VideoReDo TVSuite & Professional - General Discussion Thread

[Marayong]

On the same line, check any other executables in the VRD program folder and change the compatibility settings for those as well.

Next suggestion ... open & try to play a video in VRD and then check the windows event viewer for any issues that may be listed matching the time VRD failed to play audio. Also check the VRD log file.

Also check the VRD manual, there may be something there. It also has an option to save diagnostic data, which is normally turned off since it uses a lot of space.
https://forum.videohelp.com/attachments/18518-1372214450/Manual.pdf

[Stez]

Thanks again. Nothing in Event Viewer but there was relevant data in VRD's log. It shows a clean video graph construction: H.264 decoder loads, deinterlacer connects, Direct3D 11 renderer initializes, and frame caching begins. But there’s no mention of audio graph construction at all so it may be failing to detect the audio stream, even though other apps confirm it exists and are happy to play it.

It sounds like a subtle change in how DirectShow exposes the audio post-update that VRD is sensitive to but it's interesting that other up to date Win11 users are still working normally.

[Marayong]

Only other thing I can suggest is to post to the reddit VRD forum. Dan is a member there and if anyone can shed light, it'd be him.

[cp2]

Thanks again. Nothing in Event Viewer but there was relevant data in VRD's log. It shows a clean video graph construction: H.264 decoder loads, deinterlacer connects, Direct3D 11 renderer initializes, and frame caching begins. But there’s no mention of audio graph construction at all so it may be failing to detect the audio stream, even though other apps confirm it exists and are happy to play it.

It sounds like a subtle change in how DirectShow exposes the audio post-update that VRD is sensitive to but it's interesting that other up to date Win11 users are still working normally.

So I'm back to my first post on this subject. Granted there could well have been a change that has inadvertantly triggered this, but it seems to me that VRD is failing to synch the video and audio streams. Could this be fixed by forcing the remuxing of the streams?

[Stez]

So I'm back to my first post on this subject. Granted there could well have been a change that has inadvertantly triggered this, but it seems to me that VRD is failing to synch the video and audio streams. Could this be fixed by forcing the remuxing of the streams?

I don't think so as it's not one particular input file - it's all files.

I've just managed to find a backup from a while ago that has files on it that played normal audio when I edited them in VRD before the Windows update and they now fail to play also.

[hydra3333]

Tried a qsf ?

[Marayong]

I doubt qsf is a solution - the videos in question edit and save fine and can be played with normal audio, so there's no corruption or issues with the videos that qsf could fix. The problem is that Stez's VRD install is now unable to play audio. It's a software (or os) issue, not a video file issue.

[Stez]

Quick update on my VRD "no audio" issue. I've now tried uninstalling VRD and re-installing VRDTVS-6-63-7-836d, uninstalling and re-installing VRDTVS-6-62-6-833a (in case the earlier non-beta release made any difference) and rolling back the Windows Update that kicked off the whole drama. None of that has made any difference to the no audio problem.

My plan is now to hold off until the next Windows Update (just in case my issue turns out to be something they have remediated) but unless there's a miraculous fix from that, I'll do a clean install of Windows. I find that painful as it takes some time to get the machine back the way I like it but hopefully that will finally get my VRD audio back.

[Marayong]

Good luck. The fact that no one else has reported the issue means it's due to something in the hardware/os/software setup on your pc. You're not the only person to have to deal with a mysterious and persistent gremlin on their computer.

When you uninstalled, I assume you used something like revo-uninstaller to do a thorough clean before reinstalling?

[hydra3333]

Considered a system restore to the one of the past restore points ?
Assuming you have it turned on with the C: drive for this eventuality, and do reasonably regular "create system restore point" (windows does them every now and again so pick one just prior to the windows updates).

If you are paranoid (like me, it's paid off quite a few times) and use control panel to Create System Image on an external usb3 drive every now and again, then you can restore the C: drive wholus bolus, wiping it clean and returning it bit for bit to its state as at the system image backup (first saving anything you want to keep, elsewhere).

[Stez]

Considered a system restore to the one of the past restore points ?
...use control panel to Create System Image

Thanks, at this point I've done so much trying to recover whatever it was that trashed the audio graphing for VRD (and for at least one other app - KMPlayer) that it's probably cleaner to just install a clean OS. What I will do, however, is use Create System Image on the system partition after I spend most of a day installing Win11 and getting everything set up the way I like it. At least then I'll have a drive with an image on it that may save me a lot of time at some point down the track. Thanks for the reminder.

