HowTo create chapters from vobs.. etc. w/ ifoEdit ??

[vhelp]

Hi all

First, I'm under windows 98 gold So please bare that in mind, when
you respond (hopefully) to my questions. Thanks.

Ok, maybe this is a "TWO" question topic

* Are there any simple ways to create Chapters in a single MPEG-2 file.., after
.. I have encoded it through TMPG ??
.. I realize that I have to first part it into a VOB file. I use ifoEdit
.. to make all my VOB's (from *.m2v and *.mp2 files)

Please note that I can't use most other apps for this project when making VOBs
and things, because I'm under window 98 gold, and the apps that you may be
aware of or use yourself, are designed (and used) for W98SE and higher.
.
I've tried using dvd author gui but this no longer works even for
win98gold. I've tried installing it from scratch, and even installed the files
that the author of this app pointed out, but still won't work. Just keeps crashing.
.
So, I am hoping that I can do everything pretty much in ifoEdit . Plus I like
using it because it's the only thing that hasn't messed up my Aspect Ratios.
.
I also have VobEdit but it's very confusing to use, and I haven't quite got it
to work for me with Chapters (I thought this was the app to use for it)


* My other question (though asked in another post) is regards to having more than
.. one VOB file authored to a DVD disk. I cant' remember the thread at the moment.
.. But, it envolved VobEdit (which confused me (above) and didn't quite do what I
.. wanted)
.. I don't want to merge (at this time) but what I wanted was to have multiple VOB's
.. much like they do have on commercial DVDs. That's what I'm after. And I would
.. like to be able to veiw each one (maybe through chaptering or something)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-vhelp

[hech54]

Jimmalenko's guide might be the one you are looking for. I've been checking out this guide ALOT these past few days myself. It works VERY well....GREAT guide Jim.
http://members.dodo.net.au/~jimmalenko/test.htm

[vhelp]

@ heck54

No. This doesn't work. I've ben here once before. (Save on my hd)

My sources are from Captures *not* from DVD rips. There are no
such Chapters or Entry points or whatever. My final sources are from MPEG-2's
that I encoded w/ TMPG.

I make my VOBs through ifoEdit.

My TWO questions were:
(and using sofware that works under w98gold)

* Using one vob file (say it's 1 hour long) how can I make it so that
.. I can have Chapers embeded into that *single* VOB file, and when I play it
.. through PowerDVD (or my stand-alone player) I can navigate to any point
.. in my MPEG (vob) file.

* Lets say I have 2 mpeg files that I encoded. After creating two video_ts
.. folder on my harddrive, I encode each one to a VOB file using ifoEdit
which make a vob file.

Note, I noticed that inside ifoEdit's features.., just before one goes to make
the VOB file, there is a file that one could include as a Position File. The name
it askes for is: "CellTimes.txt". The next field (obviously) is Destination,
which I say is ..\video_ts and then I press the [OK] button. Anyways.
I noticed that, and thougth I'd mention. If its something that I could use
(and change accordingly) I would love to know what this is all about.
.
Anyways, these are the files ifoEdit gives me:

Video_ts.bup
Video_ts.ifo
Vts_01_0.bup
Vts_01_0.ifo
Vts_01_1.vob

I can't open them up and modify them, because they are not standard text files.
So that idea goes out the window.

I may have two (or more) such projects, in some instances, I would like to author
a DVD w/ both VOB files and be able to play them (not merge them)

Thanks again,
-vhelp

[hech54]

OK....NOW I understand what you are doing. Well at least I bumped you twice...
Do you know how to attempt this from my unanswered post?...
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1099917#1099917

[jimmalenko]

Note, I noticed that inside ifoEdit's features.., just before one goes to make
the VOB file, there is a file that one could include as a Position File. The name
it askes for is: "CellTimes.txt". The next field (obviously) is Destination,
which I say is ..\video_ts and then I press the [OK] button. Anyways.
I noticed that, and thougth I'd mention. If its something that I could use
(and change accordingly) I would love to know what this is all about.

That "CellTimes.txt" file is all you need to alter/create. Feed your m2v and your audio file through IFOEdit's authoring section in the normal fashion, but create a text file that looks like the following also:

125
4759
458769

These numbers are the frame numbers that you wish to isnert chapter points at. So you author your M2V, your audio file and "celltimes.txt" together and it will create your IFOs, BUPs and VOBs and insert chapters at (or closest to) the frame points that you have specified. Whether it hits the exact frame depends on whether the frame you specify is an I Frame. I think you can manually define I Frames during encoding with TMPGEnc if you desperately need to hit an exact frame.

