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Adding chapters to mp4s

Soulcrux

Soulcrux

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 8, 2008
280
0
I know I've been asking around alot of questions like ths, I'm sorry.

Anyone have a program that let's you go in and add Chapters to movies? Trying to make my movie collection more "legit" before getting my iPad.

It'd be awesome if it also doubled as a metadata searcher, but at least for now I'm fine using Subler+Barnes and Noble+Whatever this might be. =D

Thanks!
 
bjobes said:
Give this one a try. I just stated myself so I really cant say much about the subject.

http://www.danhinsley.com/MetaX.htm
Click to expand...

rip the dvds with handbrake. there's an option to add chapter markers when you do the rip. this must be checked before you rip the movie.

in itunes, you can go to get info on the file and change the default picture to a picture of the movie box for the complete experience.
 
jman240 said:
rip the dvds with handbrake. there's an option to add chapter markers when you do the rip. this must be checked before you rip the movie.

in itunes, you can go to get info on the file and change the default picture to a picture of the movie box for the complete experience.
Click to expand...

Can you use handbrake to just add chapters to files you already have on your computer or will it only rip the dvd to the hard drive?
 
jman240 said:
rip the dvds with handbrake. there's an option to add chapter markers when you do the rip. this must be checked before you rip the movie.

in itunes, you can go to get info on the file and change the default picture to a picture of the movie box for the complete experience.
Click to expand...

At this time if you rip a BD with HB there is no chapter info. However it is supposed to be implemented soon.
 
jman240 said:
rip the dvds with handbrake. there's an option to add chapter markers when you do the rip. this must be checked before you rip the movie.

in itunes, you can go to get info on the file and change the default picture to a picture of the movie box for the complete experience.
Click to expand...

This only makes the output file show the fact that i has a chapter marker. However, the only "chapter marker" my mkv's have are "Chapter 1" for the whole movie.

Handbrake does not appear to let me add breaks into the file
 
is there a way to add the nice large 'album art' you get with itunes downloads? I have the princess and the frog digital copy from the bluray and it looks lovely compared to the tiny thumbnails from my other videos.
 
mrklaw said:
is there a way to add the nice large 'album art' you get with itunes downloads? I have the princess and the frog digital copy from the bluray and it looks lovely compared to the tiny thumbnails from my other videos.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, you can right click the video, "get info" then go to "cover art" and add an image. However, in my experience my picture didnt fill the whole template.

Now i use Subler for Mac OS X, it automatically fetches all the data for you and lets you go in and add it if it's not explicitly to your liking (for example, i ripped my copy of Pulp Fiction. While it retained it's chapter markers, Subler did not fetch the chapter titles. So i just went to barnes and noble website and manually did it =) )
 
There is a version of MetaX for OS X (http://www.kerstetter.net/index.php/projects/software/metax). I haven't looked at in the past month or two - can't remember when exactly but it started to make my movies unplayable.

I have since switched to Subler (http://code.google.com/p/subler/), which is actually much better I find - although I do miss the queue feature every now and then when I am doing a full season of a TV show!

If you are ripping your Blu-Rays and want to get the chapters into the mp4 when you use HB then rip with MakeMKV (http://makemkv.com/). Works a charm so far.

If you happen to have movies that you ripped and never added the chapters and want to make them up... Google around and you will find the format for chapter files (just a text file) that you can add into the mp4 in Subler.

Good luck!!

@mrklaw - you can add album art in Subler easily and if you want the HD tag for Blu-Rays you can set that too!
 
rattydog said:
There is a version of MetaX for OS X (http://www.kerstetter.net/index.php/projects/software/metax). I haven't looked at in the past month or two - can't remember when exactly but it started to make my movies unplayable.

I have since switched to Subler (http://code.google.com/p/subler/), which is actually much better I find - although I do miss the queue feature every now and then when I am doing a full season of a TV show!

If you are ripping your Blu-Rays and want to get the chapters into the mp4 when you use HB then rip with MakeMKV (http://makemkv.com/). Works a charm so far.

If you happen to have movies that you ripped and never added the chapters and want to make them up... Google around and you will find the format for chapter files (just a text file) that you can add into the mp4 in Subler.

Good luck!!

@mrklaw - you can add album art in Subler easily and if you want the HD tag for Blu-Rays you can set that too!
Click to expand...


All very good info for ripping. Unfortunately, my problem is files that I torrented. So they come in one big long "chapter". It does not have any added breaks. i have no problem adding chapters to my ripped DVDs
 
LSUtigers03 said:
Can you use handbrake to just add chapters to files you already have on your computer or will it only rip the dvd to the hard drive?
Click to expand...

you must check the option before ripping the file.

Since you mentioned mkv (I take it you don't have the dvd for this file) you are probably out of luck. It's best if you have the dvd of the movie you want to rip as the chapter info is translated from the dvd itself. I think you can, with some video editing software, add chapter markers to a video file by using iMovie. If its an mkv you may need to install something like Perian for the codecs to read it. I haven't tried this myself but I do know iMovie can add chapters, I'm just not sure if they translate back when you export the video file for iTunes.
 
Adding Chapters With Subler

Subler will allow you to add files. You just need to drag and drop a text file in the right format into Subler. You don't write them in in the Subler GUI.

The Subler site explains the format. It took a lot of trial and error for me to get it right and it is time consuming so I haven't done it in a while. Otherwise, I'd tell you how I did it.

Once you add the file, you will have a new row under the Video Track and Stereo rows called Chapter Track. You can edit the Titles in there if you want to, but if you created the file correctly, you shouldn't have to.
 
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