ChapterGen: manipulate with chapters in various i/o formats, with CLI support

[shon3i]

Ok, I finally finished completly new (from scratch) tool for chapters. This is completly different than my previous qpfilegen tool. BIG Thanks goes to jdobbs who helped and share part of code, the application is no longer dependent on eac3to, it have own Blu-Ray/HDDVD/DVD support.

http://nenad.nikodijevic.users.sbb.rs/img/chaptergen.png

Supported input formats:
- .mpls (Blu-Ray playlists)
- .xpl (HD DVD playlists)
- .ifo (DVD playlists)
- OGG/Matroska File format
- Celltimes File format
- Blu-Ray, HD DVD, DVD media with stream selector (GUI mode only)

Supported Output formats:
- OGG Text File
- x264 QP Text File
- HC Enc Text File
- CCE SP Text File
- Sonic Cinevision CSV File
- Sonic Scenarist CSV File
- Spruce DVD Maestro CHP File
- tsMuxer Meta File
- Timecodes Text File
- Celltimes Text File
- DVDAuthor Text File
- Muxman Text File

Additional features:
- Converting between framerates
- Stream selector when Blu-Ray, HD DVD, DVD media or folder selected
- Command line support
- Drag & Drop support

CLI options:
Syntax: ChapterGen -i <inputfile> -o <outputfile> -f <destination format> -infps <inputFPS> -outfps <outputFPS>

Options:

-i <string> Specify input file
-o <string> Specify output file
-f <string> Specify destination format:
- OGG: OGG Text File
- x264: x264 QP Text File
- HC: HC Enc Text File
- CCE: CCE SP Text File
- Cinevision: Sonic Cinevision CSV File
- Scenarist: Sonic Scenarist CSV File
- Maestro: Spruce DVD Maestro CHP File
- tsMuxer: tsMuxer Meta File
- Timecodes: Timecodes Text File
- Celltimes: Celltimes Text File
- DVDAuthor: DVDAuthor Text File
- Muxman: Muxman Text File
-infps <float> Specify InputFPS [24/1.001]
- 23.976
- 24.000
- 25.000
- 29.970
- 30.000
- 50.000
- 59.940
- 60.000
-outfps <float> Specify OutputFPS [24/1.001]
- 23.976
- 24.000
- 25.000
- 29.970
- 30.000
- 50.000
- 59.940
- 60.000

NOTES: fps values can be aslo entered in this formats: 24000/1001 or 24/1.001 for example



Current version 1.0.8
Download (http://nenad.nikodijevic.users.sbb.rs/chaptergen.zip), Webpage (http://www.chaptergen.co.nr/)

Changelog:
1.0.8
-ADD: Drag & Drop support, for files and disc folders.

1.0.7:
-ADD: Celltimes input format (laserfan reqest)
-ADD: DVD IFO parser is now mediainfo.
-FIX: Minor bugs

1.0.6:
-FIX: Improved cmdline handling

1.0.5:
-FIX: Little bug in DVD/IFO parsing code.

1.0.4:
-FIX: Minor fixes.

1.0.3:
-FIX: DVDAuthor output (thanks to manolito)
-FIX: x264 output now work as introduced in r1764 no more -1 in lines, so this practically is not compatible with pre r1764 versions of x264. So update your x264.
-ADD: Muxman output (mrr19121970 request)

1.0.2:
-FIX: little bug in OGG parsing code
-ADD: DVDAuthor chapter output
-ADD: Automaticly remove pulldown on timecodes if input is HDDVD or XPL

1.0.1:
-FIX: I be forced to use ChapterXtractor as DVD IFO parser because my IFO code goes crazy, until i not fix it, ChapterGen will use ChapterXtractor for DVD or IFO source. It's a little slower and Chapterxtractor window will flash many times but 100% working.
-FIX: a little bug in HDDVD parsing code.

[Inspector.Gadget]

Cool! I look forward to experimenting with this.

[tymoxa]

shon3i, you are a genius. Thanks for that tool. Especially for convert fps.

[buzzqw]

thanks for your tool!

got error on this ifo (using command line)

http://www.64k.it/andres/data/Varie/VTS_02_0.zip
(it's Matrix, DVD PAL)

using this command line ChapterGen.exe -i "d:\matrix\video_ts\VTS_02_0.IFO" -o matrix.txt -f OGG -infps 25.000 -outfps 25.000

error is number 9
translated from italian.. "Index out of bounds" (or similar)

BHH

[shon3i]

@buzzqw thanks, i working on fix but i need more time than i expected to fix this, i think i need to rewrite whole IFO parser :) ASAP.

[shon3i]

Fixed update to 1.0.1.

[buzzqw]

got some problem...

from cmd prompt

ChapterGen.exe -i VTS_02_0.IFO -o zgh.txt -f OGG -infps 25 -outfps 25

now is Error 53 , unable to find file (or something similar)

BHH

[shon3i]

with your cmd i get "cannot open input file" message because you must specify full path to file including filename, for input and output files. I will fix that in next version.

[buzzqw]

thanks :)

BHH

[shon3i]

hmm it's realy strange, here at home i can't reproduce this. Can you please take a screenshot of error to see what is possible reason. I use same cmd and put VTS_02_0.IFO in same folder as ChapterGen.exe, and everything is fine?

