Operation Manual

Chapter 9: Disc menus 161
CHAPTER 9:
Disc menus
With the advent of the DVD, VCD and S-VCD disc
formats, video has become an interactive medium, with
new possibilities for both videographer and audience.
Developing – “authoring” – a disc in one of these
formats means going beyond the old idea of creating a
movie to be viewed in strict sequence from beginning
to end. Now the audience can decide which parts of the
movie to view, and in what order.
The essential new feature that makes disc authoring
possible is the menu. A particular disc may have one, a
few or many menus, each consisting of a still image or
short video sequence. Areas within the menus, called
buttons, can be selected by the viewer to activate links
to other content on the disc. Activating a link causes an
immediate transfer to any of:
• A normal video sequence, which in this context is
called a “chapter”. Chapter buttons often show a
thumbnail frame from the video to which they link.
• Another page of the same menu. Multiple pages are
used when a menu has too many buttons to fit on a
single page.
• A different menu.