Mpeg2Schnitt help

[JConnor]

You see i wanna set some new chapter points with Mpeg2Schnitt i demuxed the dvd to m2v file loaded it into Mpeg2Schnitt opened a new txt file and by watching the frame numbers wrote the new frame numbers in the txt file. Named it celltimes.txt and when i muxed the dvd back together i got something totally different the chapter points were mixed up and didnt match the chapters i calculated.....How come?

[GTRBudda]

With Mpeg2schnitt you can export the chapter list as a "kap" file (just a text file with the extension kap). I see that you made your chapter list as "celltimes.txt", so I'm guessing you used Muxman to make your DVD. For the chapter list, did you use a list of frame numbers or a list of times (00:00:05.00 etc.)? I belive Muxman only uses a list of frame numbers. In Mpeg2Schnit, at the top, click Options then List Export. Chapter list format is in the middle. In the format box, enter "fffff" if it isn't already there, and click ok. To select your chapters, find the position you want, then click the chapter button (has the "?" 123 on it). When your done, right click on the grey chapter window, and select Export Chapter List. You'll get a kap file that has your frame numbers. Muxman should be able to read that, though you might have to rename to celltimes.txt (what I've been doing). Hope that helps.

[JConnor]

Hmm same problem you know i noticed that the movie playtime is 1 hour and 36 min. But when i load it to Mpeg2schnitt it shows 1:17:26
That makes to look the movie a lot shorter doesnt it? And when i set the chapters by frame number and did what u told me. Look at this

00:02:42.100
00:07:54.133
00:12:22.434
00:15:33.534
00:18:06.200
00:20:43.467
00:24:00.033
00:29:45.434
00:33:26.234
00:37:41.767
00:43:09.601
00:43:59.501
00:45:31.834
00:47:17.968
00:50:04.767
00:54:01.100
00:58:23.834
01:03:02.133
01:07:00.200
01:09:15.534
01:10:41.801
01:12:48.334

The point is that the movie is way longer than these chapter show...

[GTRBudda]

First, I goofed. I'm so sorry. Where I said to use "fffff" I was mistaken. It should have been "Bilder", (German for "frame"?), spelled as it is here, without the quotes. Don't know what I was thinking. Again, so sorry. That aside, I once had a problem with video lenth reporting strangly. The problem resolved itself after a restart, so I was never sure what had happened. For the chapter list itself, was that set of times from the kap file? With the proper setting in place in the list export setting menu (duh, sorry again), it should look something like this:

0
15062
39905
66313
86461
106218
125193
136538

Just a list of frame numbers. If I goofed again, I'll keep trying to sort it out.

[JConnor]

Yeap those are from the kap file. But the movie played through Mpeg2schnitt is so much shorter and probably that's why im being missled by the framenumbers? And that's why they dont match when i mux it back together.

[GTRBudda]

Hmm, I'm wondering a few things, trying to figure this out. Where did you get the 1 hour 36 minute figure from? Does it play to the end in Mpeg2Schnitt, or only to the 1:17:26 point? How did you produce the m2v file? Did it come from a set of mpg or vob files that were joined together (with say VOBMerge or FileMerger) and then demuxed to to an m2v? If you can tell me more about the process that you use, I may be able to figure this out.

[JConnor]

When i Play the movie on PowerDvd or on a normal dvd player it shows a total runtime of 1 hour ad 36 min. After i demux the dvd files (vobs) with PGC Demux and load the m2v file to Mpeg2Schnitt.
And then the total movie time is 1:17 min. The movie runs a lot faster i dont know for what reason.

[GTRBudda]

Ah, the movie playback is too fast. I'm totaly guessing here but, after doing a little math with playback times and framrates, it sounds like the m2v should be at a lower frame rate (23.97, 24 or 25 frames per second perhaps) but is being played at a higher one (29.97 probably). If that's the case, you might fix it with ReStream.

I have to admit here that I'm no expert on the intricacies of mpg/m2v, If I were doing this for myself it would definitely be experimental. If someone else with an understanding of mpg/m2v is reading this and I'm really barking up the wrong tree, feel free to jump in.

Anyway, for ReStream, open the m2v and select the framerate you want to try (make no other changes), then click the save button, then "Write!". You'll have a new m2v with a "0" added to the name. As for what framerate, total number of frames divided by framerate (then divided by 60 for minutes) should give you the playback time your looking for (96 minutes, 01:36x.xx).

Again, I'm no expert on this. Even if it solves the playback time problem, it may cause the audio to be out of sync. Incidentally, does the audio show the correct/expected playback time? Also, just to be on the safe side, don't through away your old m2v until your sure the new one works. Let me know how it works out.

[JConnor]

Well did what u told me everything is Okay i calculated the new chapter points aaand...same crap again. Then I tried removing the original m2v file and using the new one for muxing the files together...Some error came out 0 files accpeted, 1 rejected....

[GTRBudda]

Hmm, I suppose I should have anticipated how picky Muxman can be. To try to solve this, I made an m2v with a 29.97 fps m2v and reduced it to 23.97 with ReStream. DVDAuthorGui and Imago muxer were both able to accept and use the new m2v, but not Muxman. It loaded into Mpeg2Schnitt also. Here's an idea, perhaps you could use the new m2v to calculate your chapter points but multiplex/author with the old one. Your last post was a little unclear. When you said "same c**p again" did you mean the new m2v still shows the wrong/shorter playback time, or that the chapter points were mixed up, or both? Some more details might be helpful (framerate of the original DVD's vobs, is it pal or ntsc, framerate of the old m2v, duration of the demuxed audio). I haven't given up trying to solve this, but I am running out of ideas. If all else fails, you might try demuxing the the original DVD again with a different tool. I use DGIndex for demuxing vobs. If there's an audio delay it will show you the amount in the name of the audio file. Hope I gave you some useful ideas at least.

[JConnor]

Ok forget about this. i tried what u told me step by step (DVDauthorGui) Another error came out. That's it I give up. There's something probably wrong with the vob files. **** that. I dont have any more nerves or time to waste on that crap. Thanks a lot for all the help anyway.