fixing incorrect movie lengths - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

scansinboy · 12-27-2005, 10:15 AM

I took some video with my digital camera and once in a while, the file is read as having an incorrect time on it. For example: A 10 minute clip will be interpreted as only being 5 minutes long. The scroll bar on the media player will reach the end after 5 minutes, but the entire movie will play on until the end.

The downside of this is that I have several clips I'm trying to piece together and the inncorect time lengths makes it difficult or impossible to join them together.

My Questions are as follows:
1) Is this a common problem?
2) What software can I use to correct the lengths of the movies?
2.5)I use Easy Video Joiner to splice them together, is there something better?
And an unrelated 3) What is a good compression software to use for the video? I've tried Dr DivX but the results are that the video end up all jerky.

Difficulty: My computer is a rather slow, 7 years old, 466 processor.

catback · 12-27-2005, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scansinboy

Difficulty: My computer is a rather slow, 7 years old, 466 processor.

Video editing, you gotta be kidding me...I wouldn't even be encoding mp3's on a 466 processor

jujueye · 12-27-2005, 02:45 PM

You might check the version of media player that you have. There is a good chance that it cannot read files of a ceratin size, and punts from there.

Yeah, your computer is a big part of the problem. Google "video editing software" and you might find a few that will be compatible with your proc speed. I think the jerkiness you are seeing is that application assuming that the video/audio frames are coming in at a specific rate that your processor cannot produce.

In the mean time, you may consider getting an updated machine. You might even consider a used laptop. I saw one in a computer store recently that was a 1G machine with decent memory, and it was maybe $299 or so. I know it really depends on your own budget constraints and that's okay. But I guarantee it will make you really happy!

vanblah · 12-27-2005, 03:07 PM

Can you tell me what file type they are originally? You'll want to save compression (to any codec) as the LAST step. The quality suffers greatly if you continuously re-compress. It's best to stick with .avi as long as possible.

I have used avi fixers before; I can't remember the names of any of them. You can try to google what you're looking for. I came up with www.fixvideo.com as the first hit. Basically you need to rebuild the index. You might also try Vdub (or VirtualDub) from www.virtualdub.org.

I'd seriously consider upgrading that processor ... it's not as expensive as you think.

scansinboy · 12-28-2005, 12:13 AM

The files are .mpg and created by my digital camera. They play fine on the viewer, (either WMP7 or media player classic) with the exception of the aforementioned scroll bar problem which is sometimes, but not always present. And this happens with much smaller movie files too, not just the bigger, 200+MB clips.

12-27-2005, 10:15 AM	#1 (permalink)
scansinboy Insane Location: Milwaukee	fixing incorrect movie lengths I took some video with my digital camera and once in a while, the file is read as having an incorrect time on it. For example: A 10 minute clip will be interpreted as only being 5 minutes long. The scroll bar on the media player will reach the end after 5 minutes, but the entire movie will play on until the end. The downside of this is that I have several clips I'm trying to piece together and the inncorect time lengths makes it difficult or impossible to join them together. My Questions are as follows: 1) Is this a common problem? 2) What software can I use to correct the lengths of the movies? 2.5)I use Easy Video Joiner to splice them together, is there something better? And an unrelated 3) What is a good compression software to use for the video? I've tried Dr DivX but the results are that the video end up all jerky. Difficulty: My computer is a rather slow, 7 years old, 466 processor. __________________ Don't blame me... I voted for Kodos!

12-28-2005, 12:13 AM	#5 (permalink)
scansinboy Insane Location: Milwaukee	The files are .mpg and created by my digital camera. They play fine on the viewer, (either WMP7 or media player classic) with the exception of the aforementioned scroll bar problem which is sometimes, but not always present. And this happens with much smaller movie files too, not just the bigger, 200+MB clips. __________________ Don't blame me... I voted for Kodos!

12-27-2005, 02:45 PM	#3 (permalink)
jujueye alpaca lunch for the trip Location: in my computer	You might check the version of media player that you have. There is a good chance that it cannot read files of a ceratin size, and punts from there. Yeah, your computer is a big part of the problem. Google "video editing software" and you might find a few that will be compatible with your proc speed. I think the jerkiness you are seeing is that application assuming that the video/audio frames are coming in at a specific rate that your processor cannot produce. In the mean time, you may consider getting an updated machine. You might even consider a used laptop. I saw one in a computer store recently that was a 1G machine with decent memory, and it was maybe $299 or so. I know it really depends on your own budget constraints and that's okay. But I guarantee it will make you really happy!

12-27-2005, 03:07 PM	#4 (permalink)
vanblah Junkie	Can you tell me what file type they are originally? You'll want to save compression (to any codec) as the LAST step. The quality suffers greatly if you continuously re-compress. It's best to stick with .avi as long as possible. I have used avi fixers before; I can't remember the names of any of them. You can try to google what you're looking for. I came up with www.fixvideo.com as the first hit. Basically you need to rebuild the index. You might also try Vdub (or VirtualDub) from www.virtualdub.org. I'd seriously consider upgrading that processor ... it's not as expensive as you think.