[buzzqw]

here is http://www.64k.it/andres/data/Varie/Cattura2.PNG

BHH

[laserfan]

shon3i thanks very much for this tool, and particularly the CLI option. With my custom .cmd file, makes easy work of making qpfile and tsmuxer files!

:thanks:

[manolito]

Many thanks shon3i for this app. Especially for the fps conversion capability. :)

Just one request:
I still use DVDAuthor a lot for DVD creation, and your app does not support its chapter format. The required format is
hh:mm:ss,
Just hours, minutes and seconds, no cents and no line breaks, and the separator is a comma.

Would you consider adding this format?

Cheers
manolito

[shon3i]

I still use DVDAuthor a lot for DVD creation, and your app does not support its chapter format. The required format is
hh:mm:ss,Ok, no problem, can you send me a sample of chapterlist?

[manolito]

Thanks, much appreciated...:thanks:

The corresponding text in DVDAuthor.xml looks like this:

chapters="00:00:00,00:06:00,00:12:00,00:18:00,00:24:00,00:30:00,00:36:00,00:42:00,00:48:00,00:54:00,01:00:00,01:06:00,01:12:00,01:18:00,01:24:00"

ChapterGen output without chapters="" would be just fine because I normally use a template for the XML file where I could just paste the chapter points between the quotes.

Thanks again
Cheers
manolito

[SVD]

Any chance export to xml file for use with mkv containers will be added?

[manolito]

Looks like shon3i is busy with other things right now...:rolleyes:

For DVDAuthor compatible output I made a little workaround myself in the meantime. A small batch file converts a Sonic Cinevision CSV file (using sed for Windows).
REM Converts a Sonic Cinevision CSV Chapter file
REM to a DVDAuthor compatible Chapter file.
REM
REM Usage:
REM Convert.bat "Drive\Path\Filename"
REM
REM You can also create a shortcut to Convert.bat
REM on your desktop and drag the file you want to
REM convert on this shortcut.

@echo off
sed "s/:/./"3 "%1" >temp.txt
sed -e ":a" -e "$!N;s/\n/,/;ta" -e "P;D" temp.txt >"%1"
del temp.txt


You can download sed here: http://sed.sourceforge.net/grabbag/ssed/sed-3.59.zip
Please rename the executable to Sed.exe...

Cheers
manolito

[rack04]

I just ran into a problem with Serenity Blu-ray. Here is a copy/paste of the chapter file extracted using eac3to:

CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=Living Weapon
CHAPTER02=00:05:00.750
CHAPTER02NAME=A Better World
CHAPTER03=00:09:31.938
CHAPTER03NAME=Aboard Serenity (Main Titles)
CHAPTER04=00:14:49.088
CHAPTER04NAME=Going for a Ride
CHAPTER05=00:19:49.856
CHAPTER05NAME=Reavers
CHAPTER06=00:29:13.001
CHAPTER06NAME=Triggered
CHAPTER07=00:36:18.259
CHAPTER07NAME=Mr. Universe
CHAPTER08=00:44:09.264
CHAPTER08NAME=Safe Haven
CHAPTER09=00:49:54.692
CHAPTER09NAME=Civilized Resolution
CHAPTER10=00:55:44.041
CHAPTER10NAME=Posing a Threat
CHAPTER11=00:59:28.315
CHAPTER11NAME=Miranda
CHAPTER12=01:04:45.248
CHAPTER12NAME=&quot;Just Believe&quot;
CHAPTER13=01:09:13.733
CHAPTER13NAME=Suicide Mission
CHAPTER14=01:13:33.776
CHAPTER14NAME=Learning the Secret
CHAPTER15=01:22:38.571
CHAPTER15NAME=Caught in the Middle
CHAPTER16=01:30:18.580
CHAPTER16NAME=Can't Stop the Signal
CHAPTER17=01:36:57.479
CHAPTER17NAME=Fighting for a Belief
CHAPTER18=01:45:56.217
CHAPTER18NAME=Do We Have an Order?
CHAPTER19=01:47:37.034
CHAPTER19NAME=It's Not Over
CHAPTER20=01:53:21.578
CHAPTER20NAME=End Titles

When I try to generate a qpfile with ChapterGen it only recognizes up to chapter 7. Here is what shows in ChapterGen when I load the chapter file:

CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=Living Weapon
CHAPTER02=00:05:00.750
CHAPTER02NAME=A Better World
CHAPTER03=00:09:31.938
CHAPTER03NAME=Aboard Serenity (Main Titles)
CHAPTER04=00:14:49.088
CHAPTER04NAME=Going for a Ride
CHAPTER05=00:19:49.856
CHAPTER05NAME=Reavers
CHAPTER06=00:29:13.001
CHAPTER06NAME=Triggered
CHAPTER07=00:36:18.259

[shon3i]

