Chapters in Existing DVD

[Xesdeeni]

I authored a DVD a few months ago to which I neglected to add chapter points. Is there a way to add them without re-authoring...preferably with a GUI where I can step between I-frames and find the places I want them. I realize I can't link to them from already-existing menus, but I want the ability to skip while viewing.

Xesdeeni

[Dimmer]

A new chapter requires a new cell. Take a look at your movie in IfoEdit. If it's a one large cell, then NO. In this case, you'll have to re-author.

If for some reason the movie has been split into several cells, you can make a new chapter out of each cell with IfoEdit.

[Xesdeeni]

Thanks for the info. Sorry to be dense, but IFOEdit is a bit too cryptic for me, and I get seriously confused every time I try to run it. Can you please be very specific about where in IFOEdit I should look? Which file do I load? Which set of listings do I look at? There seems to be redundant info, and I'm never sure which to pay attention to.

Xesdeeni

[Dimmer]

Check out their web site http://www.ifoedit.com/. There is a sample screenshot that shows how a movie with chapters would look. You can tell that it's a main movie because it's over 2hrs long (02:08:05.00). You can see it says there are 30 cells. Each cell could be made into a chapter. If your main movie has only 1 cell, you'll have to re-author.

The file you have to open is VTS_01_0.IFO. Look in the bottom panel for something that has a length of your movie. If you have VTS_02_0.IFO, etc. you should look there, too. Don't look into VIDEO_TS.IFO.

[Xesdeeni]

OK, well obviously I don't have a cell boundary where I want a chapter point. Is there a way to convert the video to another file with cell boundaries? Re-authoring requires 20+ hours of re-rendering.

Xesdeeni

[Dimmer]

Originally posted by Xesdeeni
Re-authoring requires 20+ hours of re-rendering. No, it doesn't. You have to demux MPEG video and audio from the VOB files and make a new DVD out of it with chapters, menus, and whatever else you wish. There is a lot of guides around about re-authoring with different programs, just remember that you don't have to re-encode (re-render) the video.

[Xesdeeni]

Re-render...duh...sorry...yesterday was a bad day.

I've never converted a VOB to MPV and AC3. I know DVD2AVI (well, DGIndex) will handle extracting the AC3. But what's the best tool for getting the MPV? Will TMPGEnc do this?

Xesdeeni

[Dimmer]

Originally posted by Xesdeeni
I've never converted a VOB to MPV and AC3. I know DVD2AVI (well, DGIndex) will handle extracting the AC3. But what's the best tool for getting the MPV? Will TMPGEnc do this? I would suggest VobEdit instead. ReJig should do the job, too, although not as convenient. TMPGEnc might have issues when there is more than one VOB file in a VTS.