Cannot merge 2 videos after encoding one

[Budman1]

The problem I am having is encoding one video to match another. The original video has 5 ref frames and I thought since the encoded video had 3 ref frames, that was the source of my problem. I am able to generate a video with 5 ref frames by using preset slow but still cannot join the encoded video to the original video. I have even tried duplicating all the settings listed in media info for the original video, but sadly they still do not join without problems during playback.

Further information is if I join Original --> Encoded the encoded one plays much faster. If i join Encoded --> original the original plays in super slow motion.

If anyone knows how to duplicate enough x264 settings or at least encode a video that will join to an existing one, I could really use this information.

Media infor on original video (UNencoded)
General
Complete name : D:\Replay Media Catcher\Video1.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 39.9 MiB
Duration : 11 min 42 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 477 kb/s
Movie name :Something
Writing application : Lavf57.48.100
Comment : Recorded and Tagged by Replay Media Catcher 7 (www.applian.com)

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3
Format settings : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 11 min 42 s
Bit rate : 342 kb/s
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.045
Stream size : 28.6 MiB (72%)
Writing library : x264 core 155
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=4 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=90 / keyint_min=46 / scenecut=0 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=22.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=2000 / vbv_bufsize=80 / crf_max=25.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 11 min 42 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 128 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 143 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 10.7 MiB (27%)
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1

Encoded video
General
Complete name : D:\Replay Media Catcher\TVideo2.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 175 KiB
Duration : 3 s 716 ms
Overall bit rate : 386 kb/s
Movie name omething else
Writing application : Lavf58.47.100
Comment : Recorded and Tagged by Replay Media Catcher 7 (www.applian.com)

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3
Format settings : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 3 s 240 ms
Bit rate : 284 kb/s
Nominal bit rate : 397 kb/s
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.037
Stream size : 112 KiB (64%)
Writing library : x264 core 160
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=15 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=397 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 3 s 716 ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 129 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 58.4 KiB (33%)
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1

Thank you

[ProWo]

For a test, try to join the video streams only, without audio.

[Budman1]

Tried with just video but got the same results. However, Your suggestion made me go a little deeper trying to remove just the video and found my script was using the Concat Demuxer to join the videos because the information says codecs must be the same. I guess they mean the encoding formats as well since both my videos were X264 codec.

I tried the Concat Protocol with intermediate ts files and it now seems to join them fine. I'm assuming that since the script contains '-c copy' that no loss is encountered. It appears that now I have 2 methods programmed in, 1 for cutting and joining videos from the same original, and one for joining different videos formats.

Thank you very much for your suggestion that put me on the right path.

[sneaker]

I tried the Concat Protocol with intermediate ts files and it now seems to join them fine. I'm assuming that since the script contains '-c copy' that no loss is encountered. It appears that now I have 2 methods programmed in, 1 for cutting and joining videos from the same original, and one for joining different videos formats.

Basically there are 2 options to append:
A. Encode to exactly the same settings - which you didn't. E.g. your original uses CRF and your encode does not. This can lead to incompatible SPS/PPS. (In mkv/mp4 we usually only have only 1 pair of SPS/PPS stored at the container level for the whole stream. If this pairs fits only the 1st part of your video then seeking into the 2nd part will break playback because SPS/PPS does not match it.)
B. Workaround: make sure there is SPS/PPS at every keyframes, i.e. store headers "in-band". This is what ffmpeg did for you when you went the ts route.

Often A is not easy to achieve e.g. because the original was not encoded with a free encoder.