Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

General questions or discussion about HandBrake, Video and/or audio transcoding, trends etc.
Push Eject
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Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by Push Eject »

Hi guys,

Is there a way to change chapter names (titles?) after the fact in an .m4v?

Cheers,
Push E.
TedJ
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by TedJ »

Of course. :)

I highly recommend MetaX... it will allow you to edit chapters, add poster art, etc. Handbrake even has an option (Mac GUI) to pass encoded videos to MetaX automatically.
Push Eject
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by Push Eject »

TedJ, SWEET!

That looks great. Thanks a lot. Does MetaX work with Sapphire?

Push E.
hokie17
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by hokie17 »

DO NOT use MetaX for this... it screws up the chapter timing by a second or two if you edit them. Use SimpleMovieX, it does the job without changing the timestamps.
Push Eject
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by Push Eject »

hokie17 wrote:DO NOT use MetaX for this... it screws up the chapter timing by a second or two if you edit them. Use SimpleMovieX, it does the job without changing the timestamps.
Too late. I have already done it with many titles and it seemed to work great.

TedJ? Do you have a comment on this?
hokie17
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by hokie17 »

I've tried it with MetaX several times and could never figure it out, but it always screwed with the timing. I don't know why it works for you, but SimpleMovieX was the only thing I found to work. :?:
TedJ
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by TedJ »

I've only used MetaX to adjust chapter names on one or two occasions, but I've never encountered any issues. More importantly, several of the Handbrake developers regularly use MetaX and are in contact with the MetaX team.

I'm not discounting hokie's claim, but if there is a problem it must be pretty rare.
hokie17
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by hokie17 »

It had me stumped. I'd prefer to be able to do it in MetaX when necessary, if only to limit how many different apps I use (I already dropped Lostify for MetaX). If you know the MetaX guys, point them this way, please. ;)
iRock
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by iRock »

Hi guys, I have the same problem: I need to edit the name of each chapter after convert a DVD using Handbrake, but I use Windows. What possibilities I have? Thanks!
rhester
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by rhester »

iRock wrote:Hi guys, I have the same problem: I need to edit the name of each chapter after convert a DVD using Handbrake, but I use Windows. What possibilities I have? Thanks!
Pretty much none, unfortunately. Linux is out in the cold as well.

Rodney
iRock
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by iRock »

Wait a moment, does that mean that if I'm using Windows I'm resigned to see my DVD's in my iPhone as "chapter 1" and "chapter 2"? Geez, I need an alternative.
hokie17
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by hokie17 »

I don't know a way to do it in WIndows (not saying there isn't a way). Simplest thing to do would be to reencode your movies and name the chapters in HB before encoding.

Depends on how many movies you'd have to redo, I guess.
iRock
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by iRock »

hokie17 wrote:I don't know a way to do it in WIndows (not saying there isn't a way). Simplest thing to do would be to reencode your movies and name the chapters in HB before encoding.

Depends on how many movies you'd have to redo, I guess.
Well, fortunately I have just one movie actually, so there is no problem redoing whatever be needed. Would you tell me how can I "reencode my movie and name the chapters in HB before encoding"? :)

Thanks.
hokie17
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by hokie17 »

Redo your movie in HB from the original source. But before you hit start, hit the Chapters tab and name all your chapters.

It should be in the HB guide.
iRock
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by iRock »

hokie17 wrote:Redo your movie in HB from the original source. But before you hit start, hit the Chapters tab and name all your chapters.

It should be in the HB guide.
Geez, I'm so stupid. Now I saw the option you were talking about. I was searching for that option from the start... :lol:

Thanks!
iRock
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by iRock »

Dude, you know? I named the chapters before decoding with HB, but if I make a mistake and I see that mistake after the conversion, it's a little boring to do all that one more time (considering that I waste 2 hours decoding my DVD). It would be better if you tell me an option to edit the .m4v files in Windows to rename the chapters. :)

Thanks.
jzietman
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by jzietman »

iRock wrote:Dude, you know? I named the chapters before decoding with HB, but if I make a mistake and I see that mistake after the conversion, it's a little boring to do all that one more time (considering that I waste 2 hours decoding my DVD). It would be better if you tell me an option to edit the .m4v files in Windows to rename the chapters. :)

Thanks.
iRock, if you read the thread above you'll see that there are no solutions for editing m4v chapter names post-encode on windows or linux. Macs have MetaX, but that's it afaik.
maiki
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by maiki »

That is an option I would like as well, and am also a Windows user. Unfortunate, with all the video apps available for Windows, that there is nothing that will do this.

What if you added the capability to Handbrake-Windows then, to change chapter names and re-save, without re-encoding the whole video?

(AFAIK as well, HB is the only Windows program, other than QT Pro, that can even encode QT-Ipod compatible chapter marks. So I guess one could not expect other apps to add that kind of chapter marks after the fact, if they do not work with that kind of chapters-markings at all. As I mentioned in another thread, Windows programs like vdubmod can add chapters after the fact, and save without re-encoding (direct stream copy), but that is with the other more standard type of chapter marks, not readable by Ipod-QT, and unfortunately (since it is such a cool tool) vdubmod does not save to mp4 or m4v, but only to .avi, .mkv, or .ogm. (and I don't think supports h264 compression-but only divx or xvid) (Plain vdub only saves to .avi, but vdubmod adds .ogm and .mkv.)

Anyhow, it would be nice to be able to do that in Windows, change chapter markings after encoding, without re-encoding everything, in an .mp4 or .m4v video with Ipod-QT chapter marks. If nothing else can do that in Windows, any chance that capability could be added to Handbrake for Windows?
nightstrm
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by nightstrm »

If nothing else can do that in Windows, any chance that capability could be added to Handbrake for Windows?
Don't hold your breath.
sfatula
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by sfatula »

if I read the doc correctly, mkvtoolnix can add chapters after the fact. I am going to try it. It works on Linux, Mac, and Windows. If anyone had used it, let me know, otherwise, over the weekend, I will try it. It sure seems to say it will!
iRock
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by iRock »

sfatula wrote:if I read the doc correctly, mkvtoolnix can add chapters after the fact. I am going to try it. It works on Linux, Mac, and Windows. If anyone had used it, let me know, otherwise, over the weekend, I will try it. It sure seems to say it will!
So, how did it go?

BTW, I was wondering if there is a possibilty of making chapters from a single video file. I mean, can I take a .mpeg file and mark chapters with HB or another program?
rhester
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by rhester »

iRock wrote:BTW, I was wondering if there is a possibilty of making chapters from a single video file. I mean, can I take a .mpeg file and mark chapters with HB or another program?
Huh?

What do you mean by ".mpeg file"?

Rodney
iRock
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by iRock »

rhester wrote:
iRock wrote:BTW, I was wondering if there is a possibilty of making chapters from a single video file. I mean, can I take a .mpeg file and mark chapters with HB or another program?
Huh?

What do you mean by ".mpeg file"?

Rodney
A video file with the .mpeg extension.
rhester
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by rhester »

Since there is no chapter data associated with an "MPEG file", there is nothing for HandBrake to use to determine where to place the chapters. You can use a tool like SimpleMovieX to add chapters to the MP4 after-the-fact.

Rodney
iRock
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Re: Can Chapter Names be Changed After the Fact?

Post by iRock »

rhester wrote:Since there is no chapter data associated with an "MPEG file", there is nothing for HandBrake to use to determine where to place the chapters. You can use a tool like SimpleMovieX to add chapters to the MP4 after-the-fact.
There is some alternative for Windows?
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