Software » Authoring DVD » DVD-lab 1.3.1

Version 1.3.2
http://www.mediachance.com/files/DVDlab132update.exe
New Features and fixes
- The File Browser is completely redone (the MS stuff is out), now with file info, color coding, favorities and ability to preview files.
- Menu Object can have various new effects - Bevel, Glass, Mirror, Magnifier...
- The Render Motion Menu some work, smoother fine scrub, Pre-Buffering (starts decoding a movie bit earlier and then extact frames when the decoder ir "warmed up". This should fix the first GOP jump issue)
- Plug-ins folder in assets, has space for Plug-ins (Components, Scripts)
- Run lab-TALK scripts in either interpreting mode or pre-compiled form (in C++ for example)
- Run Smart Components - a component with embedded script
- DCT Transcoder to reduce size of asset files. This operates similarly to DVD Shrink or DVD2One, (but on the input mpeg files rather than on whole DVD) where the transcoder simply reuse mpeg motion vectors and therefore recompress the mpeg file size in just few minutes. This is just a means for a quick reducing less important files. Make sure you know the tradeof.
- Audio Delay Info. If you select Program Stream in assets and click Audio Delay button you will get the info of the PS A/V delay. If you select audio file then it is as before - correct Audio Delay.
- MPEG-1 ES files can now be previewed and compiled
- Direct access from DVD-lab assets to TMPGEnc AC3 plugin (WAV and MPA transcoding)
- New and improved demultiplexer, now it will demux in 2 pass (video then audio) which prevents from fragmentation of the disc. It is also faster and more stable than previous one.
- Component system in Connection windows - you can group objects and use them as black box, you can also export/import such components
- Adobe Photoshop 6,7 export/import fixes
- Load Sub Picture now converts the subpicture to 4 Colors
- You can directly drag images and *.mnu files from explorer to menu
- Output folder is now saved with the project.
- Testing mpa audio frequency in PS mpg without demuxing throw error if not 48kHz.
- You can also drag link from Project to Connections Menus and it will behave as if you use Draw Button Links. Bit awkward but the option is there.
- Some changes in mpa testing, the large allocated buffer seems to caused some problems
- Rebuild All Transitions on one click
- Add Transition Tool in connection (Draw arrow from menu to menu)
- Test compile now replaces also slideshow. The dummy image is now dynamically generated with information about the movie.
- Choose type of Default (Empty) project or create your own default project.


Version 1.3.1
New Features and fixes
- The File Browser is completely redone (the MS stuff is out), now with file info, color coding, favorities and ability to preview files.
- Menu Object can have various new effects - Bevel, Glass, Mirror, Magnifier...
- The Render Motion Menu some work, smoother fine scrub, Pre-Buffering (starts decoding a movie bit earlier and then extact frames when the decoder ir "warmed up". This should fix the first GOP jump issue)
- Plug-ins folder in assets, has space for Plug-ins (Components, Scripts)
- Run lab-TALK scripts in either interpreting mode or pre-compiled form (in C++ for example)
- Run Smart Components - a component with embedded script
- DCT Transcoder to reduce size of asset files. This operates similarly to DVD Shrink or DVD2One, (but on the input mpeg files rather than on whole DVD) where the transcoder simply reuse mpeg motion vectors and therefore recompress the mpeg file size in just few minutes. This is just a means for a quick reducing less important files. Make sure you know the tradeof.
- Audio Delay Info. If you select Program Stream in assets and click Audio Delay button you will get the info of the PS A/V delay. If you select audio file then it is as before - correct Audio Delay.
- MPEG-1 ES files can now be previewed and compiled
- Direct access from DVD-lab assets to TMPGEnc AC3 plugin (WAV and MPA transcoding)
- New and improved demultiplexer, now it will demux in 2 pass (video then audio) which prevents from fragmentation of the disc. It is also faster and more stable than previous one.
- Component system in Connection windows - you can group objects and use them as black box, you can also export/import such components
- Adobe Photoshop 6,7 export/import fixes
- Load Sub Picture now converts the subpicture to 4 Colors
- You can directly drag images and *.mnu files from explorer to menu
- Output folder is now saved with the project.
- Testing mpa audio frequency in PS mpg without demuxing throw error if not 48kHz.
- You can also drag link from Project to Connections Menus and it will behave as if you use Draw Button Links. Bit awkward but the option is there.
- Some changes in mpa testing, the large allocated buffer seems to caused some problems
- Rebuild All Transitions on one click
- Add Transition Tool in connection (Draw arrow from menu to menu)
- Test compile now replaces also slideshow. The dummy image is now dynamically generated with information about the movie.
- Choose type of Default (Empty) project or create your own default project.


