Commercial DVD has NO chapters

[setarip_old]

I recently purchased the DVD "The Straight Story" (Directed/Produced by weird David Lynch and starring Sissy Spacek).

Mr. Lynch has INTENTIONALLY omitted chapter breaks, stating something to the effect that "Videos are not books and they (videos) should be viewed at one sitting, with no going back and forth".

I do not share Mr. Lynch's opinion and, therefore, ask the following:

What is a SIMPLE way to add chapters to a chapterless DVD?

Thank you.

[Sparktank]

He did the exact same thing to Mulholland Drive.
I don't like it either. I don't always have time to watch the whole thing and would love to take off from where I left it at a later time.

One simple way is to remux the movie into an MKV container (with, say, MakeMKV) and feed it to AVStoDVD then change all the settings to "copy" both the video and audio with ffmpeg.
Make sure you set the chapter settings to a length you prefer. The minimum you can set is 5min with A2D.
A2D will demux and remux and copy everything for you with its many tools and ensure it doesn't transcode anything in the process.
Though subtitles might be an issue. Sometimes it is. If you're concerned about subtitles.

A2D also works with ImgBurn so you can burn straight to disc and/or keep an ISO image handy.

[Ghitulescu]

I had the same problem.

Somebody suggested me this tool (http://forum.digital-digest.com/f14/chapter-edit-1-10-english-version-57209.html) or similar. I don't find this thread right now ...

Going through MKV and AVStoDVD seems not to be the easiest method :). Simpler, yet still complicated, would be a full demux/remux with custom or automated chapters.

Chapter Edit should do what you want in a simple way, without touching the VOBs, because the chapter marks are not in VOBs. IFOedit should also be able to do it but I never discovered how.

[Emulgator]

I would suggest to use muxman and import a simple .txt chapterlist containing frame numbers.
Muxman Pro (now in version 1.4.4) takes in VOBs.
If you want to use muxman free 0.16.8, then I would demux first using SmartRipper, PGCDemux etc.

[Ghitulescu]

I think also of VOBblanker and its Split Cell function - it does not only put visual chapters and cell marks where you want, but also takes care of renumbering the VCIDs (you can reassign chapters later in PGCedit, if you want less chapters than cells).
http://download.videohelp.com/jsoto/guides/VobBlanker/splitting_cells/

[laserfan]

I'm a Chapter Nut, work very hard to make certain all the chapter marks are at their proper location, but find that I virtually never use them. The only time(s) they've been handy to have are when I somehow manage to accidentally exit a movie and have to (try to) find my way back to the spot where we left off i.e. I hit the wrong button when the wife asks to take a break...

:o

[SeeMoreDigital]

I'm with Emulgator. If you want to generate DVD compliant muxes with new chapters points. Use MuxMan ;)