See if this detailed discussion helps.

Thanks Optodata,

I've read the thread, and that's basically what I'm doing at the moment. The create disc option, but not actually writing the disc itself of course.

This though takes (relatively) a lot of extra time. Especially if there's a way to translate the chapter information from the PDS file. If understood, then a simple thing as for example an excel sheet with vba code can go through the pds file, and convert all chapter information. It could even create the ready to use chapter file for use with the MKV to be combined.


-So if anyone out there has a clue, I would be really thankfull.

Possibly others also, because I see a surprising amount of chapter related questions in combination with the produce option.

Thankss to all in advance.

Quote Dear All,

Recently purchased powerdirector 20 for some simple editting projects. When working I found that there is, at least I was not able to find it, no way to export chapter information. The only option was to create a disc, then extract it from there using 3rd party software. Apparently chapters are not added when using the produce option, nor is it possible to export.

I searched the internet and forum, but was not able to find anything. I only found a comment from a member that chapters are in the PDS file. I checked, and found it was readable, and indeed, there's mention in there for chapters

Example:
ChapterPoint="1852185517">Chapter 2
Chapter 2" START="1852185517"

So I thought, for those to be frames, and for it to be simple to recalculate the timestamp to be used for MKV chapter files.

Unfortunately not, I could not figure this one out, to recalculate the original timestamp for the chapter. It should be about 2 minutes + some seconds, but closest I got was about 27 days, wihch is of course laughably wrong.

-Does anybody have any idea on how to do this?

Thanks for any hints and tips, or a swift kick in the right direction.

Best regards,

You sure on your 2 minutes + some seconds comment? That "Chapter 2" should be at 3min 5 sec, and a few frames depending on what frame rate you have your timeline set at for that START= point I believe. Can you post a pic of the timeline with the start of chapter 2 selected and timeline in "Movie" mode as well as what timeline frame rate you are using for this START= value you provided?

It's really easier to just glance in the chapter room and write down timecode for each chapter from PD, but one can also convert the START= timecode to HH:MM:SS:FR too. To my knowledge, the pds file START= is simply based on 100-nanosecond units timecode.

Jeff

Thank you thank you thank you JL_JL

That was the clue I was looking for. So much simpler then I thought. At the same time it explains the 5 zeros in the timestamp used in the chaptermaker program that you referred to in the thread that optodata referenced. I had already been wondering about that.

https://rdswift.github.io/ChapterMaker/screenshots/MainScreen.jpg

I've already been looking using vba and excel, but my excel keeps crashing if I try to read the PDS file. Probably because I still use office 2003, simply because I don't need more. I'm now looking into using macro express, which in the past already got me great solutions for complex repeat handlings and searches or conversions. Saved me from carpal tunnel syndrom.

Thanks again JL_JL and optodata for the great help.

PS: You were right, it was 3 minutes and 5 seconds, a typo on my part in the original post.

Quote

To my knowledge, the pds file START= is simply based on 100-nanosecond units timecode.

Jeff

Rather than vba, I'd probably just use grep (grep is a utility for searching plain text files for lines that match an expression) and then you can operate on the output created if desired with excel. So something as simple as

E:\junk>grep.exe -E -o ".{0,1}ChapterPoint=.{0,15}" chaptertime.pds | grep.exe -E -o ".{0,100}"">"{0,0}"

ChapterPoint="0"
ChapterPoint="26026026"
ChapterPoint="52052052"
ChapterPoint="78078078"
ChapterPoint="104104104"
ChapterPoint="130463797"
ChapterPoint="156489823"
ChapterPoint="182515849"
ChapterPoint="208541875"
ChapterPoint="234567901"

The above grep plucks out all the "ChapterPoint" from my chaptertime.pds file as shown so one could easily reformat to do whatever with them, like create a ChapterMaker text input file of chapters and times.

The 5 zeros for ChapterMaker are because of time in decimal seconds (HH:MM:SS.SSSSS) vs PD timecode of frames, (HH:MM:SS:FR) vs pds file of 100-nanosecond units timecode.

Jeff

Hello JL_JL,

Thanks for the bonus, didn't know grep, but will look into it.

For the moment macro express is also working, just need to get it right. This will take me a little while as I'm not a pro programmer.

Allready did some tests, and I think it's possible for the resulting macro to ask for the pds, find the created mp4 based on the pds name, retreive and convert the chapter information, then write the chapter file, and finally using mkvtoolnix create the mkv I'm aiming for.

Best regards,

OK, just as information for others whom only use powerdirector to produce mp4, and not to create discs or something.

From what I've found so far.

-It's basically useless with the limited amount of 99 chapters.
-For persons creating discs and using a menu, there's good news, because you can combine multiple projects when creating a disc, so e.g. 2 projects with 99 chapters each can become 1 disc with 198 capters.

HOWEVER, the pds is the solution here, at least for me creating long training videos with many many chapters.

All clips on the timeline are identified in it by a header "CLIP ID="x". where x is the number of the clip in the timeline. Shortly after this header you'll find "START="x"" and "STOP="x"" containing the start and stop time for the clip in 100ns units, as explained by JL_JL.

Thus out with adding chapters, and in with "CLIP ID="x" for finding all clips in the pds, and converting them to a chapter file usable for a resulting MKV.

Just as extra. By searching for the "VIDEO_USERDATA_ORI_FILENAME" header, just before that you will find the name of the file used for that clip without the extention, and just after it you'll find its complete path where the file is located. These can be used e.g. for naming chapters automatically in cases where the used clips have appropriate names.

Best rergards,