DVD@ccess and PDF linking

So I've successfully linked a 94 page PDF document, and it works no problem. (Although I can't wait to run the DVD on a PC) I use a track and set the DVD@ccess through the chapter points.
My question is; *does anyone know if DVD@ccess can direct a PDF reader to a specific page in the document?*
A client wants to be able to access certain pages of the PDF document from the DVD menu, as opposed to a menu within the document. And while I've read many articles on how to direct the reader via HTML, this doesn't seem to translate over to DVD@ccess.
Any thoughts, notes, hints, etc.
Thanks.

Hi Gary - I'm not knocking Intellidisc or how it works, but am bemoaning the fact that there isn't a reliable cross platform solution available. eDVD was as close as it got IMO, and I am of the opinion that the 1% of people do matter. The fact is that we as authors cannot reliably create a blended content disc that plays seamlessly on all platforms.
The issues with Vista will no doubt eventually be resolved. It is, after all, a new (ish) product and software will need to be revised in order to catch up. I also agree that a lot of folk won't migrate to vista very quickly, but there is inevitably a percentage who will do so. The proportion of folk who cannot play the content therefore increases beyond the 1% of mac users (until Vista issues are resolved) and thus, until Intellidisc, eDVD or @ccess can be made to work they are not providing a total solution.
We therefore come down to a numbers game. Which of these apps will give us the best coverage of end user machines, and best flexibility for the content we are adding? For example, @ccess can launch any app where the file type is known... as can eDVD, but Intellidisc works better if the file is a web based link?
I don't think I can say which is best - none of them give us what we need and each of us therefore has to choose between them when creating a disc with enhanced content. I ought to give Intellidisc a try - I have used the other two with fair degrees of success and ought to have some first hand knowledge of Intellidisc. I would like to know, for example, if the end user needs to run the .exe file and install some software - if so, what is the benefit over @ccess in that respect? If the install is automatic, then the argument will surely be why not include the same function with @ccess? The issues for me come back to the fact that @ccess and eDVD will launch any content (if they work at all) and Intellidisc is restricted to web based links and files.
But I agree entirely with the need for DVDSP to have this kind of thing built in - the software already does at least go some way towards it with the ROM content tools. All we need is a version of @ccess which reliably plays on a PC under all circumstances. Or for eDVD (or interactual) to fix the issues with the player in vista AND mac and make it available as a stand-alone... or for intellidisc to launch different types of content, and we should be home and dry... right?

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DVD@ccess and replication

I'm just getting into this issue, and I've researched some past threads on DVD@ccess for linking to urls and also pdfs. It seems the conventional wisdom is that, for maximum compatibility and interactivity, Sonic's eDVD is preferred to DVD@ccess. Is this a fair assessment?
Also, does replication alter the equation in any way? What I mean is, will the replication process smooth out any operational issues that might plague simple burning a disc?
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Yeah I'd say that is fair. eDVD is prefered. But not having links can often be best! as both have their issues...
Nope replication doesn't alter the equation regarding the 'Enhanced'features,
-Jake

Using DVD@ccess for .PDF (not clear to me in Manual)

So I've got a link typed into a certain page of the DVD to link to a .pdf file. The link is typed as:
file:///DVDname/foldername/file.pdf
This is how it tells me to link it in the Manual, however whenever I burn a test disc, put it in the computer, check the "enable DVD@ccess" box in the DVD Player prefs, and test it, it does not open the file. How is this not working? Do I have to place the folder in a specific location when the DVD begins to build and format, or do I have to include the full line of folder names (folders within folders) when I type in the address above? Am I selecting the wrong folder when I choose the "content" folder before building the DVD?

