Multiple Language Menus

Thanks Drew. Good info there in the links.

But still looking for a response to the question of whether to create three separate menus, one for each language. Or let DVDSPro do it after I select the system languages. I see the advantage to 3 separate menus in that I can easily script to go to the language specific menu. I don't see how to do that if there's one menu with separate sub-menus for languages.

The former (3 separate menus) gives me the chance to create stories that could jump back afterwards to the same menu and desired button.

This question of how BEST to set up the menu structure for multi-language discs is one I've seen alot, but still haven't a good workflow in regard to how to get to X language.

I am slow and plodding so maybe the answer is right in front of me.

-Bill

One more thing in regard to your reply above about setting the GPRM, does that mean that if the GPRM is set properly to figure the selected language of the user then the user will automatically return to the appropriate language in the menu and therefore no jump setting (to language) is needed, just being sent to the desired single menu and/or button?

-Bill

Not getting an answer on this as the "BEST" way, and finding the manual (and other training book I bought on DVDSP) decidedly thin I tried it in two ways:

I first set up the disc in english and established the menu architecture and flow. We have a language selection screen first that leads users – after a language specific intro track – to a language-specific main chapter menu. We setup our stories to work in english first. We established the buttons for the other languages on that first page.

We tried to design the rest of it in two ways: via DVDSP multiple languages; and (the way that worked) through connecting menus (actually without referring to other languages on the DVD level) logically. That is to say we setup a Chinese menu, a Spanish Chapter menu, but they were an English language menu (according to the DVD authoring) that had Chinese characters or Spanish words on it and referred to Chinese (A3(Mandarin), A4(Cantonese) S3 Chinese subtitles) or Spanish (A2, S2) system streams.

USING DVDSP to setup languages:

We added languages after establishing the architecture. This is great (in theory) because the stories and button jumps are copied into the foreign language sub-menus. All worked well EXCEPT jumping to the language specific sub-menu. I could set the jump to the menu, but couldn't figure how to jump to the specific language menu. I had scripted system streams for each of the dubbed audio and subtitle streams (all worked as advertised) but didn't know how to set the main language. with our three languages. When I added languages and DVDSP created separate menus (sub-menus? additional layered meus?) for each language (our main CHAPTERS page). But how to get there. It seems that the only way is to adjust the SPRM or language detection on the PLAYER level. But how can an english player view the Chinese menu?

I was able to use photoshop files to make each language menu (sub-menu?) with appropriate words and characters. But I couldn't get my head around how to get to each of the language menus. I could find only one menu: the Main Chapter selection Menu.

WHAT WORKED:

As mentioned above we simply created logical architecture that led to different language menus that were language specific in terms of look, but still – from an authoring level – inside the DVD's one language (English).

One reason this is a decent solution is that the disc will be distributed, primarily, to foreign language speakers inside the US. I do think the client would like to find more foreign distribution, but that is secondary to US distribution.

A note is that even in the case of the disc playing in a DVD-player set to a foreign SPRM, I believe the player will read the language of the disc. It simply looks for the primary language of the player first. True?



I offer all this that someone might say: The easy way to use foreign languages on a DVD is THIS WAY. Otherwise why add multiple languages? With decent, CLEAR methods maybe then Apple could write that in the manual and save me and others a heck of a lot of time hacking around doing the same thing people before us did already.

-Bill

Open to better ideas