Vlc cant play some mpeg2 files (which i recorded with progdv

[hagis]

Hi everybody i am trying to get vlc to play mine dvb-s recorded files to play but i will only get
the sound and an black screen i guess there may be an codec issue because when i installed
the elecard mpeg2 codec thats been used while recording the streams media player will play it fine


any ideas what to do here is an test file if any one whants to try and figure out what is going on:

http://www.hagis2k.se/progdvb/CNNInt.-A ... 120536.mpg

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Hello,

I cannot read those video with normal vlc, however I can with the " --codec ffmeg" flag.

Best
jb

[norrby]

Hi hagis,
This is a very old problem. I search these forums a few times a year to see if some free solution for it has showed up but so far no luck.

See these threads for more details:

VLC 0.8.6a can't play mpeg2 PS? (no video, audio ok)?
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=33037

VLC 0.8.6: DTS WAV & MPEG2 issues
viewtopic.php?t=30253&start=15

Mpeg2 TS Stream
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=490&p=2521

VLC can not read .pva and .mpeg file from ProgDVB
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=26162&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

A summary of the what the threads say:
- the problem has been around since at least 2003
- the progdvb recorded files have worked fine in MediaPlayerClassic and many others for years -- just not in VLC
- the only confirmed way to fix the ProgDVB files so that they can be played in VLC is through VideoReDo - a tool that costs 50$
- no one from the VLC team has declared that VLC will ever work with these ProgDVB files "out of the box" like how MediaPlayerClassic does.

So If you don't have 50$ to spare just for getting VLC to show these videos you might be out of luck...

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

No, I really mean that those videos work if you use ffmpeg plugin instead of libmpeg2.

[kmf31]

If ffmpeg can decode the mpeg2 I would simply suggest to use ffmpeg to transcode the mpeg2 into another mpeg2 (by using the command "ffmeg ..." with the proper transcoding options). It is very likely that afterwards vlc will have no problem decoding the mpeg2 produced by ffmpeg when using libmpeg2 (which is the default mpeg2-decoding library in vlc and which is the library having this problem). Problably this also works with mencoder (but who will do nothing else then also calling ffmpeg for transcoding, in the end the same, however the command line options may be more "suggestive" with mencoder).

One could also compile vlc with explicitely disabling libmpeg2-support such that the fallback for mpeg2-decoding would be ffmpeg but this would be pity since libmpeg2 is otherwise very efficient for mpeg2-decoding (very useful on old hardware !). Normally vlc uses ffmpeg for mpeg2-encoding and mpeg4- and wmv-decoding but by default not for mpeg2-decoding.

[norrby]

Ffmpeg you say... Please describe more in detail what I need to do to get that working. Do I need to some command line parameters at VLC launch? If so then a complete sample string would be appreciated. Or change some preference in the GUI once it is launched? If so then which? And how do I set VLC to use ffmpeg when I doubleclick a ProgDVB generated file but use libmpeg2 for all other files?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

--codec ffmpeg to your command line.

[hagis]

No i dont see any reasons to buy some correcting software for 50$
like VideoReDo i anyhow convert all mine recorded music videos etc
to avi/xvid with sony/sonic foundry vegas video and then ill do the rest
in VirtualDUB isnt the header of the file "defective" i guess so because
compro dtv records it and the files it creates works just fine in vlc
i could´nt say this is an big problem just an little bit annoying...

[kmf31]

@norrby:

And how do I set VLC to use ffmpeg when I doubleclick a ProgDVB generated file but use libmpeg2 for all other files?

I am not sure if it is possible to do this completely automatically unless you change the file extension of the ProgDVB generated files.
Hower you may define a vlc-short-cut or a bat-script where you a add the proper command line options, for example in a bat script:

Code: Select all

vlc.exe --codec ffmpeg @$

or similar (or maybe with "--demux ffmpeg" according to my own observations).

@hagis:
Very probably you can transcode the mpeg with ffmpeg which is free software, one has only to figure out the proper set of options to do it. I suppose in the ffmpeg-Windows installation there are not only the ffmpeg-libraries but also the ffmpeg-command to start ffmpeg-transcoding jobs. Again using a bat-script or short-cut this may be simplified.

[norrby]

Got playback working now. But it would be great if VLC could automatically first try libmpeg2 and if that's not working then switch to ffmpeg. Using a special shortcut/batfile just for these files is still a bit of a hassle.

One more thing, the playback of these ProgDVB files is noticeably more stuttery for me with VLC + ffmpeg compared to their playback in MediaPlayerClassic. That might be due to some setting so I'll try it out some more.

kmf31: Would transcoding with ffmpeg be noticeably lossy on the A/V quality?
edit -- in general, any tips on getting a fix for these files that can compete with that VideoReDo QuickFix when it comes to speed, quality and automation (i.e. command line control) would be greatly appreciated. But I guess that's a bit off topic since it's not strictly a VLC issue. On the other hand, these kinds of threads might stop popping up once a practical solution was discovered