Good links from Drew...
The process is complicated. I'll try to make it simple.
First off, your pdf file needs to be in a folder somewhere on your machine - let's call it EXTRAS. That folder itself now needs to be in a parent folder as well, let's call that one ROM_CONTENT. For simplicity just set this up on your desktop for now.
From within DVDSP you need to set the location of the pdf file in the property inspector, but you do this in two places. First off, click on the disc icon in the outline view and then look in the property inspector for the ROM section. Use the 'Browse' facility to specify the outer folder you made earlier, and make sure the path in the property inspector points to the location of 'ROM_CONTENT'.
Now, in the menu that is going to hold the DVD@ccess link you also specify the path to the file, but this time you set up the path as it would appear after the disc is built. If your pdf file is called 'products' and your DVD itself is called 'My_Disc' then the URL that you put in the menu needs to be:
file:///My_Disc/EXTRAS/products.pdf
Note that you *do not* use the name of the parent folder... this is very important!
When DVDSP builds the disc it will place the Video_TS and Audio_TS folders at the root level (the first thing you see if you open the disc in your finder). When you use DVD@ccess it will also put a folder to hold the @ccess.exe file with instructions to PC users, and it will also put whatever it finds inside the ROM_CONTENT folder at the root level of the disc. In the example here it finds a folder called EXTRAS and so the root of your disc looks nice and tidy - four folders. If you didn't use the inner folder then your pdf would appear as a file on the root... which to me is plain messy.
Now, since the folder called EXTRAS is now at the root level and holding the file to launch, that's what you MUST specify when writing the menu URL.
Finally, in order to see this working on your Mac (simulator) you need to turn on the DVD@ccess prefs in both DVDSP and DVD Player. Once done, the file should launch your default pdf viewer (probably 'Preview'). If it doesn't then there is either something wrong with the paths you have used inside DVDSP, or there is something wrong with your Mac! I'd suspect the paths before anything else...

I cannot see why DVD @CCESS and DVD-ROM content are not working properly

Hi,
I am very new to DSP, and I know I am missing a piece of the jigsaw, but I do not know what it is. I used a tutorial from creative cow to try and make the @CCEESS function work, but no dice… for now at least. When I did a build/format (to the HDD) everything went fine. I mounted the image, and I could see the DVD @CCESS folder and the DVD–ROM content on the DVD image. When I went to play the image, the button did not work. The content I am trying to use with @CCESS is a PDF file.
The tutorial I followed was this: http://library.creativecow.net/articles/alexzander_alex/dvdaccess.php
By the way, I am using is 4.2.2
Help or just counsel is appreciated.

As Eric said - DVD@ccess is really not that useful. It was a way to get documents like PDFs to automatically launch in the application (like Acrobat) when watching a DVD on a computer. Since they can't launch on a set top player the technology was already limited. Then the whole issue of getting it to work on a PC arose - it simply wasn't reliable. I managed to produce one disc that was replicated with @ccess links, but I knew the parameters for it's use in advance and managed to get it to work. It doesn't work on modern machines.
For a while there was a Sonic app which was much better at getting this sort of thing to work, but you had to work on a OC to set it up. Sonic pulled the app shortly after I bought it (sigh) and never replaced it. The fact is, automating document launches and web links is actually pretty tricky on a DVD, the results were variable and it never really enhanced your discs like you wanted to think it would!
If all you want to do is include a PDF file on the disc, and alert viewers to it being there, you only need to use the ROM content functions not @ccess, and you can use a menu screen to give instructions to people to let them know how to find it.

Im using Firefox v. 14.0.1 and Mac OS X 10.7.4. Recently I have not been able to open and pdf links. Solution?

When I click on a pdf link nothing opens up.

