10/25/2006 4:02:16 PM

I had the afternoon off from work, so I decided to give the new DVD beta a go.

I like what I see so far. But I can't figure out how to import just a chapter or range of chapters, rather than the whole movie.

And I can't figure out how to mark beginning and end points, until I add the whole movie to the program and edit the video playback settings there. Which is a shame, because the import screen has much better controls, bumping forward and backwards real nice.

Also, if I put the DVD movie in the program and set start and end points, then cue the DVD program item, when I play the program item, it starts at the beginning of the movie, not at the start point that I set. Same problem that currently exists with DVDs and other videos.

So, good news and bad. I can tell you've done a lot of work on this. I just need to know how to use the import properly.

10/25/2006 11:31:33 PM

The import window does not provide for mark-in and mark-out -- that is still done in the Video Playback Settings for a program item. The new transport controls used in the importer will eventually be propogated throughout the rest of the SSP interface. Also, phase 2 of the planned DVD support enhancements will better address the setting of mark-in and mark-out points in conjunction with the import process.

We could have waited untill everything we have in mind was completed before rolling out anything new, or do what we are doing now which is making available what is presently complete, then moving on to the next thing. The later seemed preferable.

10/26/2006 3:22:07 AM

Is there any news about PAL support yet?

10/26/2006 7:43:10 AM

OK. That's cool. Glad to have the chance to start kicking the tires.

It does get by the required screens and menus quite nicely. And no more of those "can't import DVD" messages.

So, is there anyway to "import" just one chapter or multiple chapters?

I went through the menus to "chapters and selected a chapter before I imported and it imported the entire movie.

10/26/2006 8:04:22 AM

According to Doug's Blog,

10/26/2006 4:39:13 PM

Hi -
I am new to this game and the blog. We are tying to import a Worship Video/DVD Trax Companion produced by "He Is Faithful Films" and distributed by Word Music (Wordmusic.com/films). This one is called I Can Only Imagine.  Could not import at all under the earlier DVD Import version, SSP would not even recognize the Titles. This beta version opens the DVD but yields a "Operation Inhibited" when I try to open the DVD Menu.

If I play the DVD and reach the correct track, and try to Import, I get an error message,  "The User Operation is inhibited by DVD Content at this time."

Anyone had any success with these videos?

10/26/2006 8:10:23 PM

I am probably wrong here but here goes.

In the new October Beta I was playing with last night i noticed that the area where you choose your DVD-Rom drive it is a text box.

So bieng a bright spark I tried to tell it to use a DVD that I have on my hard drive and it gives the following message

H:// This is not a DVD drive (something like that)

Now to where i'm most likely wrong

What if you were to change to code so that The DVD import window allows location of the DVD to hard drives like Media Player, Win DVD etc. will let you
(ie. H://DVDNAME/VIDEO_TS/* )

Then this would be a step in the right direction to prevent the "Spin Up" time

I just thought this may be a good change to make.

Just a hopeful thought

10/27/2006 12:11:31 AM

I fixed this today. You will get it in the next beta release.

10/27/2006 12:14:52 AM

Work on using DVD files located in hard drive folders was halted due to complications with the Package-to-Go utility. We'll need to give this some more consideration before fully supporting that feature.

The drop-down list box should not be editable at this time.

10/27/2006 12:39:24 AM

The drop-down list box should not be editable at this time.

On my home workstation it is

And I can now see your complications with Package-to-Go

10/27/2006 8:17:04 AM

I had to revert back to the last release. The beta caused so many problems. Slideshow builder didn't work right.
I had a lot of problems with SSP freezing up. I will wait till that release is more stable.

10/27/2006 2:14:30 PM

[Mr. Burns voice]
Excellent, Smithers. Exxxxxxxxxxcelent!
[/Mr. Burns voice]

10/27/2006 11:03:38 PM

It would be helpful if you tell us what problems you were having with the slide show builder. We are not aware of any problems with that part of the application -- it wasn't modified for any of the DVD support work.

10/29/2006 1:35:19 AM

Hi all,

OK, so I nearly fell over things to try this out (since as you know I am DESPERATE for PAL DVD support), but so far it's not looking good....

PAL DVD support does not work, at least in my case.

Here's what happened:

Running on IBM laptop with winXP and the Oct Beta.
Have WinDVD v4 installed which is working fine.
Put in a commercial PAL DVD.
Opened the DVD panel and do 'create/import from DVD' and get the 'import DVD title dialog box'.
Click on 'open DVD' and get a grey box in the video panel preview window where the video should appear. The 'close DVD' button is now active but nothing else works - If I try to select the menu or the title menu etc. nothing happens.
Some buttons result in red text saying 'operation inhibited'.


