Why is my project so big?

Question

Hi guys,
*using DVDSP4
I'm having trouble with a large project that I am working on. It is mainly consisted of many menus (using .psd files), and some m2v menus as well.
The project is about India. So it is ALL the states of India with a brief summary of each, m2v menus with links to more infomation (menus using .psd files).
I will attach a few screen caps of my project so that this may be a little easier to understand.
All the assets that I am using for the project fit onto a DVD, so im a little confused as to why in the project, the files is so huge. It is adding up to be 17.9GB! I have gone through the assets deleting what I do not need, and tried to make sure that I am not doubling up on any tracks or menus. I am using the bare necessities of my assets. Could this be because of all the menus?I know that my m2v files may be compressed too big or something but other than that would there be something else affecting my project size?
I have tried a little testing with this project to what is affecting the size the most.
I tried deleting (*on each state) most of the still image menus(.psd) and leaving just the m2vmenu because there is audio in them explaining mainly what the still images did.
I need to keep the psd stills for the tourist information sections so I cannot delete those files.
Any help would be great.
thanks
Links to screencaps:
http://www.soulstruck.ca/maple/pic1.jpg
http://www.soulstruck.ca/maple/pic2.jpg
http://www.soulstruck.ca/maple/pic3.jpg

Answer 1

OK - this gets a little intense, but stick with it... (this should probably be its own thread).
There are at least two ways to do this without scripts, depending on how you have the project set up.
Firstly, if the menu buttons point to a track each and not a part of a track (i.e. a chapter) then you can simply set the end jump and use the drop down options in the property inspector to find the precise menu and button that you want to go to. This is one good reason why people put a single clip into a track and create lots of tracks.
Secondly, if you do have each clip one after the other in a single track (which is more logical to me...) then you can use stories - each set of chapters that you want the menu button to play goes into a story container... your menu button then points at the container, not the marker. Each story container can have its own end jump which you can set using the property inspector, taking you back to whatever button you want (in the same way you do for a track).
However, if you want to do this with scripts there are again at least two ways to do it.
Firstly, you need to know that each element on your DVD is assigned a number and you can use these numbers to know what has just been played, or what button was previously selected on a menu. There are also two types of memory spaces in a DVD player - those that hold information automatically, such as what chapter has just played, or what button was just 'pressed', and those that you can fill with information yourself. Using a combination of these facts you can tell which chapter has just played and go to the next logical button on any menu, or you can keep track of which button you last selected on a menu and go back to the appropriate one in the sequence.
You do it like this:
1) Using the chapter information
Create a script and set it as the menu call for the track. Add the following details using the script editor (details in the manual)
mov GPRM0, SPRM7
Jump Menuname [GPRM0]
This script will track what the last chapter was that you have played, and will place the value into the first memory slot (called GPRM0). The chapters are numbered 1-99, so GPRM0 will receive a number in that range. The second line is a GPRM based button jump, which means that you will jump to the menu you specify (replace 'menuname' with the actual menu name) and the button that has the same number as the value in GPRM0. Your buttons are numbered in the order you create them.
2) Tracking the last button selected
Create a script and set it as the menu call and the end jump for the track. Add the following:
mov GPRM0, SPRM8
div GPRM0, 1024
Jump menuname [GPRM0]
This time, the SPRM is keeping track of the last button used. These are numbered from 1024 upwards by the DVD player, in increments of 1024, so the second button will have a value of 2048, etc.
The second line converts that value to a number we can use for menus, and the third line jumps to the menu with a GPRM based jump as before.
It gets more complex if you have more than one menu that accesses the track, but it isn't unmanageable.
Told you it was intense!