EB

terrypin wrote on 12/23/2018, 4:52 AM

Morning John,

Thanks a bunch, great work-around, which I’ll implement shortly. Mystifying though!

Terry

terrypin wrote on 12/23/2018, 6:44 AM

Hi John,

You're a star - that workaround worked perfectly! 🙂

I wonder if there any other gotchas like that around, relying on images being 1600 x 900 rather than any size of 16:9 AR?

Terry

johnebaker wrote on 12/23/2018, 8:17 AM

Hi Terry

. . . . if there any other gotchas like that around . . . .

Cannot think of any off the top of my head, however when I create images, for example for masks etc, I create them at 1600 x 900 or any higher ratio - not sure why I started doing this as it was back in the days of MX.

John