DVD Studio Pro - General Tab in the Menu Inspector for Standard Menus

General Tab in the Menu Inspector for Standard Menus

The General tab in the Menu Inspector is divided into four sections: The upper section
contains basic menu settings, the next section contains settings for motion menus and
menu timeout actions, the next section contains the overlay selection settings, and the
bottom section contains the audio file settings.

Motion menu settings

Audio settings

Menu timeout
and jump actions

Overlay selections

Motion Menu Settings
The motion menu settings apply whenever you assign a video asset as the menu’s
background or add audio to the menu. See

Configuring Motion Menu Settings

for more

details on these settings.

• Start: Defines the starting frame for the motion background. Use either the slider or

timecode field to set this value.

• Loop Point: Defines the frame that is jumped back to when the motion background is

looped. By default this frame is set to be the same as the Start timecode. This is also
the point where button highlights appear and the viewer can begin navigating the
buttons. (Because button highlights are still images, you may want to delay their
appearance until the buttons stop moving if you are flying them onto the screen.) Use
either the slider or timecode field to set this value. This value can also be set by a
chapter marker in the background video.

• End: Defines the last frame for the motion background. The At End setting becomes

active once this frame is reached. Use either the slider or timecode field to set this
value.

• Duration: Adjusts automatically to match the time between the Start and End settings.

Adjusting Duration only affects the End setting.

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• Single Field: Optimizes playback when using field-based video sources. This is especially

important with video that has fast motion, and will reduce any motion artifacts. Selecting
Single Field with frame-based video sources results in reduced resolution (edges may
appear jagged).

• At End: Sets the motion menu action when the End time is reached during playback.

Choose one of these settings:

• Still: Freezes the video’s last frame once the video asset finishes playing. If there is

an audio file assigned, it will also play once and then stop.

• Loop: Activates the Start, Loop, and End controls if there is a video asset assigned as

the background. See

Configuring Motion Menu Settings

for information on using

these controls.

• Timeout: Activates the Sec and Action settings. This allows you to configure the menu

so that if the viewer does not select a button for a specified amount of time, the title
automatically jumps to the element specified with the Action setting.

Menu Timeout and Jump Action
You can set whether a menu appears indefinitely or has a timeout duration. If you set a
timeout duration, the title jumps to the element chosen in the Action pop-up menu after
the specified amount of time. If the menu has a video asset assigned as the background,
the timeout’s countdown does not start until the video finishes playing. You’d generally
use a timeout setting with titles played at a sales kiosk, where you want to have something
playing onscreen as much as possible.

• Sec: Enter the amount of time, in seconds, that the menu appears if no button is

selected.

• Action: Choose the element to jump to once the timeout value is reached. If the menu

has a default transition, the transition plays before the element is jumped to.

Overlay Selections
You use these settings only if you are using an overlay with this menu.

• Overlay File: Choose the file with the menu’s overlay. See

Choosing the Menu’s Overlay

for more information.

• Overlay Layer: Becomes active whenever you assign a PSD file with layers as the menu’s

subpicture overlay. You choose the overlay layer from the pop-up menu.

Audio Settings
See

Adding Audio to a Menu

for more information on using the settings in this area.

• Filename area: Lists the audio files assigned to the menu. You can add audio files to

the menu by dragging them here. You can rearrange their order by dragging the
filenames to a new position.

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