DVD Chapters

[Peter Rush]

Just a quick one - who sets their DVD chapters to return to the main menu once played, and who has the main menu jump to the chapter and then play the rest from that point?

Pete

[Nigel Barker]

I have them set so that if you select a single chapter then after it plays you return to the main menu. I also have a 'Play All' selection that plays all chapters through starting at the first.

[Dave Partington]

I set mine as entry points so that when they select the chapter it continues to play to the end of that piece (e.g. the rest of the ceremony) before returning to the main menu.

But since the highlights video, full ceremony and full speeches are classed as entire separate 'chapters' by some people, maybe that's what you're thinking? Each of those play just the section you choose (i.e. highlights, ceremony or speeches) and then return to the main menu.

However, on my DVDs, all of those films (highlights/full ceremony/full speeches) also have chapter points within them, so I'm a little unsure which 'chapters' you're talking about :)

[Peter Rush]

A typical full day wedding will have Arrivals/Ceremony/Celebrations/Afternoon Reception/Speeches/Evening Reception/First Dance as separate chapters. Currently for I have each chapter return to the main menu after playing. Interesting Dave that you have chapter points within the chapters - might look into that!

[Rob Cantwell]

Mine's like Nigels - one link for the entire video (play all) and then separate links for each of the chapters (Arrival/Ceremony/ Reception etc.) at the end of which it would jump back to the main menu

[Peter Rush]

Interested to know if you guys have the same workflow for DVD as Blu-Ray - Currently for DVD I author in Adobe Encore and have one master timeline and chapter playlists for the chapters. For Blu-Ray however I have to create a seperate video for each chapter and create a timeline for each as (CS5.5) Encore seems not to support chapter playlists for Blu-Ray

Pete

[James Manford]

My menu has a play all function, chapters and special features (which contains a slideshow/guest messages if any).

The links in chapters and special features take you to a specific part on the timeline, and then play through until the end before returning to the main menu.

The user always has the option of just hitting "menu" on the remote control to go back and choose something else so I don't complicate it at my end as it's easier doing it the way I currently do it.

I make mine in Sony DVD Architect ... design once for DVD and then just change the project properties to Blu Ray ... done. Very easy to do!

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

Interested to know if you guys have the same workflow for DVD as Blu-Ray - Currently for DVD I author in Adobe Encore and have one master timeline and chapter playlists for the chapters. For Blu-Ray however I have to create a seperate video for each chapter and create a timeline for each as (CS5.5) Encore seems not to support chapter playlists for Blu-Ray

Pete

I am using Premiere Pro CC Encore CS6. My workflow is to have a separate sequence for each chapter. I then export from Premiere as H.264 Blu-ray & import into Encore as a timeline (audio & video). Each timeline in Encore is a chapter. I then let Encore do the transcoding to MPEG2 for the DVD as it calculates exactly the right bit rate to fit everything on the disc with about 30MB spare.

[Andre Pimentel]

What software is best to use for making chapter markers? Final cut Pro X does not do it.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Andre Pimentel

What software is best to use for making chapter markers? Final cut Pro X does not do it.

Of course FCPX does it. It's right there…. hit M for marker then M again to edit it and make it a chapter marker. Done. When you export make sure you include the chapter markers.

Now the problem comes when you then want to use an Adobe product for the authoring because Adobe won't recognise the Apple chapter markers (and visa versa). In this case, I generally whip the exported file in to Premiere Pro, which sees the markers on the file, but not as chapter markers. I then add the chapters in Premiere Pro and export to a DVD interleaved files ready for Encore.

Of course, if you're using DVD Studio pro, that sees the FCPX chapter markers just fine.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

I am using Premiere Pro CC Encore CS6. My workflow is to have a separate sequence for each chapter. I then export from Premiere as H.264 Blu-ray & import into Encore as a timeline (audio & video). Each timeline in Encore is a chapter. I then let Encore do the transcoding to MPEG2 for the DVD as it calculates exactly the right bit rate to fit everything on the disc with about 30MB spare.

While it's possible to do this, it does prevent you having nice audio transitions between the chapters, or am I missing something here?

It seems like some people are calling separate films 'chapters', but that's not really what chapter markers are. Chapters are for creating jump points 'within' video streams so you can jump forward or backwards to pre-defined points in time. Adding separate films, i.e. a highlight file, a ceremony film or speeches film is not adding chapters, it's adding more films that can be accessed from the menu.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Dave

I have always done it with single clips so I never have chapters as such cos there are never any jump to points in any individual stream. Each event at the wedding is an individual clip ...the reason for this is the old theory that human brains cannot maintain concentration longer than 15 minutes so by providing a title even only 5 seconds long allows the viewers brain to "reset" and start the next bit of footage refreshed.

By having my titles start as black and also fade to black at the end of each event they appear to play seamlessly on the disk and I never, of course have any chapter accuracy issues as each "pseudo chapter" is a start of a clip.

Chris

[Peter Riding]

I had a sense of humour failure when trying to get a Quantum of Solace Bluray to work on a laptop and thought "who needs all this cr*p anyway?" Who cares about outtakes, interviews with the stars, which language the subtitles should be in etc. Me I just want to watch the film. I might go into the sound options for best playback on my home cinema but thats about it.

So I don't even have a top level menu. I use Markers in the software (Sony Vegas Pro and DVD Architect Pro) to divide the video into its natural parts which might be Pre-Ceremony Ceremony Post-Ceremony Speeches Post-Speeches and Evening. These act as what most clients would understand as chapters.

The video plays from the start. On the packaging and printed on the disc is a note advising clients that they can skip to and fro by simply pressing the chapter buttons on their remotes. For very long ceremonies and speeches I might put in extra chapter markers but since most civil ceremonies are around 25 minutes and most speeches 20-30 minutes whats the point in splitting it down? Do clients really perceive a fancy menu with a bunch of thumbnails as a great thing to have?

Pete