The VideoLAN Forums

When I try playing a file with the following media info, VLC oinly displays the first frame and then stops. Looking at the VLC feature list, I would have expected VLC to be able to play this file. Other media players, eg. media player classic can play the file without problems.

Media info is:

Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 120 MiB
Duration : 6mn 59s
Overall bit rate : 2 395 Kbps

Video
ID : 17 (0x11)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 6mn 58s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 973 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 10 000 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.190
Stream size : 98.4 MiB (82%)

Audio
ID : 20 (0x14)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Duration : 6mn 59s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -796ms
Stream size : 12.8 MiB (11%)
Language : English

Post the full messages log with verbosity set to 2.

And also post a sample of the beginning of the file, say the first 10-20 MB.
Use DGsplit and read here how to do it:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=57724&p=193335#p193335

Not sure how to create a log with verbosity 2. I tried running VLC like this:

"c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" -v=2

but this does not produce any output on the command line or Tools->Messages.

I was able to create a 10MB chunk, but I don't see an option to attach it to my message, how do I post it?

Thanks,
Carsten

PS: I also tried running VLC like this:"c:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --reset-config --reset-plugins-cache, but without success.

I was able to create a 10MB chunk, but I don't see an option to attach it to my message, how do I post it?

Upload it to Rapidshare or Megaupload or anything other similar web service.

I think I found the problem: I used Avidemux 2.5 to cut some parts off the file before trying to play it with VLC. During that Audiodemux created a .idx file with the same name as the movie. It seems VLC does not like that file to be there. After I deleted the file the movie plays fine. Not sure whether the file content is incompatible with what VLC expects or whether it no longer matched the movie (due to bits being cut off) and thus confused VLC.

I deleted the file, but a similar file looks like this:

ADMY0003
Type : T
File : C:\Users\carsten\Desktop\10-01-08(Fri) Jakers!_ The Adventures Of Piggley ....tp
Append : 0
Image : P
Picture : 0720 x 0576 25000 fps
Payload : MPEG
Nb Gop : 00004125
Nb Images: 0000049496
Nb Audio : 01
Main aud : 00
Streams : V0903:00e0 A0904:00c0
# NGop NImg nbImg type:abs:rel:size ...
V 000 000000 12 I:00022e70,00000,082c1 B:0002ca20,00004,01b58 B:0002e9b4,0000c,019f4 P:0003088c,00020,01754 B:00032530,00074,0153c B:00033ee4,00020,01558 P:00035954,000a0,023d8 B:000383ec,00088,01634 B:00039f18,00074,016bc P:0003bbbc,00030,02a3c B:0003ec34,00004,0169c B:0004081c,00058,01a40
A 0 4286c :3f20
# Timestamp 04:46:52,012
V 001 000012 12 I:0004286c,00000,0ad15 B:0004fb30,000a8,01a0c B:00051c3c,0001c,01934 P:0005399c,00028,0797c B:0005cb04,0002c,0162c B:0005e4b8,00010,0155c P:0005fdb0,00094,0276c B:00062d6c,00078,0228c B:000658c0,00084,020d0 P:00068124,00044,02b1c B:0006b548,00040,01f84 B:0006dc34,00024,02034
A 12 70320 :81c8
# Timestamp 04:46:52,024
V 002 000024 12 I:00070320,00000,07ff9 B:00079b24,0001c,0231c B:0007c388,00000,02300 P:0007eb30,00080,072b4 B:000870d8,00034,02a20 B:0008a094,000a4,03114 P:0008db54,00020,06674 B:00094f5c,00084,038b4 B:000992ec,00070,02f80 P:0009ca00,00080,042dc B:000a1a0c,00084,026f0 B:000a4794,000a4,026e4
A 24 a75d8 :c528
[...]
# Timestamp 05:19:51,013
V 4124 049488 08 I:24d8d9a4,00000,0b9a5 B:24d9c0f8,00048,02b90 B:24d9f80c,00000,027c4 P:24da2650,0003c,023ec B:24da531c,00038,00d54 B:24da6344,0009c,00dec P:24da7718,00028,03ebc B:24dac4f0,0005c,008f8
A 49488 24dacff4 :3c6aff8
# Timestamp 05:19:52,000
# Video Aspect Ratio : 16:9

I have a very similar porblem, but have done nothing to this video and dont have any sort of accompying file. Here is the info:

ID : 0
Complete name : C:\Users\Doug\Desktop\FX_131_14468.mpg
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 89.1 MiB
Duration : 1mn 54s
Overall bit rate : 6 520 Kbps

Video
ID : 1001 (0x3E9)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 1mn 27s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 5 812 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 8 000 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Bottom Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.561
Stream size : 60.7 MiB (68%)

Audio
ID : 1002 (0x3EA)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Duration : 1mn 27s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 2.68 MiB (3%)w

Here is the first 10 megs of it: http://sportstraining.tripod.com/Sample.zip

Also, I can't get quicktime to open the file at all(I have the mpeg2 playing addon) and windows media plays it just fine. VLC shows the starting frame but doesnt play.

Here is the first 10 megs of it: http://sportstraining.tripod.com/Sample.zip

The audio part of this file is somehow broken with many timestamp errors. Some splitters (WMP, MPC-HC) just don't care about that but some other ones (VLC, Arcsoft) simply refuse to play the file because it's out of specs.

Remuxing the file with a repair tool (e.g. Project-X, PVAstrumento) is making a clean file that VLC can play.

Here is the first 10 megs of it: http://sportstraining.tripod.com/Sample.zip

The audio part of this file is somehow broken with many timestamp errors. Some splitters (WMP, MPC-HC) just don't care about that but some other ones (VLC, Arcsoft) simply refuse to play the file because it's out of specs.

Remuxing the file with a repair tool (e.g. Project-X, PVAstrumento) is making a clean file that VLC can play.

Is there any way to persuade VLC to be less fussy/strict so that TS files with errors can still be played without pre-processing? Thanks.

Demuxing seems to be the answer but I cant get it to work. I tried the tools you mentioned plus 5-6 others that I found. Project X and one other actually would do the demuxing, the others gave me errors like invalid mpeg stream and stuff like that. Both project x and the other one give me greatly reduced video quality in vlc, and the file plays horribly in quicktime(chunky play for a bit then smooths out then chunky again).

Essentially, I need to be able to at least play these videos in VLC with no quality loss(QT working too would be ideal though), the audio doesnt matter at all it can just be removed and forgotten. Demuxing seems to be the thing to do, but I just cant get most of the demux tools out there to work and the ones that do seem to ruin the video.

Demuxing seems to be the answer but I cant get it to work. I tried the tools you mentioned plus 5-6 others that I found.

It's working fine for me, check this remuxed sample:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DG8DSBVC

the others gave me errors like invalid mpeg stream and stuff like that.

That's the point, there ARE plenty of errors in the original file and tools like Project-X and PVAstrumento have options to repair these errors. But be carefull because depending on the settings used there might be too bmany GOPs removed from the file (especially with PVAstrumento which is using very agressive settings by default).

Both project x and the other one give me greatly reduced video quality in vlc
...
Essentially, I need to be able to at least play these videos in VLC with no quality loss

I don't see how you can lose quality since these tools only demux the streams, they don't reencode the video at all.

the audio doesnt matter at all it can just be removed and forgotten.

The audio stream is the source of the errors in your original sample, and it's a blank and empty track anyway. So yes you can safely remux the file with video only and remove the audio.