Smart-cutter does not open video file occasionally

[kwongk_2020]

I have uploaded two video file clips on ftp under the folder "kwongk". Both were from a captured free-on-air TV broadcast clip using a PVR.

V1.ts which is at the start of a video clip does not open (same as the next 3 fragments), while V7.ts which is at the end of the same clip opens without any problem.

Both clips can be opened and played using many other media player software including VLC, MPC-HC and media Player. It can also be open for conversion using handbrake.

When converted to .mp4 format, the converted file can be open by Smart-cutter.

This failure to open a .ts stream by Smart-Cutter appears to recur frequently on one TV channel. No problem with recordings of other TV channels.

My Smart-cutter has been updated to version 1.9.2f

[admin]

Dear kwongk_2020:
Thanks for your message and the sample files.

'Both clips can be opened and played using many other media player software including VLC, MPC-HC and media Player.'
Although the two sample clips can be opened for playback, but the display was corrupt. We checked the video samples, found that they are not totally correct MPEG2 video streams, there are internal errors in these video samples.
May be you could change your video source (PVR) setting for a better output?

Please feel free to send us your further advice and suggestion.
Thank you very much.

Best Regards,
FameRing Support Team

[kwongk_2020]

The files that cannot be opened by Smart-Cutter can be opened by Gilsoft's Video-cutter software. The trimmed files can then be opened by Smart-Cutter and edited. So some programming logic within Smart-Cutter must have stopped it from proceeding to open the ts file.

I found that Smart Cutter can open the same video recording stream when converted to mp4 format, from which I can do the editing on the mp4 files.

Since Smart-Cutter cannot open about 50% of the ts recordings from this particular TV station (no problem with other stations), it is time consuming for me to have to convert all these unopenable ts files.

Any help to overcome this short-coming with Smart-Cutter would be appreciated.

[thefireman]

Can confirm the scenario of not being able to open some TS files. Yes, I can agree that the problem lies in the TS files, however as other programs can open the same TS files, it seems that smart cutter is more strict, or does heavily rely on header info. If this is corrupt of incomplete it seems to be unable to open these files.

In order to bypass the problem I use FFMPEG to do a lossless copy of the TS file to another TS file. No reencoding is done, the video and audio are just copied to a new TS container. This results in a fixed file (with correct header info) that can be opened by Smart Cutter.

To help in the direction of identifying what Smart Cutter is missing, here is a list of the errors FFMPEG corrected during the lossless copy process of a "problematic file" to a new TS container that I have described above:

[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] decode_slice_header error
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] no frame!
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] decode_slice_header error
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] no frame!
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] decode_slice_header error
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] no frame!
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] decode_slice_header error
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] no frame!
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] decode_slice_header error
[h264 @ 0000000003f634a0] no frame!
[mpegts @ 0000000003f628a0] PES packet size mismatch

Hope this can help in identifying what Smart Cutter does not find in these files. Would upload the sample file, but it is 4GB in size...

[thefireman]

I have just found another TS file that Smart Cutter cannot open. I managed to cut off 5GB of the end of the file leaving a sample file of 30MB. Have just uploaded this sample file to your FTP Server.

Hope this will help resolve the problem that Smart Cutter has, that makes it unable to open some TS files. Yes, this TS file is probably missing something in the header data, but all players I have can open and play it without a problem. So it would be nice if Smart Cutter also was able to open these files. My guess is that Smart Cutter is depending heavily on the header data of TS files and if something is missing there then it just gives up and does not try to open the file.