Large File / Long Recording Chopped Off?

[ckennylin]

I've been a longtime user of VideoReDo since version 2.x and used that to download off a DirecTiVo.

For a recent live event, I created a manual recording that is is 10 hours long, and downloaded it using Tivo Desktop, lets call it liveconcert.tivo.

Once I open up liveconcert.tivo in VideoRedo, the program length would show as 7hrs.

When I send the liveconcert.tivo files to the Batch Manager and convert them into MPEG-2 .mpg files, Windows Explorer would show liveconcert.mpg as being 10hr long. But the logs in VideoRedo would show liveconcert.tivo as 7hrs.

Sanity Check #1: I play back the converted liveconcert.mpg in Windows Media Player and it is the FULL 10hrs long.

Sanity Check #2: I download Brorsoft Video Converter as a trial and open BOTH liveconcert.tivo and and liveconcert.mpg, and it shows as 7hrs TOO!!!

Thinking QuickStream Fix would change things, I again sent liveconcert.tivo to the Batch Manager and convert it into MPEG-2. The QuickStream-Fixed liveconcert.mpg still shows up at 10 hours in Windows Explorer / Media Player, but is still cut off at 7 hours in VideoReDo and Brorsoft.

Is there some sort of library bug that is causing VideoReDo to truncate files?

 

[ckennylin]

I have this set up on an isolated Win10 Pro machine with Tivo Desktop, VideoReDo, and the CCCP Codec pack if there is a need to remote control to diagnose the problem.

Thank You!

 

[Dan203]

Try running the file through QSF first, then opening the resulting file. With TS files the duration is calculated by looking at the time stamps of the first few frames and the last few frames and calculating the difference. With really long recordings the timestamps can sometimes jump causing this calculation to be off. QSF will redo the timestamps so they're consistent from start to finish and the duration of the resuling file should be correct.

 

[ckennylin]

I'm linking 2 screen captures here on the SAME VideoReDo-generated mpg file:

https://flic.kr/p/24EQdx6
https://flic.kr/p/2dTvqQT
It took a while to get both to play and sync. Note that the program length in VideoRedo length is 6:39:45 and the program length in the CCCP Media Player (and also Windows Media Player, and Windows Explorer) is 9:57:34. The cursors at 1:20:22 in VRD, and at 1:56:46 in WMP / CCCP.

I'm going to let this run for a while and see if they go out of sync or if something fails. I did set the original recording time to 10 hours, so the WMP metadata seems more correct.

The source is a .tivo file, it was recorded on a Premiere (I've since upgraded to the Bolt, "downgraded" to the standard interface)

 

[ckennylin]

That did not take too long - I walked away to make lunch it went offsync:

https://flic.kr/p/2fhq5vV
I paused VideoReDo and tried to bring MPC-HC back in-sync by going Forward:

https://flic.kr/p/2fhq5uT
Unscientifically, 45 minutes elapsed in Real Time (based on screen capture times) and in MPC-HC, but only 36 minutes elapsed in VideoRedo.

Only if I had a camera trained on the screen so I can see where the skip happened.....

The original file is about 55GB so it's going to be difficult to share.

At least I've got a process to try to identify the problem, hopefully I can follow up next time with a video of where the skip occurred.

Since this problem affects both VideoReDo and Brorsoft, I'm curious whether it's due to a common library used by both products - I think CCCP uses something else.

 

[Dan203]

Did you try running the file through QSF as suggested?

 

[ckennylin]

Yes the file went through QSF and was played back in both VRD and MPC-HC / Windows Media Player.

But if you're interested, I've loaded up the original .tivo file, the QSF-ed .tivo file, and the converted .mpg up on my Synology NAS at this link: http://gofile.me/6xbpg/NN9W2mGAG

Each file is about 32GB in size, but I have 100/100Mbps FiOS, so hopefully downloading shouldn't be too painful

The original recording should be 10 hrs. Each file shows up at 7 hrs in VRD, and interestingly also 7 hours in VLC (and Brorsoft) so I'm thinking it could be a bug in a library common to all three.

My comparison is with Windows Media Player and the CCCP Codec pack, which shows 10 hours. Without the CCCP Codec, Windows Media Player still shows 10 hours albeit audio only. Windows Explorer shows 10 hours.

VLC actually chokes on playing back the mpg file.

 

[ckennylin]

OK it looks like VRD is Correct!!!

As a sanity check, I had the same file play back in VRD and WMP in real time starting this afternoon. After they got in sync, over the 7 hours of playback, both players drifted apart by about 15 seconds.

But at the end of 7 hours, the WMP playback stopped as if it came to an end. And VRD reached the end of file.

https://flic.kr/p/2ecm2GC
Guess there is a bug in Windows (how shocking!!!) in how it calculates the program length. Not sure how to report this bug or whether anyone cares....

Thanks for sticking with me on this problem!

 

[Dan203]

How long does TiVo say the original recording is?

Could just be a transfer error. Maybe if you retransfer from TiVo you'll get the whole thing