Chapter conflict between iTunes and AppleTV?

[plaidhippo]

Hi guys,
I've recently bought the movie Repo and ripped it for use on my AppleTV. Being a musical, I was very meticulous to add the song/chapter names for each chapter before ripping it via handbrake (0.92 on tiger). I imported the movie into itunes with no problems and all the chapter names showed up with no problem. I sync'ed to apple tv and watched it after it was done updating. None of the chapter names are present, and the times for the chapters are totally off relative to what they are on itunes. For example, if a chapter started at 3 minutes on the DVD, trying to skip to that chapter on itunes will take me to the 3 minute mark as expected. But on the apple TV, it will go to 5 minutes or some other place, totally unrelated to any of the chapter marks on the dvd or itunes movie file. I'm not sure why this is, and I don't remember if this happens to any other movies, but I wanted to know if others have seen this kind of behavior. Is this normal? Is the Apple TV screwed up? I know I've seen correct chapter marks in rented movies but I've never tried to be specific about it till this movie, where it actually matters.

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Ashish

 

[jaw04005]

Since the file's already encoded, I would download MetaX and re-do the chapter markers.

 

[plaidhippo]

Thanks for the quick response. I can use meta-x, but I've already included the chapter marks and associated names; they appear in itunes just fine. Its just strange that the apple tv doesn't seem to recognize them at all. I don't know that meta-x would fix that, will it?

Thanks again
ashish

 

[jaw04005]

Thanks for the quick response. I can use meta-x, but I've already included the chapter marks and associated names; they appear in itunes just fine. Its just strange that the apple tv doesn't seem to recognize them at all. I don't know that meta-x would fix that, will it?

Thanks again
ashish

It's worth a shot. You might have corrupt metadata within that file. iTunes might be smart enough to overlook that, but the Apple TV may not.

By the way, chapter markers are only supported on the iPod and Apple TV using the .M4V container, not .MOV or .MP4. If you have either one of those extensions, change it to .M4V.

 

[d21mike]

Thanks for the quick response. I can use meta-x, but I've already included the chapter marks and associated names; they appear in itunes just fine. Its just strange that the apple tv doesn't seem to recognize them at all. I don't know that meta-x would fix that, will it?

Thanks again
ashish

MetaX will alter the actual file where iTunes does not alter the file.

After, I would then remove the file from iTunes and re-add back. Then re-Sync to ATV and you should be good.

 

[plaidhippo]

MetaX will alter the actual file where iTunes does not alter the file.

After, I would then remove the file from iTunes and re-add back. Then re-Sync to ATV and you should be good.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I tried one trick that actually seemed to have worked - I renamed the file extension from mp4 to m4v and re-added it to itunes. That worked perfectly! The file opens correctly in Quicktime player, with all chapter marks visible and named, and also shows up fine on the apple tv. Thanks to all for the help!

Ashish