Playback issues for long recordings

[adzooks44]

Hiya. I've noticed when I record really long shows (long sporting events, for example), playback is messed up and doesn't work well, I can't do a 30 second skip forward/backward, or a 5 second skip, it just takes me to the same spot, or it will jump hours ahead.The video length shows as only being about an hour even though the recording is actually 4-8 hours, so I can't even manually jump ahead to a certain spot. I've tried viewing the recording in both VLC on PC/Windows, as well as other video players, and via the Channels firestick app, but playback is always messed up. Not sure how I might "fix" this issue, I'm not too familiar with the technical aspects. I was thinking I would try changing from MPEG-TS to HLS, but no idea of that would really change anything. Usually long recordings show as being "interrupted" at some point as well. Shorter recordings have no problems and playback is fine.

I'll keep working on it, but any ideas on things/options to try? Thanks.

[jxxaxxy]

Whats the server? Whats the source of the event? Kinda sounds like corrupted recordings if nothing will play it correctly or maybe not enough bandwidth from the server?

[tmm1]

Sounds like you're using an M3U provider and it's not feeding great video. HLS may help but you're on your own with random sources.

[GTFan]

Run fix timestamps on the recordings, you've got a corruption in them. I've seen this many many times and the only fix is to correct the timestamps.

Have to wait until the recording (and comskip if enabled) is finished or stop the recording, run that on the part that's finished and then restart the recording.

[adzooks44]

Server is a dedicated old PC. I think it is primarily a bandwidth issue. I'm cutting it close for streaming speeds, I think, with
120 Mbps download and 6Mbps upload speeds, especially if anyone else in the household is using bandwidth at the same time, which is pretty likely. It makes sense that shorter shows (30 to 60 minutes) are less likely to have blips, where as a longer recordings could drop out for a second or two here and there, and result in an interrupted/corrupted recording, and gets the messed up playback. I'll try HLS, though I don't expect anything different.

I will also try the Run fix timestamps on the recordings again, it didn't work the first time I tried it, but it's worth another shot. I don't mind some drops/missing a few seconds here and there as long as the playback still works, but not sure if it's something that can be rebuilt and work properly once it gets interrupted.

Appreciate the help/responses!

[GTFan]

Yep sounds like you're on to the real issue, weird that fix timestamps doesn't correct it.

[adzooks44]

It might be too long of a recording, or too "corrupted" for the timestamp fix to work properly. Too many drops from a poor connection I suppose.

I wonder if it's possible I could somehow break up the recording from a single 7 hour event into multiple 7 one-hour recordings? I think that would actually work better, but I could be wrong. When I record 30 minute-hour long shows, I usually have no problem, though.

Not sure if there's anything else I can try, it might just not be a fixable problem. HLS was not an available option. I don't think the hvec.265 codec option would make any difference.

I know there are 3rd party add-ons for channels I've seen people post here in the cool channels community, but I don't know if any would help with long recordings, or have better ways to handle a poor connection and playback. I saw another thread here having the same issue I'm having (with long sporting events) but I can't seem to track it down now.

I don't think there's a solution here, but if anyone has any workaround type ideas I'll give it a try (can post here it or private message if the thread is closed). Unfortunately I just don't have any good options for reliable providers where I am located, but at least my local OTA channels & reception are not too bad. Thanks!