Version 1.4 (BETA 2) download dvdlab14b2.exe (4MB). There are no backgrounds, buttons or any templates so you need to have 1.3 full installed before adding this update.
Known issues with this beta:

The Alternative multiplexer engine (Relaxed) has been temporarly unplugged, make sure you don't select this option.
The demuxer doesn't demux pcm streams properly.
New Features and fixes
- New multiplexer that should fix the WAV problems together with few other muxer related issues
- The File Browser is completely redone (the MS stuff is out), now with file info, color coding, favorities and ability to preview files.
- Menu Object can have various new effects - Bevel, Glass, Mirror, Magnifier...
- The Render Motion Menu some work, smoother fine scrub, Pre-Buffering (starts decoding a movie bit earlier and then extact frames when the decoder ir "warmed up". This should fix the first GOP jump issue)
- Plug-ins folder in assets, has space for Plug-ins (Components, Scripts)
- Run lab-TALK scripts in either interpreting mode or pre-compiled form (in C++ for example)
- Run Smart Components - a component with embedded script
- Fix for LPCM multiplexing issues with Panasonic and few others.
- DCT Transcoder to reduce size of asset files. This operates similarly to DVD Shrink or DVD2One, (but on the input mpeg files rather than on whole DVD) where the transcoder simply reuse mpeg motion vectors and therefore recompress the mpeg file size in just few minutes. This is just a means for a quick reducing less important files. Make sure you know the tradeof.
- Audio Delay Info. If you select Program Stream in assets and click Audio Delay button you will get the info of the PS A/V delay. If you select audio file then it is as before - correct Audio Delay.
- MPEG-1 ES files can now be previewed and compiled
- Direct access from DVD-lab assets to TMPGEnc AC3 plugin (WAV and MPA transcoding)
- New and improved demultiplexer, now it will demux in 2 pass (video then audio) which prevents from fragmentation of the disc. It is also faster and more stable than previous one.
- Component system in Connection windows - you can group objects and use them as black box, you can also export/import such components
- Adobe Photoshop 6,7 export/import fixes
- Load Sub Picture now converts the subpicture to 4 Colors
- You can directly drag images and *.mnu files from explorer to menu
- Output folder is now saved with the project.
- Testing mpa audio frequency in PS mpg without demuxing throw error if not 48kHz.
- You can also drag link from Project to Connections Menus and it will behave as if you use Draw Button Links. Bit awkward but the option is there.
- Some changes in mpa testing, the large allocated buffer seems to caused some problems
- Rebuild All Transitions on one click
- Add Transition Tool in connection (Draw arrow from menu to menu)
- Test compile now replaces also slideshow. The dummy image is now dynamically generated with information about the movie.
- Fix for the case when two or more menus with 16:9 motion background would crash compiler.
- Choose type of Default (Empty) project or create your own default project.
- Some changes in Record module - now you can manually select the type of DVD which works more reliably than auto-sensing.


Version 1.3.1 release (This is the official latest version) 25.11.2003
- As always when you release software, something come up the same day - The Record module was not updated and it remembers the output folder from 1.1 release, not 1.3.


