g_vanessachristianavid4.wmv broken?

[teacy123]

Hi!
Downloaded all 5 files from the Vanessa & Christiana GG. 1-3 & 5 work perfect. Number 4 cannot be forwarded/rewinded and stops after about 2 minutes with a Windows Media Player error message. I downloaded it again using all available methods (save in FF, save in IE, FreeDownloadManager) but to no avail.

Can you please check this file?

[yusanord]

there is something wrong with the WMV, I tested it out earlier and the same thing happened for me. I suspect it didn't upload properly, a few bytes short. I'll get that sorted out when I return to work after Easter, but we're in the midst of something at AWHQ at the moment which may delay things further.

In the meantime, the MPG should work fine, and enlarging it to double size is pretty clear.

Hope this helps, yusa

[Vid Dude]

Okay. Sure.

[stoneyyy]

Okay. Sure.

I think this is what Vid Dude is trying to say

[Luxman]

That's great stoneyyy.
Perhaps we should do something similar, with Matilda in a video.

Lxm

[Techman]

Hope this helps, yusa

Just fyi...it was me that suggested that teacy123 post in the technical forums. At the time, Vid Dude was away. I didn't want the vanessa_christiana thread cluttered with talk about the vid4 files problem. It wasn't until 1-2 minutes after I had suggested to teacy123 he post here, that Vid Dude replied. By then, teacy123 was already off to the technical forums and it was too late to stop him. Noooooo, not the dreaded double-thread!

I also wanted to say a few things about the wmv files. I've noticed this problem with seeking for wmv files here at AW and on other sites. I had always thought it was a Mac problem or a, "My Mac is too slow to render high-res wmv files" problem. Then, teacy said it happened on his XP machine. This was the first time I knew it happened not only with Mac but Windows too.

Just a few thoughts on this...regarding a hypothetical 4:00 minute wmv video.

1) Some wmv files will not allow any seeking (if you do, it will lock up the video).
2) The files that will not allow seeking, some WILL allow you to press play, and watch the whole thing without any problems
3) Some wmv files will allow some seeking. But lock up only on the corrupted data parts. For example, say 00:00 through 2:10 is fine. But 2:11 through 2:30 is corrupted. You will be able to seek past to 2:31 and watch the rest of the video fine. And even seek within the 2:31 to 4:00 parts.
4) Some wmv files will allow viewing and seeking on until you reach the corrupt data part. Then, the movie ends there...even if there was an additional 2:00 minutes left. You can't even seek past the corrupt part -- either it's too corrupt or the rest of the video is corrupted. Not sure. But the vanessa_christiana wmv4 file falls under this catagory (#4). Once you get to 2:20 or so. The rest is un-watchable. Even if you just pressed play and never touched the seek button/bar.

This is just fyi for quality control. Because I know I've seen a few files that did this on AW that fell under category #2, which is, press play and the video goes from 00:00 to 4:00 fine. But seek, and it will lock up. I'm not sure how many people ignored it and just dealt with it. Mac users are more prone to just ignore wmv problems. But PC users? Not sure. This is why I usually stay away from wmv files altogether.

[Vid Dude]

These are fundamental problems with WMVs as a whole, and are many of the reasons why we were initially reluctant to introduce them onto the site.

The cause of their errors are inconsistent, can act differently for different platforms, can be caused at initial creation, at upload, at download, or at playback, and therefore are hard to anticipate and offer global solutions for.

WMVs suck for this reason, but they do give good image quality.

[Techman]

WMVs suck for this reason, but they do give good image quality.

Yeah, I did notice that. The video was about 10% more clear vs the mpg. Ever think about using the H.2xx codecs for mpg? Not sure if they are only for .mov or if they can work with mpg. Maybe that would improve the quality of the mpg, but not add too much size.

Disclaimer...
techman = clueless to most video technologies
techman = not clueless to most server technologies

[Vid Dude]

The H.264 codec has a few problems we try to avoid - it's new, it's additional, and it has limitations.

New: Only some players utilise it
Additional: It has to be downloaded by members
Limitations: To handle the additional power, you need a fairly fast powerful computer

End result: more hassle than it's worth. cf our nightmare experience with DivX

[Frans]

1) Some wmv files will not allow any seeking (if you do, it will lock up the video).

If you got a spare winPC around you might want to try http://www.geocities.com/myasftools/ ASF Basic repair on those (WMV is more or less the newer name for ASF;-).

2) The files that will not allow seeking, some WILL allow you to press play, and watch the whole thing without any problems

That is often just a flag not set, can be fixed with the above mentioned utils ('make seekable' option).

3) Some wmv files will allow some seeking. But lock up only on the corrupted data parts. For example, say 00:00 through 2:10 is fine. But 2:11 through 2:30 is corrupted. You will be able to seek past to 2:31 and watch the rest of the video fine. And even seek within the 2:31 to 4:00 parts.

