Diagnosing a codec/splitter issue with h264/ts files. (1 Viewer)

edb49

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Hi all,

This is my first post so be gentle. :) I'm trying to get to a codec issue related to cutting adverts out with VideoReDo TVSuite v4. My specs are:

MediaPortal Version: 1.2.0.0 Beta
MediaPortal Skin: StreamedMP
Windows Version: Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64bit)
CPU Type: Intel Core i3 2100T
HDD: OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Motherboard: Gigabyte H67M-UD2H-B3
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 1GB
Video Card Driver: 8.841.0.0 (Came with Catalyst 11.4)
Sound Card: Onboard
Sound Card AC3: n/a
Sound Card Driver: n/a
1. TV Card: TBS Dual DVB-S2 Card 6981
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S2
1. TV Card Driver: 2.0.0.18
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: MS DTV-DVD Video Decoder
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPC-MPA Decoder Filter
h.264 Video Codec: MS DTV-DVD Video Decoder
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 28.2°E
HTPC Case: Antec Fusion Remote
Cooling: n/a
Power Supply: n/a
Remote: Logitech Harmony 555
TV: Sony Bravia KDL-46EX503
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

Essentially I'm recording an HD h264 stream from free to air, to watch later. I then run through VideoReDo to cut out the adverts, to make the process a bit more enjoyable.

After the cut of the adverts, the picture breaks up for a second or two in Mediaportal. It's not the whole picture breaking up, but you can see blockyness etc. Playing the same file in VLC doesn't cause this issue.

This makes me think it is codec/splitter dependent. Can anyone suggest how I should start diagnosing this issue please?

Thanks
 

Owlsroost

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    Some logs please ? (see the link below for how to collect them, then attach them to a post - hit the Reply -> 'Go Advanced' button to get the 'manage attachments' options).

    Someone else may have more experience with doing this (I use VideoRedo TVS4, but not for editing H.264 TV), but I think the upshot is that the broadcasters use some of the advanced features of H.264 encoding, and this makes it difficult to edit cleanly. You can try different decoders, but if they are using DXVA then it's mostly handled by the video card hardware decoder (and it's error handling/concealment) anyway....

    In MP .ts files are always 'split' by TsReader.ax, but if you generate .mts or .m2ts from VideoRedo then they should be split by whatever other transport stream splitters you have in the system.

    Tony
     

    edb49

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    Thanks Tony - I'll get some logs done tonight. I'll probably create a new .TS edit with a VideoReDo cut every 30 seconds or so to accentuate the problem.
     

    miroslav22

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    It can be a bit hit and miss unfortunately. A lot of cutting & joining software struggles to cleanly cut the file at reference frames and correct the timestamps properly. Frames arn't always encoded in 'display' order in the stream which makes the process difficult.

    You'd be best just trying lots of different splitter/codec combinations or try re-packaging the files to another container (eg mkv) and see which gives the best results.
     

    edb49

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    I've attached some logs now. You can see in the EVR and also Mediaportal that something is happening every 30 seconds. It's almost as if the file is stopping then restarting. It manifests itself as a very brief break-up of the image.

    To be fair, this does appear to be happening in VLC too now that I look at it in detail. So I reckon it's probably more to do with the source file than anything else.

    In which case, can anyone recommend an alternative to Video Redo?
     

    Owlsroost

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    Yes, the MFVP_MESSAGE_INVALIDATEMEDIATYPE events in evr.log (probably initiated by the video decoder finding changes in video stream) will cause buffers to be flushed etc => brief pauses/jumps in playback.

    Have you had a look around the VideoRedo forums ?

    Tony
     

    Paranoid Delusion

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    Out of curiosity, if you put the file through mkvmerge to make mkv, and play via the video's folder, does it still do the same thing.
     

    edb49

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    Yeah, it's definitely caused by the file not being quite right. I've tried loads of different codecs now, and they all exhibit various artefacts.

    Looking on the Video Redo forums, they point the finger at the h264 standard being really complex. They try to avoid doing a big re-encode of the whole file, just doing small ones around the cuts, but the failsafe way of avoiding the artefacts is a full re-encode. :(

    Obviously that comes with the problems of introducing more loss, 2-3 hours of CPU time, and bigger file sizes if you want to maintain most of the quality.
     

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