[Ffmpeg-devel] Ffmpeg returns incorrect durations for VOBs/MPGs, pointer to fix?

[starman jones]

I am working on a tivo transcoder project called
tivoserver.  We are using
ffmpeg libraries to give us mpeg and VOB durations,
necessary to reserve
tivo diskspace in advance of the transcode.  However,
ffmpeg often returns
faulty mpg/VOB file durations.  Yet mplayer and VLC
seem to be able to
extract the correct durations of the same files.  I
have tried old ffmpeg's,
as well as compiled the most recent CVS, and "ffmpeg
-I filename" gives me
wrong duration (ex: 4minutes for a 15 minute VOB). 
Interestingly,
experimenting with zoomplayer, when I force the avi
splitter to use PTS as
the seek method, I get the same short duration, but
forcing it to use
bitrate for seek results in the player showing the
correct 15' duration.

Does anyone know why certain ffmpeg front-ends yield
correct duration while
invoking pure ffmpeg yields often wrong durations?  Is
it possible to change
the code easily, or use a different switch, to change
duration algorithm or
method?

I am a lightweight in C coding, but can make my way
around simple coding
changes and re-compiles.  Other tivoserver team
members can jump deeper if I
can get some pointers.

Thanks in advance!
Spearse


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