Creating a Playlist Using Chapter Markers

Altair 4 wrote on 4/4/2011, 6:14 PM

I am working in old school versions of VMS 6 and DVDA Studio 3.

I have a project consisting of a 44 minute total length video of a gymnastics meet containing 33 chapter markers created in VMS, one for each competitor in each routine. The competitors completed their routines in a mixed order, i.e., the first competitor was from Team A, the second was from Team B, the third from Team C, etc.

Working DVDAS, I want to have a menu with two options. First, I want to be able to run the entire video, in the sequence in which it was shot, or "Play Complete Video." I know how to do this ordinarily.

Second, I want to provide the option to have a playlist, using the chapter markers from the entire video, to play those chapters with just our team members. In other words, to play Chapter 1, 7, 8, 11, 15, etc.

The manual for my version says that "A playlist contains a user-defined sequence of movies, chapter markers, music compilations, or picture compilations." But no where can I find how to pull the list of chapter markers to do this.

What am I missing? At one point, I pulled down the video clips into a play list, but that was essentially adding 1/3 more time to the disc, over-running its capacity. I thought that the playlist would simply make the DVD player jump chapter to chapter without manually doing so. The jump doesn't have to be seamless, but that would be nice.

It seems like there should be a way to do this, but it is eluding me. Again, what am I missing??

Thanks for any help you can provide. I've searched, but either I'm not hitting the right search terms, or I'm simply missing it.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 4/5/2011, 5:47 AM

Whichever way you choose, it shouldn't add to the media load on your disc, since you're not adding additional media.

There are actually two ways to do this, depending on what you're trying to achieve:
1) If you have one long video, you can create a Scene Selection Menu that has links to each Chapter Marker in your video. The disadvantage with this method is that, once your viewer jumps to a Chapter Marker, the video will continue to play through the rest of the video.
2) If you have many short videos, you can add each as a separate button -- in which case your viewer will be able to play each video separately. You can then create a Playlist button, which will give your viewer the option of playing the entire set of videos straight through. Or any set of videos in any order. And this will not add at all to the media load on your DVD.

It all depends on what you're trying to do.

Once you do decide, we can recommend the specific instructions. (Or, of course, you can pick up my book on DVD Architect Studio 5 on Amazon.com or at http://Muvipix.com/dvdas5.php )

Altair 4 wrote on 4/5/2011, 9:29 AM

Thanks for your reply. I have one long movie, with markers inserted in VMS at the beginning of each child's routine (each video clip). I have done Scene Selection menus in the past, but ideally this isn't what I was hoping to use - there would be 34 options in the Scene Selection pages. It would seem unwieldy to me, with that many options. And, knowing my audience, I don't think that would be easy for them.

I want to make a single button, on the first menu, that would then play the video clips of the routines performed by our team, and our team only, in a sequential order, without having to click or select any other menu or button. The video clips are not next to each other on the timeline.

I was under the impression that DVDAS could do this, based on the excerpted section of the instruction manual. But I just can't get my arms around how to do it.

Steve Grisetti wrote on 4/5/2011, 9:57 AM

You can do this if you have several short videos. You can then create a custom Playlist of only the videos you want to play when your viewer clicks the button.

But, as I said above, if you have one long clip, linking to any one scene in this video will take your viewer to that spot in the video -- and then the video will play the rest of the way through in its entirety.

TOG62 wrote on 4/5/2011, 11:15 AM

You can import a copy of your video for each chapter you want in the playlist + one for the 'Play All' facility. The Play All clip can be dragged directly onto the workspace but the other should be dragged to the top of the project window (to the title entry). You can then double click on each of the 'chapter' entries and set its in and out points and then create a playlist from these abridged clips.

Finally, drag the playlist entry from the Project window to the menu.