The incorrectly indexed files cause DVR2WMV and jelwood's mencoder to choke.  I haven't tried converting TO DVR-MS, though.

Ditto - plus the DVR-MSEdit app from Toub's blog also doesn't correctly open the recordings for me to try and trim off a minute at the beginning or end to see how that effects it.

 

Jess over in the "Ask the Media Center Team" section is reporting that they have "found" the reason for this problem: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/permalink/215482/215479/ShowThread.aspx#215479

Since it doesn't sound like the fact that it has been figured out is actually going to fix anything for us (at least right at this moment), be sure to go over to that thread and leave your own comments!  I personally just now want more detail about why it happens so I can understand what is possible in configuration changes or otherwise in order to avoid it.

 

For some odd reason, I have not had this problem since the last time I posted in this thread, that was approximatley a week ago. Not sure what happened but I am not complaining.

it's not an ideal solution, but it looks like converting the show to an other format will work.  I've tested mpeg (using AVIVO), I'm doing a wmv conversion right now and it seems to be going fine.

if you're using DTB, you could use a processing condition to conditionally convert files with duration values less than 30 min and move it to your video folder so you could at least watch the show normally.

wmv works.

It doesn't work for me - what MPEG decoder do you use?  Maybe that is my problem.  Thanks!

for wmv conversion?  I'm using the ATI one that comes with AVIVO to convert to mpeg I just built a graph in graphedit (same on used in my article for converting to wmvhd) that looks like this



I might be able to round-trip these files by converting them into mpeg.  I've got a application working that will convert the mpeg back into dvr-ms, and the duration values are all correct.  The only show stopper is I haven't figured out how to determine if conversion is complete (so I know when to stop the graph).  Once I figure that out it would be pretty simple to copy the metadata over and get a working file. 

Encapsulating the entire process in a cmd line utility and you have something that can be kicked off from a RunExternal action.

That would be a slick use of DTB in order to "fix" any files after they were recorded, although of course that wouldn't help when you are watching a show with this issue that has not completed recording yet. (and that happens to me as well on some) 

I think I personally am going to pursue the whole tuner/driver issue on my system to see what helps first but I might have to resort to something like what you describe.  (btw, for me it was actually my use of DTB and ShowAnaylyzer initially that made me realize there *was* a problem - some shows on playback would work great and commercials would be skipped just as expected while others would act absolutely crazy.  Of course the "crazy" ones ended up being the ones with the incorrect duration times)

you should continue to hammer on MS to fix it quickly.  if I get it working it would only be a work around until MS addresses the problem.

Try this application (http://babgvant.com/files/folders/misc/entry6485.aspx).  It fixed the problem on the test file I had.

babgVant:

Try this application (http://babgvant.com/files/folders/misc/entry6485.aspx).  It fixed the problem on the test file I had.

babgVant - I downloaded your application, but I get an error when I try to run it. I've tried double-clicking on the exe and also running it from the command line with the file I want fixed as an argument.

The error says: "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application."

Thanks, Andy - it works great for me!!!  I'm curious if it will work with HD sources, too - I don't have one to try out right now.

Thanks, and I'll be dropping a little Paypal thank you later today (don't worry - it will be very little ;) ).

For anyone else Andy's fix helps out - he would never ask for it, but if you can spare a couple of bucks, I'm sure he would appreciate it.  Don't forget - he fixed a problem for us that he doesn't even have himself.  There is a link on his home page here: http://babgvant.com/

Thanks again, Andy!

roblanderson:

babgVant:

Try this application (http://babgvant.com/files/folders/misc/entry6485.aspx).  It fixed the problem on the test file I had.

babgVant - I downloaded your application, but I get an error when I try to run it. I've tried double-clicking on the exe and also running it from the command line with the file I want fixed as an argument.

The error says: "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application."

Try using the following syntax at the command line:

FixDVRMSDuration.exe sourcefilepath targetfilepath

onlydarksets:

Thanks, Andy - it works great for me!!!  I'm curious if it will work with HD sources, too - I don't have one to try out right now.

Thanks, and I'll be dropping a little Paypal thank you later today (don't worry - it will be very little ;) ).

For anyone else Andy's fix helps out - he would never ask for it, but if you can spare a couple of bucks, I'm sure he would appreciate it.  Don't forget - he fixed a problem for us that he doesn't even have himself.  There is a link on his home page here: http://babgvant.com/

Thanks again, Andy!

glad it's working.  Don't worry about paypaling, it was motivation to finally figure out how to create dvr-ms files.  I've been meaning to add mpg->dvr-ms conversion to dtb for a long time, once I had that dvr-ms -> dvr-ms was easy, you don't even have to convert to mpeg.