A Guide to Chaptering on Samsung TVs

**Gus** · 08-15-2011, 11:02 PM

A Guide to Chaptering on Samsung TVs

Edit: Sep 9th 2011. From Mezzmo version 2.4.3 Auto Chaptering is now supported, in realtime. This means that by default 15min chapter points will be added on devices that support them. You can customise the default chapter length and the default thumbnail by editing the profile file (.prf). You can still use the guide below to add .MTA files if you want custom chapters or images on a per-file basis.

Samsung introduced Media Chaptering in some of their 2010 sets, C series and above. Unfortunately it's a bit of a mystery which TVs support Chaptering, you will need to check with a local USB video file.
This means that by pressing the center button on your remote control (or pressing the Tools button and selecting Chapter Search onscreen), you can access chapter points and jump to later parts of your video. This is far better than using the FF feature which can be quite time consuming. Until recently, this useful feature has only been available for users of the Samsung DLNA Server (PC Share Manager) or local USB media. At this time, no other DLNA server supports Chaptering except Mezzmo.

Mezzmo now supports chapter points for your video files and these can be customised for your time points and also your own thumbnail images to be shown onscreen.

To use Chaptering on your Samsung TV, you will need an .MTA file for each of your video files. The filename of the .MTA needs to be the same name as your video. For example:

video_filename.mkv
video_filename.mta

There is a basic .MTA file attached below which you can use, you will need to unzip it first. It contains 8 chapter points split into 15minute segments and all have a black thumbnail. All you need to do is rename the .MTA file and save it in the same folder as your video file.

The content of .MTA file is not unique to each video, so the same .MTA file can be copied as many times as you like for all your videos. Only the filename needs to be changed.
Once the files are saved, you need to run 'Maintain Library' in Mezzmo and they will be added to the database. To save time, you only need to select Video files and also select 'Only update files with missing information'.

After this is done, you can press the center button on your remote control (or press the Tools button and select Chapter Search onscreen) while playing a video and you will see the 15minute chapter points and also black thumbnails.

See post#2 below for advanced users who want to edit/create their own .MTA files for custom chapter times or custom thumbnail images.

If you get stuck, just post a question here.

Cheers

Gus
Gus_Samsung_C_Series_Chapter_Template.zip

Thanks should go to Dennis and all the Mezzmo team at Conceiva who do a great job with this product and respond daily to requests like this Chaptering feature. As far as I know, Mezzmo is the only DLNA server (except Samsung's Share Manager) to support FF/REW, Resume and now Chaptering. So thank you.

**Gus** · 08-15-2011, 11:02 PM

For advanced users who want to create/edit their own .MTA files, here is a quick guide...

The .MTA files are basic text files with XML formatting. They can be edited with any regular text editor. I would suggest Notepad however this tends to do funny things with filenames and adds .TXT whenever it likes and don't get me started on CR/LF :-)
So i would recommend Notepad2 as a decent text editor, you can download it at http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

After you load Notepad2 and the .MTA file. You will see each chapter data between the tags:

Code:

<ChapterSegment>
 ...
</ChapterSegment>

The chapter time stamps are in the <MediaTime> tags. For example:

Code:

<MediaTime timePoint="900"/>

The number in quotes is the seconds timeline, in this example a chapter point at minute 15. You will then see each chapter point increase by 900 seconds.

The thumbnail images are in the <InlineMedia> tags. For example:

Code:

<InlineMedia>/9j/4AAQSk.........//Z</InlineMedia>

The data inside the tags are JPG files with base64 encoding and all have a basic black image at the moment.
To decode base64 --> JPG. Visit this site: http://www.opinionatedgeek.com/dotne.../base64decode/
Or to make your own thumbnails, you will need to encode a standard JPG file to base64.
To encode JPG --> base64. Visit this site: http://www.opinionatedgeek.com/dotne.../base64encode/

The native resolution of a Chapter Thumbnail is 110x80.

To add/remove your own entire chapter points, just remove or replicate the full tag contents of:

Code:

<ChapterSegment>
 ...
</ChapterSegment>

If you get stuck, just post a question here.

Cheers

Gus

**Urza** · 08-16-2011, 12:40 AM

Thanks for all your work on this Gusnor, it is really appreciated!

I'm having trouble getting this to work with my setup. Is it compatible with the Samsung C580 range? My LE40C580 has the latest firmware.

I have used Samsung PCSM 4.1 to create .mta files for some of my movies, and then ran a maintenance update on Mezzmo to re-scan the folders with the movies and their .mtas in them, but it makes no difference. If I press the centre button on my Samsung Remote, it just pauses the movie. If I try to use the << and >> buttons, I get the message 'Function Not Available'.

Another thing I have noticed is that Samsung PCSM 4.1 creates .mta files in the following format:

video_filename.mkv
video_filename.mkv.mta

Whereas above you suggest:

video_filename.mkv
video_filename.mta

Will this make a difference to Mezzmo picking the .mta file up?

**Gus** · 08-16-2011, 12:50 AM

Now i'm a little confused. perhaps the C580 uses chapters slightly differently to my C650. Have you tried an MKV file via a USB stick or HDD ? just to make sure the C580 series TVs support Chaptering. I expect you have already. Or at least used PCSM to check Chaptering works on your TV.

All i can suggest is go ahead and try renaming the .MTA file as you have seen PCSM create it, run a maintenance and report back.
cheers

Gus

**Urza** · 08-16-2011, 12:58 AM

I'll give it a go via USB Stick tonight and let you know how I get on!

Thanks again,

Urza

**Urza** · 08-16-2011, 04:52 AM

Unfortunately it looks like it won't work on my C580 - I have tried via USB and over PCSM and I'm unable to skip forwards or backwards.
When played via local USB stick I can 'scan' forwards and backwards, but I can't skip forward in chunks as I should be able to with Chaptering

Its particularly annoying as its a C-Series TV and so should work..

**Paul** · 08-16-2011, 08:49 AM

Thanks for the great guide - I'm sure it'll help a lot of people!

Some Samsung devices do not support chaptering - we have several here in the office and they don't support chaptering (C-series mostly) at all.

**fastbuck** · 08-16-2011, 09:16 PM

great, works on my samsung ue40c6000. tried to do 16 chapter points but it just did show the eight ones of the example. i've copied them and added 900 seconds to each one, maybe i did something wrong. or does it just support up to 8 chapters?

**Gus** · 08-16-2011, 10:30 PM

Originally Posted by fastbuck

great, works on my samsung ue40c6000. tried to do 16 chapter points but it just did show the eight ones of the example. i've copied them and added 900 seconds to each one, maybe i did something wrong. or does it just support up to 8 chapters?

not sure of the limits, i would think there is a limit, i will try 9 when i get a minute. I take it the video file you were testing was actually long enough to support 16 chapter points of 900 seconds?

**Paul** · 08-18-2011, 04:33 PM

If anyone is interested in beta-testing our new auto-chaptering feature, please e-mail support asking for a patch that supports this.

Please make sure that your device supports chaptering first though, using Gus' .mta file and Mezzmo 2.4.2