Problem with truncated timecodes

[Dreux]

(Quick disclaimer: I still consider myself a bit of a newbie when it comes to video, so please excuse me if I don't use some of the terminology correctly.)

Here's the long and short of the problem. When I try to back up DVDs using the Big 3, the time codes on the video are cut in half. I load up an .m2v file in either WinDVD or Winamp, and they report the time length of the video is about half of the original. All the information is there, because the video keeps playing to the end after the slider reaches the far right.

I thought this might be a problem with avisynth because it also happens with dc4u/bcws. I reencoded a divx clip using dc4u with the same results. However, I'm getting the same problem whether I use avisynth 2.0.8, 2.5.2 or 2.5.4.

I tested a couple transcoders (DVDShrink and Nero Recode). They work just fine.

I could really use some help here. I've been struggling with isolating this problem for a couple weeks now, to no avail. Once upon a time, I could use the Big 3 just fine. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you exactly what has changed on my computer since then though.

I've even tried uninstalling all applicable programs and reinstalling them, hoping there was some simple driver conflict that could be resolved. That didn't work. I've also tried shutting down every other running program. That didn't work.

I'm out of ideas. Can anyone else think of something? Could it actually be an avisynth problem or a driver conflict? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Chubmeister]

Are you saying that using the big 3 has failed to complete a back-up for you? Or is this an observation when looking at an .m2v file out of curiosity?

I ask this because I have also noticed this 'shortened' playback time reported in players, however I have always ignored it and let big 3 get on with it, or compiled in scenarist manually without ever a problem.

If it is a failed backup then could you post the log files.

[Matthew]

Yeah it's a non-issue, I noticed it too...although for me the time is correct in WMP, using elecard decoder (but not in WinDVD).

It has nothing to do with the big 3 or avisynth, it's CCE related, and in my experience it's only an issue with VBR encodes.

[Dreux]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't realize that was normal. Never looked at the .m2v files before I started having problems. Perhaps I might have been chasing snipes. There is still a problem though.

When I first noticed the timecodes, Scenarist gave me errors about something not being the right size. Previously it had been working fine. This was a while ago, and a different DVD than I am currently working with. Unfortunately I didn't record the error, and I can't even remember which of my DVDs I was trying to back up at the time.

I tried your suggestion and proceeded anyway. The output from scenarist was way too small (1.3gb main movie). But now I'm apparently having different problems, which aren't likely to be related. After running the current dvd (monster's ball) through scenarist, half the movie was replaced by "Avisynth caught an access violation at 0x067e3b32, attempting to read from 0x13f4275c". I hope there isn't something wrong with my RAM, but I guess it's time to check it.

Anyway, I'll run a few more tests and report my results.