I can't reproduce problem. Can you send me your mpls from your Blu-Ray

Here what i get from 00000.mpls

CHAPTER00=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER00NAME=
CHAPTER01=00:05:01.760
CHAPTER01NAME=
CHAPTER02=00:09:32.447
CHAPTER02NAME=
CHAPTER03=00:14:50.098
CHAPTER03NAME=
CHAPTER04=00:19:50.856
CHAPTER04NAME=
CHAPTER05=00:29:14.002
CHAPTER05NAME=
CHAPTER06=00:36:19.260
CHAPTER06NAME=
CHAPTER07=00:44:10.273
CHAPTER07NAME=
CHAPTER08=00:49:55.701
CHAPTER08NAME=
CHAPTER09=00:55:45.050
CHAPTER09NAME=
CHAPTER10=00:59:29.316
CHAPTER10NAME=
CHAPTER11=01:04:46.257
CHAPTER11NAME=
CHAPTER12=01:09:14.734
CHAPTER12NAME=
CHAPTER13=01:13:34.785
CHAPTER13NAME=
CHAPTER14=01:22:39.580
CHAPTER14NAME=
CHAPTER15=01:30:19.581
CHAPTER15NAME=
CHAPTER16=01:36:58.479
CHAPTER16NAME=
CHAPTER17=01:45:57.726
CHAPTER17NAME=
CHAPTER18=01:47:38.118
CHAPTER18NAME=
CHAPTER19=01:53:22.671
CHAPTER19NAME=
CHAPTER20=01:58:55.962
CHAPTER20NAME=

[rack04]

I can't reproduce problem. Can you send me your mpls from your Blu-Ray

Here what i get from 00000.mpls

Stupid me! I meant HD DVD version of Serenity. Let me know what I need to upload to reproduce the problem. Thanks.

[shon3i]

Stupid me! I meant HD DVD version of Serenity. Let me know what I need to upload to reproduce the problem. Thanks.
Just upload all XPL files from ADV_OBJ folder and send me on p.m.

Thanks

[rack04]

Just upload all XPL files from ADV_OBJ folder and send me on p.m.

Thanks

PM Sent.

[rack04]

Works like a charm. Thanks for the update. Is there anyway ChapterGen can be updated to include the chapter names?

[shon3i]

Works like a charm. Thanks for the update. Is there anyway ChapterGen can be updated to include the chapter names?
Not yet, but i will include that option in near future.

[Boardlord]

Many thanks for this tool!

Would it be possible to add .cue support? It would be useful if one wants to burn an audio cd from a concert dvd :) Cheers!

[manolito]

Bug report for DVDAuthor output:

From the DVDAuthor manual:
Specifies a comma (,) separated list of chapter markers. Each marker is of the form [[h:]mm:]ss[.frac]

The separator between ss and frac has to be a '.', not a ':' .
The current version 1.02 uses a ':' all the time which does not work.

Cheers
manolito

[mrr19121970]

@shon3i

Nice tool, do you plan to support MUXMAN chapters?

See here for sample: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=104723

Thanks,

[shon3i]

Updated to 1.0.3

[mrr19121970]

Great! That works a treat.

[Adub]

Cool! Thanks for your hard work there Shon3i!

[manolito]

Thanks a lot, too, for the fixed DVDAuthor format.
I already assumed that you had forgotten my report...:thanks:

Cheers
manolito

[manolito]

Still found another small bug which was already introduced with version 1.02:

When you have a ripped DVD structure on your HD and try to extract the chapters from the IFO file with the 'Open File' command, nothing happens. You can extract the chapters with the 'Open Disk' command, though. Version 1.01 did not have this bug.

Two more (really unimportant) things:
The typo in the output format list made it through all versions so far. The company is called Spruce, not Spuce.
And the new Muxman output format is redundant, it is the same as the Celltimes.txt format except for the first chapter point at 0. Muxman does not care if this chapter point at 0 is present or not.


And thanks again for this very nice tool...:)

Cheers
manolito

[shon3i]

Thanks for report 1.04 is on the way :)

[iSeries]

Hi shon3i - have just discovered your tool and I'm certain it will do what I need!

I've got the text chapter output from an mkv file. If I input into ChapterGen eg:

CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=00:00:00.000

It doesn't load in. However if I take out the numbers after chapter name, eg:

CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=

It loads it ok. Is this normal? Also, do I need to add the quantizer type to the text file, eg -1 or will x264 automatically know what to do with it? Basically I just want to place an I frame at every chapter point.

[rack04]

I have a NTSC DVD with soft pulldown. I extracted the chapter file using DVD Decrypter. If I remove the soft pulldown using DGDecode do I need to set the Input FPS to 29.970 or 23.976?

[Subbat]

Thanks for report 1.04 is on the way :)

Hi,

Excuse my english... I'm french and I'm interest by use your soft with ifo input... and it doesn't work...

Thanks

[Adub]

@Subbat

That is a terrible bug report. What exactly doesn't work? Do you get an error? Which IFO are you trying to load? Can you upload a sample?

[Subbat]

@Subbat

That is a terrible bug report. What exactly doesn't work? Do you get an error? Which IFO are you trying to load? Can you upload a sample?

There's no error message... Just nothing happens... Look the message of Manolito which is post on 26th November 2010 19:03... When he report this bug...

PS : Thanks for your interest

[shon3i]

@Subbat or manolito can you send me one of that IFO's which won't open?

