How to scan for any errors?

[Kwan]

Hey,

I recently leeched quite a bit of anime off a mate, and I just want to scan it for any possible playback errors. Because I find it really annoying when halfway through, I'm watching an episode, then when it starts to get good, a error occurs and I have to quit out of the episode and wait a whole day to download it again. I want to scan all the anime for errors before I sit down and watch it, so then I know what episode need to be re downloaded or fixed. Any errors at all, like it skips for 10 seconds or the audio becomes out of sync 5 minutes in.

I am aware of a CRC Check but for some anime, I dont know were the source is from, so then I can't find the CRC checksum to match it with the one I got. I just want a program to scan my movie files for errors beforehand so it saves me the frustration later on down the track.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Many Thanks,
~Kwan

[guns1inger]

What format are the files in ?

Virtualdub can scan for errors in many avi files
AVI Demux can pick up and fix index and other issues with some avi files
DivFix can fix some errors in some avi files

There is no generic "scan and fix all video types" program.

And none of these will prevent playback errors from bad burns, or guarantee compatibility with standalone players.

[Kwan]

Sorry, yeh. I should of mentioned. Most are .avi or .MKV, but I even got the odd couple in .mpeg and .vob.

But anyways, would you mind going through how to use virtualdub. Well, I tried it before with a video I knew already that was playable, but skipped a few times and the image went blury for a couple of seconds. I went to File > open video file. then Video > scan video stream for errors... and I don't think it did anything. Is virtualdub supposed to pick up times when it skips like that? or was I not using it correctly?

[guns1inger]

It depends on the errors. Unless it is a pretty obvious error with the indexes or a major corruption, most apps wont pick it up. And then there are simply bad encodes that act strangely. but the file actually contains no errors - kind of like dubbing a bad VHS tape. The problems go into the next generation as if they should be there.

[Kwan]

Well, its a good think around 75% of the anime's I can probably get my hands on the CRC checksum. Well, so then, I will just cross check the CRC values and the 1/4 of the anime which I couldn't get the CRC checksum, I will just scan it with those three programs, and if any errors show up I will just download it from another source.

Cheers for all ya help guns1inger

[guns1inger]

All the CRC will tell you is if the download worked. However if you download a file the was corrupted or damaged in the first place, it may well pass a CRC check at your end simply because you accurately downloaded the bad file. The quality of downloadable source varies so much, and a lot of it is botched before it gets to a download point. You will still find that you are getting playback issues form file that pass a CRC check.

[Kwan]

Ahkay, but if I get a matching CRC, it is the exact same as the origional when first downloaded. That's all I really could ask for. If the original was corrupt in the first place then the error is pretty much unavoidable, but I'm just worried about my mate downloading the full anime episodes then when I go to copy it to my computer, it goes corrupt then. Or if my mate only downloads a bit of that anime episode and I think it is complete and I go to watch it.

Most of the anime releases with subtitles I would trust 100% of the time to do a descent job. And any codec's that I might be missing are usually in CCCP or I can tell I need them as soon as I start up the video. I hate it when an unexpected error occurs half way through (usually happens when I leech it from a mate and it goes corrupt while this is happening) and wrecks the whole episode for me. I would just like a program that can run the whole video for me from start to finish and will tell me if any errors will occur real quick, anything more then that is a bonus.