Can you help an RDX32 virgin with ad edits and DVD-R menu creation.....please!!

calibos

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Just got my RDXS32 last week and am very happy with it so far....Well after I swapped it for another new one after I discovered the first one had the 'layer change every few seconds' glitch! :D

Happy with PQ of playback of pre-recorded Dvds
Happy with Sound Quality
Very happy with playback and sound quality of programmes recorded to the HDD at 6.0mbps DDII.
Very Very happy that the remote dongle that gave the 110011 problem with my NTL Pace di300 box but works flawlessly with my new mirror sub Pace DC220 STB that I recieved a few days after the Tosh arrived. :D

So anyway, I have recorded a few programmes to the HDD and want to start transferring them to DVD-R. I had the compatibility mode set to mode I for these recordings. Atm I only have some Mitsubishi Dvd-R's that I picked up along with the Tosh. How will I check that these are compatible with the famously picky 32?

I want to fit two episodes onto each DVD-R. I understand that at 6.0 (DDII) that I can fit 91 minutes on a DVD-R. I am assuming that after editing out the ad breaks that each episode should be about 45 minutes meaning I should be able to fit the 2 episodes. So recording on the HDD at 6.0 saves me space there, doesn't compromise PQ that I can see, Gives me two episodes per DVD-R which is fine as long as I can find low cost (but reliable!) blanks (Any recommendations??), enables me to do a high-Speed Dub meaning I don't lose chapters when its recorded to DVD-R and I dont have to sit up all night monitoring batches of rate converted realtime dubs once the Home Cinema room is free of siblings!! :D

Have I gotten all that right??

So my first real question is about the edits for the ad breaks. I understand that when setting up chapters on Titles that will end up on DVD-R I should set GOP on, so that I can position the chapter marks (edit points) more precisely. What hasn't been totally clear to me from reading other threads is what exactly to do once I set up the chapters on the orginal title. I've read stuff about reducing fragmention of the HDD and thus making a copy of the original title, then making a playlist from the copy, then copying the playlist to the DVD-R. Is that correct? Or do I even have to worry about making copies and then playlists of copies etc etc when I intend to delete an episode(Title) totally from the HDD once its copied to DVD-R.

Next question concerns the Menus on the DVD-R. Will the end result of two episodes(titles) per disc be a menu like those on a pre-recorded disc. ie Top menu would have two thumbnails, one for each Title(episode), which upon clicking either, would take you to a menu with a PLAY button and/or with thumbnails of the chapters for that particular episode(title)

or

would the top menu of the DVD-R just have a list of chapters with thumbnails from both episodes, in which case you would make sure you named the first chapter of the second episode 'EPISODE 2' so that you could find the beginning of the second episode amongst the list of chapters! :D I know I'm probably being a complete eejit but can someone clarify. ie whats the menu structure going to be like on a disc with two episodes(titles) and how do I go about creating it?

I also read something about screenshots in some thread. Was this refering to thumbnails or was it it to do with customising the default menu backgrounds. ie instead of say the default blue menu background you could have a screenshot of say the '24' title logo as the background for your '24' episodes. Could you get this logo like a chapter thumbnail or by screenshot, did people mean pausing the logo on screen, taking a photo with a digicam, burning to CDR and transferring the pic to the tosh that way.

As you can see, I have picked up a little information from the various Tosh threads but a little information can be dangerous as they say! :D

So can some kind sole put me straight and clear a few things up for me?? The manual is of little help to a noob as everyone already knows and the :rtfm: smilie is conspicuous by its absence in Toshiba threads!!
 
Create a playlist and then high speed dub the playlist to DVD-R.
Use a seperate playlist for each episode.
This should give you two seperate titles on the top level menu, the 2nd level menu will give you the speperate chapters.
Then finalize it. You can change the background but as far as I can tell the images have to come from the title. You can change the thumbnails used for the chapters, also taken from the title.

I use datawrite greys 8x with no problems.

I'd suggest having a couple of goes on dvd-rw's just to make sure it all turns out the way you want it first.

good luck
 
Just to build on SDHoward’s answers, and also the other post in a different thread:

Yes, doing as SDHoward suggests you will see 2 different titles on your main screen. You can optionally have chapter menus for these as well.

You can use any image from any of your titles as the background. It doesn’t have to be any particular title. And once you’ve saved one of the images, it remains even if you delete the title. I don’t believe you can do this from a jpeg on a CDR, though I haven’t tried to be sure. I think it has to be from a video title you have recorded. You do this by “Saved Captured Images” (page 129 of the manual).

There is a thread on XS32 media. For –RW, make sure they are 1-2x only, 4x won’t work. I use TDK. For –R, I use Verbatim “pastel coloured” (TY02 dye). Both work well.

Mark
 
Okay, I recorded Nepolean Dynamite off sat to my HDD. Created chapters (80 believe it or not) in GOP mode. Saved Created thumbnails. Created playlist. Saved. Burned DVD-R. Because I have found in the past that my chap breaks would include the end of the last chap, I went 4 frames into my next chapter hoping to accuratly and precisely divide chaps. I mean that when I go into my menu and I select a chapter, I want it to start on the beginning of that chapter not the the end of the previous one. That still didn't work. Since, I believe, GOP mode jumps 11 frames, do I have to go 11 frames into the next chap to get a precise break? This is driving me nuts. How do I get precise breaks? Thanks for your patience. Zasu :confused:
 
The advantage of setting the chapter points in GOP mode is if you view it via the HDD, the points will be the same place as when you dub to DVD-R - as it will put it on a GOP boundary (I think 11 frames is right). You can't set the point to be at a specific frame in GOP mode. This is a limitation of DVD-R.

If you turn the GOP mode off, you can set a frame specific point, but it will keep this only if you dub to DVD-RAM. As soon as you dub to DVD-R it will move it to the next GOP point.

Mark
 

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