TMPGEnc dvd author menu question

[ccrider895]

Can anyone who uses this program recommend a few good free (Windows) fonts
that will be nice and legible on the song menu? before I go wasting a couple more DVDs to see that the lettering is not showing up so nice.

I use this all the time, but I've never had this much of a problem before.

Ive tried a few different configurations. I need to fit 26 songs in a nice interactive menu, but the fonts I seem to be choosing don't look so nice when it's played on the tv screen. The band and menu theme is alt-country-ish, if that helps.

Thanks for any suggestions

[KoolKat]

Er....type fonts in google ,there must be 10000 sites chap.
Download to desktop & then drag to Windows>fonts folder.

You do have the option of splitting the menu into pages so thjat you don't have to put 26 on 1 page therefore being able to have a larger size font.
Check the effects as well,you may have too much shadow on the lettering.

K_K

PS: can't remember the link but there is a free proggy called "font list" that shows you all your fonts.You can then see what they look like 1st,that'll help as i know Tmpg wont let you see them until you pick it.

[ccrider895]

Thanks KK.

I do know where to find the fonts, and I have tons of them. I was just wondering if anyone had experience with particular ones that look best.

I hoped not to use the standard ones, as they're kinda boring, but I'll pick visibility over artistic merit if it comes down to it.

Not using the shadow either.

I just hate when something looks great in the preview & looks crappy on the tv screen.

Oh well. I will try adding a 3rd page to the menu, though. maybe just making it bigger will help some.

[ccrider895]

Oh, and I meant to say in the first sentence, "fonts that look good on the DVD menu when it's played on a tv screen."

[pawel]

In general use bold and/or larger (over 24 pt) Sans Serif fonts as other may cause flickering -> everything below 3 pixels. TMPGEnc renders menus very well but remember to avoid high contrasts and R/G/B over 230 on the color palette.

Not free: Kartika, Caflish Script Pro, Franklin Gothic Medium, Futura Std are very good.

My favourite free but rather for special projects: Anna (variables of commercial ITC), Ben Cat, Brankovic, Dirty Headline, Maszyna Royal Dark.

Country, hmm, try here: http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=106

[ccrider895]

Originally Posted by pawel

In general use bold and/or larger (over 24 pt) Sans Serif fonts as other may cause flickering -> everything below 3 pixels. TMPGEnc renders menus very well but remember to avoid high contrasts and R/G/B over 230 on the color palette.

Not free: Kartika, Caflish Script Pro, Franklin Gothic Medium, Futura Std are very good.

My favourite free but rather for special projects: Anna (variables of commercial ITC), Ben Cat, Brankovic, Dirty Headline, Maszyna Royal Dark.

Country, hmm, try here: http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=106

Thanks Pawel

That's what I was looking for. I'll let you know how it turns out

[retired]

You can split the song list into 2 pages with 13 tracks each and use a larger font...bold is your friend.

[ccrider895]

Yeah, I'm thinking of even going 3 pages, as there's 3 separate shows on 1 DVD.

I will definitely use the bold type this time too.

Thanks

[ccrider895]

Oh, and as long as there's some knowlesgeable people reading this, is there a good recommendation for an image size to use when using custom pictures for a menu?

I'm guessing the resolution should be 72 ppi (maybe I'm wrong), but is there a size either in inches or cm that should not be exceeded?

I appreciate everyone's help, and I am trying to learn all I can about doing this the right way. Thanks to everybody who's taken the time to answer

[ccrider895]

and just an update on the question I asked above ^^

I still can't find where TMPGEnc stores their pre-made menu templates on my pc.But I did manage to track down the ones for another proggy I'm not using. I can't imagine the sizes should be all that different.

And wow! Holy crap. I think I've been making these too big as well. I don't know if it's messing up the fonts but when I brought the other template it up in P-shop, this is what the dimensions were. I'll post this in case anyone else has a similar problem in the future.

[pawel]

Resolution doesn't matter unless 75ppi is not jagged etc.

Photoshop CSx has presets for correct DVD menus (rounded pixels) -> choose "New" and scroll down "Preset" -> PAL D1/DV with guides. With such preset, your picture and fonts won't look nice when viewed in Photoshop but they will display correctly on a TV monitor.

Picture should be scaled exactly to DVD menu, PAL: 720x576 or 720x480 for NTSC. If you author in DA 2 or 3 and your movies are in 16:9 then menu should be 1047x576 - DA doesn't read correctly PSD with rounded pixels 16:9, so it may not display exactly as designed.

