cannot place chapter markers precisely where I want them

I have imported AVI video into Encore and have added chapter markers which end
actions return to an indexed menu. The problem is that I cannot place the
chapter markers precisely where I want them. When I add a chapter marker it
sometimes falls right where I place it, however many times it is set in the
previous or next scene. So now when the end action is triggered for that chapter
marker, it looks as if the next scene begins before it returns to the indexed
menu.

To me this looks very unprofessional. When I drag and drop the chapter marker to
the place where I would like it to be, it skips about about 7 frames and is
either jumps to the previous scene or too far into the next scene.

Darryl,

You can set frame accurate chapter markers, but only if the video hasn't been
transcoded to MPEG-2 yet. A chapter marker can only be placed at the start of a
GOP (Group Of Pictures), indicated by the white ticks above the timeline. These
are about 0.5 seconds apart.

Thank you Ruud. I thought for sure that the videos weren't transcoded in my
Encore project but I checked and sure enough they are. I rendered them from
Premier Pro as AVIs with no compression. This doesn't transcode them does it?
Only by exporting them through Adobe Media Encoder would do that I thought.

I have already submitted an inquiry in Premier Pro forum as to what I should be
rendering video to before importing into Encore and have rec'd various
suggestions.

Please confirm what I should be doing here. I shoot with a Canon GL2, bring in
the video as DV. What type of file should I then render it to so to get the best
quality and not to be transcoded?

Darryl

Did Encore transcode these files on import at all?
Are you certain you didn't transcode them yourself before adding Chapter
Markers?
There are 2 ways to get frame accurate chapter markers.
1 - Export from Premiere as DV AVI. This will not be transcoded on import as
long as you are not using Quicktime.
2 - Create markers in Premiere, and then export via the Adobe Media Encoder.
The downside here is that you need to do the math so you can ascertain the
correct settings to use.

Neil,

Method one has two (minor) drawbacks and one more significant one, if it
applies:

1. Minor: 2-nd second generation AVI for all parts rendered.
2. Minor: the extra time for rendering to AVI.