Error when importing chapter list into Maestro...

[TRILIGHT]

Well, this is the first time I've seen this one! I'm doing everything the same way I always have and have had no problems in the past. This time, when attempting to import the list, I receive the following error:

"I-Frame Insertion entry frame rate is not consistent with current tape frame rate! I-Frame import will be cancelled. (0xc102008b)"

What the hell is that about?

[TRILIGHT]

Ok, I've determined that the chapter points will be imported fine as long as the "drop frame" flag is not set. However, from what I've read, and with other titles I've done, this flag must be set in order for the subtitles to be in the correct place. Apparently, when I first started working with subtitles I had the chapter points imported before replacing that asset with the one where I set the "drop frame" flag in pulldown.exe.

Surely there is a better way of doing this. I don't want to have to run pulldown twice, import two assets, import the chapters, then drop one of the assets just to get the chapters in and have the subtitles right! Like I said, surely there is a better way. Can anyone help?

[cap4000]

I have the same problem as above, following the guide on this site.how is this "drop frame" flag set. Is it In chapterxtractor or in maestro.
How do you unflag it??

[TRILIGHT]

Pulldown.exe utility. Do a search and you'll find it.

[cap4000]

I downloaded a pulldown.exe along time ago, excuse my ignorance but is that a dos level program or does it also work under windows. Do you simply execute it in same directory as your created maestro xxxxxx.chp

[cap4000]

forget last post.....figured it out...

[Ekin]

ok guys. I have the same problem. got Pulldown.exe and execute it. ok What am I suppose to do...run my .m2v again with it flag or not ?? Can I have an example of the command ? My I got my .chp just from chapterx. I just want the first 4 chapters and deleted the rest. I just want chapters. I don't care about subtitle now. I really need chapters. Please help....and sorry dup.

[Commander XJL]

I'd like help with this too, how do you get chapter list into maestro? I get the same error TRILIGHT said at begining of post

[TRILIGHT]

I answered what you need to do in my reply to myself on this thread. You get the error because of the drop-frame flag.

[24hourloop]

I don't think that is generally true. I have run into the problem even without the drop-frame flag (but not determined the cause of it).

[TRILIGHT]

I posted this a long time ago when I was still "new to the game". I would be interested in knowing what titles you had the same problem on. Since I've been using my method, I have not had a problem importing chapters while the non-drop clip was on the timeline. Throw the drop-frame clip in and I consistently get the error. Let me know the titles you did so I can look at them myself.

[FamousPerson]

TRILIGHT:

I am experiencing this same problem - unable to import chapter list into Maestro because my video source is drop-frame.

My problem is, the source came that way (NTSC). Do you know of any way to remove the Drop-Frame flag? I tried pulldown with drop_frame=false but maestro still sees it as drop frame.

[TRILIGHT]

Are you actually entering it like this "drop_frame=false" ? If so, that is not the proper format and so pulldown.exe is doing nothing with what you've entered. You have to enter it as "-drop_frame false" (without the quotes, of course), in order for the switch to take effect.

[FamousPerson]

Yes, I entered it properly. I just couldn't remember the exact syntax while typing this post.

I know it was correct because I saw it in the summary while pulldown was running.

[wfn1]

Trilight,

If you still remember our conversation on #doom9 a few days back you said that you always sub your movies. Since you use Maestro as your authoring tool of choice, I thought you must have noticed by now that when you're doing subtitled movies you *have* to pulldown twice. Once with just -prog_frames p to be able to import chapters and once with -prog_frames p -drop_frame true for sub sync. It's just another maestro thingy for you.

You know what I'm gonna say to you to fix the problem, right ? :)

[FamousPerson]

wfn1,

If you're talking about the problem I'm having, this is NTSC - pulldown is not needed and was not run on the source at any point. The source started out at 29.97fps Drop Frame.

[wfn1]

FamousP,

if your source is 30fps with drop frame set (sometimes when you do decombing with decimate mode1 it comes out with drop frame) you just have to get the latest pulldown .99d and do this:

pulldown source.mpv target.m2v -nopulldown -drop_frame false


That did it for me.

[FamousPerson]

wfn1,

Unfortunately, that's the version I used and it didn't work. Maestro still sees it as drop frame.

[Scoobydeux]

OK, guys, thinking outside the container here.....

I've heard somewhere that generating a dummy blank video file (this example was 4 hours) without drop_frame, putting that on the timeline, importing chapters so maestro will accept them with a non-drop_frame file, removing the dummy file from the timeline, then putting your valid drop_frame m2v on the timeline might work. Probably a good idea to have every frame be an I frame for the dummy file... But anyway, this way you would only have to pulldown 1 time, and import 1 file into Maestro each time...... (the .prv file from the dummy file should stay there between projects)

There, I have thrown in the grenade..... Any thoughts?

Scoobydeux

[FamousPerson]

I think that's a smashing idea!

[FamousPerson]

Scoob:

I tried your suggestion and it worked perfectly. From this point forward, I will always use that 4 hr blank video to import my chapter list.

I'll never again have to run pulldown twice or wait for Maestro to parse that extra file...

[Scoobydeux]

Thanks! Glad the idea worked, thanks for trying it out.

I have just recently started using avisynth instead of vfapi, can you give me an example of the avisynth script you used to create your blank avi? I'd like to create one too.... Since you were good enough to prove it worked for all of us...

Cheers!

