Scenarist Error : Duration too short (2 frames)

[iparout]

Hi.

I'm working on the Pirates of the Caribbean extras disk and up to now I have to admit it has been a total pain to backup. I won;t give up though.

My latest problem is this :

When I try to compile the DVD with Scenarist (using Scenaid's 0.9.0.27 script), I get the following error :

Info Multiplexing VOB Main Stream
Error (The duration is too short (2 frame(s)))
Error dvd_mux : Open Mux_list File Error
Error Terminated Multiplexing (Extras-VTS01_006_Track_t.vob).
Error Wrong timecode.
Error Multiplex is failed.
Error Multiplexing failed, Track "VTS01_006_Track"

Error MuxFromDB:MuxVTS failed
Error Multiplex failed
Error DVD Video files could not be created

After a search through the forums, I found out that this problem occurs because the specific asset does not fulfill the minimum duration requirements by Scenarist.

Well, in the track editor, when I select the VTS01_006_Track, in the Main property browser, under "Main Video Play" tab, the duration is quoted as 00:00:00;01. Furthermore, when opening VTS__01_P06-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v (the file that is linked to VTS01_006) with VDub, it consists of 4 frames which serve as still images for the menus. (each of the 4 frames is the same image in different language)

In one other thread regarding the same problem, D3s7 suggested to delete those assets and let Scenarist compile without them, however, since they are still images from the menus, I cannot skip them.

As a sidenote, when importing Scenarist gives the following warnings :

Info Importing VTS01_005
Info Importing VTS01_006
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P06-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P06-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Info Importing VTS01_007
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P07-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P07-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Info Importing VTS01_008
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P08-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P08-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Info Importing VTS01_009
Info Importing VTS01_010
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P10-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P10-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Info Importing VTS01_011
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P11-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P11-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Info Importing VTS01_012
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P12-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P12-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Info Importing VTS01_013
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P13-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P13-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Info Importing VTS01_014
Info Importing VTS01_015
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P15-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P15-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Info Importing VTS01_016
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P16-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v" has changed.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P16-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

I'm guessing that these warning are relevant to the compile problem, so I believe that even if I fix or delete the VTS01_006 track, the same error will occur with all other tracks that gave the same warning when importing.

So, since I cannot delete those tracks, I actually have no clue what to do... Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[D3s7]

part of the problem is I haven't found a real accurate way to read the frame count of no-cce files (dvd2avidg still drops frames so that framecount won't match up always)

you can attempt to convert those to placeholders then back again and see if that fixes anything

[iparout]

Originally posted by D3s7
part of the problem is I haven't found a real accurate way to read the frame count of no-cce files (dvd2avidg still drops frames so that framecount won't match up always)

you can attempt to convert those to placeholders then back again and see if that fixes anything

First of all, thanks for your input.

I tried the placeholder trick and unfortunately it didn't work.

Here is what the Scenaid script says for this asset, BTW :

Item=Video
{
Place Holder=No
Name=VTS01_006
Resolution=PAL
Drop Type=Non-drop frame
Data Start Time=00:00:00;00
Data End Time=00:00:00;00
File=D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P06-no-cce.I-BFF.4~3_1.m2v
Width=720
Height=576
Is Encoded=Yes
Encode Type=MPEG 2
Size=720 x 576
Aspect Ratio=4 : 3
Picture Structure=Frame Structure
GOP Size=12 frames
GOP Structure=N/A
Bit rate=9000000
Average Bitrate=6000000
Minimum Bitrate=4000000
Bitrate Type=Variable
Icon Time=00:00:00;00

Just for reference, I tried creating a scp script with ReAuthorist, however, when running the script through Scenarist, it didn;t even finish importing, giving me the following error :

Info Validateing Video (VTS01\VTS__01_P06-NO-CCE.)
Warning The duration of MPEG video file "D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P06-NO-CCE.I-BFF.4~3_1.M2V" has changed.
Error Track "VTS_01_PGC_06", Scene "VTS01_vobid37_cellid01"'s timecode 00:00:00;24 is larger than video duration.
Warning D:\PiratesExtras\VTS01\VTS__01_P06-NO-CCE.I-BFF.4~3_1.M2V
Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4.

Error Importing failed

This info was just for reference though. I am always using Scenaid to generate the scripts.

So what can be done to take care of this problem ? Perhaps I can manually edit Scenaid's scp script for those assets to fix the problem ? Or manually add 6 frames at the end of the m2v file to match the minimum of 10 required for PAL ? I don't know...

Further help would be much appreciated.

[iparout]

UPDATE :

I used M2-EDIT pro to join the VTS__01_P06-NO-CCE.I-BFF.4~3_1.M2V file with one of the dummy .mpv files that Scenaid has in its installation folder. Now the VTS__01_P06-NO-CCE.I-BFF.4~3_1.M2V has a total of 12 frames which I think is adequate.

I run Scenaid again and then imported into Scenarist. During Importing VTS01_006 I didn't get the "Warning : Number of SequenceEndCode is 4." warning so I thought that everything would be OK. However, when compiling, the exact same error came up for the exact same stream... It says it's too short again, although the stream is now 12 frames long.

