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Chapters

Edition and Chapter Flags

Chapter Flags

Two Chapter Flags are defined to describe the behavior of the ChapterAtom Element: ChapterFlagHidden and ChapterFlagEnabled.

If a ChapterAtom Element is the Child Element of another ChapterAtom Element with a Chapter Flag set to true, then the Child ChapterAtom Element MUST be interpreted as having its same Chapter Flag set to true. If a ChapterAtom Element is the Child Element of another ChapterAtom Element with a Chapter Flag set to false or if the ChapterAtom Element does not have a ChapterAtom Element as its Parent Element, then it MUST be interpreted according to its own Chapter Flag.

As an example, consider a Parent ChapterAtom Element that has its ChapterFlagHidden set to true and also contains two child ChapterAtoms, the first with ChapterFlagHidden set to true and the second with ChapterFlagHidden either set to false or not present at all (in which case the default value of the Element applies, which is false). Since the parent ChapterAtom has its ChapterFlagHidden set to true then all of its children ChapterAtoms MUST also be interpreted as if their ChapterFlagHidden is also set to true. However, if a Control Track toggles the parent's ChapterFlagHidden flag to false, then only the parent ChapterAtom and its second child ChapterAtom MUST be interpreted as if ChapterFlagHidden is set to false. The first child ChapterAtom which has the ChapterFlagHidden flag set to true retains its value until its value is toggled to false by a Control Track.

Edition Flags

Three Edition Flags are defined to describe the behavior of the EditionEntry Element: EditionFlagHidden, EditionFlagDefault and EditionFlagOrdered.

EditionFlagHidden

The EditionFlagHidden Flag behaves similarly to the ChapterFlagHidden Flag: if EditionFlagHidden is set to true, its Child ChapterAtoms Elements MUST also be interpreted as if their ChapterFlagHidden is also set to true, regardless of their own ChapterFlagHidden Flags. If EditionFlagHidden is toggled by a Control Track to false, the ChapterFlagHidden Flags of the Child ChapterAtoms Elements SHALL determine whether the ChapterAtom is hidden or not.

EditionFlagDefault

It is RECOMMENDED that no more than one Edition have an EditionFlagDefault Flag set to true. The first Edition with both the EditionFlagDefault Flag set to true and the EditionFlagHidden Flag set to false is the Default Edition. When all EditionFlagDefault Flags are set to false, then the first Edition is the Default Edition.

EditionFlagOrdered

The EditionFlagOrdered Flag is a significant feature as it enables an Edition of Ordered Chapters which defines and arranges a virtual timeline rather than simply labeling points within the timeline. For example, with Editions of Ordered Chapters a single Matroska file can present multiple edits of a film without duplicating content. Alternatively if a videotape is digitized in full, one Ordered Edition could present the full content (including colorbars, countdown, slate, a feature presentation, and black frames), while another Edition of Ordered Chapters can use Chapters that only mark the intended presentation with the colorbars and other ancillary visual information excluded. If an Edition of Ordered Chapters is enabled then the Matroska Player MUST play those Chapters in their stored order from the timestamp marked in the ChapterTimeStart Element to the timestamp marked in to ChapterTimeEnd Element.

If the EditionFlagOrdered Flag is set to false, Simple Chapters are used and only the ChapterTimeStart of a Chapter is used as chapter mark to jump to the predefined point in the timeline. With Simple Chapters, a Matroska Player MUST ignore certain Chapter Elements. All these elements are now informational only.

The following list shows the different usage of Chapter Elements between an ordered and non-ordered Edition.

Chapter elements / ordered Edition False True
ChapterUID X X
ChapterStringUID X X
ChapterTimeStart X X
ChapterTimeEnd - X
ChapterFlagHidden X X
ChapterFlagEnabled X X
ChapterSegmentUID - X
ChapterSegmentEditionUID - X
ChapterPhysicalEquiv X X
ChapterTrack - X
ChapterDisplay X X
ChapProcess - X

Furthermore there are other EBML Elements which could be used if the EditionFlagOrdered Flag is set to true.

Other elements / ordered Edition False True
Info/SegmentFamily - X
Info/ChapterTranslate - X
Track/TrackTranslate - X

These other Elements belong to the Matroska DVD menu system and are only used when the ChapProcessCodecID Element is set to 1.

