iPod Where are my Movie chapters using Popcorn??

[Mikebike125]

I used Mac the Ripper and then Popcorn to compress a movie with chapters onto my new video ipod. The movie compressed and plays, but has no chapters..... When I preview the movie in Popcorn it has the chapters but when I view it on my ipod and hit the skip button, it goes to the next movie and not the next chapter.

How do I get the chapters to work??

Thanks!

 

[RumMunkey]

I know chapters are supported in the newest Handbrake. You can even name them before you begin your rip, and iTunes gives you a handy little book icon to jump chapters.

Not sure how that translates to iPod yet, I'm in the process of re-ripping a lot of my movies into a more iPod touch-friendly resolution so I haven't bothered to sync any of these new rips to my 5G.

Handbrake's chapter tab.

The chapter icon (the book) in iTunes playback window.

Selecting chapters.



Edit: Ah! OK I just remembered that I do have a movie with chapters on my iPod. Press the center button while the movie is playing and you should see the divides where all the chapters are. If you don't see those, you don't have chapter breaks properly encoded.

 

[Mikebike125]

Edit: Ah! OK I just remembered that I do have a movie with chapters on my iPod. Press the center button while the movie is playing and you should see the divides where all the chapters are. If you don't see those, you don't have chapter breaks properly encoded.

I'll give that a try tonight. Maybe the Popcorn program encoded the chapters. I'm not sure of that though....

 

[aidanpendragon]

I know chapters are supported in the newest Handbrake. You can even name them before you begin your rip, and iTunes gives you a handy little book icon to jump chapters.

Not sure how that translates to iPod yet, I'm in the process of re-ripping a lot of my movies into a more iPod touch-friendly resolution so I haven't bothered to sync any of these new rips to my 5G.

Going from your screenshots - what do you prefer, MPEG-4 or H.264? Any noticeable quality difference? In my initial tests, MPEG-4 files are bigger but take 1/2 or less the time to encode.

I'm in the same boat, getting stuff ready for Touch-friendly resolution.

 

[Mikebike125]

I'll give that a try tonight. Maybe the Popcorn program encoded the chapters. I'm not sure of that though....

It didn't work. I hit the center and got it to display the time position but it would not skip chapters.... The movie I used has chapters on it.... Is this something that Popcorn cannot do? Is it a program limitation?

 

[RumMunkey]

Could be a limitation in Popcorn. Handbrake just gained support for chapters, so Popcorn may not have added that yet.

Re: My settings, oh you don't want to ask me. I think these people with 3Gb movies are friggin' nuts! Here's what I do:

I use Handbrake. I made my own preset for "Movie" and one for "TV Shows". My screen setting is 480 x (preserve aspect ratio). (The screencap above is of an old 320x240 rip I did).

Mp4 video.

I will mix down my audio to "Stereo" (from 5.1 or whatever is fanciest) -unless it's a concert movie or something music-heavy.

I set a "target file size" or 110MB for a 21-or-so minute TV show, and 700MB for a 90-or-so minute movie.

I will do a 2-pass encode if it's a concert or something with a lot of dark scenes where I might want some better colour saturation. Not usually. Just the stuff I'm fan-boyish about.

That's it. I never output to TV, never to speakers. For me it's just a great way to pass time waiting in the doctor's office, or waiting for my Oil Change or whatever. The quality is still 90% better than non-HD stations on my TV at home.

 

[Mikebike125]

Could be a limitation in Popcorn. Handbrake just gained support for chapters, so Popcorn may not have added that yet.

I think I'll see if I can give Handbrake a try and see if that can do it.

Handbrake just gained support for chapters,

I just went to the Handbrake site and it seems that it is an open source program with no charge$$, correct? Also, Popcorn was very easy to use, how has your experience been with the ease of use with Handbrake??

 

[RumMunkey]

Oh yes, Handbrake is very much free. It's the best iPod encoder I've used too.

Hand brake is dead easy. There's a lot of settings if you want to get fancy (or really tweak your videos in a specific way), but if not there's a bunch of presets built in you can just click and it sets everything up (or you can make your own preset if you find a group of settings that works right for you).

I really recommend it. a lot of people here use it if I'm not mistaken.

Also, you don't need Mac The Ripper to extract the DVD first. I've never had Handbrake refuse to open a DVD for any sort of DRM or anything. It's got that step built in.

 

[magicjames92]

i just use the iphone preset (in handbrake)

 

[Mikebike125]

Hand brake is dead easy. There's a lot of settings if you want to get fancy (or really tweak your videos in a specific way),

I am looking to preserve the predefined chapters that are already on the disc before it is ripped. Will handbrake preserve them or will I have to reconstruct the chapter breaks?