@iSeries i can't reproduce. It work for me, try with 1.0.4, and with newer x264 not need to set quantizer anymore

@rack04, check via some editor (eg Virtual Dub)

EDIT: Updated to 1.0.4

[Subbat]

Hi shon3i,

All my ifo dosen't work... for exemple, this one : Voir le Fichier : VTS_01_0.rar (http://sd-2.archive-host.com/membres/up/159314506819843624/VTS_01_0.rar)

But, i just read your first message anymore, and i see that in v1.01, you said that for ifo, chapterGen must use chapterxtractor... If it's always true for the recent version, where does chapterxtractor must be install?

[manolito]

Hi shon3i,

thanks for the new version.

I just made some extended tests to maybe detect a pattern which IFOs ChapterGen refuses to accept. But there does not seem to be a specific thing these IFOs have in common.

It happens for about 10% of my DVDs. It does not matter if I open the IFO from the DVD or from the hard drive. ChapterGen just does nothing. When I then try to use the Open Disc command I get an error message 'Runtime Error 55, File is already open', and ChapterGen closes itself. Restarting ChapterGen and using the Open Disc command again works. (For the Open disc command to work it is necessary that the IFO is located in a folder with the name VIDEO_TS)

ChapterXTractor has no problems with these IFOs.
Here is the link to one of the problematic IFOs:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/il4lz5


Hope this helps...

Cheers
manolito

[shon3i]

Thanks you both. Updated to 1.0.5.

[Subbat]

Cool... It works well now... :thanks:

PS : Thank you very much for this tool...

[manolito]

Yep, working fine now...:)

Thanks again

Cheers
manolito

[laserfan]

Thanks you both. Updated to 1.0.5.With this version my .cmd file stops dead at a dialog I've never seen before, saying only CHAP and requiring a keystroke?

[Usedocne]

shon3i, you should maybe think about putting a link to this thread (ChapterGen) in your sig.

Also, thanks for making/sharing this.

[shon3i]

With this version my .cmd file stops dead at a dialog I've never seen before, saying only CHAP and requiring a keystroke?
My bad :D, i forgot to remove all debug breaks :P

redownload again :)

@Usedocne, I will ;) thank you for using program :)

[Subbat]

Hi shon3i,

Chaptergen doesn't work in cmd mode when the source video path contains a "-" character (even when the path is between quotes), it indicates a "Run-time error '52' => Bad file name or number", maybe it recognizes the "-" character as an option operator?

Thanks...

[shon3i]

Hi shon3i,

Chaptergen doesn't work in cmd mode when the source video path contains a "-" character (even when the path is between quotes), it indicates a "Run-time error '52' => Bad file name or number", maybe it recognizes the "-" character as an option operator?

Thanks...
Yep, i will see what i can do.

Thanks for report

[Subbat]

Ok, Thanks a lot...:)

[shon3i]

Updated to 1.0.6

@Subbat should be fine now.

[Subbat]

Yep, i will see what i can do.

Thanks for report

Updated to 1.0.6

@Subbat should be fine now.


Hey... Cool... I will try it as soon as possible...

:thanks:

[Subbat]

Cool, it's working nice now...

Thank you...

[Subbat]

Hi shon3i,

Just to say that on your first post there's always note :

Current version 1.0.5
Download


Thanks again...:)

[laserfan]

shon3i, my VideoReDo editor does not output chapters in tsMuxeR format HH:MM:SS.milliseconds as I need, but instead framenumbers. Any chance you could allow framenumbers as INPUT? Here's a sample of frame numbers from a 59.94 TV program, and the command I would like to use on it. Thanks for your consideration!

0
24854
35765
49430
54449
57308
65678
75212
84197
99474
137268
152460
168003
180657
185298
193434
216868
235267
238240
248278
270406
299038
332388
346824
393174
399870
402011

"C:\Program Files (x86)\ChapterGen\ChapterGen.exe" -i chapters.txt -o tsMuxeR.txt -f tsMuxer -infps 60/1.001 -outfps 60/1.001

[Video Dude]

Frame number input would be useful.

I also use VideoReDo to edit HD tv captures and then author to Blu-ray with tsmuxer.

[Capsbackup]

shon3i, my VideoReDo editor does not output chapters in tsMuxeR format HH:MM:SS.milliseconds

I use VideoRedo, and I have the chapters format selection HH:MM:SS.ff, works for me for tsMuxeR! Seems to be pretty accurate too.

[laserfan]

I use VideoRedo, and I have the chapters format selection HH:MM:SS.ff, works for me for tsMuxeR! Seems to be pretty accurate too.
Yes, I noticed that too, but it's only "pretty accurate" as you said--my expectation about it is that while VRD's ff output is a frame number, tsMuxeR accepts it as .ms instead, so for example if the frame number is frame 22 e.g. VRD's output is

00:27:32.22

then tsMuxeR interprets this as .220 (220 milliseconds) whereas frame 22 for a 24/1.001 program would actually be at 918ms. So your chapter seek might land on a previous I-frame instead of the desired one.

Whether the miss is offensive or not of course depends on the program. But I'm very anal about this stuff so like to get it perfect, if possible... :)

[Capsbackup]

My usage for VideoRedo is to cut commercials from recorded HD TV shows, so there is much more leniency for chapter marks at these commercial cuts. But I see and agree with your point! ;)

[shon3i]

Ok i will see what i can do :)

[laserfan]

shon3i, have we told you lately that we love you? ;)

[shon3i]

shon3i, have we told you lately that we love you? ;)
Ok i added celltimes as input format. Since celltimes has unknown fps you should use cmd like this

"ChapterGen.exe" -i chapters.txt -o tsMuxeR.txt -f tsMuxer -infps 60/1.001, without outfps. But test it to see is chapters on correct places.

