Adjusting DVD Chapters

[EpheMeroN]

How can I adjust chapter info from a PAL > NTSC dvd conversion (demuxed and DGPulldown'd 25>29.070) so the chapters still align properly with the movie?

I have a Celltimes.txt with the chapter info from PgcDemux.

[Sir Didymus]

It depends on the authoring application you want to use.
The pulldown process adds presentation fields at the playback time (the actual number of encoded frames in the asset does not change).

So, if your authoring application counts the frames of the celltimes.txt file as "encoded frames" you have to change nothing; in case your authoring application counts the frames imported in the celltimes.txt file as "presentation frames" then you have to scale each chapter point by the factor 29.070/25 --> 1,1628.

MuxMan counts the "presentation frames", so you have to scale your chapter points in this case.

Cheers,
SD

[Video Dude]

It may not be an optimal way to do it, but for PAL --> NTSC conversions I mark the chapters with VobBlanker after authoring. This way I am sure the chapter goes with an I-Frame and at the proper point of the scene change. I use the cell times text file as a guide.

[EpheMeroN]

So, if your authoring application counts the frames of the celltimes.txt file as "encoded frames" you have to change nothing; in case your authoring application counts the frames imported in the celltimes.txt file as "presentation frames" then you have to scale each chapter point by the factor 29.070/25 --> 1,1628.
Does PgcEdit count frames as encoded frames? If it does, I could author the dvd in MuxMan, and then import the Celltimes.txt from PgcDemux to get proper chapter points yes?

If I author entirely in MuxMan, including chapters, based on what you said, I'd take the chapter frame count and multiply it by 1.16?

[Sir Didymus]

That's what I suggested.

To say the truth, in case you are already using PgcEdit and MuxMan, it exist one other possibility in order to avoid the manual scaling of the chapter points [which is a very easy task indeed, thanks to MS Excel or some other simple spreadsheet applications].

If you are familiar with command line applications (e.g. opening a dos window and launching manually the command from the dos prompt), then you may follow this procedure:

1 - Extract the chapter points using PgcEdit in the non drop time code format: click on the Celltimes.txt button (Pgc Editor window) and choose the option "Output CCE time codes (HH:MM:SS:FF)"

2 - launch MuxMan by means of the BatchMux command line wrapper:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=116297

In this way you may feed to MuxMan directly the celltimes file in the non drop time code format.

You have to prepare a simple script file like this, with the notepad or whatever text editor you like, and save it as "myscript.txt":


#
# Sample -arglist file for BatchMux
# lines like this are comments...
# also leading spaces and newlines are skipped...
#

"-d" "path_of_your_destination_folder"
-norun
-muxman "path_of_muxman_folder" [optional, in case MuxMan.exe is in the same folder of BatchMux.exe]
-l "path_of_logfile" [optional]
-mxp "path_of_muxman_script_file" [optional]
-v "path_of_the_video_file"
-a1 "path_of_the_audio1_file" [up to 8 audio files supported]
-s1 "path_of_the_subs_file" [up to 8 subs files supported]
-celltc "path_of_th_timecode_file" [non drop time code format]


and then you have to type from the command line:
C:>BatchMux.exe -arglist myscript.txt

All the rest should be automatic...

[EpheMeroN]

Wait. Is it possible to import a Celltimes.txt chapter file into PgcEdit? So far all I can see is that it can export chapter info but not import it?

[blutach]

No. You can't manipulate cell times with PgcEdit. Split cells with VobBlanker, if you need to.

Regards

[manono]

I don't know anything about Excel or DOS. I take the Celltimes.txt 25fps frame numbers as given by PGCDemux or PGCEdit and multiply each by a factor of 29.97/25=1.1988. I let Muxman find the nearest I-Frame where to set the chapter point.

[Sir Didymus]

...multiply each by a factor of 29.97/25=1.1988. I let Muxman find the nearest I-Frame where to set the chapter point...

Hi manono. Oops... Of course you are right. The proper conversion factor is the one you have pointed out.


...(demuxed and DGPulldown'd 25>29.070)...


I was mislead in my previous reply by the above statement of EpheMeroN, which is affected by an evident typing mistake. I didn't focus on the actual values - afraid for that. Please accept my apologies for the wrong information I gave in my post #2 of this thread.

What I wanted to underline is that by adopting a small middleware application (BatchMux.exe) you can directly feed MuxMan with non drop time code chapter points. This allows you to use MuxMan without scaling the chapter points.

Cheers,
SD