Corrupt Mpeg-2 file

[Wooly]

I'm in the sad position of having several Mpeg-2 files that are damaged (have some audio pops or some blockiness) that is preventing me from IFOEditing them into VOB's. I've tried several things to no avail, including:

MPEG-2-VCR GOP Fix
VCDGear Mpeg-to-Mpeg Fix Mpeg Errors
TMPGEnc DeMux, then ReMux

I'm kind of at my wits end, and I don't want to just abandon all 3 seasons of high-quality Millennium episodes. It isn't on TV anymore, and it isn't likely that it will be again. SO....

Does anyone out there have any ideas how to repair corrupt Mpeg-2 files? I'm so desperate I'm not above transcoding them (at least I'd have them). My end target is to get them on DVD (which I know how to do without difficulty) but I need to get them error-free first.

[alanjudy]

So I'm in the same boat and I can tell you what I tried that did *not* work.

I've tried tmpgenc to re-encode. I can use the mpeg tools to multiplex and cut, but the audio after the blockiness is lost.
I've tried re-encoding with tmpgenc and get audio sync problems.

What I'm about to do next is output to DV Tape (via save to VCR) and then bring this back into the computer and author to DVD..
At least I'll have only one analog capture point.

If anyone has a better idea, let me know. I have several DVD's archived of this one show, and losing this episode would be a pain.

=alanjudy

[captain_video]

I haven't had a bad tystream lately to give this a try but you might want to try splitting the tystreams using Olaf's tydemux utility. It will supposedly fix a lot of errors in a problem tystream. It may not fix the problems you're having but if you still have the original unsplit tystreams it would be worth a try.

[Wooly]

Unfortunately, these are Mpegs that do not exist on the Tivo anymore - they only exist on my computer. I'm trying to avoid doing a Digital-to-analog (Hi8) then re-capturing it again, but I may be forced into this.

Originally posted by captain_video
I haven't had a bad tystream lately to give this a try but you might want to try splitting the tystreams using Olaf's tydemux utility. It will supposedly fix a lot of errors in a problem tystream. It may not fix the problems you're having but if you still have the original unsplit tystreams it would be worth a try.

[artships]

Originally posted by Wooly
Unfortunately, these are Mpegs that do not exist on the Tivo anymore

Well, the easy way won't work anymore. The hard way...

TMPGEnc to demux the mpg. (You could then mux the audio and video. I think TMPGEnc will tell you how many frames long or short one is compared to the other, if you care.)

Convert the audio to a wav.

Load the video and the wav into TMPGEnc. Use the Advanced->Source Range thingie to find the bad frames. Use the space bar to play it, as the angle brackets can skip over the glitches, which you'll recognize by the popup that TMPGEnc presents at the bad frames.

Convert the audio to a wav. Edit the wav, adding an amount to the wav or cut an amount from the wav right at the spot where the bad frames are. In my experience, which was so onerous I've tried to forget it ever since, the audio played early (lips dragged behind the audio) so you'll have to cut a bit of audio out. Ideally, you'll take a half-second chunk before the glitch and just duplicated it to add audio in.

Remux. For me, this created an mpg that played in PowerDVD just fine. When you author it, however, write it out to a titleset, then check EVERY vob in PowerDVD to make sure it still stays in sync, and that the audio doesn't "go away" for a minute or more at a time.

Oh, and good luck.

[Wooly]

In the immortal words of Colonel O'Neil from Stargate..

Crap.

I know about this method, and it's about as attactive as pulling teeth. The only audio editor worth a damn is Sound Forge, and I don't have it anymore (don't ask...HD crash about 2 years ago).

So...I was hoping someone had a "magic tool" (no wise cracks) that would fix the bad Mpeg.

Anyone...anyone...Beuler...

OH...BTW, to warn anyone about this in the future, do NOT use IsoBuster to save time and bust open a .bin/cue file set from the internet - it does NOT fix Mpeg errors. Use VCDEasy and fix mpeg errors. Don't be a Wooly...do it right!

I wish I knew a year ago what I knew now, could have saved myself a lot of grief.

Originally posted by artships
Originally posted by Wooly
Unfortunately, these are Mpegs that do not exist on the Tivo anymore

Well, the easy way won't work anymore. The hard way...

TMPGEnc to demux the mpg. (You could then mux the audio and video. I think TMPGEnc will tell you how many frames long or short one is compared to the other, if you care.)

Convert the audio to a wav.

Load the video and the wav into TMPGEnc. Use the Advanced->Source Range thingie to find the bad frames. Use the space bar to play it, as the angle brackets can skip over the glitches, which you'll recognize by the popup that TMPGEnc presents at the bad frames.

Convert the audio to a wav. Edit the wav, adding an amount to the wav or cut an amount from the wav right at the spot where the bad frames are. In my experience, which was so onerous I've tried to forget it ever since, the audio played early (lips dragged behind the audio) so you'll have to cut a bit of audio out. Ideally, you'll take a half-second chunk before the glitch and just duplicated it to add audio in.

Remux. For me, this created an mpg that played in PowerDVD just fine. When you author it, however, write it out to a titleset, then check EVERY vob in PowerDVD to make sure it still stays in sync, and that the audio doesn't "go away" for a minute or more at a time.

Oh, and good luck.

[AlphaWolf]

moral of the story: archive in the tar format until the conversion tools are complete

[alanjudy]

Originally posted by artships
Originally posted by Wooly
Unfortunately, these are Mpegs that do not exist on the Tivo anymore

Well, the easy way won't work anymore. The hard way...

TMPGEnc to demux the mpg. (You could then mux the audio and video. I think TMPGEnc will tell you how many frames long or short one is compared to the other, if you care.)

I have the original m2v and m2a files from tytool. I can mux these together and will get a/v sync even through the glitch. The mpg plays fine in windvd. If I use TMPGEnc's Mpegtools to cut this .mpg then all audio after the glitch is lost. Spruceup and infoedit both refuse the .m2v or .mpg file at the glitch.

Convert the audio to a wav.

I've done this, both from the original m2a and the "good" .mpg

Load the video and the wav into TMPGEnc. Use the Advanced->Source Range thingie to find the bad frames. Use the space bar to play it, as the angle brackets can skip over the glitches, which you'll recognize by the popup that TMPGEnc presents at the bad frames.

OK, I think I get this. Set start and end points to skip the glitch. I did this, but as a larger chunk, not with the space bar on the particular frame.. I'll try this, but in general I've gone down this path before.

Convert the audio to a wav. Edit the wav, adding an amount to the wav or cut an amount from the wav right at the spot where the bad frames are. In my experience, which was so onerous I've tried to forget it ever since, the audio played early (lips dragged behind the audio) so you'll have to cut a bit of audio out. Ideally, you'll take a half-second chunk before the glitch and just duplicated it to add audio in.

Ah Ha!. So I tried to cut the program up into 3 pieces: the first good piece, the last good piece and the middle glitch with blank audio. When I merged it it was terrible with no lip sync even in the beginning..

Remux. For me, this created an mpg that played in PowerDVD just fine. When you author it, however, write it out to a titleset, then check EVERY vob in PowerDVD to make sure it still stays in sync, and that the audio doesn't "go away" for a minute or more at a time.

A/V Sync has been the biggest problem for all my attempts in the various different methods.

Oh, and good luck.