TVE Beta: Recordings causing problems with Windows Explorer

RJ_Make · June 30, 2019, 7:03pm

I'm also seeing this. I have 3 TV show files that all have discontinuity errors, and will not only lock up windows explorer, but any player (OTHER then the web based player) or program attempting to access the file.

Version: 2019.06.29.0350

2019/06/30 11:31:01 [MTS] Statistics for "TV\2019 U.S. Senior Open Championship\2019 U.S. Senior Open Championship Third Round 2019-06-30-0859.mpg": skipped=0 unhandled_packets=0 discontinuity_detected=93 transport_errors=0 invalid_pts=0 invalid_dts=0 saw_pcr=false saw_pmt=true highest_pts=9135.458967

2019/06/27 17:00:34 [MTS] Statistics for "Movies\Terminator Salvation (2009) 2019-06-27-1614.mpg": skipped=192 unhandled_packets=0 discontinuity_detected=5 transport_errors=0 invalid_pts=0 invalid_dts=0 saw_pcr=true saw_pmt=true highest_pts=2824.324600

2019/06/30 09:01:02 [MTS] Statistics for "TV\Pool Kings\Pool Kings S05E10 2019-05-20 Its Tiki Time 2019-06-30-0829.mpg": skipped=0 unhandled_packets=0 discontinuity_detected=39 transport_errors=0 invalid_pts=0 invalid_dts=0 saw_pcr=false saw_pmt=true highest_pts=1936.817811

tmm1 · June 30, 2019, 7:06pm

Thanks for the logs.

Our theory was that "saw_pcr=false" is causing the issue, but your log messages seem to invalidate that hypothesis.

What other programs are having issues with those recordings? We have not had problems in VLC, VideoReDo, Comskip, MCEBuddy, etc.

RJ_Make · June 30, 2019, 7:14pm

Most of the programs will evidential open and play/read the files but it could take upwards of 5 minute. Once they read/start playing there are no issues.

Windows Right Click function; Media Info, VLC.

Windows Movie and TV will not play back unless remuxed.

tmm1 · June 30, 2019, 7:23pm

Thanks. Can you tell me what channel you recorded Terminator from?

RJ_Make · June 30, 2019, 7:29pm

SyFy

RJ_Make · June 30, 2019, 8:06pm

Here's another one. Channel BTN HD

2019/06/30 15:31:02 [MTS] Statistics for "TV\Campus Eats\Campus Eats S01E06 2016-09-27 Desserts 2019-06-30-1522.mpg": skipped=0 unhandled_packets=0 discontinuity_detected=4 transport_errors=0 invalid_pts=0 invalid_dts=0 saw_pcr=false saw_pmt=true highest_pts=489.627589

And Another.. Channel HGTV

2019/06/30 16:01:02 [MTS] Statistics for "TV\Love It or List It\Love It or List It S07E19 2017-12-22 One Last Renovation 2019-06-30-1527.mpg": skipped=0 unhandled_packets=0 discontinuity_detected=74 transport_errors=0 invalid_pts=0 invalid_dts=0 saw_pcr=false saw_pmt=true highest_pts=2038.317456

thart · July 1, 2019, 5:36pm

Are the discontinuity_detected counts causing this issue? It seems any TVE recordings where discontinuity_detected=0 works fine in Windows explorer. But if it's > 0 then Windows explorer can't read the file.

Is it inherent in the stream so it can't be fixed? Just asking if this is a fixable issue.

tmm1 · July 1, 2019, 5:40pm

Good observation! Can anyone else confirm?

The issue is fixable, but we need to narrow down what's causing it first. If it is indeed the discontinuity_detected counter, then we know where to start looking for a fix.

thart · July 1, 2019, 5:58pm

Ever since you asked for the MTS log I have extensively checked discontinuity_detected count for every TVE recording I've made and all that have count > 0 Windows Explorer cannot read. The issue is fixed after I remux with MCEBuddy.

Recording TVE movies doesn't seem have this issue. Every movie recorded shows discontinuity_detected=0. Below is an example of recent movie recording from AMC channel.

