AVI files broken after recording

[TheLiquidator]

Hi

I have started my project of converting my old VHS footage to DVD and I have hit a roadblock.

The first job I did was a 25 minute video. Attempts to use the convert/save function were a failure - the saved file froze, was out of sync and the image blurred (It may be lack of computer power tbh as I'm using a centrino laptop).

Using the default record button I can succesfully record a short test video as an avi file. However, numerous attempts to record the whole footage above have been made and have always resulted in a broken avi file. VLC says there is a seeking problem. When I try to open it with VLC it offers to fix it and, following acceptance, either removes the audio or truncates the footage to about 5 minutes.

Attempting to convert the avi to something else in VLC/Kdenlive/Openshot instantly produces an application crash.

I thought initially it might be because I was saving the footage on a USB2 hard drive (which I had to do due to the size of the files) and that the problem was caused by Data transfer being too slow. However, clearing space on the HDD and saving the footage to that I get the same result.

The 25 minutes of footage results in a single 30Gb file and I'm wondering whether that simply is the problem. Maybe my computer simply cannot handle a 30Gb file. I wonder whether there is a setting somewhere that will enable VLC to automatically save the files in more manageable chunks or do I have to do this manually?

Many thanks

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

VLC version?

[TheLiquidator]

Not sure at the moment as I'm at work at a windows box right now. Will let you know version number when I get home. I'm running kubuntu 11.10 without adding a ppa for VLC

Update: 1.1.12

[TheLiquidator]

Just a thought - on a laptop like mine (Dell 630m- Centrino 1.86 w 2 Gb Ram) could the use of KDE desktop effects be having an impact on the integrity of the file?

Thanks

[TheLiquidator]

Is there any reason why every one of these files should be reported as broken?

Actually VLC does not appear to truncate them, just appears not to know how long they are. The audio also appears to be out of synch and if the file is converted (say to an ogg file) it seems to go okay but the audio synching problem gets worse.

Is this likely to be a resource problem?