Entrypoints for chapters...I'm going insane!!

[n0lamers]

Ok, I am about to lose it...
For the past two days I have been trying everything that has ever been posted about entrypoints, chapters, VCDEasy, VCDimager tools GUI, sequence headers, and 'I' frames. I have exausted all guides (mostly written by Vitualis), all links from any post that was searched, and downloaded these programs: VCDimager tools GUI--for vcdxminfo, Philips VCD 2.0 proggie, EPassist--totally useless, and MPEG sequence maker V.2. I already had TMPGEnc for mux/demux, VDCEasy, TSCV(which I don't use anymore since I have VCDEasy), VCDcomposer GUI(which is really awesome and would be better than VCDEasy in my opinion if it was only numerically PBC-friendly), and lots of other VCD stuff.

The steps that I've taken are as follows:

reENCODED (not just demux/mux) using TMPGEnc and the force picture type setting and manually entered all the chapters and where I wanted them as I frames.

Checked my results in VirtualDub to find that the I frames were exactly where I wanted them.

loaded *.mpg into VCDEasy and went to chapters button. I tried putting in the exact frame, then the hh:mms.ms time, then the media player's 'ok' button on the exact time(frame)---and it still didn't use the I frame that VirtualDUB had proven to me was there, it forced me to use one that was a second or so forward or backward.

demuxed the reencoded file with TMPGEnc---tried the MPEG Sequence Maker using "every GOP" box checked and ran it---remuxed with TMPGEnc---checked it in virtualDUB, I frames still coincided to what I wanted---still over a second off in VCDEasy and VCDcomposer

did the same as above and had the same result in VCDEasy and VCDcomposer---but the only thing I changed was also checking the "Make Chapters" in addition to "Every GOP" in MPEG Sequence Maker.

tried the 'merge and cut' trick in TMPGEnc to reset sequence headers and that didn't do any better.

checked my movie with vcdxminfo with and without relaxed aps constraints and it DIDN'T show the inserted I frames as available entrypoints in the xml report using either of those options....I did watch as it processed and it would say something periodically (apparently where my inserted frame was to be recognized) about "warning--possibly out of order, using closest..."(something or other, sorry didn't get all of it as it went by very quickly) and that seems to be my problem with anything that is VCDimager/XML frontend related (ie:VCDEasy and VCDcomposer) when it looks for my forced I frames as possible entrypoints.

Oh...I forgot---I tried all of this with and without "relaxed aps constraints" in every program that provided that option, but to no avail. The video began looking blocky because of MPEG Sequence Maker I'm guessing, but it would've been fine if it actually worked. btw-I'm not even using a non-standard VCD template I'm using good 'ol VCD 2.0 so the "output interval of sequence header" was defaulted to 1, therefore theoretically I should never have had to do any of this--especially after having re-encoded with force picture type settings set the way I wanted AND being verified correct by VirtualDUB. There is only one thing left I haven't done yet, the closed GOP option, which just isn't an option for me since I've already lost quality with MPEG Sequence Maker and I refuse to lose more, plus it shouldn't make a difference at this point I don't think since I've essentially done the same thing with Sequence Maker and other programs multiple times. I can only think that it has something to do with the programs that I'm using 'realizing' as they put in sequence headers that they can only put a maximum of 99 entrypoint references per sequence (mpeg file) and therefore they spread them out to a fraction of the available I frames (in my case, about every fourth one or so, and my clip is about 52 minutes).

Does anyone know how I can manually choose which 'I' frames I would like to reference with sequence headers as available chapter entrypoints, rather than using an automated system that will randomly (and sparsely) place the sequence headers along my movie? If not, will someone who has tried the closed GOP setting shed some light as to how bad it degrades the video and if it recognizes forced 'I' frames as possible entrypoints by giving them sequence headers? All expertise in this area is greatly appreciated!
(sorry this was so long winded )

[groyal]

I believe that might be your problem. If I recall correctly, a "chapter point" in VCD is defined as a sequence header followed by a GOP header followed by a closed GOP.

Only the GOP consituting the entry point need be closed, but a particular encoder may or may not generate a legal chapter mark when an I-frame is forced. Panasonic does; TMPGenc, I don't know.