2019/07/01 02:50:01 [MTS] Statistics for "Movies\Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2001) 2019-07-01-0030.mpg": skipped=0 unhandled_packets=0 discontinuity_detected=0 transport_errors=0 invalid_pts=0 invalid_dts=0 saw_pcr=true saw_pmt=true highest_pts=8430.105000

tmm1 · July 1, 2019, 6:17pm

Okay, wonderful! This gives us a solid lead to figure out what's going on.

chDVRuser · July 1, 2019, 7:07pm

Just a guess, but Windows relies a lot on the file extensions and it could be using the wrong parser thinking an .mpg file is an MPEG2 Program Stream instead of what it really is, an MPEG2 Transport Stream.

Try changing the file extension from .mpg to .ts and see if Windows gives a valid length.

Also right click the file and look at Properties->Details.

tmm1 · July 1, 2019, 7:24pm

I wonder if the "Windows Movie and TV" app has any logs? I tried searching for logs from Windows Explorer but didn't find anything. If we can get some sort of error message from Windows it will help clarify what it doesn't like about our files.

thart · July 1, 2019, 7:39pm

I don't think the .mpg file extension is causing the issue. All recordings from Channels DVR have .mpg file extension. OTA recordings never had this issue. Certain TVE recordings such as movies don't have this issue.

One thing I have noticed when looking at the properties is the frame rate is very high. The movie recordings that are good show a frame rate of 29.97.

RJ_Make · July 1, 2019, 9:14pm

With my very limited understanding, the discontinuity indicator is set if the current stream packet is in a discontinuity state. This could be the continuity counter or the clock reference. But I'm pretty sure that only applies to MPEG transport streams.

Best I can tell these are unhanded stream errors that are being passed in the re-encoding??

There is definitely something different about the files that are being produced my Channels DVR?
Possible container conformity issues?

chDVRuser · July 1, 2019, 9:32pm

Some info direct from the source on File Type and Property handlers in Windows.
i.e. what displays the Length of a video in Windows Explorer.

File Type Handlers
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/shell/fa-file-extensions

Property Handlers
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/properties/building-property-handlers-properties

reneg · July 30, 2019, 5:17pm

Is more information required on this issue?

I'm running into this problem semi-regularly. My workaround is renaming the .MPG to say .BAK, which circumvents Windows Explorer from thinking it's a video filetype. If I run the offending .MPG is run through VideoRedo QS-Fix, for me it finds and corrected audio sync issues. If I rename the .TS (output from VideoRedo QS-Fix) back to .MPG and put it back in the recordings directory, life is good for another day or two.

On my system, files follow the discontinuity_detected > 0 pattern described above; for example:
2019/07/29 22:15:03 [MTS] Statistics for "TV\Legion\Legion S03E06 2019-07-29 Chapter 25 2019-07-29-2059.mpg": skipped=0 unhandled_packets=0 discontinuity_detected=8 transport_errors=0 invalid_pts=0 invalid_dts=0 saw_pcr=false saw_pmt=true highest_pts=4542.892978

VideoRedo QS-Fix output
Legion-VideoRedo-QSFix

tmm1 · July 30, 2019, 6:49pm

Is there a detailed log file available from the videoredo session that shows which resync frames were removed and why?

tmm1 · July 30, 2019, 6:55pm

Also, if you tell VRD not to detect/fix resync (Tools>Options>Stream parameters>Detect / resync missing frames), does the resulting file still hang Explorer?

reneg · July 30, 2019, 9:09pm

I've sent a zipped VideoRedo log file from QS-Fixing a recorded file to [email protected]

reneg · July 30, 2019, 9:30pm

When I change the VideoRedo Stream parameters->detect/resync missing frames option to ignore, the audio resync frames are removed as before. The resulting file does not cause an issue with Windows Explorer. The length column in Explorer comes up quickly vs the original recorded file which hangs Explorer for minutes while not displaying any value in the length column in Explorer.