Single video looping without a menu For DVD Studio Pro 2

Creativecow.net DVD Studio Pro 2.0 Tutorial

Alex Alexzander

©2003 Alex Alexzander and Creativecow.net. All rights are reserved.

Article Focus:
The question of how to create a DVD that simply plays like a VHS tape comes up often enough that Alex Alexzander thought a tiny instruction would be helpful. In this tutorial, Alex demonstrates how to create a single and repeating play DVD with no menus using DVD Studio Pro 2.

You may wish to create a DVD that works a lot like a VHS player. No menus, just insert the DVD and it repeat plays. This is the most simplistic of DVDs to create and since the question comes up often enough, here is a brief on exactly how to do this with Apple's DVD Studio Pro 2.

The objective here is to create a track asset that repeats play over and over again. In order for this to take place, you must set what is called the First Run, of the DVD to your single track asset. In turn, that track will play, then check its End Jump property which we will set to wait for 3 seconds then play the same track again.

You may also want to re-route some of the remote control functions and disable others since creating a simple looping DVD will have no menu. The default property of the remote functions such as Title, Menu, and Return will all be re-routed back to the track asset rather than the default created Menu 1 asset.

Assets Tab:

Track Tab:

Using the assets tab, import your video and audio assets.

Once imported, drag-n-drop your video and audio into the V1 and A1 sections of the track tab.

Outline Tab:

Select the DVD asset at the top of the Outline tab. We'll be setting properties with the property inspector for the UNTITLED_DISC asset and the Track 1 asset. Select the Property button the top menu and leave it open as you will use it often.

Property Inspector [ Disc Asset ]:

Note that the UNTITLED_DISC in the name property of the asset Disc has a First Play pull down option. Pulling this down will reveal assets you have in the outline tab. Set the First Play to Track 1 > Track 1 > [TRACK].

Go back to the Outline tab and select the Track 1 asset. This changes the property inspector which now details the properties of the Track 1 asset. Here you will set several functions including the end jump of the track, a wait state after play, and the properties of the remote control of the set-top boxes remote functionality.

Property Inspector [ Track 1 Asset ]:

Note that the Track 1 property for Name is Track 1. The End Jump is set to not set. Click on the not set pull down and select Track 1 > Track 1 > [TRACK] just as you did with the First Play of the Disc asset. Just as the DVD is told to First Play the track asset, the track itself also is told to play the track.

General Tab [ Track 1 - Property Inspector ]:

Playback Options

Set the Playback Options to Seconds: 3. This will create a small pause between repeat playback of the track asset.

Remote Control:

Click on the UNTITLED_DISC asset in the Outline tab, as we are going to now modify the some remote control functions of the DVD itself.

Set the Title, Menu, and Return options each to Track 1. This sets the interaction between the remote control and the DVD. Without this change from default, selecting Menu or Title from the remote would cause the DVD to go to the blank Menu 1 asset which is not configured in this example. You would have no way to exit that menu causing you to eject the DVD from the player and re-start it.

User Operations [ Tab ]:

Now lets click on the Track 1 asset in the Outline tab and modify remote functionality for this asset.

Select the User Operations tab of the Track 1 property using the property inspector and select the Disable All button at the bottom. Now un check the Stop box. This allows the user to Stop, and Play but disabled other common functions since you will not need them.

Check the simulator and make sure your DVD plays continuously. Test the buttons and make sure they are satisfactory. Note the remote has many of the common buttons dimmed as they are no longer user choices.

Now Build and Format your DVD.

That's it!!

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You can find Alex posting as "sfoalex"

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Single video looping without a menu For DVD Studio Pro 2