problem getting vcd chapters to match dvd

[paulvcd]

I'm using Sefy's tutorials (SmartRipper, DVD2AVI, TMPEGEnc, ChapterXtractor, VCDEasy, Nero).

The problem is, none of the chapter entry points match the DVD. They're always off by a few seconds, sometimes up to a minute. I can't seem to predict if they're going to be behind or ahead of the original DVD entry-points. It seems as though the chapter points that are being reported in the IFO file and the info file generated by SmartRipper are not quite as they should be. Perhaps their interpretation of the "beginning" of the DVD and my DVD player's interpretation are different? How do I fix this? I don't know enough about the technology to troubleshoot. It's particularly frustrating when ripping live concert footage with chapter points in between songs. My VCD chapters end up either too early or 10-45 seconds into the song.
Any help is, of course, appreciated.
Paul D.

[Sefy]

It's difficult to match the exact chapter location, usually for me it's off by a
few seconds forward or backward, but not as by much as you say, that does
not sound logical.

Are you creating a VCD or SVCD ?
Are you doing a Two Disc or a Single Disc movie ?
If your movie is on two Disc, is the problem on both or just the second ?
If your movie is one disc, are you using VBR or Standard ?

[paulvcd]

a thousand thanks for your reply.

To answer your questions:

I am currently VCD-only. But I plan to branch out to SVCD soon.

Usually I split a movie onto two discs (unless it's something I don't care much about, then I do the "fit it all on one disc with TMPGenc" trick)

The problem occurs on both discs, even if I do the offset thing when pasting the ChapterXtractor data into VCDEasy.

Perhaps I'm showing my ignorance here, but is it possible that 0:00:00.00 doesn't necessarily mean the "beginning" of the movie as far as all these applications are concerned?
Would the MPEGSequenceMaker app found on VCDHelp.com help at all?

Thanks again for the reply. By the way, your tutorials are excellent.
Paul D.

[Sefy]

What are you saying sounds very strange, I am trying to duplicate your problem, but the worst I get is a few miliseconds to each direction, so I can't figure out what's causing your file to get so bad on the Episodes.

The only thing I can possibly think of, is that the ripping part in some way is bad, and adds more to your file which makes it unsync with the Chapter information, other then that, i'm blank!