no chapters no matter what I do

Mark C wrote on 12/21/2013, 11:38 AM
I cannot add a chapter marker, no matter what I do. I cannot add a marker manually in DVD Architect, as the option is grayed out. Hitting the "M" key does nothing. If I import a file rendered in Vegas Studio HD 11, markers do not import. I have tried "render as" and "make a movie" and tried several different options. Nothing works. No chapter markers.

I thought perhaps this was an option not available to Studio, you need the full Pro, but reading the website, this is not the case. It SHOULD be available in Studio. But this is a feature that is not available on my PC for some reason. It is registered, I have version 5, build 186, which is the most current update according to the website. I am using Windows XP Pro.

Any idea why it won't work and how I need to get it to work? This is the first DVD I am trying to burn and it is beyond frustrating!

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 12/21/2013, 3:14 PM
Silly question, are you starting in a menu-based project in Architect, or something else?
Mark C wrote on 12/21/2013, 3:30 PM
Not a silly question, but I am using a menu-based project.
vkmast wrote on 12/21/2013, 3:49 PM
Now, a real silly one... Have you gone through the DVDAS 5 Show Me How tutorial How to Add Scene/Chapter Markers to a Title and had the same experience?
Mark C wrote on 12/21/2013, 3:53 PM
Yes, I have seen the tutorial. The markers button is grayed out and cannot select it. I created markers in Vegas Studio 11 and they do not import, and I cannot manually create them.

I also tried an uninstall/reinstall, same problem still exists.

If I try Single Movie option, ironically the markers ARE there. I thought I might try to burn a disc as a temporary stage in the process. But I cannot burn a DVD as DVDA does not recognize a disc in the drive.

But the first and primary issue is...how can I create chapter markers when I am doing all the right things and the option is not available to me?

This is the Studio version...and the feature to create chapter markers should exist in Studio, and not just the Pro, correct?
Mark C wrote on 12/21/2013, 4:01 PM
The video I am importing was some old family home movies. Originally shot on 8mm in the 1960s then transferred to video. Then I imported that to digital on my hard drive.

MPEG-2 file, bit rate 8.000, aspect ratio 4:3, resolution 720x480 (NTSC). Frame rate is 29.97.

I prerendered the file with markers in Vegas 11 Studio. The markers do not import and I cannot manually create them.
vkmast wrote on 12/21/2013, 4:15 PM
Do you have the basic Movie Studio 11 or the VMS Platinum?
Don't know what the rendering options are in the basic version, but I think Blu-ray and DVD Disc burning from the timeline is not supported in it.
DVDAS should be able to create markers of course.
Is the markers button in DVDAS available if you import a file direct?
As for the disc in the drive, try toggling with "Skip drive database..." in Options / Prefs. / General to see if it makes a difference.
musicvid10 wrote on 12/21/2013, 11:37 PM
Now, the silliest question of all
You "are" adding your media through the menu tree on the left, and not just dragging it onto the menu timeline, tell me it ain't so ?!!??!
Mark C wrote on 12/23/2013, 12:24 AM
Well, before you posted this, I discovered the problem. I have been using Sound Forge and Acid for years, and I assumed all of the "Sony Family" worked the same way. Alas, it does not.

When I add video, I MUST click on Insert, Media. I cannot find the file in the Explorer Window (built right into DVDA and Vegas) and drag it to the timeline. Well...I CAN...but when I do it that way, markers are not imported and cannot be added manually. The video file is there in the timeline, and can be viewed, but no markers at all. So, the file is KIND OF inserted, but not fully. Kind of half-assed and doesn't really work.

It's a little silly and stupid and frustrating. That method WORKS FINE in Acid! It's more than frustrating that it DOES NOT WORK in DVD Architect. That would be my suggestion to Sony...make all features work exactly the same in exactly identical ways in all apps.

DVDA does not work in the way the other Sony apps do. I mean...what is the point really in having an Explorer Window right next to the Timeline Window and not have them linked in activities? The way they ARE in Acid?

I had read there was a steep learning curve in Vegas and DVDA. Now I know why. Little silly inconsistencies like this.

