Extreme aud sync issues with an Alice episode...

[takearushfan]

Hi all,

I have a VHS rip of an Alice episode that's annoying the hell out of me...

Shortly after the 6 minute mark it begins to go out of sync. Unfortunately the sync is not constant. What's bizarre is that the video begins to show very brief frames from sections of scenes that aren't at all related to what should be at that time in the video. The same happens with the audio. I thought I was in luck when after a couple minutes the issue seems to resolve itself. However, by then the audio is extremely out of sync and I've been pulling my hair out trying to fix the problem. I even tried cutting and saving the video in segments, then trying to match the soundtrack to each part, hoping that I could then append each segment in order to complete the episode.

I'm not sure what went wrong in the ripping process but the tape looks like it was sort of "munched". Though, shouldn't the audio have still remained somewhat in-tact, despite being out of sync?

Two flavors are attached to this post: A short AVI to show what I mean, or a screenshot if you don't care to check out the video.

Thanks for any help you can provide,

Justin

[robjv1]

This doesn't look like a problem with the original ripping of the VHS footage -- this looks like the resulting digital file has become corrupted. The audio itself sounds as if it may be a problem with the original tape (probably not though), but the video is defenitely not a VHS issue -- See the blocks? And the footage that is transposed from scenes ahead? The absence of tracking errors leads me to believe that it's a problem with the file and not the original tape.

Do you have the original tape or did you download this file?

[lowellriggsiam]

I think the tape is damaged so the data from the tape isn't being transfered accurately. I'd dub it using a dvd/vcr recorder.

[takearushfan]

This doesn't look like a problem with the original ripping of the VHS footage -- this looks like the resulting digital file has become corrupted. The audio itself sounds as if it may be a problem with the original tape (probably not though), but the video is defenitely not a VHS issue -- See the blocks? And the footage that is transposed from scenes ahead? The absence of tracking errors leads me to believe that it's a problem with the file and not the original tape.

Do you have the original tape or did you download this file?

So you mean that something went wrong when converting the episode's VOB to an AVI?

It was downloaded. Unfortunately I no longer have the DVD that contained the rip I converted to the AVI.

[robjv1]

It may have been in the conversion, it may be from hard-drive corruption -- could be a whole host of things.

Did this play just fine on the original DVD you had it on?

Did you downloaded this as an "AVI" (XVID MPEG4), convert it to MPEG2, burn it to a disc, and then check the disc and see that the video looked like this, so you attached a clip from the original "AVI" (XVID MPEG4) file on your hard drive?

What software/process did you use to do your conversions?

It's just not looking good to me.

If your sure that it was working fine when you played it back on your DVD, your best bet would be to attempt to repair the stream:
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-repair-fix

[takearushfan]

Did this play just fine on the original DVD you had it on?

Did you downloaded this as an "AVI" (XVID MPEG4), convert it to MPEG2, burn it to a disc, and then check the disc and see that the video looked like this, so you attached a clip from the original "AVI" (XVID MPEG4) file on your hard drive?

What software/process did you use to do your conversions?

It's just not looking good to me.

If your sure that it was working fine when you played it back on your DVD, your best bet would be to attempt to repair the stream:
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-repair-fix

This episode was part of season's collection. It was in an ISO, which I extracted to my hard drive. I then played the DVD, checking most of the episodes. They seemed fine so I didn't bother to check the one in question (good move!)
I then used DVD Shrink to extract the episodes for later individual processing with AutoGK. This was the last episode on the disc, so I assumed it was a problem with the VHS it was from.
Again, I no longer have the actual DVD, so it seems that I'm S.O.L...

[robjv1]

Shucks! Can you perhaps find the download again?

[takearushfan]

Shucks! Can you perhaps find the download again?

Yeah, though it took about a week to complete last time ... However, I am curious enough to try again.

[takearushfan]

Hm. It seems that the download won't take nearly as long as before. Starting it yesterday it claims to only have 7 hours left. That's an enormous improvement from talking a week!
My point is that I'll obviously post updated details once I play the episode we're talking about on my DVD player. So, I shall be back

[robjv1]

Great! I'm very curious to see how it pans out. Hopefully it just somehow got corrupted on your original download and the actual video file is completely intact.

[takearushfan]

Well, the verdict is in, and it's a tad mixed.
When using my DVD software the picture gets a bit screwy at one point, but the problem is resolved in no time. The entire episode is in sync. However, if I try to forward, then resume the episode, my software hangs and I have to use the task manager. Also, when using DVD Shrink it can't complete scanning the entire DVD. It hangs at one of the moments that was screwed up in the AVI for that specific episode.
So it's good and bad news. I'm not sure how to convert it to an AVI without it resulting in the same errors that the previous one had...?

[robjv1]

Well if there is a problem with the video stream, it's possible that it can be repaired, but the tool to use depends first and foremost on what format the file is in.

Running the clip you posted through GSpot reports that it's an MPEG-4 file encoded using XVID, but is that the format it came in or is that the format you converted it to? If it can play in a standalone DVD player, it's most likely MPEG2, which I know there are several good tools for repairing streams (see the link I posted above, typically I've had the best luck using FixVTS or the MPEG GOP Fixer in MPEG Video Wizard). For MPEG-4 streams, I'm not so sure what will give you the best chance at recovering the data, although it looks like there are several tools to try.

BTW, how is the audio on the version you re-downloaded?

[takearushfan]

The AVI was XviD because that's what I told AutoGK to use. The VOB to the episode is the typical MPEG-2. The audio sounds fine. I'm not positive of what step I'll take next :/

[robjv1]

Try some of those tools suited for MPEG2 that I mentioned -- you might find that they are able to repair the stream. I've had a lot of luck with both. They are very easy to use.