Version 1.3 release 25.11.2003
- Deleteing a movie will now keep the First Play and Title button with correct movie (fix from beta 9)
- Throw error if importing file is a mono wav. (this caused to play the DVD 2x speed - chipmunk)
- Rewrite GOP Timecodes fix for file >4GB
- Compile Dilaog: Frame-Index is now moved to Pre-Compile options (Create/Use Frame Index...) and few other small changes


Version 1.3 BETA 9 20.11.2003
- Deleteing an object (like menu or movie) will now keep all End links in proper place. This was often seen in transition when deleting one will mess up all other transition connections.
- because of the work in progress the beta 8 menus in connections displayed all ROOT icon. It was only cosmetic issue and it is fixed in beta 9
- If total time can't be quickly determined in assets it will write '0-GOP' instead of 00:00:00 which may take people less by surprise
- If you use Bitrate Viewer and let it finish the whole length of movie, this new calculated time will be set in the Assets

Version 1.3 BETA 8 (RC3) 17.11.2003
- Fix for the Menu with Audio problem on some players (Highliting shows only few sec, but audio continues to play)
- Bitrate display based on 1000 not on 1024
- ac3 big endian import fix


Version 1.3 BETA 7 11.11.2003
- The mp2 is back as Audio and DVD-lab offers to rename mp2 to mpv if it is wrongly named Pinnacle file.
- The Rewrite GOP timecode now actually works, previously it was writing only zeros.
- NTSC Overheat lost its graph in beta 6, now it is back.
-Fix the control for antialiased subpictures so you can't select the other colors.
-You can now move with arrow keys or delete multiple selected objects in menu
- F2 in project window allows editing the label of movie/menu/slideshow
- When you load project and file is no longer present it will allow you to locate it manually.
-The adding files to Music or Clip bin now check the file for valid parameters. Also it will allow you to copy there files less than 15MB. These bins are for storage of short clips that you use very often. (You can still add longer clip by directly copying to the Music or Clips folder in explorer)
(Not in beta 7: Transcode audio has also Output is wav option in External so you can use beSweet to convert Wav 44kHz to Wav 48kHz)

Version 1.3 BETA 6 03.11.2003
Release candidate
- Finally fix for the PAL hi-lite bug that affected few PAL players such as Samsung, Bush, Cyberhome
- Fix for some very rare cases when the background of highliting area can become visible (blue).
- Added displaying of Average Bitrate in Assets and in connection
-Some GUI fixes, added reset toolbars.
-Save, Cancel fix (file was saved anyway)
-Fix Force Selection on motion (couldn't select any other button than selected)
-Fix Force Activate on still menus with audio
-Added Bitrate Viewer for detailed examination of actual bitrate over the whole movie.
-Added Rewrite GOP timecode tool
-Warning if Average Bitrate of input files is too high
-The Import chapters saves the chapterpoints also as frame number so at compile you can choose between fast (timecode) or precize (Frame-Index) chapters.
- Allows adding Frame-Index chapters even if the GOP timecode is missing.
- Since Pinnacle uses *.MP2 as Video, but some people have *.mp2 as audio, to avoid confussion DVD-lab now understand *.mp2 as video but offers renming it to *.mpa if user imports an audio with this extension.

Version 1.3 BETA 5 21.10.2003
Mainly fixes before release
- Fix for Frame indexing repeat frame flag (pulldown, tivo files)
- Fix LPCM-WAV conversion, added Play button to hear the LPCM sample

Version 1.3 BETA 4 15.10.2003
- Menu Count issue fix, now you can have 254 menus (previously only first 127 were accessible)
- ability to link end of the movie with one of the first 63 menus. Now you can link end of the movie to a movie, slideshow, a menu or use RET to return to last opened menu.
- PAL highlight yet another fix. While still not sure what is the root of the problem, this may help
- fix muxer for high bitrate video and pcm
- fix for frame indexing prior compile
- fix supporting some rare mpv files
- fix for displaying transitions in connection from previous version
- fix Export chapter Save dialog (extension missing)
- Panasonic VRO files will now not offer demuxing or joining, the correct import is without demuxing so no choice will be given.
- Fixed Trim end if trimming above 2GB (infinite loop)
- Improved reading of mpeg total time
- Improved adding chapterpoints to some messed-up vobs.
- Added support for 96/24 PCM audio

