PD17 can't handle lossless/FLV video files

goody_fyre11

Member Joined: Jul 10, 2018 21:18 Messages: 56 Offline

Solved by

Aug 06, 2020 01:01

As the title says, PD17 can't handle lossless videos with the .flv file extension. When you drag them into the timeline, everything seems fine until you do anything. Any action that modifies the video or allows you to view information about the video causes PD17 to hang and stop responding. This happens to any lossless video with the .flv file extension. I have OBS set up to record using the .flv file extension so that the file doesn't get corrupted and unrecoverable if the target application crashes unexpectedly.

There's an annoying workaround to this - put the unedited clip into the timeline, produce it so it becomes MP4, then edit the MP4 instead. Even if it's the same exact bitrate, PD17 can magically handle the MP4 even though only the file extension changed. However, this prevents it from being lossless, ruining the whole point.

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Aug 06, 2020 02:06

Can you use lossless AVI such as Huffyuv or Lagareth? HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
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PowerDirector Moderator

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

Aug 06, 2020 04:15

Quote As the title says, PD17 can't handle lossless videos with the .flv file extension. When you drag them into the timeline, everything seems fine until you do anything. Any action that modifies the video or allows you to view information about the video causes PD17 to hang and stop responding. This happens to any lossless video with the .flv file extension. I have OBS set up to record using the .flv file extension so that the file doesn't get corrupted and unrecoverable if the target application crashes unexpectedly.

There's an annoying workaround to this - put the unedited clip into the timeline, produce it so it becomes MP4, then edit the MP4 instead. Even if it's the same exact bitrate, PD17 can magically handle the MP4 even though only the file extension changed. However, this prevents it from being lossless, ruining the whole point.

Hello,

Which encoder did you use when recording the file in OBS Studio? I did a test here with OBS, recording a lossless .FLV file using both the x264 and NVENC encoders. I then imported both in PowerDirector 17 and performed a trim.

The x264 file did have some lagging/freezing issues, but I was eventually able to perform the trim. With the NVENC encoder, I could perform the trim quite easily.

So please check your encoder for the .FLV files and try using NVENC. See if that helps.

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

goody_fyre11

Member Joined: Jul 10, 2018 21:18 Messages: 56 Offline

Aug 06, 2020 12:45

Yes, I am using the same encoder settings as you. I should mention that short videos with these settings lag a lot, but I can work with them. Videos that are longer than 30 minutes cause these issues. Clicking anywhere on the PD window causes the program to instantly crash. Any operation on these videos is too much. Convert it to MP4 and PD has no issues with it, loading it immediately.

For comparison, a 30 minute FLV video causes these issues, while a 5 hour MP4 file has no lag or any issues.

I can't use AVI because - although people say that you can recover a broken AVI file - all my attempts have failed. I'd rather use a format that has a 100% chance of being able to recover.

PowerDirector Moderator

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

Aug 07, 2020 12:42

Quote Yes, I am using the same encoder settings as you. I should mention that short videos with these settings lag a lot, but I can work with them. Videos that are longer than 30 minutes cause these issues. Clicking anywhere on the PD window causes the program to instantly crash. Any operation on these videos is too much. Convert it to MP4 and PD has no issues with it, loading it immediately.

For comparison, a 30 minute FLV video causes these issues, while a 5 hour MP4 file has no lag or any issues.

I can't use AVI because - although people say that you can recover a broken AVI file - all my attempts have failed. I'd rather use a format that has a 100% chance of being able to recover.

Ok, maybe a better workaround is to use the OBS Remux process (File>Remux Recordings).

This is documented as just moving the original encoding from an FLV container to an MP4 container with no re-encoding and therefore no quality loss etc.

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/is-remux-recording-as-same-as-video-format-converter.104911/
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/how-to-convert-flvs-to-mp4-fast-without-re-encoding.78/
https://medium.com/@tielqt/should-you-be-recording-to-mp4-with-obs-obs-mythbusters-fc8513851170

It's very fast, so worth a go??

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

goody_fyre11

Member Joined: Jul 10, 2018 21:18 Messages: 56 Offline

Aug 07, 2020 17:51

Quote

Ok, maybe a better workaround is to use the OBS Remux process (File>Remux Recordings).

This is documented as just moving the original encoding from an FLV container to an MP4 container with no re-encoding and therefore no quality loss etc.

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/is-remux-recording-as-same-as-video-format-converter.104911/
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/how-to-convert-flvs-to-mp4-fast-without-re-encoding.78/
https://medium.com/@tielqt/should-you-be-recording-to-mp4-with-obs-obs-mythbusters-fc8513851170

It's very fast, so worth a go??

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

Wow, I remuxed a long .flv video and all the issues I had with it magically disappeared. It seems that the issue isn't bitrate or codecs, just the .flv file extension. It's great that I have this quicker workaround, but the original point of my post still stands. This still needs to be fixed. I should mention that VLC Media Player also has trouble with long .flv videos, so it might just be a quirk of that file extension.