multiple PGCs....

[nad]

My movie has 8 PGCs... PGC1 is the main movie..

Here is the thing. PGC2 - PGC8 are each very short in length and seem to be pointless. They are nothing.. less than 1 minute long and are just blank screens... It makes no sense.


Do I have to create 8 PGCs in Scenarist just like the original VOB set in order for the final title to work properly????

And how would I find out what the frames and timestamps for each of these other PGCs in order to set I-frames in CCE and Cell points in Scenarist?? I can't figure it out, because PGCs 2-8 start at 00:00:00:00 timestamp and 0 frames. What would I do in this situation?

[Eyes`Only]

Most of what you asked I answered in another post, but for the remaining question:

Yes you need to create all the PGCs/Titles. These need to be separate .m2v/.ac3 files. As for setting chapter points in each, usually multiple pgcs dont have more than one chapter, but if yours does, you'll find that when you open ChapterXtractor, there's a dropdown button to select which pgc to view chapter information for. So, for say, pgc2, select "2" from the dropdown list, and you'll see the chapter frame information to set in CCE for pgc2.

[nad]

I appreciate your replies, and I have another questions.

First, When I demux in smartripper, can I directly use that m2v file, since it is so small and barely takes up space anyway?

Secondly, PGC2 is so weird. It has 3 chapters/cells. The first chapter starts at 0 frames and is .15 seconds long. And then, second chapter of PGC2 uses chapter 33 of PGC1 and ChapterXtractor says it is the exact length of chapter 33 of PGC1!? Then chapter/cell 3 is .15 seconds long. But at the same time, the demuxed m2v file of PGC2 plays for less than one second???? This makes no sense to me. I don't even think Scenarist lets me create additional scenes when using the demuxed m2v file for PGC2, because the length is so very short. So do I simple just create all 8 PGCs and not worry about scenes in PGCs 2-8 since they are just extremely small? Then let the original IFO take care of the cell/chapters of PGC 2-8.

[Eyes`Only]

first- yes

second- there need to be the same number of cells on the reauthored as there are in the ifo, for everything to work correctly. This is only necessary if the ifo has several pgcs that you wont use, but then you want. If this is the case, there needs to be the same amount of cells before the pgc you want as there was in the original.

[nad]

I am not sure I can understand...
First some info...
PGC1 contains the main movie only... I will not be using PGC2-8 because they are nothing but still frames when they play.. They seem pointless, but you say they need to be there.

I keep all 76 cells in the first PGCs... and that part works fine.

But with PGC2 - PGC8, I have to import those very small m2v files that is extremely short in length. Scenarist wont even let me create scenes within those m2v files, cause there is not enough content.. I can't even drag the little scene slider. This should not matter in the single cell/chapter PGCs, since Scenarist creates one scene with the correct timecode, 00:00:00:00. Am I right?


And with PGC2 I can't create scene/cell in it either, yet it has has 2 which are .15 seconds, and one which points to chapter 33 of PGC1, but that doesn't even play.. So I don't understand this structure. It seems that the only way to do it, would be to just create the PGC2 and import the PGC2 m2v, and then use the original cell settings of the original IFO, and try to modify them to progress in the right order after the PGC1, and before PGC3... Is this what you were trying to say.

[nad]

After I import each m2v file for the separate PGCs, and then when drag certain m2v assets to the track editor, it will ask me if I want to create a Menu track, slideshow track, or a still show track... What do I select?

[Eyes`Only]

use stillshow i believe. Since there aren't any pgcs you really want/need after pgc2-pgc8, you can probably just leave off those pgcs, and just deal with pgc1. I've done that on occasion, as those still shows never seem to be anything i want to keep, and I really don't know how to make those work yet.

[nad]

I guess I can just create the 8 titles with 8 PGCs, and then import the m2v file for each PGC.... and just leave it at that...

Probably nothing wrong with playing around with it. Cause really I don't know... I don't know why they are there, what they are used for either. I can't even create additional cells in PGC2, when it doesn't even run for 1 second! yet it contains 3 cells.. And somehow cell 2 is sourcing to PGC1, but doesn't play, and then the cell 3 timestamp continues where cell 2 left off... which is 36 seconds... and their is not even 1 second in the whole PGC2.. I just don't know. Seems that all my other movies make sense to me, but this one is odd.

It really seems that if I just create the PGCs, and let the original IFO have the cell information.. it would preserve the original structure.. All I would have to do is figure out what the correct cell sectors are for each cell in each PGC... which I think I could do.

[nad]

Well I have figured something else out after investigating.

I used Smartripper and used "Movie" mode and ripped PGC2. So this can give me the info text file that tells you information about the video.

I found the structure... Apparently Chapter 3 is timestamped at .15 seconds (I thought that would probably be the case)... The info file doesn't even show it as having a second chapter... Just chapter 1 at 0 seconds timestamp.. and then chapter 3. So this allows me to determine the cell placement when reauthoring. Only thing is, that I still don't think it will let me create additional cells in m2v file less than 1 second in length. So still weird.


But thanks a whole lot for your help.. I have basically capped up on everything I need to know for now.. Hopefully when I create my final project, nothing will be a huge problem. I would have completely messed up with out this message board and your helpful info.