Menus and Chapters on a Flash Drive?

[Ronan Quinn]

Hi Guys,

Is it possible to have a "first play" menu on a flash drive as in like with a DVD?
Or can you only put seperate files on the flash drive? Do chapter markers even work for fast forward to specific point?
For anyone delivering Weddings on USB Drives, particularly using Adobe Id love to know your workflow.
Just 1 lareg file and 1 for highlights ? Or can you get more creative, ie menus etc

Thanks for any help,

Ronan

[George Kilroy]

If you make your DVDs in Adobe Encore CS4 or later, you will be able to output a Flash version of the DVD that will have all the same attributes and functionality of the DVD. You can set the flash transcoding, size and quality independent of the DVD transcoding s you can for Blu-ray.The only downside that I can see is that the play back machine would need to be able to run Adobe Flashplayer. I don't know of any TVs that do so it may only be playable via a computer.

[Ronan Quinn]

Thanks George ,

Sorry I wasn't more specific, I'm looking to play HD files on USB enabled TVs. So prob h264 / mp4 files.
I meant flash drives as in USB or even the small external ones, no flash based media.

Thanks,

Ronan

[Nigel Barker]

Some media players will play an ISO disk image of a DVD or Blu-ray as though it were the physical disc complete with menus e.g. WDTV Live Streaming Media Player I don't know if any TVs can do this.

I have just ordered one of these cheap little media players Xenta Full HD 1080p Media Player. At £25 it is 1/3 the price of the WDTV Live& it does claim to play VOBs so possibly does DVD ISOs too. I am considering chucking in one of these players along with the HD digital copy of the Blu-ray.

[David Chien]

1) Any DVD/Bluray master rip (copy entire disc) to any storage device is a 100% identical copy. You can use any media player (eg. MediaPlayerUsa.com MP4 media player box for $69) hooked up to a TV to play this just like the original. You can play this on any PC using a common media player like VLC, Media Player Home Cinema, and most DVD Player apps (WinDVD, etc.) that can play from a folder.
No real need to convert unless you're targeting a portable phone or tablet.

2) Keep in mind: Flash drives are subject to ELECTRON MIGRATION!!!!!!!!!!! which will eventually lead to data loss even if kept in storage unused!!!!!!!!!!
SSD ( Solid State Drive) Endurance Test ?

Expect a maximum 10 year storage lifespan prior to your videos going bye-bye on flash drives!

3) Bluray discs are the only format short of WORM/DVD-RAM that'll last long as a disc format (Tapes can be stored decades).
For Business Users | BD-R/RE Discs | Blu-ray by Panasonic | Panasonic Global

50-100 year archival lifespan on these Panasonic BluRay discs. Don't bother using anything else.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by David Chien

1) Any DVD/Bluray master rip (copy entire disc) to any storage device is a 100% identical copy. You can use any media player (eg. MediaPlayerUsa.com MP4 media player box for $69) hooked up to a TV to play this just like the original.

None of the cheapest (sub-$40) media players that I tried can play an ISO image like a real DVD player would with menus. Higher priced media players that I tested (WDTV Live Hub, Boxee Box) can play DVD ISOs. I don't have any Blu-ray ISOs to test.

[George Kilroy]

Nigel have you tried the root directory, the Video_TS folder rather than an ISO?

[Eric Olson]

Originally Posted by David Chien

Expect a maximum 10 year storage lifespan prior to your videos going bye-bye on flash drives!

This is an excellent point regarding flash and long term storage. Does anyone warn their customers?

Warning: Due to electron migration flash media may become unplayable in 10 years. Regularly back up this USB memory stick to ensure the continued enjoyment of all video stored therein.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by George Kilroy

Nigel have you tried the root directory, the Video_TS folder rather than an ISO?

I just checked & my cheap little Xenta media player will play a DVD stored as Video_TS folder with full menu. Sadly for our purposes it will not autoplay but you need to navigate to the USB/SD & point it at the Video_TS folder.

[Ronan Quinn]

Thanks for the info. Nigel did you decide to try a more expensive media player?

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Ronan Quinn

Thanks for the info. Nigel did you decide to try a more expensive media player?

Yes, I have tried both the WDTV Live & the WDTV Live Hub which do play ISOs. They are too expensive to give to clients as a freebie with a digital copy. An alternative might be a cheap Blu-ray player as many of these will play media files off a USB stick but then if you were giving a free Blu-ray player along with a Blu-ray disc the digital copy on a flash drive is redundant.