Video File Scanner?

[u/alester34]

What are you all using to scan files for corruption/missing portions/etc.?

I have noticed recently that a lot of my files seem to terminate playback randomly and am betting that the files are either corrupted or just incomplete.

Is there a good program to scan my files to determine what I need to grab a new/different version of?

[u/iWatchStuffx]

i use ffmpeg/ffprobe

[u/DefyingMavity → u/iWatchStuffx]

what flags do you use to check for corrupt or missing info?

[u/iWatchStuffx → u/DefyingMavity]

for my library running on linux with ffmpeg i would use

find "/mnt/media/Movies" -type f \( -iname "*.mkv" -o -iname "*.mp4" -o -iname "*.avi" \) -print0 |
while IFS= read -r -d '' file; do
    echo "========================================"
    echo "Checking: $file"

    if ffmpeg -v error -i "$file" -f null - 2> /tmp/ffmpeg_errors; then
        if [ -s /tmp/ffmpeg_errors ]; then
            echo "ERRORS FOUND"
            cat /tmp/ffmpeg_errors
        else
            echo "OK"
        fi
    else
        echo "FFMPEG FAILED"
        cat /tmp/ffmpeg_errors
    fi
donefind "/mnt/media/Movies" -type f \( -iname "*.mkv" -o -iname "*.mp4" -o -iname "*.avi" \) -print0 |
while IFS= read -r -d '' file; do
    echo "========================================"
    echo "Checking: $file"

    if ffmpeg -v error -i "$file" -f null - 2> /tmp/ffmpeg_errors; then
        if [ -s /tmp/ffmpeg_errors ]; then
            echo "ERRORS FOUND"
            cat /tmp/ffmpeg_errors
        else
            echo "OK"
        fi
    else
        echo "FFMPEG FAILED"
        cat /tmp/ffmpeg_errors
    fi
done

that will look like

========================================
Checking: /mnt/media/Movies/Movie A/Movie A.mkv
OK
========================================
Checking: /mnt/media/Movies/Movie B/Movie B.mkv
ERRORS FOUND
[h264 @ 0x...] error while decoding MB 42 18
[matroska,webm @ 0x...] File ended prematurely
========================================
Checking: /mnt/media/Movies/Movie C/Movie C.mp4
OK

for individual files running on linux with ffprobe i would use

ffprobe "yourfile.mkv"

[u/DefyingMavity → u/iWatchStuffx]

How often do you find an issue? I check my media pretty regularly with the info flag and have never found anything.

[u/iWatchStuffx → u/DefyingMavity]

once in a blue moon over the last 5 years

[u/DefyingMavity → u/iWatchStuffx]

That's what I figured. I'll add this into my new media check. Thanks!

[u/DefyingMavity → u/iWatchStuffx]

Also, you could put your output to a variable rather than a file on disk, could be a bit faster and reduce read/writes

[u/DefyingMavity]

I can't remember the last time I found any issue with any files. This seems very specific to you, and maybe the content?

[u/alester34 → u/DefyingMavity]

I get everything through sabNZBD and play through Kodi.

[u/DefyingMavity → u/alester34]

SabNZBD is a client for downloading, that's not the source of the content. I worry you're not familiar with what you're doing.

[u/alester34 → u/DefyingMavity]

I worry that you're being condescending to make yourself feel better. I'm well aware of what I am using and where I am getting it from. I am asking for a specific recommendation for a system or program to check for corrupted files. If you have a recommendation, feel free to make one. If not, you could easily ignore my comment(s) entirely.

[u/alester34 → u/alester34]

And, historically, I have not had issues with anything other than my TV library (which I haven't spent much time with) - but I have noticed that some movies recently are doing the "play for (insert random period of time here) and then exiting to the menu".

[u/augur42 → u/alester34]

Given how sabnzbd works (I have used it myself for well over a decade at this point, maybe two) it really, really shouldn't be possible for it to download corrupt downloads as the NZBs you should be feeding it (from a reputable indexer) will contain either rars (which have an internal checksum) or more commonly these days, it's one massive mkv with a few par2 files to fix any repairs. It's truly a rare event for me to encounter a file that was uploaded corrupt.

When you click on a 'Completed' entry for a movie that is giving you issues does it say 'Quick Check OK' under Repair?

You could go into sabnzbd Special settings and untick enable_par_cleanup for a bit, you'll download all the par2 files so it will take up more storage but all you really need is the smallest par2 file. Then when you encounter a 'bad' movie you can run an integrity check on it using the par2 to see if it has changed, I've used MultiPar for years. If it fails the integrity check you would want to have kept those extra par2 files though so maybe keep them if you have the space. Alternatively, you could copy the small par2 file out of the temp folder during downloading.

I would hazard the much more likely issue is hardware, either bad ram or a failing hard drive. My suggestion is check your ram using memtest64, then scan your hdd using your manufacturers recommended tool.

[u/alester34 → u/augur42]

Thank you!!!

[u/DavidMelbourne → u/alester34]

There is your issue, Usenet no qos

[u/augur42 → u/DavidMelbourne]

I'm going to disagree with you there, usenet is inherently no more or less QoS than any other source. So long as the uploader has an uncorrupted original file and creates par2 along with their post there is zero reason a downloader should end up with a corrupted file. Any missing segments will be fixed with the par2 files.

The integrity verification within a par2 file or within a torrent file or on a ddl file or a rared file are all based on hashes, so long as the segment hashes match what you've downloaded your file is identical to the original one that was uploaded.

[u/sinigangmixoverload]

ffprobe works great for me too. It's a relief to have something reliable to check files before they waste your time mid-movie.

[u/augur42]

Post a debug log.

This sounds more like a system issue you need to identify and fix rather than a downloading corrupt files issue. Fixing the symptoms without fixing the source won't stop it from continuing to happen.

Next time you encounter a file that terminates playback start a debug log, replay the file from near the place it fails until it actually fails, then upload the debug log and post a link to it here. It could be something else entirely.

As an alternative possibility an emptying video cache caused by a network/WiFi issue will also cause playback termination.