I've tried this with a commercial PAL DVD and a home-made (on Mac) DVD and neither work, though both play fine in WinDVD.

So sorry guys... no progress on PAL.

I will upload an .ISO image of a small PAL DVD later so you guy scan download it, burn it to DVD-R and have something to test with.

If anyone else wants to try it too that may help with debugging.

I'm really keen to help out debugging this so let me know if there's anything else you want me to try.

Dave

10/29/2006 8:57:51 PM

I downloaded the October Beta today and I must say I am very pleased. Until today I have not been able to use the DVD feature. I uninstalled my old DVD player and downloaded Intervideo's DVD XPack. I like XPack much better than the full version of Intervideo. It's a lot simpler and easier to use. I didn't update until after the service this morning. During the service I played the 'Operation Christmas Child' promo DVD using a regular DVD player run through our switcher/scaler. It is always a pain when I have to play a DVD that way. There's lots of lag time and I have to mute the output in order to get past the required screens and most of it is guess work. The SSP DVD Module is a much better way to play DVD's. Keep up the good work.

10/30/2006 11:37:50 PM

We do have a PAL DVD that was sent to us, and it does work with the new module. Getting copies of PAL DVDs that aren't supported would be helpful to us.

10/30/2006 11:58:44 PM

I did just noticed that someone from New Zealand posted a comment to my recent blog about the new DVD enhancements and stated that they have been sucessfully using PAL DVDs with the new module.

10/31/2006 3:52:33 AM

Hmmm....so it's just ME that can't get PAL DVDs to play??

I'll have to investigate this a bit more. I can't install it on our 'production' machine, but I will see if I can find another machine to try or can make any progress on the laptop.

I might try the DVD Xpack mentioned above.

Dave

10/31/2006 3:54:34 AM

Actually, forgot to ask:

What is the official support for DVD codecs with this version? WinDVD4? 5? 7?

Also for those of you who HAVE got PAL DVD playback working, can you let us know what DVD codecs you have installed and are using?

Thanks

Dave

10/31/2006 7:08:18 AM

OK, I just did another test on a different PC
Brand new install of SSP (June version)
Installed October beta
installed Intervideo XPack codecs
DVD plays fine in Windows Media Player
SSP DVD import module shows grey screen when DVD is opened, i.e. exactly the same behaviour as on the laptop I tried.

Only thing I can think of - does the Oct Beta HAVE to be installed over the August complete version or should it work installed over the June version?

Thanks

Dave

10/31/2006 3:27:33 PM

Dave I havent got the PAL dvd to work either..

I suspect that the person in NZ that said it was working.. might have used an NTSC disc and didnt realise..?
often they arnt labeled NTSC or PAL sometimes they are??

Having said that.. A couple of years ago on the "old" forums there was someone in London? said they were playing PAL DVD's fine??
so not to sure..

Rod

11/1/2006 5:06:03 AM

Ive tried several PAL DVD's now with 100% success, and no they are not mislabled NTSC's. However the thing i'm doing differently from most is i'm using Cyberlink 7 as a decoder, maybe thats the difference?. I might remove Cyberlink and try WinDvd when i get some time and see if it still works... ill post with how it goes

11/1/2006 5:11:55 AM

No, i was able to install the Oct beta as a clean install all by itself

11/1/2006 7:11:30 AM

OK, I just tried uninstalling the InterVideo DVD XPack and installing the trial version of Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.
This time I get an error message popping up saying "no compatible DVD player available".

...at least it's different!

So if SSP is checking for a compatible DVD player and PowerDVD 7 isn't on the list then bcasse how come your system is working??

Even more confused.

Dave

11/1/2006 12:07:17 PM

Dave,

The trial version of PowerDVD does not work with SSP DVD. You will need the full version of PowerDVD.

Let us know how it does with PAL (here's hoping).

11/1/2006 12:55:06 PM

So DVD's work with PowerDVD's codec now??

11/1/2006 2:08:01 PM

That is the plan...
We have been doing extensive testing with PowerDVD version 7 during the DVD Support Beta period and all looks good so far.

Please let us know if you have any problems during your own testing of the Beta releases with different DVD player software.

11/1/2006 3:28:26 PM

Lucas,

you have a full version of Power DVD at home dont you??

Can you try this and see how you go??.. you might want to remove all the DVD software and reinstall Power dvd..

thanks
Rod

11/1/2006 8:36:53 PM

Rod,

Yes I do have the full version of PowerDVD

I'm at school at the moment but as soon as I get home I will give it a try

(would I have to take all the other Cyberlink software as well?)

11/1/2006 11:09:54 PM

Not sure.....

George... what does he need ..the whole package??

