Chaptering Encoded DVD Files

[FunkyDre]

I have a few home movies which are AVI files and I've used FFmpegX (0.0.9u) to convert the AVI (using the DVD ffmpeg option as it's much quicker) into a DVD image (with VIDEO_TS folder). I've followed the instructions on FFmpegx's website and they encode no problem but they have no chapters and it's very frustrating on playback on a standalone DVD player as you can imagine.

There is a posting on here somewhere suggesting that Toast 6/7 will automatically create chapters. It tells you to encode as usual with ffmpegx (fine) then it tells you to and I quote:-

"Click the "Video" tab. In the drawer that appears on the left, ensure that "DVD-Video" is selected, along with NTSC or PAL as appropriate. Drag your .mpg(s) into the main window, then click the red button. Toast will automatically add chapters at 5-minute intervals to each .mpg on the DVD"

What .mpgs?

There are no mpg files in the encoded folder, they are VOB, IFO and BUP files. Is this what the post is reffering to?

ANYWAY....

I've dragged the whole VIDEO_TS folder in and Toast leaves out files which aren't supported. I'm then left with a file named VTS_01_01. Click on record, and then toast starts re-encoding the encoded file again, which takes hours. Is this normal or have I done sommert wrong? Is this the only way to do this and can you customise toast so that the chapters are at say 10 min length rather than 5?

Ta

F. Dre

[Frobozz]

Which version of Toast are you using? The process is different for Toast 7 than for 6.

[FunkyDre]

I have Toast 7

[pianoman719]

I don't have Toast, but I can explain a couple of things.

It might be better to use Toast 7 to encode the AVI's and author the DVD. You might find that the final DVD looks better, and has auto-chaptering plus simple menus.

The building blocks of MPEG2 video on a Mac are an .m2v file (video) and an audio file which is often .ac3 or .mp2. When these two streams are multiplexed "muxed," you get an MPEG file or .mpg.

A .vob is the next step up from an .mpg. It might contain a video track, a couple of audio tracks, plus subtitle tracks .spc. A feature length movie might be split over 5 .vob files in the final VIDEO_TS folder.

So the progression looks something like this:

.m2v and .ac3
.mpg
.vob (with subtitles)
VIDEO_TS folder (with .ifo and .bup files)
disk image (ready to burn to a blank DVD)

It's too clunky to encode and author in ffmpeg, then extract the video from the disk image and add chapters in Toast. Toast 7 probably has a better encoder for both audio and video, and you won't waste time authoring the DVD twice if you use Toast in the first place.

Nevertheless, if you want to use ffmpeg to encode, uncheck Author as DVD, and check Keep Elementary Streams. This way, ffmpeg will probably output an .mpg file that you can use in Toast.

Frobozz will probably give you more details.

[FunkyDre]

I don't have Toast, but I can explain a couple of things.

It might be better to use Toast 7 to encode the AVI's and author the DVD. You might find that the final DVD looks better, and has auto-chaptering plus simple menus.

The building blocks of MPEG2 video on a Mac are an .m2v file (video) and an audio file which is often .ac3 or .mp2. When these two streams are multiplexed "muxed," you get an MPEG file or .mpg.

A .vob is the next step up from an .mpg. It might contain a video track, a couple of audio tracks, plus subtitle tracks .spc. A feature length movie might be split over 5 .vob files in the final VIDEO_TS folder.

So the progression looks something like this:

.m2v and .ac3
.mpg
.vob (with subtitles)
VIDEO_TS folder (with .ifo and .bup files)
disk image (ready to burn to a blank DVD)

It's too clunky to encode and author in ffmpeg, then extract the video from the disk image and add chapters in Toast. Toast 7 probably has a better encoder for both audio and video, and you won't waste time authoring the DVD twice if you use Toast in the first place.

Nevertheless, if you want to use ffmpeg to encode, uncheck Author as DVD, and check Keep Elementary Streams. This way, ffmpeg will probably output an .mpg file that you can use in Toast.

Frobozz will probably give you more details.

Thanx Pianoman, your breakdown is very easy to follow!

I'm completely new to this and apologise if I sound a bit well.. stupid, but are you saying that I can simply drag the AVI file into Toast and encode it that way without using ffmpeg at all?

[Frobozz]

You can just drag the AVI file to the Toast Video window and Toast will do everything that is needed to create the video DVD, plus include chapter markers every 5 minutes.

As for accessing the video within a VIDEO_TS folder using Toast 7 here is the process:

1. Place the VIDEO_TS folder on your desktop.
2. Select DVD video as the format in the Toast Video window.
3. Click the Media button to enter the Media Browser.
4. Select DVD with the top button in the browser; when the DVD shows up in the lower window select the Title level with the lower button.
5. Drag the video(s) from the browser to the Video window. Toast extracts the MPEGs and writes them to the Roxio Converted Items folder.
6. Edit the menu the way you want. If, after clicking the burn button Toast starts "Encoding" instead of "Multiplexing" open the Roxio Converted Items folder to see what is getting encoded. If you only see an .ac3 file then just the audio is being reencoded and that's probably a good thing to do. If you also see an .m2v being encoded go back to Toast and cancel the encoding. Click the More button at the bottom of the Formats panel and click Encoder and custom in the window that appears. Now choose Never next to Reencoding. This should prevent the MPEG video from being reencoded if it meets the video DVD spec.

[FunkyDre]

Just tried this and works perfect....!

Thanks for advice bro.

[AVR2]

Toast 7 probably has a better encoder for both audio and video

I would dispute this. ffmpegX seems to have a significantly better video encoder than Toast 7 - better image quality for a given filesize, and faster, too.

[pianoman719]

Really? I have ffmpegX 0.0.9r. I've tried to tweak it just right to get the highest quality, but find good results elusive. What settings do you recommend for the highest quality DVD?

I've typically tested ffmeg for taking video that uses the DV or DVCPro50 codec, and encoding it to MPEG2. I tend to find the results too dark and soft compared to iDVD 4. Am I correct that the preset called "DVD ffmpeg" can only do progressive and not interlaced?

I'm open to the possibility that a real ffmpegX guru can coax superior results from it; but so far that doesn't describe me. Maybe ffmpeg is good at low data rates; but my bias is towards getting the best quality using higher data rates. Also, I think the ffmpeg user interface gives many newbies fits - not to speak of downloading and installing the binaries. But I know some people swear by ffmpeg because if you learn to tweak it you can do some things with subtitles, letterboxing, etc. that are hard to do in any other program (not that they're easy in ffmpeg!).

No tool is perfect; each has its strengths and weakness. I'm willing to concede that for someone who gets along with the interface, ffmpegX may be good at low data rates and give quick results.

-Pianoman