Chapter Points in DVD Studio Pro

[Belboz]

I played with DVD Studio Pro at a Mac Store locally. The guy there at the store couldn't answer most of my questions, but I was able to play with the software and I brought some MPG captures I made from my Dazzle DVC II PCI card on the PC.

Anyway a few questions.

DVD Studio Pro would import my demultiplexed MPEG2 files (i.e. m2v and mp2) files fine. It did not accept my MPEG2 files that had audio and video. No biggy, but I was just curious if this is the norm.

Chapter points. (This is my big problem) I saw two ways to enter them. One was to use a slider to drag around and set points, or the other was to enter time codes one at a time to set them. The slider process seemed very hard to hit the points you want, and entering time codes through the one interface seemed quite slow. Is there a better way? Possibly some way to create a file of timecodes and import them? Or just create chapterpoints every X minutes?

I know if you use Final Cut Pro it can create the chapter points for you so when you import into DVD Studio Pro you have chapter points, but if I understand correctly this doesn't work with MPEG files. Since I am capturing on the PC with the DAZZLE I already have DVD ready MPEG2 files ready to import into DVD Studio Pro.

Thanks for any assistance.

[AntnyMD]

DVD Studio Pro would import my demultiplexed MPEG2 files (i.e. m2v and mp2) files fine. It did not accept my MPEG2 files that had audio and video. No biggy, but I was just curious if this is the norm.

This is the norm. Professional authoring programs such as DVDSP (I use version 1.5) require the audio and video to be demultiplexed.

By the way, DVDSP will not preview or author MPEG1 video, athough it will play the sound and fool you into thinking it will handle MPEG1 properly. Since MPEG1 is in the DVD spec, I wish Apple would address this problem in version 2.0.

Chapter points. (This is my big problem) I saw two ways to enter them. One was to use a slider to drag around and set points, or the other was to enter time codes one at a time to set them. The slider process seemed very hard to hit the points you want, and entering time codes through the one interface seemed quite slow. Is there a better way? Possibly some way to create a file of timecodes and import them? Or just create chapterpoints every X minutes?

Entry points must be entered manually. In order to hit exact points, your encoder must close each GOP, preferably every 1 second or less (if possible). When I enter entry points, I hit NEW MARKER, use the scroll bar to find the approximate beginning of my new sequence, then use those left/right arrow keys to tune the entry point to exactly where I want it. It's time consuming, but professional DVD authoring is not for the impatient.

[Belboz]

Wish there was an easier way on the chapterpoints. Oh well.

I actually noticed that mpeg1 issue you mentioned on a couple sample files I took on a CD to the Mac Store for testing with DVD Studio Pro.

I did import an m1v and mp2 file and tried previewing them and they were messed up during preview. The m2v mp2 combo were fine.

I actually did a build to disk (or something like that, can't remember exact wording) where I had a short 30 second m1v/mp2 video and a 30 second m2v/mp2 video as the two videos. I had one play at startup and the other follow the first. The salesman burnt the VIDEO_TS AUDIO_TS files to a CDR for me and I took them home.

The VOB files played fine on the PC with a software DVD player. Because of that I assumed DVD Studio Pro was working except the preview.

Are you saying that DVD Studio Pro 1.5 doesn't build DVD's correctly when authoring mpeg1 files?

[AntnyMD]

It builds the disc correctly but I can't see video on playback ... or for that matter, during preview prior to burning.

Since I'm using the Apple branded DVD-Rs I can't afford to make coasters on purpose for testing. I bought some DVD-RW discs but the ones I purchased wont work in any of my players which makes them useless for anything but data.