Burn two separate projects to one DVD

[Mike]

Hello,



Is it possible to burn two separate projects independently to the same DVD and how do I do this.



Regards,

[StuartG]

Hi, what you can do to achieve something like this is to import the slideshows from one project into another. This then appends these slideshows into your currently loaded project, so you end up with a project with both slideshows. You can then save this as different project if you wish and burn.

For example if you have ProjectA containing slideshow1 and then have ProjectB containing slideshow2 and then want to burn a DVD containing both slideshows you can:-

-Load ProjectA (with slideshow1)
-Select ‘Import slideshows’ from the ‘Menu structure’ tab.
-Select ProjectB .pds2 file and then tick Slideshow2; then import.
-Then save this combined project as ProjectC containing both slideshow1 and slideshow2; and then burn it.

Tutorial video #16 covers this.

Also user manual here may explain more

www.photovidshow.com/userguide/c/dev/photovidshow/user%20manual/for%204.1.5/user%20guide/how%20to%20organize%20the%20disk%20structure%20and%20menus%20(optical%20media%20outputs%20only)/impoting%20a%20slideshow%20from%20another%20project.html

[Mike]

Thank you for your response to my earlier enquiry. In order to get two separate slideshows burnt onto a single disc, I have applied a bit of logic (not always wise!) and experimented with the following:

1) Create a new project
2) Prepare 'Menu' with main title and titles of both slideshows
3) Create a sub-menu
4) Add title of slideshow #1 and a 'Play' button
5) Add slideshow #1 images
6) Create a further sub-menu
7) Add title of slideshow #2 and a 'Play' button
8) Add slideshow #2 images

The all important question is 'will this work and can the slideshows be played separately'?

Your advice will be appreciated.

[StuartG]

Hi, I’m not sure I fully understand. As far as I can tell you are creating a main (top) menu with both of your two slideshows, then creating two sub menus, which then contain the same slideshows?

In general each slideshow you add to your project (and menu) will play separately. After it has played it will go back to the menu where you can then select another slideshow to play. You can also add some ‘Play all’ type buttons which do other things but I don’t think that it is what you are asking.

It maybe best to experiment with it, creating very short slideshows until you understand how it works. If you don’t want to keep wasting burnt DVDs there are two ways round it:-

a) The DVD player software which came with your DVD burner ‘may’ have an option to load a DVD from a ‘folder’ i.e. from your hard-drive rather than a disc. What it is looking for is a folder called ‘VIDEO_TS’. In this case you can just select, in PhotoVidShow, the encode only option when creating a DVD. The output DVD folder will be stored in ‘Documents/PhotoVidShow/Authored/project name’ . You can always burn this folder to DVD at a later date with PhotoVidShow (select the burn previously encode project option).

b) You could also use DVD-RW discs which are erasable.

Otherwise I would go with my previous steps.

[Mike]

Thanks for your help with the slideshows.

There are no slideshows associated with the main (top) menu; only sub-menus 1 and 2 have one of each. Anyway, the upshot of my 'logic' was that it did not work and would not allow me to encode the project. At first, I thought it might be the lack of a slideshow in the main (top) menu so I deleted it but no luck there! In the end I followed your method and 'hay presto'; success. The resultant video runs perfectly on my TV.

I have picked up another oddity with the software which you may be able to explain. If I create a 'VIDEO.TS' file from a project and then wish to create another version of the same project to play around with by renaming the project file; when I try to encode it the software will go through the process as expected but the resultant 'VIDEO.TC and 'AUDIO.TS' folders are empty. Any ideas as to why?

I am gradually getting a better understanding of how the software works and enjoying myself into the bargain.

Many thanks,

[StuartG]

Hi thanks for emailing me your project .pds2 file, I've emailed you a fixed version.

The problem is one of our known issues. Basically what has happened is that you have deleted the ‘slideshow button’ thumbnail for your slideshow from the main menu, meaning there is no slideshows in the project to author. I’ve added it back in.

The idea is that this can never occur, except there is a way via the ‘order layers’ window, from here it is possible to delete it by mistake. If you managed to do it another way, then please let us know!

Also there is another way to fix your project, which is simply to import the slideshow from the problem project from a new empty project. You have to re-design your menu though.