[laserfan]

Ok i added celltimes as input format. Since celltimes has unknown fps you should use cmd like this

"ChapterGen.exe" -i chapters.txt -o tsMuxeR.txt -f tsMuxer -infps 60/1.001, without outfps. But test it to see is chapters on correct places.
You said "celltimes" but I asked for "frame numbers"!!? Anyway, I will give your new version a try! :)

[manolito]

You said "celltimes" but I asked for "frame numbers"!!?
Celltimes.txt contains (guess what?) FRAME NUMBERS.

Cheers
manolito

[laserfan]

Celltimes.txt contains (guess what?) FRAME NUMBERS.

Cheers
manolitoWhew! Thanks! :eek: ;)

[laserfan]

Since celltimes has unknown fps you should use cmd like this...without outfps.
shon3i, it worked perfectly, though the output was wrong until I added outfps, specificially for the 29.97 program I tried it on:

chaptergen -i frames.txt -o tsmuxer.txt -f timecodes -infps 30/1.001 -outfps 30/1.001

Thanks for adding this feature; it is much appreciated! :)

[shon3i]

shon3i, it worked perfectly, though the output was wrong until I added outfps, specificially for the 29.97 program I tried it on:

chaptergen -i frames.txt -o tsmuxer.txt -f timecodes -infps 30/1.001 -outfps 30/1.001

Thanks for adding this feature; it is much appreciated! :)
Cool, thank you :)

[shon3i]

Updated to 1.0.8

[FILLIFY]

big thanks for your tool!
can you add manual offset feature?
it'll be great.

[shon3i]

big thanks for your tool!
can you add manual offset feature?
it'll be great.
Yes it's possible, it will happen in near future, just be patient.

[Stereodude]

Thanks for the tool.

FYI: I believe there is a rounding error in the math though. It looks like it is rounding down / truncating the frame number instead of using normal rounding (at least in the Sonic Scenarist CSV File output mode).

I took a Blu-Ray and used eac3to to generate a chapter listing. I then ran that file through ChapterGen using the GUI set to 23.976FPS -> 24FPS and created a Sonic Scenarist CSV File. I then ran the video and audio streams through Scenarist BD (with it complaining about I-frames and showing incorrect chapter times the whole way though) and generated a BD disc. I then used eac3to again to generate a chapter listing and compared it against the one I got from the original Blu-Ray. Some of the chapters were moved 1 frame earlier.

Original BD chapters:
00:00:00.000
00:09:39.120
00:19:49.355
00:34:21.851
00:45:15.338
00:49:38.184
01:01:59.674
01:05:52.657
01:10:05.451
01:15:08.045
01:17:08.040
01:19:41.610
01:35:12.582
01:39:11.154
01:48:21.495
01:56:39.618
01:58:49.914
02:05:18.094
02:09:07.156
02:14:06.538

Chapters From Scenarist created BD:
00:00:00.000
00:09:39.078
00:19:49.355
00:34:21.810
00:45:15.296
00:49:38.184
01:01:59.633
01:05:52.615
01:10:05.410
01:15:08.003
01:17:08.040
01:19:41.568
01:35:12.540
01:39:11.154
01:48:21.495
01:56:39.576
01:58:49.873
02:05:18.052
02:09:07.156
02:14:06.497

I italicized the ones that are 1 frame too early.

Here is the file ChapterGen created:
23.976
NonDrop
00:00:00:00
00:09:38:12
00:19:48:04
00:34:19:18
00:45:12:14
00:49:35:05
01:01:55:22
01:05:48:16
01:10:01:05
01:15:03:12
01:17:03:10
01:19:36:19
01:35:06:20
01:39:05:05
01:48:15:00
01:56:32:14
01:58:42:18
02:05:10:13
02:08:59:10
02:13:58:11

I double checked the math in Excel (based on the frame numbers of the original chapters) and I matched ChapterGen's results exactly if I used rounddown(frames,0) for the frame number. When I used round(frames,0) instead I got

00:00:00:00
00:09:38:13
00:19:48:04
00:34:19:19
00:45:12:15
00:49:35:05
01:01:55:23
01:05:48:17
01:10:01:06
01:15:03:13
01:17:03:10
01:19:36:20
01:35:06:21
01:39:05:05
01:48:15:00
01:56:32:14
01:58:42:19
02:05:10:14
02:08:59:10
02:13:58:12

When I imported these times into Sonic the created disc has identical chapters to the source disc.

[MrVideo]

Ok, I finally finished completly new (from scratch) tool for chapters.

infps <float>
- 50.940

-outfps <float>
- 50.940


I hope you mean 59.94, not 50.94 :D

[MrVideo]

Well, that didn't go so well.

Latest version of the software. Commandline operation done in a cygwin Zshell. Sitting in the directory that contains the input text file. I have no problem spitting out the content of the input text file, which is frame numbers.

The program complains that it can't open the input file. I had even tried dragging the input file to the GUI and it was ignored.

It would be nice if the error would say why it can't open the input file.

