Wrong .VOB duration in Avidemux 2.6

[VanillaMozilla]

I think we have said this a few times before:
For video streams with older codecs like MPEG-2 in VOB containers its better to use avidemux V2.5.6.

Like to know what the work flow is for these insurmountable synchronisation problems, with the frame based avidemux?

Thanks.  I'll try that and report in another thread.  It may be a while before I get to it.  Is version 2.5.6 supposed to fix the sync problems?  I understood that that didn't happen until 2.6.1.

[Jan Gruuthuse]

to be clear on this:
- the vob's are created with dvd recorder and are uncrypted: you don't use any ripping program to copy .vob's to PC.
- the recording source are from TV transmissions?

If the problem persists with dvd decrypted try a more recent/updated decryption program.
If un-crypted dvd recordings: there could be an issue with time index: dvb-t signal glitch could cause a similar effect.
If the content is legal and for public viewing perhaps an upload of a vob causing this time loss could help the developer.
Upload to a publicly available location, like dropbox, cloud, ..., no login or registration required for download.
I will check if the issue is here present to (ubuntu 14.04 64-bit)
Sometimes demuxing to .mkv with mkvtoolnix or ffmpeg, avconf, ... does help. Edit the newly created .mkv with avidemux.

Success

[VanillaMozilla]

to be clear on this:
- the vob's are created with dvd recorder and are uncrypted: you don't use any ripping program to copy .vob's to PC.
- the recording source are from TV transmissions?

The source is an 8mm analog camcorder.  The videos were played back on a Sony 8mm tape deck and rerecorded on a Philips DRDR3475 DVD recorder.  All the files are from that DVD recorder.  They are not encrypted.

I did not use a ripping program.  I don't think the problem is in copying the files.  With one DVD I copied the .VOB files (e.g., VTS_01_1.VOB) from an image, file "funai_dvd_video.iso", which was created by K3b on Ubuntu.  The .iso file was opened either with Archive Manager or with Archive Mounter.  From the other DVD, I copied the .VOB files directly from the DVD using Windows Explorer under Windows XP.  The problem occurred with both.

If un-crypted dvd recordings: there could be an issue with time index: dvb-t signal glitch could cause a similar effect.
If the content is legal and for public viewing perhaps an upload of a vob causing this time loss could help the developer.
Upload to a publicly available location, like dropbox, cloud, ..., no login or registration required for download.
I will check if the issue is here present to (ubuntu 14.04 64-bit)
Sometimes demuxing to .mkv with mkvtoolnix or ffmpeg, avconf, ... does help. Edit the newly created .mkv with avidemux.

I'd be happy to supply a video.  I'll try to get to it later today or tomorrow.  Is VTS_01_1.VOB sufficient?  Or I have a smaller ISO (1.5GB) I could post if necessary.

I tried an .mkv container.  That worked partly.  I can now view the whole file, but sync is off again when viewed in Avidemux 2.6.8.  I'll post that file too.  And with default settings it recoded.  Here are the details.

=======
>avconv -i VTS_01_1.VOB 1.mkv

[selected output:]
Output #0, matroska, to '1.mkv':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf53.21.1
    Stream #0.0: Video: libx264, yuv420p, 720x480 [PAR 8:9 DAR 4:3], q=-1--1, 1k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: libvorbis, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (mpeg2video -> libx264)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (ac3 -> libvorbis)
[mpeg2video @ 0x951b1e0] warning: first frame is no keyframe

[Jan Gruuthuse]

30 minutes of concerned video, 1 vob. As passed 25 minutes gives the issue. My guess the original frame rate, timebase and conversion from analogue to digital is possible cause.
Are these NTSC 30 fps? 60 Hz analogue?

[Jan Gruuthuse]

When I have troublesome video recording. I use the latest MKVmerge GUI v7.2.0 ('On every Street') 64bit from mkvtoolnix.
I start the GUI, drag and drop the troublesome video on to it. Reorder audio track. And [Start muxing]
Screenshots with 33.8 GB, six hours of 720p mpeg-ts HD loaded. Had some issue: couldn't save beyond 03:13.50 with original .ts
Using the newly created mkv all avidemux 2.6.8 editing went fine .

