MeGUI - Passing Chapters to One Click Encoder

[Atlantis]

I am wondering how do you pass chapters in One Click Encoder if my source video is mpeg? I want to use the Force Key Frames for chapter marks.

The Auto Encode video has an option to pass chapter files but I can't do that in One Click Encoder.

The only way I was able to pass chapter information to One Click Encoder was by giving an MKV video with chapters as video source. However I can't do this and I must pass an mpeg file.

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If you are interested to know why, here it is. I am backing up my Frasier DVDs. The source is NTSC 29.97 but it's film 23.976 based.

I used MakeMKV to make MKV files for each episode. Somehow MeGUI file indexer can only index it with FFMSIndex and DGIndex is grayed. So when FFMSIndex index it, the framerate is reported inaccurately as 25.002 instead of 29.97.

The only way I can do it correctly is to extract the mpeg video and then MeGUI can use DGIndex to index and everything is correct then and the framerate is 29.97. I can then apply correct inverse telecine.

So if I have a separate mpeg file, how do I pass the chapter information in my original MKV to One Click Encoder? And why DGIndex is disabled when I pass MPEG2 in MKV?

[hello_hello]

Not having anything better to do and a DVD with a frame rate of 29.970 on my hard drive (mixture of soft and hard telecine), I remuxed the vob files as an MKV with MKVMergeGUI and tried some experimenting. When indexing the vob files with ffmsindex I ended up with similarly odd frame rates, or badly IVTC'd video, no matter what I tried. However, when indexing the vob files with DGIndex and the MKV with ffmsindex the result was identical. Same number of frames before applying IVTC, the same number after, and what appeared to be the same video with a 23.976 frame rate as a result.

I suspect MakeMKV did something odd in your case. I wonder if you remuxed the extracted video into a new MKV with MKVMergeGUI (maybe even try specifying a 29.970 frame rate if need be) while adding the audio and chapters from the existing MKV whether ffmsindex would then work correctly?

If you want to have a look to see if the MKVs created by MakeMKV look any different, here's the one I muxed from the vob files with MKVMergeGUI as reported by MediaInfo:

Video
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Codec ID : V_MPEG2
Codec ID/Info : MPEG 1 or 2 Video
Duration : 1h 17mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 927 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 6 000 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.572
Time code of first frame : 01:00:07;15
Time code source : Group of pictures header
Stream size : 3.20 GiB (95%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No

The way I understand it, when adding chapters to AutoEncode, you're just remuxing those chapters into a new output file. I don't think it has any effect on keyframes. If OneClick can do it using the force keyframe option, you might need to extract the chapters from each MKV and add them to individual Oneclick encoding jobs manually. You should be able to add them to OneClick just as you can with AutoEncode.

By the looks of it, MeGUI's Chapter Creator under the Tools menu supports extracting chapters from MKVs. If not, MKVCleaver does.

DGIndex doesn't index MKVs.

[Zathor]

I am wondering how do you pass chapters in One Click Encoder if my source video is mpeg? I want to use the Force Key Frames for chapter marks.
The Auto Encode video has an option to pass chapter files but I can't do that in One Click Encoder.
Enable "Show advanced options" in OneClick and in the tab "advanced config" you can select a chapter file. Internal chapter marks of Blu-ray, VOB, MKV files are automatically used.

I used MakeMKV to make MKV files for each episode. Somehow MeGUI file indexer can only index it with FFMSIndex and DGIndex is grayed. So when FFMSIndex index it, the framerate is reported inaccurately as 25.002 instead of 29.97.
Update to the latest development build. This should be fixed since build 2439.

[Atlantis]

Yes I tried to use MKV Merge and create a new MKV and it's the same bad result when indexed by FFMSIndex. This is definitely a problem with FFMSIndex indexing MPEG2 files and its not because of containers.

I tested the extracted mpeg file indexed by FFMSIndex and the same problem. But the same mpeg file indexed by DGIndex and the result is ok. So FFMSIndex should be avoided with MPEG 2 sources. Maybe the sources have hybrid framerates or variable framerates, I don't know, but I always had problems with MPEG2 and FFMSIndex.

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You say it could be MakeMKV. Maybe it makes some bad mpeg streams. Any alternatives to MakeMKV that I can test to see if it's the FFMSIndex or MakeMKV the problem?

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I have MeGUI 2418 and I don't see any show advanced options in One Click Encoder. Perhaps you mean that option in X264 settings? Where you can choose a qp file in misc tab?

And that would be a pain because it would no longer be a one click solution. I have to create qp files from XML MKV chapters and I don't know how to do it automatically.

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By the way so as you say, I also suspected that passing XML chapters in auto encode, just adds them to MKV and it might not mean it will consider them during video encode and adding key frames. It would have been nice if it did that.

Do we really need key frames for chapters?

[Zathor]

Have a look at the bottom of the OneClick window. You likely see there "show basic settings" or "show default settings". Change this to "show advanced settings".

Also you can update your stable build to development build. The update can be found at "Options\Settings\Extra Configuration\Auto Update" and select "Use development update server"

[Atlantis]

Wow, thank you very much. I updated to 2467. DGIndex is still disabled with MKV MPEG2 but it doesn't matter, FFMSIndex works correctly now because it adds fpsnum=30000, fpsden=1001 to FFVideoSource. All works correctly now.