Thanks, Stan, for the hint about the loop at 1 second from the end, and the comment about "hold for that last second". That gave me an idea. Looks like the easiest way to overcome this pause problem would be to have the video flow to the next item from the video itself and from the button, and generate a long hold in Premiere at the end of each video, say 10 seconds, during which the presenter can skip to the next item if required. Or simply loop the video until interrupted – but that would give an amateurish look to the production.
Next problem: generating and linking stills (videos will be few, and I know how to handle them now).
I've written a test Photoshop Action that sets up each image in the show as 1920 x 1080, and adds the necessary layers so that when imported into Encore, all the images are recognised as menus with a button. Seems to work, but not fully tested yet. However, once inside Encore, I still have to link the menus. Is there a way to automatically link menus, assuming they are in a numbered sequence? I tried using a Playlist, but Menus can't be entered into a Playlist. Too bad!
I can foresee another slight difficulty. By using menus and the Enter button as a way of creating a Blu-ray slide show, I think I've created a one-way street. There's no going back once started. I can't see any way around that one. But the benefits are:
- A blu-ray player can be used for the presentation.
- Easier to set up and more reliable than any computer – connect the player and projector, insert the disk, and within seconds up comes a start screen which stays there until Enter is pressed.
- No concern about dissolves or high-bit rate h.264 videos causing computer software player to falter.
Having said that, I'm still on the lookout for computer solutions to presenting slide shows and stills. A Mac Mini connected to a projector seems simple and elegant. But what software to use to present a folder full of JPEGS and mp4 videos already in order, under the control of one pushbutton?