Try to disable the Adobe Reader plugin in Firefox and use the external Adobe Reader program or Preview instead.
*Firefox > Preferences > Applications > Adobe PDF document : Use Adobe Reader
PDF files may also be found under another entry like Portable document.
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/change-firefox-behavior-when-open-file

Regarding learning sap-EP give suggestions me some resources and pdfs links

hi
presently i am workin j2ee webservices and netweaver i developing webservies and i am working on webdynpro also
i am learning EP perfectly and learn EP from scratch level
please give me suggestions and send me some books and urls for links
bye

Hi,
The SAP online help is a good source to start with EP.
For portal concepts and overview:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/a4/76bd3b57743b09e10000000a11402f/frameset.htm
For EP development, you can start by accessing the online help for EP developers. This is a part of the portal documentation.
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/19/4554426dd13555e10000000a1550b0/content.htm
There are also e-learning sessions on EP at SDN at the following link:
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn?rid=/webcontent/uuid/4b0c105e-0501-0010-bcb0-92478a4b2a17
Also have a look at the following thread:
EP 6.0 Developer Tutorial Guide
you can try to install the sneak preview version of portal. Go to downloads section on SDN. You will find detailed information there
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Pdf link

Opening a PDF file with hypertexts on iPad, when a PDF hypertext is clicked more than one time, first time works correctly, other times the link doesn'd works. This happen if the same hypertext is clicked consecutively more than one time. Solutions?

Have a look at this tutorial
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/dvd_access_linkfile.html
and also try doing a quick search on DVD@ccess because this topic comes up quite frequently.
Also, page 540 of my manual has some great info on getting DVD@ccess to work. Make sure your DVDSP preferences are set to enable DVD@ccess and that you Apple DVD Player are also set to enable DVD@ccess.
PowerMac Dual G5 XRaid and a few others. Mac OS X (10.3.9)

DVD@ccess on PC

Hi guys
I'm authoring a DVD for PC and the client needs links to pdf's and websites.
Now as far as i'm aware i need to include software on the cd for it to work on a PC.
Is there no easier option?
My client assumes that the end user will not have the technical know-how or time to load this app.
would greatly appreciate any insight
jammy
ps: if no one helps me i'll probably end up hurting my client so pls help

You have only a few options, but two require the end user to either already have the right software installed, or to install the software themselves.
The first is to use DVD@ccess and require the PC user to install that on their machine. This is a Mac based system and so works easily on Macs.
The second is to use a PC and write the interactive stuff using eDVD from Sonic and make use of the Interactual player. It is much more versatile, but suffers from the same problem of needing to have software installed. A lot of PCs do already have it because they have used it before and previously installed it - it is a widely used player. Macs will need to install it.
The only other thing to do is to include the content on the disc but not make it open automatically. Just inform the viewer (by using text in a menu) that there is additional content and tell them how to get to it. If you include the PDFs in a folder they will be able to open them with whatever PDF reader they use. You could do the same with a web site - place a single page in a folder which, when it is opened in a browser, has text to tell the viewer that they now need to be online and a link to click which takes them to the right web site.
That way, no interactive players or software needs to be installed, but your viewer needs to be made aware of the content.

Dvd@ccess on windows Vista?

I am running DVD studio Pro Version 4.2.1
I have created a disc with web links and pdf links. I can install dvd@ccess on windows running XP, 2000, or 98. The links all work fine. But apparently I am told that DVD@ccess does not install on Vista. Is there an updated DVD@ccess installer? Is there a work around? Is there an alternative way from the PC to create a DVD that has weblinks, other than EDVD4, which Roxio discontinued? Anyone have any answers???

The answer is not what you want to hear but avoid DVD-Video and links (pdf, web etc). Just have a Menu informing users to browse the disc, maybe have a flash/director app on there that they can run if you dont just want a folder full of files for them to browse.
Links are a nightmare and should be avoided. No DVD@access Vista installer,
-Jake

DVD@ccess linking to file folders

I need to link a folder that contains multiple .pdf files to a menu button in DVDSP 4.
The project itself looks clean, and everything works great ...except this last feature.
I've used DVD@ccess in the past to link a singular file with great success.
But now I need to link an entire folder of files, and have the folder open in a new window.
Do you have any suggestions, tips, work arounds?
Thanks in advance for your help.
James Wicks
West Palm Beach
G5 PowerMac 2x2 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Final Cut Studio 5.2

Hey James,
I'm pretty sure you can't use DVD@ccess to link to a folder. But you can (as you know and have done before) link to a file.
So, you could link to the first file in the folder and leave it to the user to find the rest.
Or, you might consider creating a simple html file that lists the pdf files in an index.
I'm sure there are other workarounds, too, but they will all involve linking to a file that allows you to access the folder of pdf files.
Good luck.