Version 1.3 BETA 3 03.10.2003
- New Cardinal Shape objects for menus. Cardinal polynome or line differs from a normal straigth-edge polynome - it can be rounded by seting a Shape Roundness (Tension) which is a great way to create nice smooth shapes.
- Layer effect settings for objects ( Normal, Screen, Multiply, Hard Light, etc..)
-audio in assets now show the total time
- fixed Adobe PSD import with layers (crashing or not importing all layers)
- some internal memory fixes for menu audio and other Compile memory problems
- Transitions in Connection now have much smaller representation which fits between menus (and it also doesn't shift menus outside screen.)
- you can now move First Play and Title buttons in connection. Also a smal facelift on connection object was done.
- you can't move object in connection outside reachable area.
- Multiplexer fix: SCR sequencing negative data fixed
- Flexible muxing renamed to Alternative and a warning is displayed when in use
- fixed Page Curl with the pre-post timer
- Record module, added size indicator,
- Ability to choose and burn Mini-DVD (DVD on CD-R)
- Preparation structure for VMG and multiple VTS in next versions

Version 1.3 BETA 2 21.08.2003
- fixed VOB joining
- Improved Slideshow (now it works correctly with PowerDVD 5.0)
- Ability to adjust duration of each slide separately. This let you visually stretch the presentation to desired time frame.
- improved reading and showing DTS informations in assets
- the compile will not abort if an error is found during verification, just the log will be displayed but it will continue
- convert PCM to WAV (adding correct headers)

Version 1.3 BETA 1 11.08.2003
- A full Slideshow, drag&drop, audio, various fit sizes, auto-crop portraits, background, drop shadow, customizable title for any slide (with nice outline!) and also automatic bleed fitting for 16:9 (!). Note at this moment the slideshow doesn't work in PowerDVD 5.0 for some reason
- largely improved standard Muxer (Fast, DVD compatible), now it should be able to mux smoothly files which previously resulted in audio or video stuttering
- Allows creating HD-DVD (MP@HL Main Profile & High Level)
- ability to adjust Audio Delay (+/-) of AC3 and MPA
- New Render Menu Motion. This tool has the abilty to render the menu with motion thumbnails or motion background into an avi which you can then use to encode and create motion menu background. Also comes with a totally unique Shuffle Loop Point feature (which I invented the other day). This feature will shuffle each thumbnail cut point to a different time so when the menu loops, each thumbnails will start repeat in different time. The whole effect is that you can hardly spot the point when the menu will start looping. Something that hollywood should have learned. A tutorial is here.
- System MPEG quick re-muxing (Import without demultiplexing) can be now switched in Properties-Options to quietly perform normal Demultiplexing prior the compile. The current way is to do the re-muxing on-the-fly (parallel to compile) which in a case when mpeg has different mux ration may cause audio loss (the compile has not getting audio data fast enough). As an option you can now switch this to perform it in a "serial" mode, that means demux the files quietly first then use them as elementary in further compile.
- Transitions, now have added Hold A and Hold B time
- Antialiasing option for menu subpicture. This will automatically set and use the three color groups to create one color subpictures with a better antialiasing. This will make the selection overlay look less jagged on a TV. (as much as you can antialias with only 3 shades)
- Connections - now you can also draw links from buttons with Draw Buttons Link Tool
- Scroll Hand for Connection (also works with Spacebar)
- Menu - a cool 3D rotation tool, you can simply rotate or perspective pan any object, text and video stills in the menu.
- displaying of DVD verification log

Version 1.2.2b BETA
- Many fixes in the compile dll, no new features. If you experienced problems with 1.2.1 (while 1.1 worked fine) please test 1.2.2 if this fixed the problems.
- fix for ES audio compile problem (1.2.2)

