CCE and Maestro Trouble! Chapter points OFF!!!!

[Mr Grumpy]

I'll give it a whirl - thanks.

[BJ_M]

please also remember that chapters must not only be created on a I frame but must be also at the beginning of a GOP , so usually every 12-18 frames ...

[VinnySem]

For those still following this thread, I just figured out something very interesting, that may often be overlooked! Even after my last post (where I eagerly stated "all is well") I tested a few more DVD's and found that the chapter points were still off. I would encode and then assemble my entire project in Maestro, and view it side by side with the original in my media player to check the chapter points. The chapter points seemed to be consistently off (about one second later than the original). Even though I was inserting I frames in my ecl (with IFOupdate)before encoding, and using the same IFO program (IFOupdate) to create my Maestro chapter points, the chapters were still not exactly on cue.

I finally figured out what was causing the imperfection! With my project ready to compile, I right clicked on the gray chapter line of Maestro, and selected properties. Under the "Snap Chapter to GOP" setting, "Next GOP" was selected. When I switched the setting to "Nearest GOP" and imported the chapter points again, I was able to watch the points "snap" back to their precise locations. I'm guessing that choosing "Nearest GOP" allowed my chapter points to accurately "find" the I-Frames I had inserted earlier. Whatever the explanation, things are now PERFECT

Thanks for all the help!!

I tried this, my chapters were still off by a few GOPs. More testing needed.

[F-ING HOSTILE]

I don't know what to try anymore. I thought I had the problem licked.I used IFOUpdate to get my I-Frame points (CCE film setting) and added them to my ecl text before encoding. Then I used IFOUpdate to save my chapter points (Maestro File CHP) to import into my project in Maestro. I tested two movies ("American History X" and "Men Of Honor") My chapter points were still off by a second or so. Then, when I changed the "Chapter point properties" in Maestro from "Timecode (T.C.) based" "Next GOP" to "Timecode based" "Nearest GOP", and reimported my chapter file, I watched as my points landed exactly where they were in the original! The problem came when I tested a third movie ("Top Gun"). With these new settings, several of the chapter points were 1 second or less early (just early enough that the Chapter picture screen had not passed over to the next scene). Now when I switched from "Timecode based" to "index based", and went back to "Next GOP", everything seemed fine (with Top Gun). When I tried "American History X" again, the points were a second or so late! WTF? I guess I will just stick with the "Timecode based""Nearest GOP" settings and deal with it!
I don't know what else to try.

This problem has only really popped up since I switched from TMPGEnc to CCE. I would guess it has something to do with the fact that TMPGEnc automatically performs it's own 3:2 pulldown. I have been using "Pulldown.exe" for the mpv's that CCE gives me, and wonder if maybe this would have anything to do with the inconsistency I have been experiencing in chapter points. Someone (Adam) mentioned,” Make sure you set Maestro to drop frame though, as this could also make your chapters off", but I can't find any settings in Maestro that deal with "Drop Frame" In a similar post about Maestro, and chapter points, "Disturbed 1" wrote,” Use the -drop_frame true flag in pulldown (if your using NTSC film as a source) to correct the time code", but I'm guessing this is performed automatically by "Pulldown.exe". Someone also said to "enable pulldown" in CCE, but I could not find anything in CCE dealing with that.

I'm really frustrated with it by now , and have run out of ideas. I suppose having the points be a fraction of a second early is as close as I will get! I'll just have to drag them a second forward into their proper scene