How to create chapters using the Philips Video CD 2.0 Toolkit

 

Creating chapters is very easy.  The first thing you do is to add a VCD 2.0 compliant MPEG-1 A/V file to your asset list.  Then, you create an entrypoint (in Toolkit lingo this is called a chaptermark) where you want each chapter to begin using SMPTE timecodes.  These chaptermarks are saved in a chaptermark file.  Drag and drop each chaptermark into your event list.  Now you can use these chaptermarks as you would any other asset in your event list.

 

 

  1. Add VCD 2.0 compliant MPEG-1 A/V file to your asset list.

 

 

 

  1. Click on the MPEG file.  Notice the Name and Timecode fields are now active.

 

 

 

  1. To change an existing chaptermark, click on it to highlight it.  Then you can change the Name or Timecode fields.  Click on Change when done.

 

 

  1. To create a new chaptermark, enter a new name and SMPTE timecode, and press Create.  The format of a SMPTE timecode is Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames.  There are 75 frames per second.  For example, the timecode for 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 12 1/5 seconds would be 02:15:12:15.

 

 

  1. After you have created all of your chaptermarks, open the Event window and create new events for each chaptermark.

 

 

 

  1. Drag and drop each chaptermark onto an event.  Answer “yes” to the question about renaming the event.

 

 

 

  1. You can now drag and drop the chaptermark events either to a menu,

 

 

 

  1. or to a sequence.

 

 

  1. You can create chapter sequences by creating a sequence object using a chaptermark event, then set the playing time so the sequence stops playing at the point the next chaptermark begins.  If you leave the Selection Branch List blank, playback will automatically return to the calling menu.  You can also specify an action.  In this example, when the chapter sequence named “Start” ends, the Next action calls the chapter sequence named “Bit”.  You can nest all of your chapter sequences together so that you can use your Next and Previous buttons to skip forward or back between chapters.  This can be done without having to split up your MPEG file into separate tracks for each chapter.  However, some players may pause slightly when changing sequences, just as some players pause slightly when changing tracks.

 

 

 

  1. You can also create chapters that use menu objects instead of sequence objects.  Nesting menu objects together will allow you to move between chapters using both numeric keys and the forward and next buttons.  However, in order to use a menu object for each chapter, you must split your MPEG file into separate tracks for each chapter.  This is because the menu is actually hidden in the background while the MPEG file plays in the foreground.