PDF links to video footage on DVD ??

I want to make a PDF document which links to several Video clips (or different chapters in one video clip). I can make the links in Acrobat no problem, but I can't make them open a .vob in a VideoTS folder (it opens Toast for some reason). So I figure I need to make individual clips compressed in some other way?
Because my projects usually go straight to DVD after creating menus of varying complexity in DVDSP, my work flow through Compressor has become reliable and un-varied. I have tweaked my favourite settings which work well for me.
But now I have to make something quite different and I'm having trouble getting my head around the enormous variety of settings and choices offered in Compressor.
I believe I can't compress these clips in mpeg-2 and author all this in a conventional DVD because of the above problem (please someone correct me if I am wrong). I think I have to compress the clips into .mov (or the like) and have all this on some sort of CD-ROM (DVD-ROM)?
If so what compression method do I choose?
I've done several experiments with a short clip representing the type of footage I have filmed. H264 gives excellent picture results, but it is jumpy on playback. QuickTime movies look dreadful.
Can someone please point me in the right (or any) direction? Right now I feel I'm going round in circles.
Cheers...
(I'm using SD DV footage, eventual output compatible to PC users)

I understand the idea to use a PDF linking to video playback, I have done this countless times for clients who want annual reports turned into interactive documents with video, graphics and photography added
As to the type of file format to use to link from the PDF's, this will depent on a number of factors, end user compatability, the overall efficiency of the users computer and your own working practices.
my comments are based with my authoring set up and the clients I supply:
Quicktime - few windows computers have QT installed, if you use this you would need to provide QT player on the disk, the user would need to install manually. H264 looks great but users machine spec has to be good
WMV - I use this when I am asked for video linked to a Powerpoint file or from PDF.s, works well reasonable image quality, I can usually run WMF files up to full screen on my clients machines.
flash - again few computers have this installed, picture quality is not as good as WMV and the image size must be kept small, the user would need to install Flash Player if not already installed
MPEG 1 - the worst image quality but the most compatable of the video formats, any PC using windows 95 and newer will play this file, I never use this as it is so poor, even though I have an expensive real time hardware encoder.
VOB - I use this when there is more video that text for the viewer to watch. VOBs are generated from an individually created DVD using DVDSP, for our users is the best image quality.
Having the icons showing 'blank' for the VOB files is normal.
Toast is launching because there is an association to Toast from the VOB's just like mov files are associated to QT player, just ignore this it wont cgange the outcome in Acrobat. My VOB's are also 'blank' and are linked to DVD Afteredit
I cant giveyou specific advice for a workflow as this is so wide open.
If I was given this job with my resources, I would link the PDF pages to WMF files which I would create in Flip 4 Mac. I would also split the project up into smaller individual files, if the publication had 10 sections I'd make 1 file for each chapter and have a starter or main page so the user can navigate with ease, they dont know they are jumping about to different files.
This is to keep the file size down as PDF's run better with more files but smaller file sizes.
My main client has 60,000 Windows XP users who can not change the set up of the computer, as the IT dept does not want the user adding extra applications or changing the set up in any way. Windows Media Player is already installed on these machines.

