looking for entry level title/chapter/angle info

[anilty]

The How To for converting VIDEO_TS to DIVX instructions at one point say- "Select title/chapter/angle to be encoded as you require."
Forgive my noobiness, but are there any entry level info sites out there that will help me with what these settings exactly do, and how I can determine what I "require".
Thanks so much, great site, great app.

[Case]

A DVD can have multiple titles (main feature, interview, making-of, etc.). On a low level these are numbered (title 1, title 2, title 3, etc).

A DVD title can be chaptered. This allows the viewer to jump to certain points in a title. Chapter markers are used in e.g. a "select a scene" menu, and can also be jumped to by repeated use of the [Next] button on a remote.

Some DVDs have more than one "angle" for some scenes on the timeline. This would be like showing a scene/clip based on a previous choice of an angle, while not showing the scene(s) that go with the other angle(s). Such a selection might be based on e.g. a language menu, or a decision to follow a certain character.

DivX is linear and does not have these features. So in order to convert DVD to DivX, one must decide what to include: Which title, which chapters, which angles.

Most often the main feature on a DVD is in title "1". Most often you would want to convert all chapters of that title (the whole movie). Most often there is only one angle. This is also what you would get with default settings in ffmpegX.

[anilty]

Huge help, thanks. Is there any reason to suppose that if one enters the same number of chapters as on on the original dvd, that they will correspond in any way when converted? Or does it make up new chapters dividing entire length by the entered chapter number?

[Case]

If you convert to DivX, then chapter information is not in the output, as that format doesn't have specification of chapters.
The two chapter fields may specify the starting chapter and the ending chapter for a conversion. It only has meaning when converting from DVD/VOB.
If you leave the chapter fields empty, then ffmpegX will interpret that as "all chapters".
If you fill in "1" and "10" in the chapter fields, then ffmpegX will convert chapter 1 through 10.
If you fill in "15" and "15" in the chapter fields, then ffmpegX will convert only chapter 15.
If you fill in "23" and "29" in the chapter fields for a DVD title with just 20 chapters, then ffmpegX will convert nothing.
The chapters are time markers on the DVD, as specified by its author. Chapter markers can be anywhere, e.g. one chapter per scene or group of scenes, or every 5 minutes, or only at the beginning of a title. The playing chapter number may be visible on the display of a set top DVD player (mine does).

[anilty]

Now I understand, thanks. I assumed it had something to do with the result, now I see it's a choice for what to convert from the original.
Thanks again.