Cannot edit Surveilance Station Video Footage in Video Editor

[DesertSweeper]

Has anyone found a way to edit the Surveillance Station footage, or convert it to a format that is recognised by decent Video Editors like Vegas or VPX?

So I go to download some video footage to hand over to the authorities and I need to edit out and clean it up to reduce down to the relevant sections. The first thing I discover is that you cannot import any clips that are not complete. So if you choose a start and end-time and download that - it is only viewable in a player - no Video Editor recognises the file as a valid MP4 video file. Ok so you get past that and dump the entire recording and now various video editors see it as a valid MP4 file. BUT there is not much one can do with it:

Vegas Pro 15: Crashes on placing the clip into the time-line
Video Pro X: "The file is not recognised as a supported Video Format"
Corel VideoStudio 2018: This cheap editor actually accepts the file, allows you to edit it but does not see the Audio stream - in fact it believes the source video does not contain any audio at all - even though it clearly does.

Details:
Synology DS716+II
DSM 6.1.5-15254 (2018/01/26)
Camera: Hikvision IR Mini Dome DS-2CD2542FWD-IS with Firmware V5.4

 

[ColinTaylor]

Install MediaInfo and then use it to check what video and audio formats are contained in the file.

 

[DesertSweeper]

Good point...
Complete name : C:\Users\W\Desktop\cam05-20180225-141251-144251.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (mp41/avc1)
File size : 1.07 GiB
Duration : 29 min 59 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 5 095 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2018-02-25 10:12:51
Tagged date : UTC 2018-02-25 10:12:51
IsTruncated : Yes

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L5
Format settings : CABAC / 1 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, RefFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=20
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 29 min 59 s
Source duration : 29 min 59 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 017 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 16.7 Mb/s
Width : 2 688 pixels
Height : 1 520 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 20.000 FPS
Minimum frame rate : 19.627 FPS
Maximum frame rate : 20.020 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.061
Stream size : 1.05 GiB (98%)
Source stream size : 1.05 GiB (98%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2018-02-25 10:12:51
Tagged date : UTC 2018-02-25 10:12:51
Color range : Full
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2
Format : ADPCM
Format profile : U-Law
Codec ID : ulaw
Duration : 29 min 59 s
Source duration : 29 min 59 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 64.0 kb/s
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 8 000 Hz
Bit depth : 8 bits
Stream size : 13.7 MiB (1%)
Source stream size : 13.7 MiB (1%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2018-02-25 10:12:51
Tagged date : UTC 2018-02-25 10:12:51

 

[DesertSweeper]

The curious thing is that it plays happily in PotPlayer - video and audio. On the same computer.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well the container and video stream look normal, but the audio stream is slightly unusual. My guess is that the tools you've used are balking at the audio content. Something like AAC, AC3, MP3, PCM, OGG, etc. would be more common.

Maybe you can find a codec for ADPCM U-Law that will work with the editors you have. Failing that you might have to demux the audio stream, re-encode in something like AAC (using Audacity?) and then remux it. Or just strip out the audio completely if it's not required.

You might get better help by asking on one of the A/V forums as your problem is really nothing to do with Synology.

 

[DesertSweeper]

This is what I have been trying to do - strip the audio and then pull it back in as an audio stream on the timeline. But Avidemux crashes, MyMP4Box does nothing...VLC plays it but will not convert (export) the audio...at least it seems to but the resulting .mp3 is silent. Handbrake produces a sped up file with a crackling noise (Mp4 container). I am just amazed that despite much googling - no one else seems to have tried to do this.