Unable to FF/REW Topfield files

[stevebow]

I recently picked up an old Toppy TRF-2100 from a curbside throw-out and transferred the movies (all were .mts) from its HDD across to my T4. The T4 plays these fine, but won't FF or REW these, just showing this instead:

No FF message

NoFF.png (12.6 KiB) Viewed 810 times

I then tried running createapscfiles on a few files to see if that would help, but it made no difference. Actually, I had to rename the .mts files to .ts before that command would work.

Running MediaInfo across the Toppy files, the particulars are all identical to a native T4 .ts file, with the exception the General/Format parameter is BDAV for the Toppy files vs. MPEG-TS for the T4.

I'm not sure why the Toppy records in BDAV, but anyway, does anyone know why the T4 won't FF/REW these files? Even with a generated .ap/.sc file?

And the intruiguing "No fast winding possible yet.." - was this something once planned to add at some point for BDAV?

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Just chucking out ideas.
Try renaming the recording to have a .mpg file extension, as it'll then be played back with GStreamer (rather than the inbuilt DVB player ued for .ts).
Failing that, try remuxing the .ts file using adoxa's FFremux plugin - viewtopic.php?f=47&t=12458#p183367

[IanL-S]

My recollectionis that the TRF-2100 uses a proprietary file format. The easiest way to clean up the file is to use TFTool [https://www.kluesener99.de/tftool/en/index.html] to do this using the wizard to end up with a clean MPEG2.ts or H.264.ts file.

The FF/REW issue is possibly related to the absence of necessary support files for playing the recording as a native Beyonwiz file rather than as a media file - not an area in which I have any expertese.

Ian

[prl]

The FF/REW issue is possibly related to the absence of necessary support files for playing the recording as a native Beyonwiz file rather than as a media file - not an area in which I have any expertese.

The createapscfiles application that stevebow ran on the Topfield recordings is intended to generate those support files (the .ap, and .sc files, hence the name). However, it may not have worked correctly because of the format of the Topfield recordings, and even if it worked, the support files may not work with the Topfield files anyway.

For the best chance of everything working, stevebow should probably use TFTool, to convert the recording files, as you suggest, then run createapscfiles.

[stevebow]

Just chucking out ideas.

Happy to catch any.

Try renaming the recording to have a .mpg file extension, as it'll then be played back with GStreamer (rather than the inbuilt DVB player ued for .ts).

Yep, that worked, thanks.

Failing that, try remuxing the .ts file using adoxa's FFremux plugin - viewtopic.php?f=47&t=12458#p183367

That worked as well.

[stevebow]

However, it may not have worked correctly because of the format of the Topfield recordings, and even if it worked, the support files may not work with the Topfield files anyway.

Actually the result was the timebar had reduced from the original movie length of a few hours to around 6 minutes, although the .ts file was unchanged, and did not enable FF.REW in any case, so a bit of a mess.

For the best chance of everything working, stevebow should probably use TFTool, to convert the recording files, as you suggest, then run createapscfiles.

While Adoxa's FFremux plugin with a .ts to .ts remux did result in a file that could be FF/REW, there are no corresponding .ap and .sc files - I thought that these were required for .ts FF/REW? Or perhaps in this case the .ts is actually being played by GStreamer rather than thorough the H/W decoder - is there any messaging in the system log to indicate this?

[prl]

While Adoxa's FFremux plugin with a .ts to .ts remux did result in a file that could be FF/REW, there are no corresponding .ap and .sc files

Those support files are generated by createapscfiles.

- I thought that these were required for .ts FF/REW? Or perhaps in this case the .ts is actually being played by GStreamer rather than thorough the H/W decoder - is there any messaging in the system log to indicate this?

I'm not sure exactly what the .ap and .sc files are used for, perhaps really only for long jumps and skipping. The .ap file is a simple time-to-file position index. The source code says little about what the .sc file does, and I've never investigated it closely.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Yep, that worked, thanks.
...
That worked as well.

Batting 1000

You can chuck the money on top of the fridge

[Paul_oz53]

I'm not sure exactly what the .ap and .sc files are used for, perhaps really only for long jumps and skipping. The .ap file is a simple time-to-file position index. The source code says little about what the .sc file does, and I've never investigated it closely.

Cutlist editor requires them for editing. HDMI-In recordings can't be edited until I generate them through reconstructapsc.