Version 1.2.1 BETA

- Optional Frame-Indexing movies and therefore ability to enter chapters by frame number with better accuracy.
- Option to Follow Link during Simulation. If enabled, when you click on button during simulation you will get to the linked item etc...
- Multiple selections of Menu Objects and operations: move, resize, set same size, align, place to grid, change color, drop shadow
- More Drag&Drop helpers: When you drag a Movie from Project to empty place on menu a thumbnail and link will be automatically created (Holding Shift will create just a text). If you drag a Menu a Text with link will be added.
- Change: before Movie could return to first 10 menus only, now this is extended (on account of remembering selection of last button), Force select button now set to 1 by default
-DVD verification of burned discs.
-LPCM fix for some wav
-some changes in relaxed multiplexing

Version 1.2 BETA

- added flexible (relaxed) multiplexer, now user can decide between the Fast, DVD compliant or the new Flexible. The Flexible takes bit more time and it also needs 2x more temporary space but it should be able to process almost any, even non compliant files without stuttering. (TiVo, SATV etc..)
- added pie charts to compile dialog for size check
- added pie charts to Connection view to display what percentage each movie takes from DVD disc
- added DVD Topology view which shows where (physical position) each data items will be recorded on the DVD disc
- fix for stack overflow intoduced in 1.15

Version 1.15 BETA (June 7th 2003)

- fix for 256kbps AC3 streams and some wav files
- fix for Activated colors not showing in menu
- full Adobe Photoshop support: now you can export the whole menu to layered PSD and also import a Photoshop made menu.
- Added Reduce Jitter option - it will smooth the edges of objects which prevents from jitter of the menu on TV
- Added Add to Project button - you can add video and audio to Movie or Connection without dragging.
- synchronization between Project tree and Connection view.
- support for drop frame videos and recalculation of chapter points from DF to NDF.
- Joining VOB files option
- added *.m2p as possible input
- Color Map control and Link Control fix
- Tools- IFO Editor Audio settings- you can now easily change the audio settings in DVD-lab generated IFO's which for example enables using vobs with multiple audio streams
- Post-Compile Option: Force Audio for all Movies. This will check the compilation and eventually force audio for all PGC's where the compiler failed locate audio stream. (This is the case where VOB plays fine with audio, but the whole DVD claims no audio)
- Demuxer fix for some not correctly cut streams where the demux will loop at the end adding dummy data to mpv or mpa untill the disc is full.

Version 1.1 (official release May 19, 2003) 17.05.2003

- Import VOB files without demultiplexing and compile them without re-muxing.
- Audio transcode, Stop button added for 48KHz transcode
- Set thumbnail size when dragging from Preview or Link (Properties-Advanced)
- Show size of object in Connection

Version 1.0512 12.05.2003

- Better support for non-elementary MPG (Gop out of memory size for non-elementary)
- Allows designing 16:9 menus. Such menus can be viewed properly only on Widescreen TV.
- Enable to Demux AC3 from MPEG.
- Some MPEG audio muxing fix
- Allow Floating windows load properly on multiple monitors (default) . You can switch it on/off in Properties.
- Set Chapter Lag - play the chapter -/+1sec late/early
- Adding background while holding Control will not stretch the image to the size of canvas but fit "outside".
- Post-command changed to resume to Cell 1 (rare software player problem)
- Buttons & Frames renamed to Objects
- The item under objects can be now sorted in the subdirectories Objects: Frames, Buttons, Arrows etc, (you can add your own subdir)
- Ability to switch between thumbnail view and text view in assets.
- Double-click on audio in assets calls associated application (default). You can switch it on/off in Properties. Now you can blame Windows Media Player if it crashes.
- Warning if mixing ac3/mpa/wav on a single DVD.
- Right click Import calls now the Open dialog rather than the build-in explorer.