[shon3i]

@Stereodude, yes i know for this problem, and it's random problem, because i had some titles which fine if i use rounddown and other with round, it's wierd but i think to add switch that user can choose. I can't find real formula maybe there is some other factor.. It's only problem for scenarist/cinevision and frame cents based formats.

@MrVideo, yes i mean 59.94, i think i fixed that typo in last revision, btw can you send me that file, i would to check what problem is? Btw i am so lazy to writte proper error handler :D

[MrVideo]

yes i mean 59.94, i think i fixed that typo in last revision, btw can you send me that file, i would to check what problem is? Btw i am so lazy to writte proper error handler :D

First post in this thread and the cmdhelp.txt file have 50.94 instead of 59.94.

It has been so long since I posted that error report that I have no clue as to which file I was trying to use. When I get a chance, I'll try again.

[shon3i]

First post in this thread and the cmdhelp.txt file have 50.94 instead of 59.94.Fixed here, and will be fixed in cmdhelp with next rls, thanks.

It has been so long since I posted that error report that I have no clue as to which file I was trying to use. When I get a chance, I'll try again. Thank you, btw if you have some file that will not load, just throw it here, for examination. I think i know why you didn't success to load celltimes, file must not contain any spaces, must be 100% numeric.

[MrVideo]

I think i know why you didn't success to load celltimes, file must not contain any spaces, must be 100% numeric.

OK, when I get a chance, I'll see if that was it.

[Masutin]

I didn't see a general topic for chapters and, if don't mind, have a question about creating chapters (not necessarily using this tool): Is there software where video playback is used within the program to make adding time codes easier. E.g. you pause the video, press a key shortcut, and the time for a chapter is added. Subtitle editors work in such a way.

[Cela]

...Is there software where video playback is used within the program to make adding time codes easier. E.g. you pause the video, press a key shortcut, and the time for a chapter is added. Subtitle editors work in such a way.AFAIK there is no general chapter generation program available. For my personal convenience I adopted a simple workaround.
I accept COPY (Ctrl+C)/PASTE (Ctrl+V) as 'key shortcut'
and use an accompanying "Videoname_chp.txt" tect file:
1. Use a video editor program to replay the video.
2. If supported by the video editor, set a suitable chapter timecode display format.
3. Navigate to a location of each chapter candidate.
4. If supported by the video editor, copy the displayed chapter time code and paste it into a simple textfile "Videoname_chp.txt".
5. Add an annotation. You may call it chapter name.
6. If your authorung program supports it, use the chapter textfile as input for chapter menu generation.

Unfortunately not many video editor programs support steps 2 and 4 properly.
Not many video editors support to select the chapter timecode display format (step2).
Not many video editors support the COPY (Ctrl+C) from the timecode display window (step 4). This means that the displayed values must be typed manually into the text file. (Beware of typos!)

I tested the following video editors:
* Good old Mpeg2schnitt provides a perfect solution for PAL mpeg2 footage for steps 1 to 5. It supports several tc formats. I often use it to convert from one tc format to another tc format. Furthermore it supports COPY/PASTE of the tc format from/to its Marker list. Double click on any tc entry in the Marker list jumps to the corresponding time position in the video. Furthermore, the Marker list practically works like a windiows tect file and thus offers to except any kind of annotation and/or chapter text.

* Adobe Premiere Elements has a hh:mm:ss:ff (example: 00:26:13:06 ) tc display window and allows to copy . Furthermore it allows to enter a new tc value into the tc display manually or by PASTE and by doing this jump to the entered tc. It is not possible to select any other TC format.

* MAGIX Video delux MX has also a hh:mm:ss:ff (example: 04:26:13:06 ) tc display window but does not support COPY/PASTE its content. It is not possible to select any other TC format.

* Cyberlink Power Director 10 has a Chapter feature which allows to add a chapter name and displays a hh:mm:ss:ff (example: 00:26:13:06 ) tc display window in the Chapters Room. COPY/PASTE is not supported, though.

* VideoRedo TV Suite HD (VDR) has also a hh:mm:ss:ff (example: 04:26:13:06 ) tc display window but does not support COPY/PASTE of its content. VDR comes with tc format hh:mm:ss:ff but allows to change it to hh:mm:ss.ff format. Furthermore it has a view option Show Frame Number which displays the frame number. The tc display field is display only! But double clicking on it displays an Enter TimeCode sub-window with sub-fields Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Frame#. Unlike in Premiere Elements it is not possible to COPY or PASTE the complete tc-value (example: 04:26:13:06 ) from or into these sub-fields. Thus COPY/PASTE is very limited, practically useless. But in Show Frame Number mode, the Frame number field inthe Enter Frame Number sub-window does support COPY/PASTE! Thus VDR is suited for step 4 in Frame Number mode. Depending on your authoring program a tc conversion program like ChapterGen is needed to convert the tc format.

Conclusion:
Mpeg2schnitt is my first choice for mpeg2 PAL footage.
VideoRedo in Frame Number mode is my first and PRE10 in its hh:mm:ss:ff mode is my second choice for h.264 HD footage.

"Videoname_chp.txt" file is my hub for all chapter related activites. iI use it parallel to the video editor programs. Best of all, the "Videoname_chp.txt" file is supported by the great, free AVCHD authoring program multiAVCHD. multiAVCHD uses the hh:mm:ss.mss (mss ... 3 digit millisecond fraction) tc format. So, for h.264 HD footage a tc conversion program like ChapterGen is mandatory to convert the tc format.

