HD-DVD Hot Menus

I searched and didn't find the answer so apologies if this has already been answered.

I purchased an HD-DVD player a couple weeks ago and found the pop-up menus during content play very interesting. I am now trying to create my first HD-DVD disks with some stock footage I have.

I am not seeing any way to create the menus that can be accessed during content playing.

Is DVD Studio Pro 4 not capable of creating those menus?

If not, does anyone know if the next version in FCP Studio 2 will include this?

Thanks for any info.

I don't know anything about authoring TRUE HD-DVD or BluRay discs, yet. I understand that the authoring process is very different, mostly like scripting. This may be why you saw something differnet with a real HD-DVD disc playing out.

To answer your question, DVD Studio Pro can NOT author real Blue laser HD-DVD's even thought it implies it can. It can do so with limited capabilities of Red laser, but not true HI Def DVD authoring. A real let down with Final Cut Studio 2.

John, I am not sure if you have had the opportunity to watch a HD-DVD studio feature yet so let me explain and forgive me if this is just redundant.

When the HD-DVD starts you get exactly the same type of menus on an SD dvd. You get a full screen main menu with branched menus to navigate to. Not sure if creating those is a different process now.

What IS different is that during the movie you can call up the same menu structure while the live film is playing. These menus appear as an overlay on top of the live movie. They are shaped differently and they are along the bottom of the screen so they would require a seperate design process, but the navigation structure is the same as the top menus. In addition you are able to place your own bookmarks during the movie to get back to something you want to see again.

Please note that this is HD-DVD. I have seen but not had the opportunity to play with Blueray yet so I don't know if Blueray can do this.

However, if the new version of DVDSP, FCP Studio 2, is not able to create these or doesn't support other new features in the HD-DVD format it will be a serious problem.

Yes, as I tried to explain, the current DVD Specification does not work this way. Going to a Menu requires leaving the video track and going back to a fixed menu. Designing a menu that works within a video track is not in the DVD Spec.

That's why I suspect this was authored in the TRUE HD-DVD model, which is limited to just one or possibly two PC based applications. Red Laser DVD (4.37 GB) authoring does not allow for this type of on screen menuing.

Understood,

Thanks John. Hopefully the new DVDSP will do true HD authoring. It would be a setback if it doesn't.

Nope, sorry, but the Final Cut Studio 2 version of DVD SP will not yet do Blue Laser authoring.

We are all hoping Apple does somethig about this quickly.

So what kind of HD disk will Studio Pro make? I was excited to see the info online as it stated you could drag and drop HD footage over standard footage, etc., instead of having to do a whole new project.

Kevin

Currently, DVD Studio pro 4.2 can only burn a psuedo HD-DVD onto a Red laser 4.7 GB disc using H.264 content.

Still not the same as true HD-DVD or BluRay.