Version 1.0508 - Audio edition 08.05.2003

- Common AC3 bug fix - the muxing of ac3 was sometimes cut out too early (or completely in some cases), in menu only first ac3 was muxed, other menus often had no ac3 audio
- crash fix when imported ac3 audio didn't exist (for example when loaded old project, or if Transcode failed)
- Added MPEG Audio to Linear PCM decoding in Transcode Audio.
- added option to offer decoding to PCM when importing MPEG Audio (not by default)
- Compile on background window redone.

Version 1.0505 05.05.2003

- Test to solve the problem which was described as "Hanging at 99%" or "Not able to create DVD over DVD-R size" but which was in fact a bitrate problem.
- If you drag movie to emty space in connection view it asks you if you like to add a movie. Also if you drag background to empty space it asks you to add Menu.
- If you click at chapter point the [+] sign below changes to [-] and you can now remove it by clicking on this button. (Previously only with Delete key)
- change size and position of object by numbers (right click menu on object)

Version 1.0503 03.05.2003

- Fix for DVD+RW writing
- Added TimeMap in IFO - software DVD Players have now enabled the "scroll bar"
- Some fix for more compatibility with sectors issue which previously could prevent from playing on some rare players. Most notably when burned with Nero.
- Audio transcode can call external exe command line utility (such as BeSweet and many others).
- MPEG Visual Parser added, you can see the structure of Elementary video file, GOP, headers, frames. You can save it to a Description file and also compare with other Description file. If there is something wrong with your m2v file, you can now look at the details. You may discover missing headers or frames..
- Added progress in Compile window
- Export Chapters to file
- Added Lens Flare Object for some easy-cheesy effects.
- Added Embedded Vector Object. This will directly work with Real-DRAW PRO 3.1 or DVD Menu Studio to create objects without the Import/Export hassle. Also embedded object can be edited any time later. It basically works like a sort of Package in Real-DRAW.
If you have these applications you need to grab new x.1 update for them to test this.

Version 1.0427 27.04.2003

- Fix on reported DVD size with multiplexed videos.
- Fix on GOP size out of memory size on DVD compliant files
- Added Rulers and Guidelines to Menu
- Added Layer object view
- Renamed General tab to PBC
- Added Import button in assets (File Open dialog with multiple selection), allso right mouse click
- GUI fix for menu properties
- Added Motion and Audio Tracks display in menu
- Connections - show straight lines now display lines behind the objects so it is actually useful


Version 1.0421 21.04.2003

- Fix for autoplay problem on Panasonic and probably few others.
- Use multiplexed streams: if you use multiplexed stream it gives ability to choose to demux or use the multiplexed file as it is. Note, if you use multiplexed file it must be 100% DVD compliant or else the Compile/playback will fail
- another tryout for international characters in menu text
- Properties - Options - Accept Non-DVD frame sizes ( for all other video sizes - it will let you continue)
- easier restrictions on aspect ratio (just warning)
- transcode no longer top most
- support for wav from Avid
- jump by i-frame in menu as well (preview i-frame buttons)
- Import chapters from file; fix for some rare cases
- Some GUI stuff

Version 1.0416 16.04.2003

- ac3 bitrate fix
- fix for some cases of mpeg audio not playing on DVD while playing inside VOB
- More reliable calculating of movie size
- Change thumbnails in Selection menus by dropping a new still frame from preview to it
- Set Menu as ROOT in the Connection context menu
- Holding ALT while clicking on a pile of objects in Menu will select the object below currently selected. Repeating this will loop thorough all objects in the pile.
- Added Paste Attributes for menu objects
- yet another registration process which should fix the "can't get pass reg. dialog problems"
- new way of calling demux
- transparency property of objects
- Remove Background added to right click menu
- Hybrid DVD writing allows you ato add other files and Folders to DVD
- some minor UI stuff

Version 1.0406
- added timecode display in preview
- changed installation and protection
- new way of calling compile module
- demux into other than same directory - option in Project settings

Version 1.0.1 16.04.2003
- trying to quick fix the crashing of compile when on TiVo and ReplayTV files. Seems helped in some cases, but the TiVo files play jagged. Some Replay TV (edited by womble) seems to work now.

Version 1.0
- initial pre-release