[Marayong]

Did you try a windows reinstall? That keeps software & licences intact (and of course data files) and some windows settings, but reinstalls windows on top of the existing install and resets many (but not all) windows settings back to the default. Just download the latest offline installer for Win11 (the executable not the iso), run that, select reinstall/repair, with the option to keep installed software & data, & follow the prompts. You'll need to then manually run windows update to apply any recent patches and then teak any changes you want ... it may reset some default apps to the windows default (eg edge for html) .. or it may not. Rebuilt/repair fixes many windows problems.

[Stez]

Did you try a windows reinstall?

No, I didn't. Another great idea and seeing the plan is to do a clean install anyway, there's nothing to lose trying a re-install first. I'll still wait for the next cumulative Windows Update first though, then try a re-install then the clean install. Thanks very much

[Marayong]

I've had good success with some otherwise intractable windows issues by doing a reinstall. But make sure you select repair/reinstall with "keep user data & installed programs".

If you can, I'd also suggest cloning your boot drive beforehand so if things go "poorly", you can pull out the boot drive and put the clone in. Even a buggy windows boot drive is better than a bricked one.

[Gameshow Host]

Hi guys, I was very sorry to hear of the death of the program's author.

This is a long thread, so could anyone please just quickly tell me…

1. ALL I want to do is transcode Topfield .rec files to make them editable with Avidemux? Which version do I need and how much would this cost? (I don't even know where the official site is.)
   
2. Is there any installation method which doesn't depend on online activation? If I'm going to pay, I want something that will work forever without the need for an internet connection.
   
3. What are the limitations of the trial? When does it stop working?

[cp2]

VRD lives on for those have already bought it and have retained the codes given with the original purchase acknowledgement should they need to reinstall it, though this could fail should the activiation website kindly being retained be closed. The official site and forum is dead.
VRD is not, and almost certainly never will be, available for trial/ purchase.

[Gameshow Host]

VRD is not, and almost certainly never will be, available for trial/ purchase.

Well I've just installed the trial, so it is! As for new users not being able to get it activated, Marayong seems to indicate there are ways.

[Marayong]

I didn't say there were "ways" to get VRD working without activating it. If you have an existing activated install of VRD you can clone your drive to transfer it to a new computer. But that presupposes you have a licenced and purchased copy of VRD already installed & running. Cloning a drive will copy over almost any licenced install .. the only exception I've found is the licence for windows itself prior to Win10 - previous versions of windows were tied to the original hardware.

The developer of VRD died some years ago. The product is no longer available for sale, period. If you don't already have purchased activation keys, then you'll need to look for another product to meet yours needs.

You may have found an installer for VRD somewhere (there's a link in this forum after all), but without the activation keys, it is so heavily crippled as to be useless. As for what you can and can't do with the unlicenced 'trial' install, I doubt anyone here would be able to answer that for certain since the regulars here are all very long time users (I've been using VRD for 20 years or so). On general principles, I'd guess that you may be able to open files, even do some edits, but you likely can't save any edited files.

[Gameshow Host]

OK thanks for the answer. I think I must have misunderstood. When I quickly scanned the thread, I got the impression that new ownership had taken on the website and it was useable again. Never mind!

I downloaded the trial version using the link from this site. Based on using it myself, it the seems that saving is possible, but it's limited to 15 minute clips. And since it doesn't tell me up-front what the restrictions are, I would assume there will also be time limit or limit to the number of files you can process.

I shall forget about VRD and go back to trying to get ProjectX to convert my Topfield files! (Such a confusing program to use!)

[Stez]

I shall forget about VRD and go back to trying to get ProjectX to convert my Topfield files! (Such a confusing program to use!)

It's been a while since I had any .rec files to convert and I was a VRD user even back then so I just used that. However, iirc the .rec files were just transport streams with custom header information. Perhaps try freeware apps like VidCoder and WinFF to see if they will convert them - if they don't like the .rec extension just rename the file to .ts and see if the app treats it as a malformed transport stream.

I've been told VidCoder is quite good at converting transport streams containing transmission errors and WinFF is pretty versatile too. I've used both (but not with .rec or .ts files) and they are pretty easy to use.

[Marayong]

The old VRD online activation website is back up, but you still need the purchased licence keys from years ago. The activation site can't generate new keys, just process them. The generation of new keys was done on VRD's owner's computer .. and that's likely landfill by now.

I would hazard a guess that handbrake could handle the files?

