URGENT: Search in video broken

[joape382]

I have an MPEG2 video stream which doesn't include audio. When trying to play it back in Windows Media Player I the movie freezes when I click on the time line. GSpot tells me it is an MPEG-2 codec used and that the codec is not installed. However, I have installed all codecs that could have been used when the video was recorded. I have also tried GraphEdit - it runs only for a short while, but gives me a video that I can go to different times in without the video to freeze. However, my graph doesn't run for the entire video and I don't know why. Any suggestion anyone?

[guns1inger]

Windows Media Player is a poor player for mpeg2 video, even with a suitable codec installed. Try VLC or Media Player Classic instead. MPC is particularly good if you don't want to install anything, as it is a self-contained executable.

[joape382]

Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately, I'm forced to use WMP since it is deeply integrated into my software.

[guns1inger]

VideoRedo has a scan that might be able to help. You might also look at Mpeg Corrector

[joape382]

Have now tried both of the and VideoRedo says "Editing of elementary streams is not yet supported" and Mpeg Corrector only destroys the first frames but doesn't remove the problem with searching in the file.

[guns1inger]

About the only other thing I can suggest is to try FFDShow and enable mpeg-2 playback. However if the problem lies int he video itself it probably won't fix anything.

[joape382]

Perhaps I don't know GraphEdit well enough but it crashes when I try the ffdshow encoder. I use the following setup in GraphEdit:

File Source (Async.) -> Ligos MPEG Splitter -> Ligos MPEG Video Decoder -> ffdshow video encoder -> AVI Mux -> File writer

[joape382]

Not sure if it is important, but the video behaves in exactly the same way when playing it back in VLC.

[joape382]

I have also seen and tried a tool called AVIcodec which is supposed to be able to analyze which codecs that have been used in a video file, and it says that it is an MPEG-1 codec that has been used. GSpot says it is MPEG-2 and "MPEG Elementary Video".

[PuzZLeR]

I don't think this is a decoding issue, regardless of how WMP is crap or not.

I believe the solution actually starts with Guns1inger's second post - hinting a repair issue.

I would try to demux the video and audio streams and see what the problem is that way. Sometimes, just demuxing and re-muxing these streams solves the problem and may correct corrupt or error header data. Something probably went wrong in the encoding of this file.

Try TMPGEnc Plus (and go to File->Tools to Demultiplex (demux) and Multiplex (mux), or maybe if you even "re-encode it losslessly" with TMPGEnc MPEG Editor it may straighten it out for you. I'm sure you can try these products for free.

Or maybe this was a VOB file that was renamed to the .mpg extension without removing segmentation that sometimes comes with a VOB file. If you simply rename some VOBs to .mpg without removing this problem you get weird results exactly like you got in WMP. You would need to rename it back to .VOB again and re-import it through something like NeroVision to get a proper .mpg file. Or you can try this VOB file in an app like VOB2MPG.

[joape382]

Thank you.
When coming to the final step of the TMPGEnc wizard it tells me that the file is 0 min 44 sec long, which is not correct. It is about 400 MB in size and it is at least 10 minutes long. What would be the next step to take? It has not been a VOB file.

[joape382]

I tried with TMPGEnc MPEG Editor and converted to MPEG-1. It converted the whole file, but the error with going to another time in the video file still exists

[joape382]

If I just let it play in WMP it plays until 42 seconds, then the image stops but the time still continues counting. If I choose a time before 42 seconds the movie starts playing again, but if I choose one after 42 seconds the movie and the time freezes.

[joape382]

Perhaps it is just the header that has been damaged and shows 42 seconds instead of how long it should be? Is there a header editor tool of some kind or any specification of how the header should look like?

[joape382]

There is yet another tools that tells me it is an MPEG-1 movie (SyncView). When playing back with that tool it stills doesn't work.

[guns1inger]

ReStream will rewrite certain information in the stream and works with elementary streams.

You could also try to open it with DGIndex and re-encode it from the d2v file.

Where did this stream come from ?

[joape382]

I have already tried ReStream without success and DGIndex seems to crash/deadlock when I run my video file through it.

[joape382]

What do you mean where it came from?

[joape382]

It was recorded using a Canopus MVRD2200 video capture card.

[guns1inger]

Given what you have tried to date, I suspect that the file is fubar.

[Bjs]

So that's the hardware , but what is the product you use in preference , and failed to include in original post ?

Super , re-encode the file , known to help with stubborn files , even files in such state .
Mpeg streamclip > demux stream , might be of use .

Windows media player is not crap , just highly unreliable , and dosent take much to trip up .

Video playback relies heavily on video driver's being current and specific for the gpu hardware installed ... if not , strange things happen .

Repairing system after installing codec pack's take's a lot of time , filmerit come's in handy , but you need to know other item's that already exist such as having ulead videostudio , vegas , nero express , and other's , as these use their own , preferred , default decoder's .

The issue here is you may never get back to point one , close in most case's which may not be good enough to cure the problem's .

Fastest method to cure .

A: Use system restore point prior to codec pack installation .
B: Reinstall system os from scratch .

Lastly , put it on a cd , and take it to another system , along with vlc and try it there .

It's highly possible what ever program was used to generate this file originally , had a temporary seizure and corrupted the video from that point .

Or the hardware had a glitch .

If this is the case , nothing will be able to recover the remaining video , it dosent exist in any form that would be recognizable by the system .

[joape382]

What kind of product do you mean? Software would be the belonging MPEG Station program to record the video.

When trying to install Super my antivirus software discovered the PECompact virus (whatever that is). So I won't install that software.

[joape382]

I have even installed the same software (the recording environment, dlls, development SDK, and everything) which is used to create the video file on the computer.

[Bjs]

Super ... what av product thought that ?

Now if avgfree said it was infected , then dump that super download , and grab it from the official site .

http://www.erightsoft.com/S6Kg1.html , pick 4th in list ... clear of virus / trojan as of 28/08/2007 .

====

Hardware : Canopus MVRD2200 video capture card
Software : MPEG Station program ?

====

As mentioned before , if the hardware had a mental fit during the recording , then the stream would be corrupted past this point , and not be recoverable . This also applies if the program used to perform the capture dose the same thing .

If you cant jump to beyond this point using graphedit then its not ever going to happen ... the recovery , as I said before , to the system , the data dosent exist in any format it can recognize , beyond the point of corruption .

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/graphedit.html

Here's my graph in graphedit , the file writer used is mainconcepts mpeg encoder ... that's mpeg to mpeg , not mpeg to avi ... which would be going backwards .



Not that I need to do this ...