Adding chapters and subtitles at the same time for mkv files

[johns0]

Here's a way to add the subs and chapters at the same time,load the mkv into mkvmerge and add the subtitle and then in the global tab add the chapter.txt in the chapter file browse,then click start muxing.I use a generic text based 5 minute chapter file,i'll upload one if you want to use it,it's good for up to 1:45.

[netmask56]

Good one and handy if one wants to put in chapter names. What would be useful is a tool to convert chapter details from a DVD or Blu Ray to MKV requirements. Extraction of chapter points is easy enough and a couple of web book sellers actually give the chapter timings of DVD's and Blu Ray discs they review, but translating them into MKV format ie
CHAPTER1=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER1NAME=Chapter 1
is a slow labour intensive process.

[johns0]

You can download chapters for movies that you own,my method is for people who have blu-ray players that only read subs merged and can read chapters because if you dont have any chapters then when you press next it goes to the next video on the disc or usb/hdd.

It's an easier way than having to add chapters after merging subs.

[gll99]

I've only recently tried to mux to mkv so I'll try your chapter file in case my short test version has an error. My Seiki BD player seems to choke on the chapters I've made although I finally was able to get to see my srt subs. I usually convert everything to AVCHD because those work fine but normally I only put 1 to 3 videos in those depending on how I prepared them. I'd prefer to put a bunch of videos on an external hdd but if I leave them as individual .m2ts the player doesn't play the subs or the chapters.

btw) Do you put anything in the mkvmerge boxes labelled charset: and cue name format So far I've left them blank but wonder if this has any effect on my player not recognizing the chapters.

[johns0]

Don't need to set anything into the charset or language boxes,you can try one chapter with nothing in the boxes and one with.

[gll99]

Don't want to pollute your thread with my problems since yours is about a mkvmerge solution but I finally got the chapters to work properly with my Seiki using another program. I had to use MKV Chapterizer. Originally I took the output from mkvmerge and tested it. In my Seiki I set "Display" on to show me the specs which reveals Video type, audio type, number of chapters, current chapter, current time location etc... The display was properly showing 22 chapters and for example chapter 2 time index 5:00 min. When I pressed the next button the display changed to chapter 3, time index 10:00 min but the image froze at the old current frame and it stayed that way for up to 3-8 minutes then the jump took place to the new chapter after the very long pause. I have no idea what is causing the lockup using the output from mkvmerge directly. When creating the chapters in mkvmerge I tried both the txt method and xml and also left the Charset: field blank and tried a couple of values from the list with no success.

Finally to get it working I took the output from mkvmerge and replaced the chapters using MKV Chapterizer and that file works perfectly. No issues with the srt subs, no issue with the chapters and no extra long pause. Unfortunately this adds an extra step since I have to start from an original m2ts (192-byte packet) because my Seiki won't recognize the .ts 188-byte packet files so I have to convert the .ts captured with my Hauppauge HDPVR2 USB to .m2ts in TSmuxer then use mkvmerge and then mkv Chapterizer to fix the chapters.

As an extra test I also imported the chapters from the good file created in MKV Chapterizer using the Chapter Editor in mkvmerge and resaved them directly into the mkv video (save Matroska file). I also saved them to disc as xml reusing the good chapters from mkv Chapterizer and reloaded them to mkvmerge but neither method fixed the problem, I still had the long pauses. Something is happening in the mkvmerge mux that my Seiki doesn't seem to like. So far only chapters created using MKV Chapterizer are working properly.

[johns0]

The problem you are having sounds like when you merge the file with the newer mkvmerge it outputs mkv with a newer seek and search feature which isn't compatible with older blu-ray players,running it through mkvchapterizer removes those features making the mkv work properly again.

You can disable the features in mkvmerge by adding 2 lines,--engage no_cue_relative_position and --engage no_cue_duration.They can be added by clicking on muxing/add command line options and checking Save as default for new jobs.

I had the exact same issues until i read on a thread here for the fix.The reason I'm posting this method is if you are going to merge a lot of mkvs such as 22 for a tv series back up on one disk,it saves time when you don't need to use mkvchapterizer for 22 mkvs.

[gll99]

The problem you are having sounds like when you merge the file with the newer mkvmerge it outputs mkv with a newer seek and search feature which isn't compatible with older blu-ray players,running it through mkvchapterizer removes those features making the mkv work properly again.

You can disable the features in mkvmerge by adding 2 lines,--engage no_cue_relative_position and --engage no_cue_duration.They can be added by clicking on muxing/add command line options and checking Save as default for new jobs.

I had the exact same issues until i read on a thread here for the fix.The reason I'm posting this method is if you are going to merge a lot of mkvs such as 22 for a tv series back up on one disk,it saves time when you don't need to use mkvchapterizer for 22 mkvs.

Thanks for the important tip I'll try that soon. I don't really want to use an extra program if I don't have to. When I reload my new hdd with multiple videos from my AVCHD collection on disc I will need to add new chapters and run through mkvmerge to remux them as mkv so the least steps the better.

[johns0]

Was reading that you need to remux ts to m2ts using tsmuxer,can't you use mkvmerge to mux the ts straight to mkv?

[gll99]

Was reading that you need to remux ts to m2ts using tsmuxer,can't you use mkvmerge to mux the ts straight to mkv?

Agreed. I first tried a straight MKVMerge mux of a .ts to mkv and it wasn't recognized by my BD player so I'm using .m2ts files out of tsmuxer for my tests now. The good thing is that all my avchd videos on discs are already in the .m2ts format.

I used your chapter fix and it worked like a charm. Thanks a lot your thread was very timely for me.

I am now working on trying to adjust the font size of the subs. They are coming out a bit large. Up until now, I have been using (Subrip) .srt subtitles because so far they are the only ones that seemed to work for me on my player. I just did some reading about .ass files and a program called Aegisub that may help with that but I'm totally new to that sub type so have to read up on it. As a quick test, I installed and ran the program, input an .srt and output a .ass sub file loaded it in mkvmerge and tried it on my Seiki and it recognized the subs so that's a good start but the font was just as large so I have to learn how to fix that. At least I know they work in my player and won't be wasting my time learning something I can't use.

[johns0]

Is there a setting for fonts in your seiki menu?I had a seiki a few years ago and it was very slow in reading ntfs usb drives so i returned it and eventually got a sony bdp-s380,font size on it is just right.

Also can you upload a short ts?I'll try it on my player to see if it borks up as well.

[gll99]

The Seiki's setup menu only has a language selection and the subtitle button lets you select on/off or the track when there are multiple subtitles. When I create an avchd the selectable srt subs are no problem because tsmuxer has a font size and placement option but that is not directly available in mkvmerge. I'm trying Aegisub and even though I've been able to create the proper script (as far as I can tell) either I haven't figured out how to get mkvmerge to use the script even though it accepts the sub file (.ass) or the Seiki isn't properly interpreting the size info even though it is displaying the subs on the screen.

The attachment is a simple roughly 1 min tv capture about 43mb from last month with no subs or chapters in .ts format straight from the Hauppauge HDPVR2.


PVR2_test_26Feb2014-9.29.54pm.ts

[johns0]

It plays on my sony as ts and as ts to mkv with no issues.

[gll99]

It plays on my sony as ts and as ts to mkv with no issues.

Then it's obviously the Seiki that doesn't like the 188 byte packet files.

[johns0]

The thing is when tsmuxer make your subs it converts them to pgs so it makes the right size for them.It's your seiki that displays text files too big with no settings to make them smaller,if you can get ass/ssa files to work properly for size issues then that can be a fix,if not then get another blu-ray player.