Replicating DVD Chapter Marker Functionality

[Alex Udell]

If you grab the last version of Adobe Encore (CS6)…

in addition to having DVD authoring capabilites….

you could also create Flash menus and Marker functionality….

https://helpx.adobe.com/encore/using/exporting-projects-flash-format.html

I have seen this demonstrated…but not used it myself….

Also beware…that flash itself is getting a little long in the tooth…

But maybe this will help….

Alex Udell
Editing, Motion Graphics, and Visual FX
Let’s Connect on Linkedin
Examples: Retail Automotive Motion Graphics Spots
Example: Customer Facing Explainer Video
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[Tero Ahlfors]

Yeah you can export a Flash version out of Encore or you can add chapter markers (note: these are different than normal markers) in Premiere. If you export the file to a format that knows how to use chapter markers then they will show up in media players and the viewer can jump to the different chapters.

[Jon Doughtie]

I still use Encore and author as usual, then produce an ISO file of the project.

Using Videolan VLC player on a PC, these ISO files play just like a DVD, with full original menu/navigation control.

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2015.02 (as of 6/2016)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Alex Udell]

Jon…

that’s a really cool idea…
I use ISO’s regularly…

But I never though of that as a solution to that problem!

Alex Udell
Editing, Motion Graphics, and Visual FX
Let’s Connect on Linkedin
Examples: Retail Automotive Motion Graphics Spots
Example: Customer Facing Explainer Video
Example: Infotainment & Package editorial

[Frank Hall]

The Flash export works perfectly and duplicates the DVD functionality.

Unfortunately Flash is as you say getting pretty old now and isn’t supported universally anymore.

If there is a way of producing in HTML5 format in the same way then we could be onto a winner. Unfortunately everything I’ve seen requires a level of programming expertise that I just don’t have.

[Stephen Abbott]

Hi Frank,

I use chapter markers on a Premiere timeline, then merge these markers as chapters in the final (MP4) output video.

To get the chapters across, I use Subler (for Mac). This allows you to pull the chapter stream out of a Quicktime export from Premiere, and include it in an MPEG4. You simply re-save the MPEG4 and you’re good to go.

You get different results from different video players:

– QT7 has a nice text list next to the playback controls
– QTX has a nice list with thumbnails next to the playback controls
– VLC has a text list ‘Chapters’ under the Playback menu
– Youtube and Vimeo both don’t honour these chapters

None are nearly as nice for user-control as a DVD menu, I’m afraid. If you want real control, you will indeed need to look to an HTML5 player, or stick with Flash…

Hope this helps!

–
Stephen Abbott

[Alex Udell]

Does the content have to be local to the machine?

Is youtube an option?

check this out:

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Alex Udell
Editing, Motion Graphics, and Visual FX
Let’s Connect on Linkedin
Examples: Retail Automotive Motion Graphics Spots
Example: Customer Facing Explainer Video
Example: Infotainment & Package editorial

[Barry Vonlanken]

Jon,

I’m using Encore CS6 as well and have produced a number of DVD projects for a client. They are having issues running those projects on a PC using VLC. The discs run fine on DVD player but they want to offer their customers the ability to also play the DVD content on a PC and they’d prefer to use VLC.

My projects run fine with the MPC-HC player on Win10 and windows media player on Win7 but VLC won’t run them beyond the opening menus on any system. Once it hits the first slideshow, it won’t advance.

I’ve also tried running an ISO of the project with VLC and it stops at the same place. Could my issue have something to do with chapters in my DVD build? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Barry

[Greg Janza]

While VLC is certainly a versatile program, using youtube to create chapter markers sure seems much simpler – on both the creation side as well as the user end.

I Hate Television. I Hate It As Much As Peanuts. But I Can’t Stop Eating Peanuts.
– Orson Welles

[Barry Vonlanken]

Greg,

That’s a good suggestion!

I believe I discovered the solution to my Encore issue last night. I was adding slideshows within the project that were set to manually advance by the user. The DVD is used by an instructor in front of a class so they need to be able to advance the content one image at a time. That worked fine in MPC-HC, Windows 10 DVD Player and on traditional DVD players. I wasn’t adding any on-screen buttons because they were jpgs and not PSDs. I did a test by replacing a set of the slides as menus instead and added a previous and next set of buttons to them. VLC plays the DVD test fine now.

I am running into issues with Encore not displaying content in the monitor window for some reason. It will show menus but not videos…it used to work fine. I also often have to restart my system after closing Encore because the application won’t reopen again without a restart. Are there any preferences or settings that can be changed to get the monitor window to play video and show slides?

Barry