BTW: if you have 3 separate movies and you will make them as separate tracks you won't be able to display chapter links on the same menu - each movie will require a separate menu.

I still can't find where TMPGEnc stores their pre-made menu templates on my pc

Usually they are in "Program Files\Pegasys Inc\TMPGEnc...\Templates" (depends which version of DVD Author you use). You may also try to search PC for *.tda or *.tda3 - I don't know what extension uses TDA 2, perhaps *.tda2.

Last but not least: TDA 2 and above always re-encodes video unlike TDA 1.6. However, re-encoding is in most cases not noticeable but such (shitty) feature caused me to stay away from this program. I author DVB-S captures almost exclusively, and TDA always likes to re-encode them, even if the stream is in DVD standard.

After tries with DVD-Lab Pro, I switched to DVD Maestro, and I won't change it for anything else I use TDA3 just for making a keyframe list for chapters because it's much easier than in Maestro, imo.

[ccrider895]

Originally Posted by pawel

Resolution doesn't matter unless 75ppi is not jagged etc.


Picture should be scaled exactly to DVD menu, PAL: 720x576 or 720x480 for NTSC. If you author in DA 2 or 3 and your movies are in 16:9 then menu should be 1047x576 - DA doesn't read correctly PSD with rounded pixels 16:9, so it may not display exactly as designed.

BTW: if you have 3 separate movies and you will make them as separate tracks you won't be able to display chapter links on the same menu - each movie will require a separate menu.


Usually they are in "Program Files\Pegasys Inc\TMPGEnc...\Templates" (depends which version of DVD Author you use). You may also try to search PC for *.tda or *.tda3 - I don't know what extension uses TDA 2, perhaps *.tda2.

Last but not least: TDA 2 and above always re-encodes video unlike TDA 1.6. However, re-encoding is in most cases not noticeable but such (shitty) feature caused me to stay away from this program. I author DVB-S captures almost exclusively, and TDA always likes to re-encode them, even if the stream is in DVD standard.

After tries with DVD-Lab Pro, I switched to DVD Maestro, and I won't change it for anything else I use TDA3 just for making a keyframe list for chapters because it's much easier than in Maestro, imo.

Thanks for more info, Pawel. I actually re-rendered the DVD last night and it came out great. Getting the template size right was more about the picture and the text looking "stretched" across the screen. I have much more experience making very hi-res printable things in P-shop, and making things smaller without making them look crappy & pixelated is a bit of a challenge for me.

I'm using TMPGEnc DVD author 1.6. I looked in the program files folder, and I couldn't find a single bitmap or .jpg file in the folder which was really weird. I just copied the size from another program's templates. it seems to work great.

Fortunately, it's an Aud-shot 4:3 dvd, so I did not have to worry about widescreen menus, but thanks for the sizing advice. That should come in handy in the future.

Anyway, Thanks to everyone for their help. The results were quite successful, and I learned a few things.

Love this forum

[pawel]

I don't remember exactly but I think TDA 1.6 doesn't support true 16:9 menus.

[ccrider895]

Originally Posted by pawel

I don't remember exactly but I think TDA 1.6 doesn't support true 16:9 menus.

Hmmm, it's quite possible, but I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. I also have a friend who swears by DVD Maestro, but I haven't seen that in action yet either.

I'm assuming DVD Maestro does not re-encode stuff? Can you work with .VOB files or just mpeg-2? If this program is as great as everyone claims, I may bring something over to to test it when I visit him next month.

[pawel]

My torrents are here: http://www.dimeadozen.org/account-details.php?id=753
or here http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/...ad.php?t=46173

Maestro doesn't open vob files, and I don't need such option as I always demux in ProjectX. I work mostly with transport stream files (.ts).

Please note that the menu has to be prepared in a graphic program as in Maestro you can add links only. For example in Photoshop you can prepare 2 layers file which contains subpicture (1st), and text + graphics (2nd).

I prefer to make whole menu, including textual chapter links, in a graphic program than in TDA. It's more flexible and quicker as the text can be in one paragraph, unlike in TDA and DLP where is a separate line for each chapter.

Yes, Maestro doesn't re-encodes, and renders menus as good as TMPGEnc, which also means much better than DVD-Lab Pro - total crap if you use a video as a background.