Making a DVD@ccess link to a Button on a DVD Menu

Is it possible for me to have a button link to a website using DVD@ccess?
In other words, I have a menu with 3 buttons on it. 2 of those buttons will link to chapters on the track. The third button I would like to be able to press and it will go to a webpage.
Can this be done and if so, can you explain how?
Thanks in advance

Not possible with any degree of reliabilty. Read this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1523556&tstart=0

Why text and button links on a PDF do not work in the iPad

I have Acrobat Pro 9.2.3 and InDesign CS5.
I've tried creating both button and text links directly from InDesign (Window > Interactive > Hyperlinks). I then export the multi-page PDF with "Acrobat 6 and Above" selected as well as the "Hyperlinks" and "Interactive Elements" checked. When I open the PDF in my iPad, none of the text or button links work.
Then . . .
I tried opening the same multi-page PDF in Acrobat Pro, and manually created the link boxes (Tools > Advanced Editing > Link Tool). The iPad still can't interprete these two interactive elements.
Any clues what I'm doing wrong?

Try exporting as ePub - now test inside Digital Editions and if OK - drag the file into iTunes and synch to iPhone/iPad.
It's probably a Preview issue as mentioned but exporting to ePub is good fun!
J.

When opening a pdf link the process stalls and there is a message that Adobe acrobat reader is running. to the best of my knowledge I do not have the reader. I have an older version of Acrobat Pro. How can I fix this?

when opening a pdf link on a web poage the process stalls and there is a message that Adobe acrobat reader is running. To the best of my knowledge I do not have the Acrobat reader. To the best of my knowledge I have deleted the reader program. I have an older version of Acrobat Pro. The problem occurred before I did the deletion and continues since then.

Assuming that you are using IE10 / IE11 on Windows: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2716529

Distiller missing text and image links when saving to pdf

Not sure if anyone has experienced this issue before. Basically I create artwork 1up in indesign CS3 and print as a postscript file "print ready settings" then create a pdf through distiller 8.1.2. After this I then imposition the 1up PDF back into indesign (using the pdf as a link and then step and repeat it) then I print the new imposed artwork as postscript file again and distill it as a PDF ready for offset printing.
Most time this process works like a dream, but every now and then distiller doesn't want to process the file correctly and images and sometimes text have dropped off the final imposed PDF file. It doesnt notify me of any problems when distilling. As you can imagine working in the print industry this is VERY SCARY
As i am using a common 1up pdf link the imposition should be correct, (all the pdf linked images should be the same anyway) Is it a memory issue, or a bug in distiller perhaps.
Im running a Mac with OSX 10.4.11 with 2Gig of RAM.
If you would like to see a sample of the issue let me know.
Any help on this would be awesome.

thanks for the replies,
Working in a pre-press environment we obviously prefer to print from pdf files (as opposed to using supplied native art). As a result I am always receiving pdf files from external clients who have saved their artwork from indesign to pdf format, so Im not sure what the real difference is between me imposing a supplied indesign/pdf files in indesign vs me imposing my own indesign/pdf files in indesign. (aprt from perhaps going through distiller twice)
i can see what your saying though and for years i have been using the cut and paste and step and repeat method but recently changed my workflow for a few reasons
- I noticed that by printing a 1up pdf and relinking the file back into my indesign imposition the final imposed pdf was lower in size
- if a client made a change to the artwork after imposing (which always happens) all i had to do was make the change, resave the pdf 1up link again and update the link and it did it for me and saved me from step and repeating all over again,
- whenever the job was printed again in the future i could use the same procedure, resave as 1up pdf again and update the link.
- plus i knew that if i was using the one link all my step and repeats would be exactly the same each time (and i didn't have to worry that a graphic that hadn't been selected/grouped correctly and would drop off when step and repeating)
.....and for sure it probably is a slightly longer way to impose a job for print but it saves me half the time on the next print run, and i can use my imposition file as a template for similar jobs also.
I have found the workflow i use works fine, apart from these rare hiccups which i can get around by resaving the pdf again anyway, but what Im really worried about is the times this error presents itself and doesn't notify me that a problem has occurred.

DVD@ccess and PDF linking

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