Can't fastforward or rewind avi with software players

[gll99]

Old captured avi or newly captured avi using various programs virtualvcr and winvdr pro (not windvr) cannot fast forward or rewind. (WMP) Window media player reports the new caps as 0 length. The old captures may or may not be shown as 0 length. The only difference between the 2 is that the non 0 allow me to drag the scroll bar but it just pops back and doesn't do anything when I release it. BSplayer and (MPC) Media Player Classic.
I checked with Gspot and all specs are ok mostly DX50 and mp3 audio. I also tried an older mpeg 4 codec fast and slow motion mpeg4 and the result is the same (wmp says 0 length and no ff or rw). I tried 4 DX5 codecs 5.0, 5.02, 5.2 and 5.21 in case the codec was corupted. (I like the older dx5 for speed). I also used ffdshow as decoder and also disabled it and removed it and then reinstalled in case there was a decoder problem.
I reencoded a dv file in virtualdub to dx5 and mp3 the output file cannot be fastforwarded either.
I can load the so called zero length files in vdubmod and can move through the files uing the slider with no problem but cannot use the ff or rw option. I can jump back and forth to key frames with no problems. The information panel in vdub shows that the files are properly indexed and error checking finds no errors.

Internet searches lead to dead ends.

btw) these files play fine on my Philips dvp-642 and I can fast forward and rewind with no problems. This points to some type of software conflict but I can't put my finger on it.
Any ideas? Thanks

[vhelp]

- I gotta idea..

While you're still inside vdub, why don't you just re-create the avi file:

** set to direct stream copy

At least try this on one file. If you get your rw/ff back, then you could
be good-to-go.

Well, it's something to consider or slightly alter, in your setup of things.

Good luck,
-vhelp 3882

[gll99]

Thanks vhelp.

That's what I thought too. So I edited a few captured (generic tuner card with wdm drivers) avi to remove commercials and directstream copied but came out 0 length (at least as far as wmp is concerned). I also did full processing mode on a dv file transferred from my Sony camera to divx5 in case it was something to do with my card drivers and it also says it 0 length even though gspot and vdub see the files proper length. No other software player lets me ff or rw so it's not just wmp.

[vhelp]

Forgive me.. I'm still using vdub 1.5.10 over here. And, I just don't
get it, how you are having these kinds of issues w/ re-creating a new
avi file from direct stream copy mode.

- another one.. Did you try w/out direct stream copy, but this
time, use a codec, like to use the Brooktree YUV 411 Raw codec when I'm
testing various avi files.

- ok.., then yet another one..

** open zero-length avi file in vdub
** setup to frameseve (ie, *.vdr) and frameserve this file
** open another vdub and drop the *.vdr file into it, and then
proceed to direct stream copy it (will be an raw RGB, but thats ok for
this testing purpose) and then try the \Compress\codec\.. save_as and
see what works for ya. Try a DV codec as well in this scenario.

-vhelp 3884

[gll99]

@vhelp

Even older avi which used to ff with no problem and don't show up as 0 length also don't ff now.

I have tried reindexing avi and full compression mode. I have also tried files with pcm instead of mp3 in case the audio codec was causing a problem?

I didn't try frameserving back to vdub but from what I see it would end up the same way. I'll check my tools and try another program to reencode the avi just in case but I don't think the problem is vdub either because my caps come out like that too.

It also doesn't matter if the avi are open dml or old format avi. The results are the same.

There has to be a codec causing a conflict?

I had installed a program which lets you do screencaps simulating a capture card driver. It would show up as a capture device in cap applications. I removed the sucker in case it was causing the problem. I'm going to have to reboot to remove from mem and then try a test. I'll log off to do that now.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[vhelp]

Great. I hope all works out well in the end for ya. (you probably are
correct, that that latest app/driver install had something to do with it,
I'm sure)

dont' know if you've tried this little gem - vcswap.exe - yet. But it
does come in handy for swaping out codecs. As you know, most codecs
(brand/makers) can work with other codecs' fourCC signature as long as
they say they support the given format, ie.. 411 / iyuv / dvsd / etc.

I'm pretty tired out and heading for sleep. Hope you get it all sorted
out by tomorrow

-vhelp 3886

[gll99]

gll99 wrote

had installed a program which lets you do screencaps simulating a capture card driver. It would show up as a capture device in cap applications. I removed the sucker in case it was causing the problem. I'm going to have to reboot to remove from mem and then try a test. I'll log off to do that now.

Nope that wasn't it.

I removed my divx and reinstalled another version v5.05 but it made no difference.

I captured in both wdm and vfw mode drivers and it made no difference the files still come out showing 0 length in wmp.

I tried a couple of small captures in vdub and the results are the same. I would suspect my capture drivers but even when I convert a file it produces a 0 file ( as reported by wmp). As I said before every check says the avi is good but I can't ff in wmp, mpc or bsplayer.

I even tried the cinepack codec with the same thing a 0 length video

Very strange

[vhelp]

Perhaps you're looking in the wrong place..

I recall on several occations, where I was doing my usual DV capturing
and with various DV capture software. I would send everything down to
my external HDD encloser (HDD converter kit, by ADS) and randomly, and
during my lockups, I would for obvsious reasons, loose my work, etc.
yada yada.. and would start over. But..

Now, depending on my moods, and my "memory" wrapped around my work or
project, I'd would skip the Scandisk run and hope that nothing was any
worse. (course, I would regret it moments later)

But, strange things begin to happen when I skip the Scandisk run. I've
seen lots of them happen to me on my WIN98 system.. and still do.
Its just that a lot of times, I don't ahve the time or pateiance to be
bothered with Scandisk'ing my HDD's. Anyway.

Then, it happens. I begin to experience odd B.Triangles happening with
my system. I can't explain it, but they happen. Anyways.

Those strange things are like:

** you capture, and later, when stopped, nothing is playing, tho vdub is ok.

** w/ dv, if I run past 4gig, it continues capturing, but stays at 4gig, and
I loose whatever was captured after that.. same as if I was out of HDD space
and continued capturing through DV -- no errors would show up during capturing,
and leaving you to believ everthing is green, but not. Anything beyond the
4gigs would be lost.

** skipping Scandisk, can lead to corruped root areas on the HDD, and the
system thinks it has more space than it really has (say, ZERO byte) but
you capture, and stop, and view the results, but your find that your file
size is ZERO!

Could this be your given sitatuation after all ??

edit: - Thur Apr 13, 2006pm - glad you got it all sorted out and resolved

-vhelp 3887

[gll99]

Ok I finally solved my problem.

The files were being encoded fine it was the decoding side that had a problem.

The divx player which uses it's own internal decoder could seek and fast forward the files ok. VFW based apps like vdub could seek the files also. When I used ffdshow or divx as the decoder the file showed 0 length.

I was sure the problem was directshow related so I reinstalled DX9.0C but that didn't solve the problem because I think it didn't overwrite the existing files. So I manually registered the QUARTZ.DLL from the DX9 install directory and that solved it. The quartz.dll is referenced by the avi splitter filter when reading the avi file and the version in my windows\system32 directory or referenced in the registry must have been wrong or corrupted.

All previously captured/encoded avi now show the proper length in wmp and can seek, FF and RW

Anyway hope it helps someone else who may search for this problem in the future.

Thanks vhelp for trying to help I really appreciate it.