tyconvert timecode error?

[willieb9000@y...]

Can any of you using tyconvert verify for me that the timecode is a 
bit screwy? I emailed Charlie about this, but I didn't hear back and 
I think he is a little burned out after working so hard to make these 
great progs lately. 

I play my mpgs in winDVD and they play synced. This is great. We 
are making progress, and I think Charlie's method of using timecode 
is the best way to do it. As far as I can tell, he is taking a break 
from the prog for a while and asked if anyone could help figure out 
why editing progs, etc do not like his files. I think they don't like 
it becasue the timecode is a little messed up. SO I am trying. My 
problem is, that I am not a coder so when I look at his source I have 
a tough time figuring out what is what. 

Here is what I can tell though. I have trouble grabbing and sliding 
the slider for ff and rew. As I drag the slider to the right to move 
ahead in the stream, the time moves up, but when you let go, it jumps 
back to a number lower than where it was. 

An example will explain best. I am watching a show. I want to grab 
the slider and move it right to go forward in the video. I grab it 
and slide it right and the time that shows where in the video you are 
moves up to 15:00 (fifteen minutes, 0 seconds). Then I let go. the 
slider jumps instantly more to the left and the timer switches 
instantly from reading 15:00 to 6:33 (six minutes 33 seconds). I 
plays from that point. More examples:
Slide to 39:31 let go --> 17:16
Slide to 29:47 let go --> 13:02
Slide to 47:32 let go --> 20:45

If you do the math, you will see that the offset is constant. Convert 
to seconds and multiply the first time by about .436 and you get the 
second number. SO I think there may be somewhere in tyconvert where a 
value is wrong. Note, this is not only in winDVD, but in tyconvert 
itself. I was experimenting with cutting out commercials. I thought 
that I would create the first segment and then abort right at the 
first commercial since the prog tells where in the show time it is as 
it converts. I aborted and it worked perfectly -- found the perfect 
spot. 

Then I thought I would skip the part of the file all the way up to 
the end of the first set of commercials and then encode until the 
next set of commercial etc etc. TYconvert messed this part up. I 
would tell it to skip the first 15 miutes and it would only skip the 
first 6:33. I would tell it 39:31 and it would only skip 17:16 etc 
etc like the values above. After I figured out the constant, I was 
able to calculate and get it to skip the proper amount ahead. Then I 
joined all the files and it worked. (There was some noise at the 
seams, but I think it is becasue just joining the files got the GOP 
structure messed up and the last frame before the join was not a 
closed GOP frame, so if it was a "B" frame it looked forward to a 
frame that was nothing like the one behind it)

Still, though the time code should not be screwy like this -- 
obviously CHarlie has the timecode location figured out. My guess, 
though is that somewhere the velues he inputs are not quite right. 
Maybe the system stream timecode and the video or audio timecode do 
not match or something along those lines (maybe the system TC is 
multiplied by .43 -- or at least that is the effect of an operation 
on that timecode? I don't expect there is a line that says multiply 
by .43) The fact that it is a constant .43 is good. I am sure it is 
more like .4365 or something and if I knew where to put it in the 
code and was able to compile it, I would try and adjust that value by 
just multiplying it by .4365 and see if it worked. I think if we can 
figure out where in tyconvert this is happening, we should be able to 
make the files where they open in editors, etc. To me this seems to 
be most obviously what is non standard about the files and fixing it 
would be a good start.

This where I need help though. If any of you can look at his code 
with this phenomenon in mind, maybe you can figure out what is going 
wrong or how to fix it. The programmers who are coming to mind are 
Dale and joe ( though I am sure there are others that I am 
forgetting) 

I also think it would be helpful if everyone who uses tyconvert will 
post what program they play their mpgs with, what codec (usually you 
can right click on the playing video and go to properties advanced or 
something and see what codec you are using) and whether they get sync 
always and whether they experience the slider problem I explained. 
ALso, post whether you have gotten any of its files to open in any 
kind of editing program. 

I am anxious to hear everyone's thought. Thnaks. 

Willie