I honestly don't know what to do... :(

[D3s7]

what is the length of the asset if you manually drop it in Scenarist?

that would give you an accurate comparison of what it should be in the script...

almost looks like it should be a Still Track instead of a Video track

[iparout]

Originally posted by D3s7
what is the length of the asset if you manually drop it in Scenarist?

that would give you an accurate comparison of what it should be in the script...

almost looks like it should be a Still Track instead of a Video track

Well, if I manually drop it into Scenarist (the original m2v file, not the one I created with M2 Edit Pro), Track Editor says "Data Start Time" = 00:00:00,00 and "Data End Time" = 00:00:00;03

I too believe it should be a still image rather than a video track. But even if it is a still image, I still don't know what to do to fix the error... :confused:

[influenza]

Create you own dummy file with the number of frames you need. Reencode a small part of your main movie to do so. Adjust the avs script and include a trim command . Trim (0,number of frames required).

If you encode manually make sure you set the dar correctly in cce and also make sure you set the start time correctly. That should do it for you.

[iparout]

Originally posted by influenza
Create you own dummy file with the number of frames you need. Reencode a small part of your main movie to do so. Adjust the avs script and include a trim command . Trim (0,number of frames required).

If you encode manually make sure you set the dar correctly in cce and also make sure you set the start time correctly. That should do it for you.

Well, if the file was indeed a dummy file, I would try what you are suggesting, but as I said it contains 4 still images from the menus of the movie, so I can't just replace it with an empty dummy file, cause I will lose those images.

[influenza]

And does it actually do something?

If so: extract the pictures (make snapshots with powerdvd maybe). Import those into scenarist as slideshow and set the slideshows to the desired length. Use those to recreate your track.

[iparout]

Originally posted by influenza
And does it actually do something?

If so: extract the pictures (make snapshots with powerdvd maybe). Import those into scenarist as slideshow and set the slideshows to the desired length. Use those to recreate your track.

Well, I honestly do not know if this asset is indeed a slideshow or not. I mean, it has 4 frames, each of them showing the same thing, only in different language. So I do not think it's a slideshow, cause if it was, all frames would be shown one after the other when viewing the stream. However, only 1 of the frames are shown during playback, depending on which language the user has chosen.

I sent D3s7 the .m2v stream and some other files as per his request, so hopefully he figures out what kind of asset this is (slideshow, still images e.t.c.) and helps me deal with this problem.

[iparout]

Well, after some PMs with D3s7 (thanks, man), it turns out they are indeed slideshows and the only solution is for them to be demuxed by PGC and then manually imported into Scenarist.

Since I do not want to get involved in such a process (I'm way too n00b for this), I chose to uncheck the VTSes that contain those slideshows in DIF4U and let those specific VOBs be directly copied from the original DVD rather than get demuxed and imported into scenarist. Hopefully this will sort the problem out...

One last question :

Say in VTS01, the PGC 01, PGC 02 and PGC 04 are slideshows whereas PGC 03 is a clip which I want to demux and re-encode. If, instead of unchecking the entire VTS01 as I suggested before, I uncheck only PGC 01, 02 and 04 from that VTS and leave PGC 03 checked in order for it to be demuxed and re-encoded with CCE, will this be a solution to my problem as well ? Or will the unchecked PGCs (slideshows) not be included in the final DVD+R at all ?

Sorry if this question sounds naive, but I'm still trying to find out how this whole thing works...

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Trahald]

Originally posted by iparout
Well, after some PMs with D3s7 (thanks, man), it turns out they are indeed slideshows and the only solution is for them to be demuxed by PGC and then manually imported into Scenarist.

Since I do not want to get involved in such a process (I'm way too n00b for this), I chose to uncheck the VTSes that contain those slideshows in DIF4U and let those specific VOBs be directly copied from the original DVD rather than get demuxed and imported into scenarist. Hopefully this will sort the problem out...

One last question :

Say in VTS01, the PGC 01, PGC 02 and PGC 04 are slideshows whereas PGC 03 is a clip which I want to demux and re-encode. If, instead of unchecking the entire VTS01 as I suggested before, I uncheck only PGC 01, 02 and 04 from that VTS and leave PGC 03 checked in order for it to be demuxed and re-encoded with CCE, will this be a solution to my problem as well ? Or will the unchecked PGCs (slideshows) not be included in the final DVD+R at all ?

Sorry if this question sounds naive, but I'm still trying to find out how this whole thing works...

Thanks in advance for any help.

yeah.. when i have dvds and i realize a vts is basically a menu in a the movie area (usually games or trivia).. i uncheck it.. they are usually pretty small so compressing isnt worth it.

for your second question.. you are right.. unchecked pgcs arent demuxed. scenaid will replace them with the dummy pgcs. usually the motion sequences that are mixed with the slideshows/menu are relatively small and arent worth compressing.

[iparout]

Originally posted by Trahald
yeah.. when i have dvds and i realize a vts is basically a menu in a the movie area (usually games or trivia).. i uncheck it.. they are usually pretty small so compressing isnt worth it.

for your second question.. you are right.. unchecked pgcs arent demuxed. scenaid will replace them with the dummy pgcs. usually the motion sequences that are mixed with the slideshows/menu are relatively small and arent worth compressing.

I see. So, if I understood correctly, regarding the second option, the unchecked PGSc won't be included in the final DVD+R at all, right ? They will be replaced by dummy files and, as a result, the contents of the unchecked PGCs (menu images in my situation) will be totally absent from the final backup...