How to create branched playlists for movie with 2 alternate endings using multiAVCHD

[deank]

I got an email from a user asking how to create 'branched' disc with two versions of a movie (I am Legend).

We start with three m2ts files and a LOT of free HDD space:

00000.m2ts - Main movie (common part)
00001.m2ts - 1st version final chapter
00002.m2ts - 2nd version final chapter

The goal is to get two playlists for both versions, without duplicating the main movie.

****

It is possible to accomplish that, but not that easy and involves some extra steps and usage of BDEdit with the final compilation.

Here is what you need to do:

Create a WORKING folder

1) You'll need to create BDMV structure for each of these 3 m2ts files. You can use tsMuxeR_GUI or multiAVCHD for this task.

I'd recommend tsMuxer GUI...

- Start tsMuxer_GUI and load 00000.m2ts, select (o) Blu-ray or (o) AVCHD disc - it doesn't matter
- Set destination folder to the .\WORKING\0
- [Start muxing]

Remove 00000.m2ts and load 00001.m2ts and repeat the steps, but select .\WORKING\1 for destination.
Remove 00001.m2ts and load 00002.m2ts and repeat the steps, but select .\WORKING\2 for destination.

2) Now you have three folders 0, 1 and 2. Close tsMuxeR_GUI and start multiAVCHD.

Make sure to set "Media m2ts split" option in AUTHOR tab to 30000 (so the main movie / common part won't be split to multiple m2ts files).

If you're prompted to enter re-author mode when importing the following 2 folders, answer with "NO".

- Drag&Drop .\WORKING\0 to multiAVCHD
- Drag&Drop .\WORKING\1 to multiAVCHD

You'll see that the [transcode] button will change to [merge playlists]. <<-- This is very important!

Click [merge playlists] and select a folder to get both playlists merged into - .\WORKING\_01



After multiAVCHD merges the playlists, close the program and start it again.

- Drag&Drop .\WORKING\0 to multiAVCHD
- Drag&Drop .\WORKING\2 to multiAVCHD

Click [merge playlists] and select a folder to get both playlists merged into - .\WORKING\_02

After multiAVCHD merges the playlists, close the program and start it again.

3) At this point you have two folders:

.\WORKING\_01_******* and
.\WORKING\_02_*******,

where each contains one of both versions of the movie. (******* are some numbers added to the folder name)

- Drag&Drop .\WORKING\_01_****** to multiAVCHD
- Drag&Drop .\WORKING\_02_****** to multiAVCHD

Set all the settings you usually set in multiAVCHD and create a compilation (using the [START] button).

You may want to use [x] Move transitional files [x] all in SETTINGS tab. Also make sure to set "Media m2ts split at" option in AUTHOR tab to 30000 (so the movie won't be split to multiple m2ts files).

This will be the FINAL STRUCTURE.

Once it completes you'll get both versions in two playlists - one for each alternate ending, but since we used 00000.m2ts twice you'll end up with ~2x the movie size.

That's why you need to use BDEdit (or if you wish - a simple HEX editor to change a string from 00002M2TS to 00000M2TS in 00001.mpls).

If you go to STREAM folder of the final compilation you'll see that you have:

00000.m2ts - Main movie
00001.m2ts - 1st version final chapter
00002.m2ts - Main movie (same as 00000.m2ts)
00003.m2ts - 2nd version final chapter

You can safely delete 00002.m2ts because we don't need it (along with CLIPINF\00002.clpi).

Start BDedit and load (drag&drop) index.bdmv from the final compilation. Go to "PLAYLIST" tab and select 00001.mpls from the drop-down list.

RIGHT-click on the file name (in the table where you have FILE | TYPE | IN TIME | OUT TIME...) and select (o) EDIT MODE.
Change the FILE from 00002 to 00000 and hit [enter].



Click [SAVE] at the bottom left corner and you're done!

This is a very rough way of doing it, but it works. It is possible to get a small glitch when the final chapter (alternate ending) starts, but usually the join point is a fade-in/fade-out scene, so it may not be noticed at all.

Dean

[arapkadri]

Thank You Dean

[SuperFist]

Dean is THE MAN!!!

With helpful, useful information and self-created programs that have lasted nearly a decade!

[trondmm]

Great tips, and it worked. Unfortunately, it wasn't very seamless.

The first version (00000.m2ts -> 00001.m2ts) played fine. But the second version (00000.m2ts -> 00003.m2ts) had a significant delay (2-3 seconds) on my blu-ray player. Is there something I can do to minimize the delays between the segments?