?? The above would be a GOOD thing wouldn't it? Video is watchable again from the first non-corrupted I-frame found, sounds fine to me? Unfortunatly vid4 didn't recover which means it probably is entirely corrupt afterward (can't imagine no I-frames in the remaining video). I think most if not all high-compression codecs (xvid/divx/wmv) have problems dealing with corruption though. Mpeg is better suited to compensate for those.

This is just fyi for quality control. Because I know I've seen a few files that did this on AW that fell under category #2, which is, press play and the video goes from 00:00 to 4:00 fine. But seek, and it will lock up. I'm not sure how many people ignored it and just dealt with it. Mac users are more prone to just ignore wmv problems. But PC users? Not sure. This is why I usually stay away from wmv files altogether.

Do you remember a file on AW which has that problem? I wanna see if I get that problem too and if it's fixable
(btw. that lockup may be the player trying verrrry slowly to find a proper startframe to resume playing from)

-Frans

[stoneyyy]

That's great stoneyyy.
Perhaps we should do something similar, with Matilda in a video.

Lxm

And that furthers a great idea, actually how about Matilda and others do a FAQ, Forum Rules, how to use the Forums, video, Naked of course

Attach the video to a sticky link

[Frans]

And that furthers a great idea, actually how about Matilda and others do a FAQ, Forum Rules, how to use the Forums, video, Naked of course

Attach the video to a sticky link

Heh, finally got that link to work (for some reason it refused to work on sunday;-). Verrry educational indeed

[TowelBoy]

Mostly Great !

These are fundamental problems with WMVs as a whole, and are many of the reasons why we were initially reluctant to introduce them onto the site.

The cause of their errors are inconsistent, can act differently for different platforms, can be caused at initial creation, at upload, at download, or at playback, and therefore are hard to anticipate and offer global solutions for.

WMVs suck for this reason, but they do give good image quality.

My experience since WMVs were introduced by AW in September 2005 is only positive.
If the WMV file is complete and not corrupt ... " seeking " ... forward or rewind is never a problem.
Extremely rarely has this happened to me ... a second download has solved it previously.
This particular file " g_vanessachristianavid4.wmv " has arrived corrupt at the server . IMO.
I doubt the file format has anything to do with this.
A realistic estimate would be that 99 % of AW WMVs play back without error.
Retail DVDs would have a higher error rate ... I've returned a few of those of late .

TowelBoy

[Frans]

In the meantime, the MPG should work fine, and enlarging it to double size is pretty clear.

Much to my surprise the mpg part4 didn't look horrible. I did a small 'test-run' with r_jessica_s vids but those didn't come out nearly as well as this mpeg part4 file. Must have been my bad luck

A nice shoot indeed

[Techman]

?? The above would be a GOOD thing wouldn't it? Video is watchable again from the first non-corrupted I-frame found, sounds fine to me? Unfortunatly vid4 didn't recover which means it probably is entirely corrupt afterward (can't imagine no I-frames in the remaining video). I think most if not all high-compression codecs (xvid/divx/wmv) have problems dealing with corruption though. Mpeg is better suited to compensate for those.
-Frans

#4) Some wmv files will allow viewing and seeking on until you reach the corrupt data part. Then, the movie ends there...even if there was an additional 2:00 minutes left. You can't even seek past the corrupt part -- either it's too corrupt or the rest of the video is corrupted. Not sure. But the vanessa_christiana wmv4 file falls under this catagory (#4). Once you get to 2:20 or so. The rest is un-watchable. Even if you just pressed play and never touched the seek button/bar.

Yep! It would be good.

[Techman]

A realistic estimate would be that 99 % of AW WMVs play back without error.
Retail DVDs would have a higher error rate ... I've returned a few of those of late .

TowelBoy

True. But it also depends on what site you are visiting. Because I've found some sites that *only* offer wmv files for vids and the failure rate for seeking is around 10%. It could be that their video editing software isn't as good as others. Or the person doing the editing; their editing skills aren't as good.

Again, I thought it was a Mac problem. So, I can't be positive that these same files would have had problems on a PC.

[Techman]

Do you remember a file on AW which has that problem? I wanna see if I get that problem too and if it's fixable
(btw. that lockup may be the player trying verrrry slowly to find a proper startframe to resume playing from)
-Frans

I can't remember what the names of the files I found because it was months ago. Plus, I don't use the wmv files anymore. At least the AW ones...

But I do know about a corrupt file on another site, if you have an account on Saphic-erotica (AW recommended site). If you are interested, I can give you the file name and you can try to repair that file. Let me know.

[Frans]

I can't remember what the names of the files I found because it was months ago. Plus, I don't use the wmv files anymore. At least the AW ones...

But I do know about a corrupt file on another site, if you have an account on Saphic-erotica (AW recommended site). If you are interested, I can give you the file name and you can try to repair that file. Let me know.

Nope, gave up on SE quite a while ago. Maybe they've changed for the better now again, but one paysite is enough for the moment. Can't keep up with one already

[Luxman]

Retail DVDs would have a higher error rate ... I've returned a few of those of late .

No Towelboy, you MUST NOT try to mark the best part of the DVD with a needle or a knife on the disc!

Lxm