[AQUAR]

I think Jan probably hit the nail on the head in guessing its a capture and compression on the fly process.
Best way is to use a dedicated video capture card and saving its output with lossless - lightweight compression.
Then work on that video file to fit intention.
Example, if for PC playback, deinlace if needed and resample for 1:1 PAR. 

[VanillaMozilla]

I just posted a video that may help the diagnosis.  Jan and AQUAR, I just sent you PMs.

The problem with version 2.6.8 is that I can't read past the first title.  Also, I don't think the audio sync problem is really solved.  It is possible that the file is defective and most of my other files are defective also, but for what it's worth, I have only encountered problems with editing software, and never with media players.

Thanks for your suggestions.  I'll continue looking into this, as I currently have NO other way to edit either these or .mp4 (.MTS) files.

[Jan Gruuthuse]

1st to get all info correctly
1 GB vob plays here nearly only up to 6:43.870 starts the problem: audio breakdown.
Audio is in AC3 and video is NTSC
What should be the correct duration of the vob? I get conflicting time informations
And for now I can't retrieve video beyond 14:58. Should be 16: ....
I'll keep you posted and have probably more time to test your source video tomorrow.

[VanillaMozilla]

Either 25 or 30 minutes.  It's sometimes shown as 25, but it should actually be shown as 30, I think.  There is some confusion for sure when you import .VOBs from a DVD.  I have to leave right now, but I can check this evening.

The previous information corresponds to the first video I talked about.  The following information corresponds to the video on the ftp site:

About 14 min. 48 seconds.  Two titles and most of a third title:  6:46, 3:45, and 4:16.  Total:  14:48.  In addition, there are some short deleted titles that do not appear in the final videos, plus some brief glimpses of menus.

[Jan Gruuthuse]

there are several issues with the vob file copied from dvd:

Code Select Expand

Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 36618582, current: 36618582; changing to 36618583. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 37388851, current: 37388851; changing to 37388852. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 37388852, current: 37388851; changing to 37388853. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 37388853, current: 37388851; changing to 37388854. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 37388854, current: 37388851; changing to 37388855. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 57704146, current: 57704146; changing to 57704147. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:1; previous: 57687214, current: 57687214; changing to 57687215. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:1; previous: 57687215, current: 57687214; changing to 57687216. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:1; previous: 57687216, current: 57687214; changing to 57687217. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.

this causing de-muxing to choke.
Found the video contains several badly joined videos. End of part where screens turns blue and you get info screen shot inserted? Time Index: 06.46 showing this.
The maximum video duration I can retrieve is 14.57 where video brakes off suddenly. Can you explain your work flow? It is not clear to me for now.
Are you recording (recently) now analogue NTSC video to dvd recorder. Or are these recordings made previously (years before) and you just extracting digital video from a recorded dvd?
Do you have access to computer wizards at your location (computer department).

[VanillaMozilla]

there are several issues with the vob file copied from dvd:

Code Select Expand

Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 36618582, current: 36618582; changing to 36618583. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 37388851, current: 37388851; changing to 37388852. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 37388852, current: 37388851; changing to 37388853. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 37388853, current: 37388851; changing to 37388854. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 37388854, current: 37388851; changing to 37388855. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 57704146, current: 57704146; changing to 57704147. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:1; previous: 57687214, current: 57687214; changing to 57687215. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:1; previous: 57687215, current: 57687214; changing to 57687216. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:1; previous: 57687216, current: 57687214; changing to 57687217. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.

this causing de-muxing to choke.
Found the video contains several badly joined videos. End of part where screens turns blue and you get info screen shot inserted? Time Index: 06.46 showing this.
The maximum video duration I can retrieve is 14.57 where video brakes off suddenly. Can you explain your work flow? It is not clear to me for now.
Are you recording (recently) now analogue NTSC video to dvd recorder. Or are these recordings made previously (years before) and you just extracting digital video from a recorded dvd?
Do you have access to computer wizards at your location (computer department).

I think I unintentionally confused you by choosing a second, shorter video to ftp, and then I posted information for the wrong video (red face).  See my corrected message above.

The duration of 14:57 is probably exactly correct.  The time stamp may be confusing because it's simply a linear record of what was recorded.  The table of contents of the DVD is on another file.  The DVD does not play the whole file in exact sequence; it skips over some short extraneous parts.

