Timing problem

[Ivanhoe]

Hello,
Since a few months now I have a new computer (Pentium 4 HT CPU) and I transferred some data and installed some programs I had on this new one.
I still had the downloaded file from Moonlight with the Elecard 2.1 player and I also have in my computer a Technisat DVB card Skystar 2 which enables me to make recordings using programs as DVB Viewer or ProgDVB.
Every recording is well displayed with the Elecard Mpeg2 player but the duration of the recordings is not correct.
A recording of 1 hour displays as being 14 minutes long and a whole opera of 3 hours and 9 minutes seems to be 46 minutes long.
When I use the components manager and unregister the Elecard MPEG 2 Demultiplexor c:\Program Files\Common Files\Moonlight\mpeg2dmx.ax then the correct duration of a recording is displayed as well on the upper right side as beneeth the trim glider but no picture is seen except after some time a still picture and there is the possibility to move the start en stop gliders but no more possibility to trim.
The mpeg2dmx.ax file has a version number 2.084.30429
Is there a more recent file in which the problem has been fixed and can I download it ?
Will the problem be solved if I would upgrade to the player version 3 ?
Thanks in advance for any answer.

[eugene]

Hello,
1. The Demultiplexer filter (part of the Player) is used to calculate the clip duration. Our Demuptiplexer can use two algorithms to calculate the clip duration.
1. Using PTS.
Each MPEG file must have Presentational Time Stamps (PTSs) and the Demultiplexer uses them in order to define duration.
Unfortunately, some files, which were improperly encoded or merged from different files into a big one, have gaps in PTSs (or haven't PTSs at all!) and, therefore it's impossible to use this method for such files.
When the Player opens the file, the Demuxer analyses this file and tries to find and check PTSs.
If the Demuxer has found proper PTSs it'll use this method for seeking.
Otherwise, it has to use the other method:
2. Using bitrate.
This is very inaccurate method. I think you know that sometimes bitrate is defined roughly and approximately; so real and announced (written at sequence header) bitrate differ very much.
    You can compare both methods and check the method that suits you better.
Please, start to playback some file and click <CTRL>+<F>; you should see the "Current Graph" window with the Demultiplexer (Splitter) image; click right on the image and click on the "property" icon; you should see the " MPEG Demultiplexer (Splitter) Properties" window.
Try to check the most suitable settings using "Seeking method" and "Init mode".
   3.0 Player (http://www.elecard.com/products/mpeg2player.shtml) supports a new feature - Index. The Index allows getting precise duration in spite of the difficulties that were mentioned above.
Please open a file using the Player and click <CTRL>+<M>;
- Save the index file *.mlmix;
- Open the Index file (*.mlmix) and you'll get a precise result for your clip duration.
   As about trimming.
First of all, I should say that this feature is available for the registered version only. If you need our software just for end-using (e.g. playing MPEG files on your PC), then you can purchase our MPEG Player (with Video Decoder included) online at ShareIt!:
https://secure.element5.com/shareit/checkout.html?productid=134303&language=English
You'll receive the serial number for the Player activation within one business day.

[Ivanhoe]

Thank you for your answer, which is very clear and has been very usefull.
Anyway, I have bought a registered version of the Moonlight Elecard player 2.1 and at the time (a few years ago) I paid some € 25,- for it, I think.
Am I correct that there is no upgrade policy for version 3.0 ? If the price is only about € 20,- there shouldn't be because this is very modest.
However, if my problem is fixed using the information you gave me, I will be able to continue using version 2.1
Thank you !
P.S. It helps to fix the file header using DVDPatcher, reducing the bit rate from 15 Mbit to 3.5 Mbit !

[posdnya]

Price of v.3.0 is $20 USD, which is about 16 euro. Upgrade is free within major version, i.e. all users of 2.xx got free upgrade until v.2.32. Those who will purchase v.3.0 will have free upgrade for all 3.xx versions.
direct link to buy:
https://secure.element5.com/register.html?productid=134303&language=English