Playlist using chapter points

Mike Cockett · Post by **Mike Cockett** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:20 pm

I am a new user of DVD workshop 2 having moved from Encore DVD. The manual indicates that I can use chapter points to make a playlist but whilst the first chapter in the list plays it then goes on to play the rest of the title. Can I do anything about this or do I have to chop up the title into separate clips?

Any help appreciated.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:03 pm

Can I do anything about this...?

No. The title will keep playing 'till the end. At that point, control returns to the playlist.

(I think most other high-end DVD authoring programs can do it.)

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:32 pm

This is the standard flow of a DVD

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:48 am

Unfortunately, as DVDDoug mentioned, you cannot do what you want with DVDWS (play only a specific Chapter within a Title -- unless it's the last chapter of the Title).

As you mentioned, you can split the Title into several smaller Titles, and then combine them all into one Title Playlist for a "Playall" (there will be a slight pause between Titles)

The feature you want is known as Chapter Playlists.

Regards,
George

Mike Cockett · Post by **Mike Cockett** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:57 am

Thank you for the clarification. I am unhappy about this. The following is taken directly from the publicity material.
Playlists

Assign multiple sequences of movies, menus, chapter points, audio and subtitle tracks to buttons without duplicating assets.

The manual gives much the same impression. It is a false one as far as chapter points are concerned.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:17 am

Mike Cockett wrote:Thank you for the clarification. I am unhappy about this. The following is taken directly from the publicity material.
Playlists
Assign multiple sequences of movies, menus, chapter points, audio and subtitle tracks to buttons without duplicating assets.

The manual gives much the same impression. It is a false one as far as chapter points are concerned.

It does - you just haven't yet worked out how to do it.

Mike Cockett · Post by **Mike Cockett** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:10 am

This is rather confusing . I now have replies which say I both can and cannot do what I want to do. This is what I am trying to do. I have one long title divided into 35 chapter points. I want to group those chapters under five themes with a menu for each so that the chapters are played in the menu order and not the title order. Some chapters appear in more than one theme.
I also want to play in title order from the main menu.

Is this possible or not.

I can't find any feature labelled chapter playlists.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:34 am

This is why you are getting confused you are misinterpreting everything being said to you.

Your original asked if it was possible to jump directly to a chapter point (yes) and then return to the menu without going tothe next chapter (no)

Your more recent post was a sort of complaint that it can do this that and the other but doesn't. Sorry but yes it does - just not the way you are expecting it to - you have misinterpreted the advertising literature just as you have misinterpreted my replies.

This program is several years old and no one else has ever mentioned the "problem" you 'think' you have found.

The flow chart I provided above gives you a clear guide regarding how a DVD menu should be constructed and how others will expect it to work when they press the buttons on the DVD remote control.

Mike Cockett · Post by **Mike Cockett** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:50 am

Ok
Thanks for the very prompt replies.
Can we backtrack a bit. We seem to be getting irritated with eachother.
I may well have misinterpreted to publicity but I am not sure how. Can I refer back to my previous posting. Is it possible to do what I want to do re playlists of chapter points or not? If it is, can you help me on how to do it.

Thanks.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:13 pm

I will try and explain it in a more simpler fashion.

Let us pretend that we have a DVd with 2 films on it
"Raiders of the Lost Ark"
"Goldfinger"

Each of these two videos are termed Titles.
When you play Title #1 "Raiders of the Lost Ark" it will always play until the very end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
When you play title #2 "Goldfinger" it will always play until it reaches the end of "Goldfinger"

You have a choice when you reach the end of one of these titles which is
a. Return to the menu
b. Go somewhere else - such as play the other title.

Next - lets look at "Chapters"
These are points within a Title where a viewer can quickly jump to.
The viewer can skip the first part of a Title and start to watch it from somewhere else such as chapter 3 or chapter 5 - or some other chapter of their choosing. Perhaps they had started to watch the DVD and had to stop due to a caller at the door etc. Instead of starting again from the start they can jump to the nearest chapter point to continue watching from there.

Once a viewer has commenced play from a chapter point it will continue until it reaches the end of the Title, it will not stop when it reaches another chapter point.

Hope this now makes sense.

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:51 pm

Hi Mike,

Over the last few years I have seen this marketing blurb cause confusion over how playlists work in DVDWS2.x (so it's not just you).

I also understand that there are times when you would want a Menu Selection to play a single chapter (or a series of chapters in a different order) and then return to the menu -- but unfortunately DVDWS2 does not have "Chapter Playlist" functionality...

Regards,
George

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:15 pm

...having moved from Encore DVD. The manual indicates that I can use chapter points to make a playlist but whilst the first chapter in the list plays it then goes on to play the rest of the title.

If Encore can't do it, DVD lab Pro ($250 USD) can give you "chapter control".

You could probably also do it by creating a menu with Workshop or Encore, and then editing the DVD menu structure with PCGedit (FREE!!!), but that would involve lots of research & study.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:27 pm

It confused me many moons ago.

I now make all my "Chapters" as seperate titles.

So take a wedding video.

I have bride's prep
Arrival at church
ceremony
photos
reception
speeches
first dance
leaving

Each made as a seperate mpeg file which can be inserted into WS as seperate titles.

The Bride then has the option to watch it all, using a play all button, or go to any of the prts she may want to watch, say brides prep and then it returns to the menu.

To do what you want, each of your chapters has to be a title or a seperate mpeg2 file. You cna then make it do nearly whatever you want, including having chapters inside the title, so for the speeches you may have a chapter point at the start of the father, groom and best man, so you can go to the start of each of these quickly.

Mike Cockett · Post by **Mike Cockett** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:15 pm

Thanks for these replies. I have chopped my projects into separate titles to get the sort of navigation I was looking for. The links from one title to another are not great but it has saved me making five separate DVDs.

Maybe workshop 3, if it is planned, will solve this one - a decent timeline would help as well, otherwise I like lots of the DVDWS2 features.
Mike

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