Ordered-Edition and Matroska Segment-Linking
  • Hard Linking: Ordered-Chapters supersedes the Hard Linking.
  • Soft Linking: In this complex system Ordered Chapters are REQUIRED and a Chapter CODEC MUST interpret the ChapProcess of all chapters.
  • Medium Linking: Ordered Chapters are used in a normal way and can be combined with the ChapterSegmentUID element which establishes a link to another Matroska file/Segment.

See the section on the Linked Segments) for more information about Hard Linking, Soft Linking and Medium Linking.

Menu features

The menu features are handled like a chapter codec. That means each codec has a type, some private data and some data in the chapters.

The type of the menu system is defined by the ChapProcessCodecID parameter. For now only 2 values are supported : 0 matroska script, 1 menu borrowed from the DVD. The private data depend on the type of menu system (stored in ChapProcessPrivate), idem for the data in the chapters (stored in ChapProcessData).

Matroska Script (0)

This is the case when ChapProcessCodecID = 0. This is a script language build for Matroska purposes. The inspiration comes from ActionScript, javascript and other similar scripting languages. The commands are stored as text commands, in UTF-8. The syntax is C like, with commands spanned on many lines, each terminating with a ";". You can also include comments at the end of lines with "//" or comment many lines using "/* */". The scripts are stored in ChapProcessData. For the moment ChapProcessPrivate is not used.

The one and only command existing for the moment is GotoAndPlay( ChapterUID );. As the same suggests, it means that when this command is encountered, the Matroska Player SHOULD jump to the Chapter specified by the UID and play it.

DVD menu (1)

This is the case when ChapProcessCodecID = 1. Each level of a chapter corresponds to a logical level in the DVD system that is stored in the first octet of the ChapProcessPrivate. This DVD hierarchy is as follows:

ChapProcessPrivate DVD Name Hierarchy Commands Possible Comment
0x30 SS DVD domain - First Play, Video Manager, Video Title
0x2A LU Language Unit - Contains only PGCs
0x28 TT Title - Contains only PGCs
0x20 PGC Program Group Chain (PGC) *
0x18 PG Program 1 / Program 2 / Program 3 -
0x10 PTT Part Of Title 1 / Part Of Title 2 - Equivalent to the chapters on the sleeve.
0x08 CN Cell 1 / Cell 2 / Cell 3 / Cell 4 / Cell 5 / Cell 6 -

You can also recover wether a Segment is a Video Manager (VMG), Video Title Set (VTS) or Video Title Set Menu (VTSM) from the ChapterTranslateID element found in the Segment Info. This field uses 2 octets as follows:

  1. Domain Type: 0 for VMG, the domain number for VTS and VTSM
  2. Domain Value: 0 for VMG and VTSM, 1 for the VTS source.

For instance, the menu part from VTS_01_0.VOB would be coded [1,0] and the content part from VTS_02_3.VOB would be [2,1]. The VMG is always [0,0]

The following octets of ChapProcessPrivate are as follows:

Octet 1 DVD Name Following Octets
0x30 SS Domain name code (1: 0x00= First play, 0xC0= VMG, 0x40= VTSM, 0x80= VTS) + VTS(M) number (2)
0x2A LU Language code (2) + Language extension (1)
0x28 TT global Title number (2) + corresponding TTN of the VTS (1)
0x20 PGC PGC number (2) + Playback Type (1) + Disabled User Operations (4)
0x18 PG Program number (2)
0x10 PTT PTT-chapter number (1)
0x08 CN Cell number [VOB ID(2)][Cell ID(1)][Angle Num(1)]

If the level specified in ChapProcessPrivate is a PGC (0x20), there is an octet called the Playback Type, specifying the kind of PGC defined:

  • 0x00: entry only/basic PGC
  • 0x82: Title+Entry Menu (only found in the Video Manager domain)
  • 0x83: Root Menu (only found in the VTSM domain)
  • 0x84: Subpicture Menu (only found in the VTSM domain)
  • 0x85: Audio Menu (only found in the VTSM domain)
  • 0x86: Angle Menu (only found in the VTSM domain)
  • 0x87: Chapter Menu (only found in the VTSM domain)

The next 4 following octets correspond to the User Operation flags in the standard PGC. When a bit is set, the command SHOULD be disabled.

