View Full Version : How to create a Setup Menu for Alternate Audio track?


Doug Johnston
November 27th, 2006, 11:15 PM
I'm using Adobe Encore 1.5. I'm in an emergency! I need to get this working as soon as possible as I'm trying to order my DVDs tomorrow!! I've been working on this for months, but with no luck and I'm seriously running out of time.

I'm trying to get 2 commentary tracks to work successfully for my 30min. film on a DVD that I'm creating with Encore. I'm pretty sure I've done at least most things correctly:
- I've dropped the alternate audio files into their own audio layers (2 and 3) in the timeline
- I've created a seperate menu just for activiting either audio tracks 2 or 3. I've created 2 sets of ON/OFF buttons for activating the different audio tracks.
- I've linked my buttons by selecting "specify link", selecting the main menu and then selecting audio track 2 (or 3, whichever). The button link then reads the menu name and then A2 (or A3) at the end. This, I feel, should indicate that it would work.

For some reason, though, whenever I try clicking any of the buttons I've created in my Setup menu, it doesn't seem to change the audio track. Audio track 1 remains active no matter what. I've tested it in preview mode and on a DVD. I've tried everything I can think to try.

Any ideas? Any links to very specific tutorials that baby-step through the process of activating the alternate audio tracks with a button?

Thanks for the help!!!

Doug J.
www.freshcreations.com
www.pretendmovie.com

Ervin Farkas
November 28th, 2006, 08:43 PM
Doug, this can be done at least two different ways. You can either have your second audio track be selected from the DVD player's audio menu or you can create a second timeline (with your second audio track) linked to a navigation button.

Either way, you have to separate your video from the audio. I've played around with this in Encore 1.5 just for fun, to learn how to do it. After editing my video, I have encoded the avi file into mpeg2 with Sorenson Squeeze that creates separate video and audio files; I have then imported these files into Encore and dropped them on the timelines.

Come to think, since your video is only 30 minutes long, you have another option. You can simply create two video files with the embedded audio, one for each version, then treat these as your source files in Encore.

Here's a tutorial on how to do it if you want to select the language from the DVD player's audio menu: http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/encore/articles/enc15multiling/enc15multiling.pdf

Some excellent basic Encore tutorials can be found here (including one on multiple audio tracks): http://www.wrigleyvideo.com/videotutorial/tut_encore.htm

Good luck,