Using DVD@ccess Web Links in DVD Studio Pro
Giving the viewer the ability to connect to your website from a DVD is a powerful feature of DVD Studio Pro. There are a couple things to keep in mind when using this feature, to keep it from being a source of aggravation to the viewer instead of a source of convenience. To do a web link you will use a menu to actually launch the viewers internet browser. To do this you need to go to the Advanced tab within the Inspector, and enter the web address into the URL: window, making sure that you enter http:// before the actual address. The Name: window is there for your reference, it is not necessary to enter anything into it.. After entering the web address, you will need to check the box next to "DVD@ccess". This will cause the viewers browser to go to the web address you entered when this menu is selected. Typically the address will be within a button on another menu, and when that button is selected, the web link menu will open, launching the viewers internet browser. When the browser launches, and the targeted website is accessed, the menu that launched the browser has served it's purpose. The browser will have appeared overtop of the web link menu at this time, and since the web link menu has served it's purpose, it can now timeout, and return to the previous menu. In most instances when the weblink works properly the viewer never sees the content of the weblink menu, because it times out before the viewer returns to the DVD player.
If the browser fails to launch it could be for a couple of reasons, and you will need to communicate them to the viewer. This is best accomplished by adding text to the web link menu that explains the situation. Explaining to the viewer that they need to be connected to the internet is the primary message. There will be viewers who will attempt to access the internet from there table top DVD player in there living room, and you need to explain an internet connection is required for this function to work. Many viewers who are playing the DVD in a computer connected to the internet will still experience problems if the DVD@ccess has not been enabled within the preferences of their DVD player, so this will need to be explained as well. You will want to set the weblink menu to give the viewer enough time to read your instructions before timing out. Ten seconds should be sufficient.