[vhelp]

@ heck54

Thants for your suggestions actually.., I've already ben there (after searching)
but it wasn't what I was looking for.

I'm exhausted trying to fiure this all out. On that of that, today, I lost my ability
to do any DV fireiwre and stuff.. using avi_io as my capture app. Thats my number 1
priority in my video endeavors. Well, anyways.. I finally did fix it and all is working
well again

Now back to VOBs and Chapters hehe..


@ jimmalenko

Thanks for your suggestions w/ regards to the "celltimes.txt" options. That is just
what I have ben looking for. I haven't tried it yet (just logged on here) but I will
definately give it some *debuggin around* some

I'll report back my results, should I get it all to work.

Thanks again for all you guys assistance/suggestions,
-vhelp

[vhelp]

Ok, I've ben playing around with IfoEdit and celltimes.txt
for a while now. And so far, nothing seems to be working.

I've used a short clip (one minutes worth) and put in a couple
of frames, and processed through ifoEdit. When I play it
through PowerDVD, and press the chapter button, it just ends/stops
the video.

This is really burning me up
-vhelp

[jimmalenko]

Ok, I've ben playing around with IfoEdit and celltimes.txt
for a while now. And so far, nothing seems to be working.

I've used a short clip (one minutes worth) and put in a couple
of frames, and processed through ifoEdit. When I play it
through PowerDVD, and press the chapter button, it just ends/stops
the video.

I just tried a 1 minute clip, and set chapters at 20 sec and 40 sec. It worked fine in IFOEdit's DVD Player.

The contents of my celltimes.txt file is:

500
1000

(I'm PAL don't forget )

[vhelp]

Sorry to continue bringing this up, but I"m still not successful at
this chapter thing.

I'm going to try one more thing out, and get back. But I don't know
whats causing it to fail. I burned a 12 minute disk with chpts and played
it in my dvd player ( Apex AD-1500 ) and pressing my chpt button/next btn
only ended my movie

Thanks,
-vhelp

[liquid217]

at what point is dvdauthorgui crashing? Nothing has been changed that would hinder win98 support that i know of.

[vhelp]

@ jimmalenko

I finally got it to work. Turns out, that the "celltimes.txt" file should not have
a 0 at the first line (or any)

That was the huntch that I was on about in my previous post, that I had to
test out as a last resort. I tested on a freshly new 1 minute encode and I did
3 chapter points (but using my NTSC fps, whish was 29.970 but I calc'ed it to
be 30 fps instead) and ... so ( 30*10 ) = 300 frames etc etc. and all is
working well.

For those having the same problem, but don't already know.. that the first line
in the celltimes.txt file should *never* start with a 0 (that's ZERO)

I finally made a 12:30 minute sample clip and did a 2nd test with 1 minute
chapter points throught out, and after burning to DVD+RW disk and playing
in my AD-1500 I found that it worked perfectly.

Thanks for sharing the details about the celltimes.txt file.


@ liquid217

My appoligies ...

First.. I don't know what had happend, but after my sys crash some months ago,
I lost many things. (I've share this several times in other posts)
So, I needed to re - D/L your "gui" and your "support files" and after I had
installed them all, I would get an error message.
.
Second.. while writing my response here to you, I tried dvd author gui just
now, and would you believe, it's working
.
I don't know what had happend, but it's working all of the sudden. Go figure. I haven't actually done any testing w/ encoding to VOBs with your
gui. So, just know tha this is as far as I got with it. Its at the load up screen.

FWIW.. The verion I have is 0.993 - 9/29/2004
I don't know what changes/revisions you may have made (I've ben too busy) but it's
up and runing this very second. Thanks for chirning in

I have another question regarding subtitles. I'll post a new thread topic shortly.

Cheers everyone, .. (I mean that)
-vhelp

[jimmalenko]

@ jimmalenko

I finally got it to work. Turns out, that the "celltimes.txt" file should not have
a 0 at the first line (or any)

Yeah ... I worked that bit out somewhere between my initial post and my second post (I actually went and did it instead of just talking about it ). That's why in my second post I only had the two points, and they weren't 0 because IFOEdit automatically puts one there anyway. Funny how something so simple can cause the whole darn thing to not work

Glad to hear you got it sorted out