How do I identify faults in MPEG files? Authoring programs crash...

[semmel]

Hi,
I use WinTV2000 and a capture card with built-in MPEG encoder to capture TV in MPEG2 DVD quality.
This has worked well in the past, but today I had nothing but trouble.

I use MPEG2CUT2 to cut out the parts I need and save the clips as separate MPEG (.mpg) files.

Then I use Adobe Audition to take out the audio, normalize it and save it.
Then I use Ulead DVD Movie Factory 4 to author the DVD and add the new audio to it.

This time the program keeps crashing.
I had the experience that MPEG2CUT2 seems to sometimes have trouble cutting the audio properly (I don't know if this is normal), and Audition can't extract the audio properly. Usually I then go back to MPEG2CUT2 with the original file and re-cut out the part I want - that usually does the trick.

But today Movie Factory just kept crashing, no matter how many files I re-edited. I even ran Process Monitor to find out which file the program was last accessing, and each time after about 30 minutes when it crashed I would find another file to be the last it accesses - after 5 times I gave up and searched for different programs.

Both GUI for dvdauthor and DVDForger also have difficulties with my files.

So my first question is:
Are there any programs that can test if a MPEG file (.mpg) is complete and working (especially if the audio is OK)?

Next question:
What could cause three DVD authoring programs to crash like that? The files play well in Media Player Classic, MPEG2CUT2 and Movica (although Movica has helped a lot in finding files with bad audio stream).

I have FFDSHOW installed that seems to kick in for some programs and not for others. Maybe that is causing the issues...

Another question:
If anyone else has experience with Movica, it seems to be a useful program for what I am looking for, but when I move the slider, the MPEG preview is not updating, i.e. I can't see what I'm cutting. The picture only shows when I am playing the entire file. Am I missing something or doing something wrong?

Last question:
Considering that WinTV already creates MPEG2 files, what do you guys recommend to use for putting clips from multiple big MPEG files onto a DVD, either as separate tracks or as one track with each clip being a chapter?

Thanks SO much to everyone who is still reading, and even more thanks for any answers 8)

[Gramps]

VideoReDo has a pretty good MPEG check/repair tool.

[tomlee59]

A common problem in cuts/splices is timecode breaks. I don't know if that's your problem, but MpegStreamclip does a good job of finding (and fixing) those, so that might be one tool to take a look at. It's free, and useful for a great many other functions as well. You'll probably want this in addition to VideoRedo (which is a great tool, so Gramps has given you a great recommendation there).

I also find simply demuxing and remuxing to be useful in restoring streams to compliance (or, alternatively, to discover -- when remuxing fails -- that the source has some serious problem).

[semmel]

Great, thanks for both your answers!
I'll see if I can find VideoReDo, and I'll check MpegStreamclip (which I think I have tried before but didn't quite like the editing features).

Thanks again!

[highvolumeJP]

A common problem in cuts/splices is timecode breaks. I don't know if that's your problem, but MpegStreamclip does a good job of finding (and fixing) those, so that might be one tool to take a look at. It's free, and useful for a great many other functions as well. You'll probably want this in addition to VideoRedo (which is a great tool, so Gramps has given you a great recommendation there).

I also find simply demuxing and remuxing to be useful in restoring streams to compliance (or, alternatively, to discover -- when remuxing fails -- that the source has some serious problem).

Actually you should be careful demuxing - as some MPEGs with non sequential PTS / jumps will result in the remuxed MPEG to being out of sync, unless the demuxer takes the PTS information into account, most don't..... VideoRedo has a function that reads an MPEG and regenerates a new MPEG with sequential PTS - it does so by compensating dropped frames by padding with duplicate audio frames or video frames - you should pass your MPEG through videoredo before demuxing. exception made when the capture device you are using has a true TBC/Frame syncronizer, otherwise your regular consumer capture device will use PTS to keep your MPEG in sync, but when demuxed you lose that info and both your video and audio will be out of sync. Capturing from a non stable source (VHS, poor tracking, etc.) causes this.

[tomlee59]

Exactly -- which is why one should always check the result, of course. VideoRedo is generally the right tool for the job, agreed.

[suroit]

For what it's worth, I use ProjectX (freeware) to demultiplex and edit (cut out commercials) pretty much everything I capture, with excellent results regarding audio/video sync. I almost never have any problem authoring a DVD with GUI for DVDAuthor when I used ProjectX to demultiplex the MPEG. ProjectX recalculates timecodes very well in almost any condition.

However, I am starting now to work on dvr-ms files captured from Windows Media Center, which I convert to mpg with DVRMStoMPEGGui, and demultiplex with ProjectX. I find in many of those videos a small section with corrupted PTS.

Project X still does an excellent job of providing a well synchronized output, but it drops the corrupted frames. Windows Media Center is able to play the corrupted part in the dvr-ms file. But any standalone player I tried has problem with the converted mpg file when it gets to the corrupted frames. I am wondering if VideoRedo would be able to recover these frames, or if it does the same thing as ProjectX, basically dumping them. Anyone has any insight?

By the way, I didnt' find that MPEG Streamclip was able to repair those frames either. It could be that the way DVRMStoMPEGGui processes them makes any repair impossible.

Thanks.

[olyteddy]

I too use a Hauppauge PVR (the USB2) and use AVIDeMux when I want to cut commercials (it re-times it pretty good) or sometimes I don't cut the ads. I then use PVAStrumento to de-mux and GUI for DVDAuthor (MuxMan) to author. If I haven't removed the ads I'll set chapter points at the end of each block of commercials.