Sounds complicated, but isn't. ;)

Any easier procedure from h.264 TS (m2ts) to AVCHD with annotated chapter menus?

[MrVideo]

AFAIK there is no general chapter generation program available. For my personal convenience I adopted a simple workaround.

Your testing of VideoReDo was incomplete. BTW,m it is VRD, not VDR,

* VideoRedo TV Suite HD (VDR) has also a hh:mm:ss:ff (example: 04:26:13:06 ) tc display window but does not support COPY/PASTE of its content. VDR comes with tc format hh:mm:ss:ff but allows to change it to hh:mm:ss.ff format. Furthermore it has a view option Show Frame Number which displays the frame number. The tc display field is display only! But double clicking on it displays an Enter TimeCode sub-window with sub-fields Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Frame#. Unlike in Premiere Elements it is not possible to COPY or PASTE the complete tc-value (example: 04:26:13:06 ) from or into these sub-fields. Thus COPY/PASTE is very limited, practically useless. But in Show Frame Number mode, the Frame number field inthe Enter Frame Number sub-window does support COPY/PASTE! Thus VDR is suited for step 4 in Frame Number mode. Depending on your authoring program a tc conversion program like ChapterGen is needed to convert the tc format.

VRD can display time as hh:mm:ss:ff (DFTC or NDFTC for 29.97 video) or as frames. But, the biggest feature that you missed is that VRD can output a text file with frame values in the current display format. There are options as well, check them out. Make sure that At Scene Marker is checked.

To output a "chapter" text file manually, just go to the locations you want to marked as chapters. The press the "a" key to place a marker in the display. Set all of your markers, then in the File dropdown menu, do a save Chapter file.

Bingo, you have a text file with the chapters that you marked. No copy-n-paste required.

[Cela]

Your testing of VideoReDo was incomplete. BTW,m it is VRD, not VDR,
...
Bingo, you have a text file with the chapters that you marked. No copy-n-paste required.Thanks for your valuable clarifications.

I have been aware of the chapter file feature and use it where appropriate, but IMHO it is more a detour than a shortcut if I only need the current timecode value in the windows clipboard (in order to pass it to another application).

By the way, assume you have a timecode value (as a result of another apllication) in the windows clipboard and you want VRD to jump straight to that value, how would you do it in VRD?

A simple COPY/PASTE of the current timecode to/from windows clipboard (like in Premiere Elements and Mpeg2Schnitt) is a needed feature which I strongly miss in VRD!

[Ghitulescu]

Can you add a conversion function from Matroska XML to tsmuxer accepted format?

[manolito]

Can you add a conversion function from Matroska XML to tsmuxer accepted format?
ChapterGen cannot currently import chapters in XLM format, but it can import chapters in OGM format. MKVExtractGUI2 lets you extract MKV chapters in OGM format (MKVCleaver cannot do this AFAIK), so just import the OGM chapter file into ChapterGen and export it to tsMuxeR Meta format.


Cheers
manolito

[shon3i]

I started to improve ChapterGen to support chapter names, online database support for importing, more i/o formats including xml, better cli handling etc, but stoped because real life problems. Maybe i will continue some day.

Btw, thanks guys for supporting and using this tool :)

[manolito]

Take your time, ChapterGen works perfectly for me as it is now, I use it all the time.

Thanks very much for this excellent tool...:thanks:



Cheers
manolito

[jfcarbel]

Great tool, perhaps you can release the source and others can work on it.

[shon3i]

When i finish some modification that i started i will share it on google code or whatever service, all interested can join :)

[jfcarbel]

When i finish some modification that i started i will share it on google code or whatever service, all interested can join :)

Awesome, great I look forward to helping. One of the features I would want to add is ability to open point to a video file (AVI, MP4,MKV) and have it read duration of video via mediainfo DLL and then based on this allow user to choose to create chapters based on # of chapters wanted or create chapter every # minutes with edit window to allow user to name chapters if they want. Then it would then be cool if it could invoke MKVmerge via command line to integrate the chapters into the MKV. Just some of the things I would look to add.

I have also always envisioned a tool that would read in an MKV or AVI file and allow user to scan thru the video quickly like AVIDemmux allows and when on a frame be able to click create chapter. So an interactive way to create the chapter file. And then with the ability to generate a chapters thumbnail jpg from the selected chapters.

BTW - looks like from first post that jdobbs provided you some code to use, make sure to get his clearance before open sourcing that. Also what language is the tool written in?

[MrVideo]

By the way, assume you have a timecode value (as a result of another apllication) in the windows clipboard and you want VRD to jump straight to that value, how would you do it in VRD?

Oops, sorry. Got sidetracked.

I know of no way to cut-n-paste time code values in VRD. But, if you have the value as a frame count and set VRD to frame values, then cut-n-paste does work.

[jfcarbel]

Still looking forward to this being open sourced as I am unaware of any projects like this that community can improve on work on. Are there any open source Chapter generators? I could not find any in my search.

What language is the tool written in?

[shon3i]

Sorry for i didn't answer you earlier, ChapterGen is written in VB6. Still i need to do some things before i open it, just need few months.