ChapProcessData contains the pre/post/cell commands in binary format as there are stored on a DVD. There is just an octet preceding these data to specify the number of commands in the element. As follows: [# of commands(1)][command 1 (8)][command 2 (8)][command 3 (8)].

More information on the DVD commands and format on DVD-replica, where we got most of the info about it. You can also get information on DVD from the DVDinfo project.

Example 1 : basic chaptering

In this example a movie is split in different chapters. It could also just be an audio file (album) on which each track corresponds to a chapter.

  • 00000ms - 05000ms : Intro
  • 05000ms - 25000ms : Before the crime
  • 25000ms - 27500ms : The crime
  • 27500ms - 38000ms : The killer arrested
  • 38000ms - 43000ms : Credits

This would translate in the following matroska form :

<Chapters>
  <EditionEntry>
    <EditionUID>16603393396715046047</EditionUID>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>1193046</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>0</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>5000000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Intro</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>2311527</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>5000000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>25000000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Before the crime</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Avant le crime</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>fra</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>3430008</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>25000000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>27500000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>The crime</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Le crime</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>fra</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>4548489</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>27500000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>38000000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>After the crime</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Après le crime</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>fra</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>5666960</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>38000000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>43000000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Credits</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Générique</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>fra</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <EditionFlagDefault>0</EditionFlagDefault>
    <EditionFlagHidden>0</EditionFlagHidden>
  </EditionEntry>
</Chapters>

Example 2 : nested chapters

In this example an (existing) album is split into different chapters, and one of them contain another splitting.

The Micronauts "Bleep To Bleep"

  • 00:00 - 12:28 : Baby Wants To Bleep/Rock
    • 00:00 - 04:38 : Baby wants to bleep (pt.1)
    • 04:38 - 07:12 : Baby wants to rock
    • 07:12 - 10:33 : Baby wants to bleep (pt.2)
    • 10:33 - 12:28 : Baby wants to bleep (pt.3)
  • 12:30 - 19:38 : Bleeper_O+2
  • 19:40 - 22:20 : Baby wants to bleep (pt.4)
  • 22:22 - 25:18 : Bleep to bleep
  • 25:20 - 33:35 : Baby wants to bleep (k)
  • 33:37 - 44:28 : Bleeper
<Chapters>
  <EditionEntry>
    <EditionUID>1281690858003401414</EditionUID>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>1</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>0</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>748000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Baby wants to Bleep/Rock</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterAtom>
        <ChapterUID>2</ChapterUID>
        <ChapterTimeStart>0</ChapterTimeStart>
        <ChapterTimeEnd>278000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
        <ChapterDisplay>
          <ChapString>Baby wants to bleep (pt.1)</ChapString>
          <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
        </ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
        <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
      </ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterAtom>
        <ChapterUID>3</ChapterUID>
        <ChapterTimeStart>278000000</ChapterTimeStart>
        <ChapterTimeEnd>432000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
        <ChapterDisplay>
          <ChapString>Baby wants to rock</ChapString>
          <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
        </ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
        <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
      </ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterAtom>
        <ChapterUID>4</ChapterUID>
        <ChapterTimeStart>432000000</ChapterTimeStart>
        <ChapterTimeEnd>633000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
        <ChapterDisplay>
          <ChapString>Baby wants to bleep (pt.2)</ChapString>
          <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
        </ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
        <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
      </ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterAtom>
        <ChapterUID>5</ChapterUID>
        <ChapterTimeStart>633000000</ChapterTimeStart>
        <ChapterTimeEnd>748000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
        <ChapterDisplay>
          <ChapString>Baby wants to bleep (pt.3)</ChapString>
          <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
        </ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
        <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
      </ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>6</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>750000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>1178500000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Bleeper_O+2</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>7</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>1180500000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>1340000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Baby wants to bleep (pt.4)</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>8</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>1342000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>1518000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Bleep to bleep</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>9</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>1520000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>2015000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Baby wants to bleep (k)</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>10</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>2017000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterTimeEnd>2668000000</ChapterTimeEnd>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapString>Bleeper</ChapString>
        <ChapLanguage>eng</ChapLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
    </ChapterAtom>
    <EditionFlagDefault>0</EditionFlagDefault>
    <EditionFlagHidden>0</EditionFlagHidden>
  </EditionEntry>
</Chapters>