Also see here: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/394280-Any-free-software-to-convert-rec-files-%28f...VR%29-into-MP4

[Bridgy]

Hi everyone, ok well last week my Ryzen Desktop PC (my Son's ex editing/gaming pc) spat the dummy and decided not to Post, i turned it off at 2am, at 10am turned it on and there was nothing, spent 2 days trying all of the usual fixes to no avail, and i was not going to pull the motherboard out and test it because the computer was already 8 years old, and it cost me nothing to set up, so i sold it as is without the drives and i will put the cash towards my new Dell Computer.

I reverted back to my Metabox Laptop for now, and i put my Windows 10 Pro with my activated VRD Pro in one NVMe slot, and i plugged the Crutial NVMe drive from the Ryzen computer into the 2nd slot, which has Windows 11 X-Lite Optimum Pro installed, so i can dual boot between them.

The Windows 10 has my activated VRD Pro on it, and i cannot image that and move it to another computer as the activation fails as soon as i open VRD, even if i take the Windows 10 offline on another computer it fails activation, so i need to retain my Windows 10 on my laptop to keep my VRD activation running.

I have now decided to turn the internet off when i have booted into Win 10 so i don't have to worry about all the security stuff while using my VRD, I now use the Win 11 X-Lite Optimum Pro for normal every day computing, and i love it.

[Marayong]

That's a bummer. Your failure retaining the activation after moving to another machine must be a limitation with the pro version since the activation is preserved when moving the non-pro version to another machine .. over the past year and a half I've moved to a new clone or image at least half a dozen times and the non-pro licence has transferred intact every time. Touch wood I won't need to move to another image/clone in a long time!!!

[Bridgy]

I still have my VRD activation on the Win 10 drive in my Metabox laptop, if you recall back many pages i created a clone of my Win 10 drive from the laptop onto a 2.5" SSD and took it to my Mum's laptop (2008 Dell Studio 1735) and it booted up and ran all the updates and drivers for her laptop, but i opened the VRD and it was not activated any more.

The Pro version of VRD had a completely different activation setup than the TV Suite version, where by you can re-activate.

When us Pro users installed our VRD Pro on a new machine, we had to message Dan Rosen and ask for the activation to be moved over, and he would manually set it up, and issue us with a new code or key, but we had to remove the VRD from the previous machine first.

Obviously when VRD Pro was opened on her laptop, it detected that my Mum's laptop hardware ID code was not matched to my Metabox code that was set in the software somewhere, and i have tried it again on her laptop this time while it was not connected to the internet, and it still did the same thing.

This means that i must retain my VRD Pro activation on my Metabox laptop, or i lose it, so if my laptop died, my Pro license is gone forever.

[Marayong]

Yah. I remember those tests, so no surprise it failed when you tried it in the new machine. The non pro version uses a hardware code but only when doing the initial activation, whilst the pro does it everytime you try to run the software .. which we already knew. Years ago it was not uncommon to tie licences to a specific hardware ID .. windows did that prior to win10.

Maybe you could try imaging the old drive and setting that up in a VM, setting up the parameters of the VM to match as close as possible your dead pc. If you get the VM envelope close enough, that may be enough to convince VRD Pro that it's the authorised machine. After all, VMs are designed to simulate hardware & os environments to run software that would not otherwise run on the host machine.

[Bridgy]

I sold the Ryzen PC and i can't be stuffed doing that kind of thing anyway.

I enrolled my Mum's and my own Windows 10 in the Microsoft EOL updates program, which may or may not work as well as people might think, i refer to getting crutial security updates etc, which i want for my mum, but for me, i will get my new dell pc next week so my metabox laptop will be reverted back to just windows 10, and the new Dell will have my Win 11 X-Lite Pro OS on that.

I will disconnect my Win 10 laptop from the home WiFi and just use it when i need to use the VRD Batch tool, so it won't be on the internet.

This will be my new Desktop, i save $350 on this box from buying it brand new in their retail store, this one was bought 2 months ago but the buyer used it for a few days and decided it was not what they wanted, or was not happy with it, so they returned it to Dell under their 14 day customer satisfaction thing that they have, it was sent thru their service department to have the Windows drive reset, tested, and put in the Refurb shop and sell it as a refurb, but it still has the original 1 year warranty on it, so i think it is a pretty good deal, and should be pretty dam good for encoding.

https://www.dell.com/en-au/outlet/refurbished-dell-slim-desktop-ecs12504118

[Gameshow Host]

Perhaps try freeware apps like VidCoder and WinFF to see if they will convert them.

Thanks so much! I'm not inclined to use VidCoder as it requires .NET (bloated spyware), but WinFF seems to be able to read the files! Fantastic!

[Marayong]

Glad your problem is solved.

.net comes as part of windows 11, so if you're using W11 it's pretty hard to avoid it.