Is GSpot buggy?

[terrypin]

Before I abandon use of GSpot entirely I thought I'd get the word here on its status please.

To me it seems buggy. At least when reporting info about MP4 files.

Here's a composite screenshot showing examples:



I'm not too fussed about the file sizes differing from those shown in Windows, but I draw the line at a date in the future!

And why should some info in the exported text file (an option I find quite handy) differ from the standard display? Such as frame rate, which is clearly 25, so why the 'Error'?

Is GSpot still supported?

Do others here now use MediaInfo instead?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[jagabo]

Before I abandon use of GSpot entirely I thought I'd get the word here on its status please.

To me it seems buggy. At least when reporting info about MP4 files.

GSpot is very limited when reporting information about MP4 files.

I'm not too fussed about the file sizes differing from those shown in Windows

They're just using different units.

but I draw the line at a date in the future!

Anyone can set the creation date of a file to any time they want, past or future.

And why should some info in the exported text file (an option I find quite handy) differ from the standard display? Such as frame rate, which is clearly 25, so why the 'Error'?

25 fps is often the default reported when the MP4 header says nothing about the frame rate. To get the true frame rate you have to parse the encoded video data. GSpot doesn't do that. Neither does MediaInfo.

[terrypin]

Before I abandon use of GSpot entirely I thought I'd get the word here on its status please.

To me it seems buggy. At least when reporting info about MP4 files.

GSpot is very limited when reporting information about MP4 files.

OK, understood.

I'm not too fussed about the file sizes differing from those shown in Windows

They're just using different units.

No they're not, they're both using 'KB'! Gspot says 403233 KB and Windows Explorer says 410743 KB. And it's plainly not the usual '1024 versus 1000 issue, as a quick multiplication proves.

but I draw the line at a date in the future!

Anyone can set the creation date of a file to any time they want, past or future.

Eh? The file (made by me today, no one else involved) correctly shows today's date and time in Explorer. GSpot shows tomorrow's date (and a slightly different time).

And why should some info in the exported text file (an option I find quite handy) differ from the standard display? Such as frame rate, which is clearly 25, so why the 'Error'?

25 fps is often the default reported when the MP4 header says nothing about the frame rate. To get the true frame rate you have to parse the encoded video data. GSpot doesn't do that. Neither does MediaInfo.

Did you actually look at my carefully-prepared screenshot? It show that the main GSpot window reports Frames/s - 25.000, which is precisely consistent with 5mins 26.960 secs and 8174 frames. Yet the text report shows 'Error'.

Your posts are normaly very helpful and much appreciated, but no seegar for that one!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[hech54]

Wow....what a &%$khead.

[aedipuss]

gspot hasn't been updated in 4 years. it isn't as up to date as mediainfo, but for certain types of video it works well. mpeg1 mpeg2 yes mpeg4 not so much.

[jagabo]

Regarding dates: Windows reports the dates stamped in the file system. GSpot is reporting the dates embedded in the MP4 metadata. Those may or may not be UTC rather than local time. This could be a problem in GSpot, the program that created the MP4, or maybe you have your time zone selected incorrectly in Windows.

Regarding file size: GSPot is showing the file as 412,910,603 bytes. If you divide that by 1024 you get 403,233 KB. At least that much is consistent. Right click on your file in Explorer and select Properties. What does it show about the file size in bytes?

Regarding frame rates: more than likely GSpot is a hodge podge of code taken from different sources. My guess is the main UI makes some attempt to parse the MP4 header and some of the codec data fields. The text export may use some more generic code that doesn't examine as much.

In short, GSpot is great for examining AVI files, especially Divx/Xvid AVI. It shows a lot more information than any other program. It's pretty good with MPG program stream files too. It's not much use with MP4 and MKV files.

[terrypin]

OK, thanks both. I'll avoid GSpot for MP4 in future.

--
Terry, UK