BTW, Thank you for being so helpful

 

[Shorties]

(I don't know if anyone said this I am in a hurry,heading to bed so I can't read all the replies) The chapters only show up when you rename the mp4 to m4v. Also I would recommend Handbrake over popcorn like many others here have said.

 

[RumMunkey]

The chapters only show up when you rename the mp4 to m4v.

Nope. I'm looking at an MP4 file created in Handbrake right now with chapters. I didn't alter the file or it's name at all (myfilename.mp4) Straight from Handbrake to iTunes to iPod and all chapters are in tact.

Yes, Handbrake takes the chapters markers right from the DVD. In fact that's the only way to do it. You can name the chapters anything you want, but cannot change where they are.

You get them as they appear on the DVD as long as you check the little "Create Chapter Markers" checkbox.

 

[Mikebike125]

Yes, Handbrake takes the chapters markers right from the DVD. In fact that's the only way to do it. You can name the chapters anything you want, but cannot change where they are.

You get them as they appear on the DVD as long as you check the little "Create Chapter Markers" checkbox.

This is sounding good. One more thing before I give it a try. Do I need to use Mac the Ripper or just use Handbrake or a combination of the two going straight from the DVD?

 

[Mikebike125]

man this Handbrake is really going slow

 

[Shorties]

Nope. I'm looking at an MP4 file created in Handbrake right now with chapters. I didn't alter the file or it's name at all (myfilename.mp4) Straight from Handbrake to iTunes to iPod and all chapters are in tact.

Yes, Handbrake takes the chapters markers right from the DVD. In fact that's the only way to do it. You can name the chapters anything you want, but cannot change where they are.

You get them as they appear on the DVD as long as you check the little "Create Chapter Markers" checkbox.

Oh really? Interesting I had trouble getting chapters to work on handbrake for a while and someone told me to change it to M4V and it worked, so I have just been ding that.

 

[Mikebike125]

Oh really? Interesting I had trouble getting chapters to work on handbrake for a while and someone told me to change it to M4V and it worked, so I have just been ding that.

I just made a mp4 file with Handbrake and iTunes didn't understand it. How do I convert it to an m4V?

 

[Shorties]

I just made a mp4 file with Handbrake and iTunes didn't understand it. How do I convert it to an m4V?

You don't convert it, you just rename it to m4v they are both Mpeg 4 file formats.

 

[Mikebike125]

I got it to be an m4v but still no chapters at all....

Maybe my process it wrong.

I have the following software at my disposal
1. Handbrake, 2.popcorn, 3. MactheRipper, 4. Toast8

So far I have tried MactheRipper and then compressed it with Popcorn (no chapters). Then I tried Handbrake straight to an m4v with the chapter check box checked (no chapters).

Does my process need to be changed? Is it even possible to have chapter marks on an iPod? I can get the movie on ther and fast forward but cannot skip chapters..... HELP!

 

[RumMunkey]

Don't know what to tell you except that I rip to MP4 (not m4v).

I rip from Handbrake, with the chapters option checked (and renamed if necessary).

Screengrabs (all from the same project):

My Handbrake settings screen

Chapters are checked:

Notice in preferences:

The resulting files:

The files dragged into iTunes (no renaming, nothing. Straight from Handbrake). I then add art, and change some meta data (episode names, etc).

Playing in iTunes, all chapters are in place.

They stay in place when I put these shows on my iPod 5Gg (30 GB) too. If I click the center button to bring up the time scrubber overlay, I cab see the chapters all divided up in the time bar. Kind of like this (but over a video obviously)

(Image from a GIS, not mine)

 

[Mikebike125]

I didn't have that little check box you circled checked. I am using Handbrake to re-rip the DVD and give that a try. That just might be what I was lacking..... Fingers crossed.

 

[RumMunkey]

I didn't have that little check box you circled checked. I am using Handbrake to re-rip the DVD and give that a try. That just might be what I was lacking..... Fingers crossed.

Let me know, I'm curious.

 

[Mikebike125]

SUCCESS!!! RumMunkey you're the man! Thank you so much all your help has enabled me to get the coveted chapter function to work. Handbrake with the chapter checkbox checked in preferences and on the video tab along with selecting the preset output of iPod low-rez is what did it. Thanks again, I hope this thread will help someone else who may be having similar issues.

 

[Shorties]

Don't know what to tell you except that I rip to MP4 (not m4v).

I rip from Handbrake, with the chapters option checked (and renamed if necessary).

Notice in preferences:

They stay in place when I put these shows on my iPod 5Gg (30 GB) too. If I click the center button to bring up the time scrubber overlay, I cab see the chapters all divided up in the time bar. Kind of like this (but over a video obviously)

Oh that explains why I wasn't able to get MP4's to show chapters, is there any advantage to MP4 over M4V?