Anyway, short answer is, I have found the way I MUST do it to make it work. And now, it works. It's a little like telling a chef you can't fry eggs in a skillet on a gas stove when you're in California. Why not? It worked fine that way back home? What's up with these California kitchens? Well, Acid works fine and so does Sound Forge. Vegas is mostly the same. But DVDA really works different in some ways. And when you get used to a certain work flow, and then the work flow changes with no explanation or logic or common sense....well, you get the point.
vkmast wrote on 12/23/2013, 4:46 AM
The first step in that tutorial you saw (but probably did not go through?) is "Insert media".
Anyway, good you worked this out.
musicvid10 wrote on 12/23/2013, 11:46 PM
dvda has multiple timelines because it has functional hierarchy, unlike the other applications you mentioned. The Menu timeline is not the media timeline because it operates at the top level. Not terribly hard to understand.

Oh, never seen you on those other forums you mentioned, either.
;?)
Mr_Toys wrote on 1/3/2014, 5:15 PM
I'm having a similar, if not the same problem.

As a matter of background, up until just before Xmas, I have been using Video Studio 10 and DVD architect 5.0.

I've never had a problem rendering in Video Studio 10 with the option to render chapter markers with it and then Inserting Media in DVDA and finding that all imported correctly.

After installing Video Studio 12 and re-installing DVDA 5.0, I updated both with the latest builds.

I normally burn both a Blu Ray and standard Def of my work. I first rendered the Blu Ray version in Video studio 12 with markers and then used Insert Media in DVDA and all worked fine. The markers were all there and worked properly.

Next, I rendered the same video in Video Studio 12 again, with the render markers box checked. The only difference was I rendered it with the option for a DVD with menu.

Then went to DVDA and did an insert video. No markers showed up. I've redone this several times to make sure I didn't forget anything and still get the same results. (just did this a short while ago, so new problem for me).

As I've mentioned, I used the previous versions of Video Studio for a number of years and DVDA version 5 since it became available with no problems with markers. One difference is the newer build on DVDA.

To summarize, markers export and work if its a Blu Ray project, but not if its rendered and brought into DVDA as a Standard Def project.

To answer the original posters question, Video Studio does support chapter marks, you don't need the Pro version and it has worked with both Blu Ray and Standard Def discs.

I suspect something changed in the latest build and it's a bug (emphasis on "suspect")

What I don't know at this point, is if the problem is with Video Studio or DVDA.

Can anyone offer more insight, it would be nice to get those markers back into a Standard Def DVD.
vkmast wrote on 1/3/2014, 6:12 PM
Mr,
could not reproduce your issue with MSP12b896 and DVDAS 5, initial build 128.
Until someone comes up with something, check the threads below for some possible causes/solutions.
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=22&MessageID=851330
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=22&MessageID=823646
Mr_Toys wrote on 1/4/2014, 11:01 AM
Solved my problem, silly mistake, maybe same problem as originator of thread.

Here is what was happening. After making a short test video and rendering it, I reproduced the same problem. I was not automatically going to DVDA from Video Studio, but rather rendering to a folder. This was because I actually was creating multiple videos and then going to burn them all on the same DVD in my real project.

So using my test clip, I decided to just go directly to DVDA from Video Studio upon rendering and the markers worked. Next, I closed the DVDA project and then did an insert of the very same rendered files and they didn't work.

The view I had of the render folder was not thumbnails, but rather the detail view. What was happening, is that I was selecting the audio file to insert and it did bring over the corresponding video file and it all played ok with video and audio, but the markers weren't there.

So to conclude, when you do an insert, select the video file of the pair to insert and it brings the audio file, and then the markers then show up.

For new folks, when you render a video to a folder from Video Studio, you need to set up an empty folder for the render to write to. The render creates two files, one is the video and the other is the audio, along with some control files. The files have the same name, but different extensions to identify what type they are.

When you want to insert these videos into DVDA, you use the Insert function, and go to the folder where the video is. My mistake was selecting the audio file that was part of the pair, but you need to select the video file of the pair. The software knows to bring the other file along automatically.

And if you don't know how to put multiple videos in the same DVDA project DVD, you just repeat this with video/audio pairs from other folders you created with Video Studio beforehand.