i need to develop instructional videos for Android and iPads. I need chapters, buttons and general interactivity at least as for DVDs. is this possible with the Sony Vegas suite?
Mp4/mov chapters are not supported in Vegas.
You can export Vegas markers to a Drax readable file, then encode mp4 with chapters in Handbrake.
Search "Drax" in my older forum posts.
Menu support for portable devices is not practical.
Although it is possible to play DVD folders on an Android, nobody wants to store them on their device -- they're gargantuan by comparison.
The chapter data can be exported right from Vegas to a Drax readable file.
The features you are looking for (looping, buttons, menus) are Flash features and are not natively supported on either Android or iPad. Nor does Vegas or Handbrake author Flash. You are of course welcome to play with HTML5 for Chrome.
Single video with chapter points. That's what you get.
Very few phone users are going to jump through any hoops just to watch a video.
It either plays or it doesn't, that being the whole point of the discussion.
MKV "may" support menus in the distant future, but looping is, and always has been a player function.