How does One Merge Several AVI Files into One M4v File with Chapters for each Merged File?

Greetings All . . .

After days of searching the web and afterdawn, I have been unsuccessful finding adequate information and guidance regarding what seems to be a rather trivial task. I hope a few video gurus out there will lend their experience and advice to this post. The software tools I have tried seem limited in functionality; leaving me with two main questions:
* What software tools should I try?
* Is there a suggested method for doing all these conversions?

Senario:
* I have several video lectures which are saved as AVI's.
* There are anywhere from 10 to 20 lectures per series.
* (Example: Chemistry 101: Chapters 1-12)in the form of 12 .avi's.

What I am trying to accomplish:
* Merge all AVI's into one file with each merged file saved as a chapter.
* Convert the single chaptered .avi file to .m4v.
* The end result is basically what one would get if one converted a DVD into an .m4v file: A single file with chapters.

Goal:
The value here is to take my video lecture courses and convert them into a single title which is searchable by chapter just like a DVD movie and put it on a portable player like an iPod Classic.

What I have tried at this point:
* Handbrake 0.9.4
* Nero 9 Ultimate: Nero Vision & Nero Recode
* Xilisoft: Video Converter 6.. and DVD Creator 6..
* AVI2DVD
* DVD Flick

Dilemma:
* None of the software tried will create chapters.
* The converters will merge all .avi files and that .avi merged file can then be converted to .m4v without chapters.
* Can't find a software solution that will simply take each .avi file and set it as a chapter in a merged .m4v file.
* Can't find a software that will allow me to modify an .m4v file to include chapters.

Any suggestions are welcomed. Thanks for your support.

 

http://uzzikie.livejournal.com/17048.html

didn't look very hard

 

I haven't really studied the PS355528 post above but you can do everything that you mention with Pinnacle Studio software. The most recent version is Studio 14 but any ofthe versions since 8 or so will do the trick, so I'd try to find a cheap version of 11 or 12 (there is no 13). With Studio you drag the AVIs onto a timeline and then merge and/or cut at will (there are commands to "combine clips" and to cut/delete clips). Making chapters is fairly straight forward and you can use one of their stock menus or create your own. You can test it out in their preview window. Once you are satisfied with the results you can save it to a dozen or more formats, including DVD or iPod. Another big plus for the Studio software is that they have a great peer-to-peer forum with lots of experienced users waiting to help.

 

I haven't really studied the PS355528 post above but you can do everything that you mention with Pinnacle Studio software. The most recent version is Studio 14 but any ofthe versions since 8 or so will do the trick, so I'd try to find a cheap version of 11 or 12 (there is no 13). With Studio you drag the AVIs onto a timeline and then merge and/or cut at will (there are commands to "combine clips" and to cut/delete clips). Making chapters is fairly straight forward and you can use one of their stock menus or create your own. You can test it out in their preview window. Once you are satisfied with the results you can save it to a dozen or more formats, including DVD or iPod. Another big plus for the Studio software is that they have a great peer-to-peer forum with lots of experienced users waiting to help.[/quote]

Thanks Lee, I really appreciate your effort to point me in the right direction. This will certainly prevent me from wasting so much time on my learning curve. I will give it a try and let everyone know what I find.

Best Regards

 

Thanks PS355528. I did spend many hours scouring the internet, and AfterDawn. Perhaps I just didn't know where to look. More importantly though, it looks like software exits to author things the way I need them, or/and modify an existing m4v to include chapters. I will give both a try and report what I find.

Cheers and thanks for the kind direction.

Best Regards