yes -- a big problem for me as i need I frames and chapters on specific frame numbers ..

and vegas can not do this -- i have mentioned this several times in the past.

The markers should be exact I frames in encoding ... therefore should also allow variable length GOPs,,

chapters have to be on the first I frame of a GOP ... a GOP can contain just one I frame even ..

also:
the first GOP should not start with B frames (as the MC encoder likes to do) , but its not a huge issue except the first chapter is on the 3rd frame then - instead of the first ..

Well I can see why this is a difficult issue to deal with, after all one can add the chapters in DVDA after the encoding. Problem is I probably have enough latitude to move my chapter marks to the nearest I frame but how do I find the I frames?
I thought I could fudge this with some simple maths, if the GOP is say 6 frames then my chapter marks can only be on frames 1,7,13 etc but if as you say the MC encoder starts with a B frame I think my simplistic approach is screwed.
SImple solution would be a 'helper' in DVDA that tells you what type of frame the current one is under the cursor, that should be easy enough surely?
Bob.

Sony should have fixed this a LONG time ago. This is a fundamental "block and tackling" issue. They used to be great at this sort of thing when they were Sonic Foundry (a good example is the world-class quality of the DV encoder).

While some of this may be falling in the crack between Madison (Sony/SF) and Germany (MainConcept), someone needs to take the bull by the horns and fix the problem. Getting discs rejected as incompatible, or having to explain why your chapter stop includes 1/2 second of the previous chapter's material is not a way to make everyone believe that you are a professional.

Amen,
and when my client got the message in Thaiglish that I had to decode for him, I think it went something like 'Video goes backwards from chapter point'.
That was after I didn't pay enough attention some time ago to what I was doing in DVDA 3 and burnt a DVD master from the last prepared folder instead of the current project. Result, instead of the mums and dads getting a DVD of Johnys football match they got a DVD of vintage medical documentaries, seems they mostly enjoyed them anyway, I think we'll just say they were the 'bonus disk' and we forgot to include the main feature :)
Bob.

yes -- a big problem for me as i need I frames and chapters on specific frame numbers .

B_JM, so how did you solve the problem? Scenarist? DVDSP?

Not that this is necessarily going to help anyone using Vegas and DVD Architect, but I use Adobe Encore for all my DVD authoring. If I bring in an MPEG2 file, it will at least show me where all the I-frames are so I can decide exactly what I-frame I want to use for the chapter point. Obviously, DVD Architect doesn't do this. In those instances where I need frame-accurate chapters, I can bring an AVI file into Encore, I can place the chapter points on any frame I want and Encore will force an I-frame at that exact point when it encodes to MPEG2 using the Main Concept MPEG2 encoder. (I don't know for a fact that DVD Architect doesn't already do this, but from what I've read, it doesn't seem that it does.)

Like has already been mentioned, it would be nice if Vegas could tell the MC encoder to force an I-frame wherever you have placed a marker. Secondly, it would be nice if DVD Architect would at least show you where the I-frames are located, or provide a "skip" button that when pressed would advance to the next I-frame in the file.

John

I was going nuts trying to get my chapter markers to land exactly where I put them until I started using DVDLab Pro (which also inports chapter points from Vegas and lets you nudge one I-frame at a time if necessary).