My work flow is simple.  I use a Philips stand-alone DVD burner to digitize old 8-mm NTSC analog videos.  Everything is NTSC.  I have DVDs of many of them, but I still have all of the 8-mm tapes except one.  Here is the work flow:

1. Play 8-mm tape on Sony tape deck and record to Philips recorder.
2. From time to time I stop recording.  This creates a new title on the DVD.
3. I believe some short titles were deleted before the DVD was finalized.
4. I copied the video files from the DVD.  I did not use ripping software.
5. Finalize the DVD.

The chaotic-appearing time sequence may or may not be correct, considering that there are multiple titles.

I'll post the whole DVD tomorrow.  The .iso is only slightly longer than the file I already posted.  If you scroll back to title 0, it lists basic info.

This is starting to look complicated.  This work flow mostly worked very well in the past, but now not at all.  I'll continue to try alternatives.  Do you have another suggestion for digitization?  The last time I tried ripping programs, they crashed or failed in one way or another.  Can try again, I suppose.

Computer expertise at work?  Not for this, I'm afraid.  I do have a computer admin friend who has some limited experience with videos, but I don't think he's tried this.

EDIT:
Non-monotonic timestamp.  I wonder if the breaks occur between titles, or within titles.  Do you know how to read that info?  How did you get the timestamp info?

[Jan Gruuthuse]

you can try 2 ways:
1 - See if handbrake can take the video's correctly from the recorded dvd incomputer dvd drive? https://handbrake.fr/
2 - record the 8mm parts needed in one go and leave 1/2 minute paused 8mm video beyond the point you're interested in and the stop the dvd recording there.

If handbrake is available for your Operating System method 1 would be preferable tested 1st with existing recorded dvd in computer dvd drive.

Explaining or figuring out how to handle this Non-monotonous DTS producing these incorrect timestamps is beyond my user experience. If lucky someone here can explain some more or have another work flow to avoid this problem.

If on Ubuntu  there is a ppa available, see: http://askubuntu.com/questions/107915/how-do-i-download-and-install-handbrake.

How did you get the timestamp info?

While trying to split up audio and video:

Code Select Expand

avconv -i VTS_01_1.VOB -acodec copy audio.ac3 -vcodec copy video.mkv
This makes me think again: can you set dvd recorder to not record in AC3 audio (dolby) but use plain stereo.

If you have the video from recorded dvd playing correctly on your computer desktop, using a desktop recorder could also be a solution to have  editable video: https://launchpad.net/kazam

Sorry to flood you with this information. Hope you or your friend are able to do something with this.

[AQUAR]

I still think these issues are the result of doing to much on the fly (real time).
This DVD recorder is capturing, filtering, heavy duty compression, and DVD mastering.
All good and well for playback but a nightmare for editing, especially when relying on time codes.

Just my 2 cents worth as I don't do video editing on a linux machine.

Also note there was a warning in that the first frame is not a key frame.
My guess is that there are orphaned frames throughout this video from badly joining video segments.
Possibly the reason for audio sync issues with Avidemux 2.6. 

Even a cheap/basic PC capture card will give you much better control over your workflow.

[VanillaMozilla]

Thanks to both of you.  Those were pretty much my thoughts too--I even thought of the off-the-wall video screen capture.  It will take me some time to work through them and post back.

I wouldn't bother, except (1) Avidemux is a really excellent program, and (2) so far I don't have a viable substitute.  I like Avidemux because it's one of few programs that allow extracting a clip, and because it can work without transcoding.

I've found that avconv or ffmpeg are good for extracting clips (without transcoding!), although they're not very convenient, and not infallible on audio sync.  AcidRip failed completely, and I'm not going to get into troubleshooting that.

You both have worked long and hard on this, and I thank you for that.  It's not worth more of your effort for that one DVD.  However, it may be a common case, and if you or Mean decide to troubleshoot further, I would be happy to make up a short (small file) test case.

AQUAR, do you have a work flow for copying 8mm analog that works?  (It doesn't have to be free, and no, it doesn't have to be Linux.  It just has to work and not be TOO expensive.)

[mean]

Sometimes the recorder is dumping a lot of recording stream
and adds some side information saying : you can ignore that, and that, and btw the follow up of this is there etc...

A full fledged dvd player has no problem dealing with that, as it is compliant to dvd spec
but an editor that ignores the dvd navigation info can be puzzled by the stream

Just a guess