Scoobydeux

[FamousPerson]

Here you go, four hours of blackness:

blankclip(345600,720,480)
ResampleAudio(44100)

One warning: when I set every frame to an I-frame in CCE, it took about 12 hours to encode...

[Scoobydeux]

Thanks. Made one last night. 2.4 GB, took about 9 hours with every frame an I frame.... I'll start trying it myself tonight...

Scoobydeux

[cap4000]

big thanks to Scoobydeux...
I created a 4 hour (no input) blank video on my pioneer dvr-7000 at lowest bitrate (somewhere around 1.7 i think) then ripped to mpv on hd (1.4 gig file).Now I just load the video 1st then chapters then delete blank video and insert real video, and it works every time.
thanks for the tip, sure faster then using the pulldown...

[TRILIGHT]

Good tip, Scoobydeux. I'm sure Maestro users will find this handy. Doom9 has been out of pocket for a while or I'd have him update the guide with this information.

Just FYI, if anyone has Scenarist, it's a good idea to read the new guide (http://dvdguides.trilight.net It's for multi-PGC but the same applies to single-PGC). Scenarist does not require this "workaround" to get chapters imported. All you need it the one pulldown video clip from your project.

EDIT: I've updated the URL.

[FamousPerson]

Ye110man: read above

[FamousPerson]

The program is called "Avisynth", as mentioned above. The script you can use, also mentioned above, is:

blankclip(345600,720,480)
ResampleAudio(44100)


If you do not know how to use Avisynth, I'm sure there's a guide on it somewhere on this site. You can also find out tons of stuff by reading the Avisynth forum here.

[chirolis]

i use the doitfast4you method but try to do it with maestro isntead of scenarist, i do the pull with doitfast and maestro gimme the same i frame error.
i just format the machine, befor that i didnt get the error
any clues??
im using xp, p4 2.5, intel motherboard, maestro 2.9. cce 2.5, dvd2avi 1773, doitfast 1.05

[timekills]

Have you read the rest of the posts, specifically ScoobyDeux's?!?! They were ALL having problems with Maestro, not Scenarist. Scenarist was mentioned because it DIDN'T exhibit the same symptoms.

Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here.

[HOGGER]

ok....I would like to know how I’m to remove blank m2v from the time line after the chapters are imported.
When I right click file and select delete selected asset it will not let me remove it ”some media files are in use and can not be remove”.................. any help would be appreciate

[SurfDrifter]

This happens because you don't delete it from timeline, but the Assets Windows...
So, it's very logic that Maestro won't move the asset, because it is used in the timeline...
So go to the TIMELINE, select the video and press DELETE on your keyboard..

[SomeJoe]

I know this is an old thread, but it just came back to the top and I had never seen it before.

On the original issue, Maestro will import a .chp file just fine with a drop-frame asset on the timeline if the .chp file contains legal drop-frame timecodes that are in drop-frame format.

The problem arises when the asset on the timeline is drop-frame and the .chp file contains non-drop-frame timecodes. Maestro knows that you can't get your chapters synched like this so it refuses the import.

A legal drop-frame .chp file:

$Spruce_IFrame_List

00:00:00;00
00:00:51;11
00:01:54;21
00:03:31;25
00:04:28;16
00:05:31;15
00:07:00;02
...


A .chp file for the same asset with a non-drop frame timecode, that will cause the error. Also all timecodes use non-drop-frame notation (using colons : vice semi-colons ; )

$Spruce_IFrame_List

00:00:00:00
00:00:51:11
00:01:54:21
00:03:31:25
00:04:28:16
00:05:31:15
00:07:00:00 <--- Illegal drop-frame value
...

[WanHunLo]

Hi,

An easier way to insert the chapters into maestro is to type them in from your chapter file.

Open up your chapter file with notepad.
Just click on the time bar in maestro to add a chapter and type in the chapter start time.

Its a bit of a manual way of doing things but it better than creating a 4GB file.

Hope this helps

[HOGGER]

@SurfDrifter...........thanks I knew that there was a simple solution guess I should have know that.

@SomeJoe and WanHunLo both very interesting post's and I will defiantly take a look.

By the way my 4hr blank m2v is only 328 mb and along with the blank.prv fit nicely on a cd-r

Thanks again to all

[LakersFan]

Originally posted by Scoobydeux
Thanks. Made one last night. 2.4 GB, took about 9 hours with every frame an I frame.... I'll start trying it myself tonight...

Scoobydeux

Scoobydeux or anyone else,
Before I start a 12hr encode, what setting do I use to set every frame an I-frame in CCE?

Thanks

[FamousPerson]

LakersFan,

I believe you set GOP sequence:

M=1
N/M=1

[LakersFan]

Thank you... will try.

Edit: Worked! Thanks

[Erik_Osterholm]

I've been playing around with DVD authoring and such, and came across this thread. I noticed that they suggest using pulldown.exe and setting all frames to progressive, both for the drop-frame clip and the non-drop-frame one. Is there a reason for this? The movie I am importing is interlaced, so this seems counterintuitive, and I wasn't sure if there was a specific reason for setting the frames as progressive or if that happened to be how their particular movie was encoded.

[shawbros3]

I saw this info from another thread. The chapter list that xtractor creates is a list consisting of colons ( : ) . If you change the last colon to a semicolon ( ; ) the drop frame flag issue is resolved. It works fine for me every time.

: : ;

Good luck!