Can I add chapter breaks to MPEG-2 files?

[AVR2]

I've got into the habit of encoding to MPEG-2 using ffmpegX and then burning to DVD in Toast 7. I know I could do both steps in Toast, but I think that ffmpegX offers faster, better-quality conversions.

Anyway, I now want to be able to add chapters to the MPEG-2 files, but Toast won't allow you to do that (for some reason - I'm sure the DVD authoring software I used to use on Windows had no problem adding chapters to a pre-encoded MPEG-2 file). Short of having to buy something expensive like DVD Studio Pro, is there any way I can create MPEG-2 files containing chapters that I can then burn using Toast?

[Sdashiki]

chapter markers ARE NOT part of the MPEG2 video file.

they are part of the DVD files that include .VOBs etc.

you need an authoring tool to make chapters, because even if you had some metadata on the video file concerning markers, they wouldnt do a damn thing until an authoring program wrote the file that a DVD player would recognize.

[sebisworld]

That's not entirely true. While it's true that chapter marks aren't stored in the MPEG2 file, you need to make sure to put in chapter marks before exporting your clip to MPEG2. The encoding software needs to know where you want to have these marks since you can only have a chapter mark on a "keyframe" - not one whose information is based on other frames. Hence, if there is no keyframe, you can't add a chapter mark right there (You'll have to move it to the next keyframe)

[Rod Rod]

Maybe you could get a copy of DVD Studio Pro 1.5 for cheap somewhere.

If so, demux your MPEG2 files into elementary streams with MPEG Streamclip (freeware). Then take the files into DVDSP 1.5 and create your chapter marks. DVDSP 1.5 is easier to use than it looks.