10 Replies Latest reply: May 31, 2010 12:16 PM by Bill Hunt RSS

    Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds

    Spoot51 Community Member

      Using Encore in Production Premium CS3 and simple menus from library, suddenly menu backgrounds are disappearing after 10-15seconds.When running "preview" before burning a disc, things appear normal. Project check reveals no items. Buttons, titles, and audio continue to play normally against a black background. These exact menus, with audio, have worked on 50 different projects over the past two years, but crashed today! I have not changed any hardware or software, so this problem is perplexing, annoying and time consuming. I have tried several different menus, HD, widescreen, animation and no animation.

      Any ideas greatly appreciated.....

        • 1. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
          jsbman Community Member

          Try trashing preferences.  Contol+Alt+Delete while starting program.

          • 2. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
            Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

            In your Menu's Properties>Motion, what do you have for Duration and is Hold Forever checked? Is there any Loop Point chosen?

             

            Good luck,

             

            Hunt

            • 3. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
              Spoot51 Community Member

              The duration is whatever audio track I've selected, i.e. 1 min 59sec.

               

              The "hold forever" box is greyed out and I can't figure out how to cjange that, so I cannot check the box.

               

              Loop Point is 00;00;00;00.

               

              The thing that puzzles me is I'm using a library menu (NTSC_Television Menu) which I've used successfully about a month ago. Preferences are all default and I can't really think of anything I've fooled with in the program.

               

              Is an uninstall/reinstall of Production Studio Premium likely to help? Hate to do that since it takes so long.

              TIA

              • 4. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
                Jeff Bellune CommunityMVP

                The video background is supposed to freeze on the last frame when menu duration exceeds video duration (which it does in this case).  It seems like you're not getting a freeze frame.

                 

                Did you burn a test RW disc and test what happens in a software and a hardware DVD player?  If not, you should.  Encore's preview is very rough and not always accurate.  Try multiple players if you can.  Some are better at disc navigation than others.

                 

                If all is not well after that, then remove the audio from the menu and reset the video background to the asset that was imported automatically when you imported the menu.  Does the looping work after you do that?  If so, re-add the audio background and try again.

                 

                -Jeff

                • 5. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
                  Stan Jones CommunityMVP

                  I'll leave the next bit that I wrote, but first skip to the quote and question at the end of the note.  (Or better, just read jeff's note that appeared before I got mine posted.)

                   

                  I'm a bit confused - in your first post you suggest that this is a general problem and in this last post, you refer to one menu you had used recently.  In any event, I would back up a bit to narrow down when the problem is occurring.

                   

                  If this is a general problem, have you:

                  Trashed your preferences even though you believe they are just defaults?

                  Created a new project with a library menu with no motion or audio in the menu?  (In which case the default duration will be the check in the hold forever box.)  I assume there is no problem here, but who knows!

                  Created a new project with a library motion menu (video and audio - probably both, then one, then the other) leaving all to the defaults.  (In which case the hold forever box will be greyed out; you set forever in a motion menu by setting the loop number to forever.)

                   

                  If this is not a general problem, but limited to your current project, have you started the project again from scratch?

                   

                  The duration is whatever audio track I've selected, i.e. 1 min 59sec.

                  Are these library menus you have modified?  I assume this does not match the video menu length, which is a problem.  If the video runs out before the audio you get a black screen if the last frame is black.

                  • 6. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
                    Spoot51 Community Member

                    Jeff, thanks for the quick response. Yes, I've burned a RW disc. After reading lots of your stuff, including your book from a few years ago, "the Focal Easy Guide..", I learned it ain't that much fun to make coasters when you can use a RW disc to fix things!

                    Since the actual disc blacks out on 2different pc players and one stand-alone sony hooked to mey TV, I guess I'll try your next steps.

                    Be back later with the results....

                    • 7. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
                      Spoot51 Community Member

                      Just saw your answer, and will take note.

                      1. Yes I reset preferences by hitting <Cntrl> <shift> at startup of Encore.

                      2. The audio duration I refer to is simply the audiotrack I've pick-whipped onto the menu, not something I altered in the menu.

                      3. I think the problem is general, even though I use one specific example, because I've tried using different menus from the library and they all go black (background only, buttons and titles remain) at the end point of the .m2v file which comes with the menu direct from the library, usually about 15-16seconds..

                      4. trying your suggested variations, with/without audio and motion, that I haven't done already and will definitely post when this thing gets worked out.

                      thank you...

                      • 8. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
                        Spoot51 Community Member

                        OK, I think I'm finally starting to understand. The .m2v file that is included with the motion menu from the library is approx 16;06 in duration, while the audio file I'm trying to include with the menu is 1min 56 seconds. They are different duration, so the menu background disappears after 16 seconds while my audio file continues to play and the titles and buttons remain on screen. Any guidance on a workaround?

                        • 9. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
                          John T Smith CommunityMVP

                          Cut the audio in a sound editor to match the video

                          • 10. Re: Menu background blacks out after 10-15 seconds
                            Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                            Yes, that is the issue. I agree with John T.regarding altering the Audio file. It must be EXACTLY the same Duration as the Video, or ever so slightly shorter - never longer, and even by a few Audio Units.

                             

                            In my case, I use PrPro to do my Menu Audio (as I am using DD 5.1 SS through the SurCode encoder), but one can edit the Audio in Audition, or the free audio-editor, Audacity. In your case, I would Save_As a PCM/WAV 48KHz 16-bit file. Do NOT Save_As MP3. A 100% DVD-compliant DD AC3 file will work too, but PCM/WAV keeps it simple, with the best quality and guaranteed playability.

                             

                            Good luck,

                             

                            Hunt

                             

                            PS - glad that you have Jeff's book. It is still the best resource for Encore out there.