[marcusj0015]

Hi, could you either release the source, or create a Mac version? and also, can you support creating either an MKV output, or XML output?

[shon3i]

Some work in done, xml support is added, along with chapter naming function. I working now on online tagging support.

@marcusj0015, i don't think so is Mac version possible coz VB6 is restricted to windows only.

[jfcarbel]

Some work in done, xml support is added, along with chapter naming function. I working now on online tagging support.

@marcusj0015, i don't think so is Mac version possible coz VB6 is restricted to windows only.

online tagging support?

Looking very much forward to the chapter naming function.

For Titles that don't have any chapter stops to read, can you read length of video and give option of user to choose number of chapters or chapter every ## minutes and then generate the chapter times based on the selection calculated from length of video.

[shon3i]

online tagging support?I mean retriving names from service such as tagchimp.

I will consider that should not be hard, i need to look more in mediainfo structure.

[jfcarbel]

I mean retriving names from service such as tagchimp.

I will consider that should not be hard, i need to look more in mediainfo structure.

Cool looking so forward to this.

[Nico8583]

Hi :)
When I run ChapterGen with GUI or cmdline, it asks administrator rights. Is it normal ? Could I remove this step ? Because when I launch ChapterGen in a script, it waits for a choice (Yes or No).
Thanks !

[laserfan]

No, that's not normal--I run ChapterGen in cmdline scripts exclusively. You'll need to address the admin rights issue somehow on your setup.

[Nico8583]

I only need eac3to txt to scenarist csv so I'll write a little program to do this conversion :) but thanks for your response !

[nbarzgar]

Ok, I finally finished completly new (from scratch) tool for chapters. This is completly different than my previous qpfilegen tool. BIG Thanks goes to jdobbs who helped and share part of code, the application is no longer dependent on eac3to, it have own Blu-Ray/HDDVD/DVD support.

...

Awesome! Works like a charm, thanks so much!!
:D

[Masutin]

Is there a tool that can shift the times of all or selected chapters (in TXT for MKV or other) by a specified value?

[szabi]

Hi

I have Celltimes.txt input file and I need time based output.
Source:
0
9300
20750
33925
56351
59993
104350
120150
124094
Result:
00:00:00.000
00:06:27.887
00:14:25.448
00:23:34.955
00:39:10.306
00:41:42.208
01:12:32.265
01:23:31.256
01:26:15.754
02:02:29.425
02:22:31.626

But if you check, the calculation is not correct.
This is the correct one:
0:0:0.0
0:6:12.0
0:13:50.0
0:22:37.0
0:37:34.1
0:39:59.18
1:9:34.0
1:20:6.0
1:22:43.19
1:57:28.10
2:16:41.9
2:23:35.6

Of course framerate not changed.
What is the reason for deviation?

EDIT: Now it is ok.
Order of settings was the solution.

[Masutin]

Perhaps you can help and point where else to ask. What entry can be used in the CHAPTERxxNAME field to represent an empty title? If you leave it empty or use a space or a tab, the time code will be the title. However I've seen chapters without titles.

[nfm]

Hello. Is there way to extract chapter position timestamps along with the names of the chapters that you see in a root menu? Currently when I repack the blu-rays into MKV container to stream them using DLNA I have to manually name the chapters. Is there a way to automate?

[Masutin]

nfm, I never used the BD structure, but if you can copy the times and titles in any form, e.g. using MediaInfo, I can write a regular expression to automate conversion into chapters suitable for MKV.

[jfcarbel]

shon3i - Any change you can release the project to google code so some of us can contribute to it.

[bennynihon]

Yes it's possible, it will happen in near future, just be patient.

Has the offset feature been implemented yet?

[chompy]

Hi,

I've just updated to Windows 10 and now I cannot longer drag & drop playlists to ChapterGen, it's only me or anybody else is having the same issue?

[jpsdr]

If i convert a txt muxman file to an OGG file using the program windows interface, the first line/chapter is "CHAPTER00".
If i do the same thing but using the CLI (in a bat file), the first line/chapter is "CHAPTER01".

[Masutin]

Aside from ChapterGen. As with CUE files for some audio files, is a similar approach possible for other media files, i.e. providing timestamps and optional titles in a separate file?

[Masutin]

Which value for -f is needed for the text format used in MKV, to avoid the error Type Mismatch? Tried them all.

[manolito]

The -f OGG parameter should do this, but I found that chaptergen is very picky about the input formats. For me it does works with the "Celltimes.txt" format (IFOEdit frame numbers), but for other formats I often get the Type Mismatch error. What is your input file format?

Since ChapterGen has long been abandoned by its author, I would recommend you check out chapterEditor by hubblec4. It does not have a command line interface, though.


Cheers
manolito

[jfcarbel]

The -f OGG parameter should do this, but I found that chaptergen is very picky about the input formats. For me it does works with the "Celltimes.txt" format (IFOEdit frame numbers), but for other formats I often get the Type Mismatch error. What is your input file format?

Since ChapterGen has long been abandoned by its author, I would recommend you check out chapterEditor by hubblec4. It does not have a command line interface, though.


Cheers
manolito

Great tool, I wish the source would have been at least put out there for others to update as I would have been open to contributing.

Will have to check out hubblec4 tool (https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=169984).