Rod

11/1/2006 11:12:19 PM

It is not working but I only have PowerDVD 5

Sorry guys

11/2/2006 9:44:15 AM

All that is necessary is the PowerDVD player - the other components that CyberLink offers are not needed.

11/2/2006 11:11:11 AM

We have only tested SSP DVD with PowerDVD versions 6 and 7.

11/2/2006 12:53:01 PM

So WinDVD is no longer the preferred player? Or are you trying to become more player agnostic?

11/2/2006 1:41:59 PM

I came home and tried using PAL DVD's did not work
Then halfway during the night I had a brainwave

Use the Trial for PowerDVD
So I installed PowerDVD 7

AND...

It Works 

What can I say? 



P.S Dave
Try installing ALL other DVD players

11/2/2006 3:45:15 PM

Installing? or Uninstalling?

11/2/2006 4:01:37 PM

Yea.. the difference is using PowerDVD, PAL support works fine if PowerDVD is installed

11/2/2006 9:55:45 PM

Yes sorry about that
Uninstalling is what I meant

11/3/2006 12:36:58 AM

Well, back in 2003, PowerDVD did not work with our module. This time around, it does work. We're not sure if it was changes in PowerDVD, in our code, or both, but we're pleased that it does work.

Further more, we have uncovered some troubling thing about WinDVD versions 5 and later. We're still doing some investigation but I expect we'll have a KB article posted about it soon.

11/3/2006 4:19:34 AM

After installing the newest Beta (V7, October 2006 Edition (Beta components))
When I play a DVD now SongShow takes up 100% cpu power

And locks up and the disc stops spinning

Any Ideas?

11/3/2006 4:24:03 AM

I forgot to give the date with that:

10/30/2006

11/3/2006 4:58:42 AM

OK, so I just bough the DVD Xpack, but never mind.

I'm confused Lucas - you seem to be saying that PAL playback worked with the trial version of PowerDVD7.
I tried this (and yes I did remove ALL other DVD programs) and got the 'no compatible DVD player installed' error as described above.

Doug, do you know if the Cyberlink PowerDVD SE codec-only package works with SSP?

http://www.cyberlink.com/winxp_plugin/2006/enu/xp_plugin.jsp#2

This is the plugin for Windows Media Player, similar to the DVD Xpack.
It would be a cheaper way of testing this, as I don't want to buy their full (hideous) DVD player just for use in SSP.

By the way, while investigating all this I found this tool from Microsoft that tells you what codecs it thinks are installed for DVD decoding in WMP.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DE1491AC-0AB6-4990-943D-627E6ADE9FCB&displaylang=en

Dave

11/3/2006 5:02:06 AM

I did say that about the trial version of PowerDVD

But after installing the next beta update

It sends my computer crazy

11/3/2006 10:47:16 AM

Again, SSP DVD does *not* support the trial version of PowerDVD. You will need the full version - preferably the latest.

I do not know how well PowerDVD handles PAL at this point.

11/3/2006 1:17:18 PM

PowerDVD seems to handle PAL pretty good at the moment

There has only been one disc that does not work at the moment and it is a family movie

A teacher at my school said he will give me his PowerDVD 7

11/3/2006 11:45:23 PM

We have not tested that. I'll look into it next week.

11/13/2006 2:49:23 PM

Hello again,

I am still having this problem even with the production version of the October release.  Anybody getting this message besides me?  What is  the error message, " The User Operation is inhibited by DVD Content at this time." supposed to identify for me????

Thanks,
Bobby

11/14/2006 3:10:32 AM

From memory that means the Disc is stopping you from skip the Warnings at the start of the disc..

It may be happening to stop you skipping menus/ chapters as well.

11/15/2006 11:21:33 PM

There are some DVD with obnoxiously long mandatory intro videos. While these play, you (the operator) are not permitted to do things like go to the main menu or play the main title. This would also occur when using the DVD with another DVD player software as well as DVD hardware players. This issue, however, is only a problem when importing a DVD -- and only until the DVD finally gets to the main menu where you can then make selections. Once you've imported the title, playing the title back in SSP should not produce this message.

11/16/2006 4:51:53 AM

I got this message, after the importer had gone past the mandatory menu and I had selected something to play. I was trying to import a trailer from special features. The trailer was playing when I tried to Improt and got that message. It happened no matter when during the trailer I tried to importit and when the trailer had finished playing, the Import button was grayed out, because I was back to the menu, so that made sense.

So I tried the main feature and got the same result.

This was happening with "The End of the Spear" in case you have a copy of that laying around.

11/27/2006 5:41:09 PM

Info for anyone having trouble with the DVD Import Feature...

Refer to the following Knowledge Base articles regarding WinDVD, PowerDVD and the Import Feature:

SW009
SW010