PowerDirector adding blank space to the end of captured files

Pat9611

Newbie Joined: Oct 07, 2019 16:37 Messages: 2 Offline

Solved by

Jul 20, 2020 14:08

This is kind of a strange one. I use PowerDirector to capture video directly from a camera. It has been consistently creating files that are longer than the actual video, with the difference just being blank video.

For example, I recently captured a video that was 33:15 long. Later when I went to look at the file, it is reported as 4:16:28. That's not even close. This has actually been a problem in the past, because PowerDirector suddenly quit, thinking it had run out of space, when it hadn't.

I have no idea what's happening. Especially since when I run the video through Handbrake it comes out the other end just fine.

Anyone else run into this problem? Any thoughts?

StevenG

Contributor Joined: Jan 14, 2014 14:04 Messages: 513 Offline

Jul 21, 2020 08:43

What type of camcorder are you capturing from? AVCHD, miniDV, HDV, etc.

What type of connection are you using between the cam and your computer? USB, FireWire, a third party digitizer, etc.

Or are saying that you're streaming live video into the program? If so, describe your setup.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 21. 2020 08:44

Pat9611

Newbie Joined: Oct 07, 2019 16:37 Messages: 2 Offline

Jul 22, 2020 16:19

I'm capturing live video from a video camera to an mp4 file with PowerDirector. Connection is HDMI through a box to USB 3.

After taking a look at the file itself I can see at least part of the problem. The MP4 file that PowerDirector is creating is reporting the wrong duration in it's metadata.

Using ffmpeg I can see that the separate data for the audio and video streams has the correct duration, but the overall container format duration is not. And that is clearly the duration that both windows and PowerDirector are looking at.

So there's a discrepancy in the metadata of the MP4 file itself. Not at all sure if this is fixable by me, needs to be reported as a bug, or even where it's getting the inflated duration.

This is also why after processing it even a bit, the duration is fixed, since I'm sure the metadata is rewritten with the processed values.

Should I just report this as a bug?

Pat

PowerDirector Moderator

Senior Contributor Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan Joined: Oct 18, 2016 00:25 Messages: 2104 Offline

Jul 23, 2020 04:12

Quote I'm capturing live video from a video camera to an mp4 file with PowerDirector. Connection is HDMI through a box to USB 3.

After taking a look at the file itself I can see at least part of the problem. The MP4 file that PowerDirector is creating is reporting the wrong duration in it's metadata.

Using ffmpeg I can see that the separate data for the audio and video streams has the correct duration, but the overall container format duration is not. And that is clearly the duration that both windows and PowerDirector are looking at.

So there's a discrepancy in the metadata of the MP4 file itself. Not at all sure if this is fixable by me, needs to be reported as a bug, or even where it's getting the inflated duration.

This is also why after processing it even a bit, the duration is fixed, since I'm sure the metadata is rewritten with the processed values.

Should I just report this as a bug?

Pat

Hi,
This one might be a difficult one to mimic, so the more detail of hardware, capture settings and workflow you can give the better to enable others to troubleshoot.

At first glance one might assume something like the camera connections not being "switched off" by some part of the capturing process and PDR still filling the space, but your AV streams do not suggest that, so we are left with the "container" settings and profiles perhaps?

If you can give members as much detail as possible, it would help. See https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/80133.page

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator