Download ends but no file with torrent packs

BitComet BitComet General Discussion
1

Well, first I want to apologize for my English cause… I’m not English.

I’m using Bitcomet 0.91 and have no problem with it when I download any typical torrent. But I have an issue when I download torrents which gather many files (for instance “Prison Break season 1, 2, 3…”).

What happens is I choose to download only a few files from the pack, or only one, so I can watch the first videos without waiting for the whole pack to be downloaded. But when I do that, sometimes, the download ends, it says 100% but when I try to open the file with bsplayer it bugs. I can’t read the file. VLC offers me to “rebuild” the file but it never works.

What I tried to do (and if I remember correctly it used to work when I had that issue a few months ago) is starting the download of another file of the pack while still having the previous file on, then cancelling the new download and when I do that, that previous file falls from 100% to (kinda) 99%. The download restarts for about 5 minutes, and the same thing happens, again and again.

I feel quite desperate now and I would appreciate any help about that situation.

Thx a lot.

2

If the file is damaged, BitComet can’t do anything about that - it just transmits what’s sent, and the hash-check assures that it does so accurately. If the file is broken, BitComet can’t fix it, but other tools possibly can.

I’ve frequently had the “rebuild the index” issue trying to use files with VLC, and I can usually solve it by

Opening the problem file with VirtualDub

Setting video options to “Direct stream copy”

Checking that audio options are already set to “direct stream copy” (the default, but check)

Save the file to disk under a different name.

I can usually play the new file flawlessly.

3

If the file is damaged, BitComet can’t do anything about that - it just transmits what’s sent, and the hash-check assures that it does so accurately. If the file is broken, BitComet can’t fix it, but other tools possibly can.

I’ve frequently had the “rebuild the index” issue trying to use files with VLC, and I can usually solve it by

Opening the problem file with VirtualDub

Setting video options to “Direct stream copy”

Checking that audio options are already set to “direct stream copy” (the default, but check)

Save the file to disk under a different name.

I can usually play the new file flawlessly.

I did what you said and it worked, but the audio and the video were not synchronized, I could hear what people say one second before their lips move…

I eventually downloaded another pack (with exactly the same files in it) and it works. But I still do not understand why I’m having this problem when I download some files of a pack while I have never had such a problem with all the movies I ever downloaded with bitcomet. And I’m pretty sure the problem comes from bitcomet since I already succedded to achieve some downloads using some tricks, like starting another file of the pack, stopping it, restarting the unachieved file, closing and restarting bitcomet, bla bla bla. Sometimes it works, so the files are clean, it’s just bitcomet who fails…

4

there are some problems in 0.91. try to last version,it was fixed.

5

Or you don’t choose to download.

6

Synchronizing audio and video is an issue that needs to be done when the rip is made. I’m not enough of a digital video guru to know how to fix it after the fact, but it seems to me that you’d have to take the two streams apart and re-sequence them - effectively remaking the whole movie.

There are all sorts of skill levels out there doing rips &c., and this makes for uneven output. There are people who don’t seem to check what they’ve done after a conversion or rip, so they don’t know they’ve messed up the audio synch, but put it out there anyway.

So far as I can determine, there is nothing that BitComet could do to cause an audio synch problem, which would not also cause a hash-check fail and piece re-download. BitComet certainly isn’t perfect, but this isn’t one of its possible failure modes.

I have had the index issue with individual files as much as those from collections (your ‘packs’), and haven’t noticed that it happens more with partial downloads. I could be wrong about that. But then I admit I still mostly use BitComet 0.70 because it’s stable and rock-solid. But also try Gavin’s advice and see if upgrading to 1.14 solves the problem.

When doing partial downloads like this, it’s a really good idea to download the file(s) that you want now, stop your client, copy or move the file that you wanted elsewhere so you can watch/listen to it (or burn it to optical disk), delete it, tell the client not to download that file, then restart the client downloading the next chunk.

This seems to avoid most of the file/piece boundary issues that can occur (why a file that was complete, slips back to 99% when you’re doing this.) This is how I deal with torrents that are ridiculously huge, or even just larger than my remaining disk space.

7

What you said was actually what I was, somehow, trying to do, but it still does not work.

I also upgraded to 1.14 but it did not fix the issue.

Here are some pictures to make it clearer.

Pic 1 :

Here you can see that there is a slight difference between the progress indicated on the “main page” and in the properties thing. The one indicated on the main page is always higher, and I guess that’s why it tells me the download over while actually the file isnt downloaded yet.

Pic 2 :

Here you can see that when bitcomet tells me the download is over, the bitcomet icon turns into a bsplayer icon but there is no picture on the icon, while there is one on the other icons…

Pic 3 :

Bsplayer can’t open the file, so can’t VLC or the other softwares I tried. Virtualdub can’t open those files either btw.

I’m currently experiencing something else. The file is said over at 100% in both main page and properties. But I still can’t open it…

8

What you said was actually what I was, somehow, trying to do, but it still does not work.

Well, no, you really didn’t.

What I advised you to do was to copy or move the completed file OUT of the download directory, to a different path, in order to get around the “I’m complete. No, I’m not.” business. You didn’t do that at all.

BitComet transfers files. That’s all it does, and once that’s done, BitComet’s job is finished. The download completes. BitComet removes its optionally-added extension, and the filename reverts to its original name. Now BitComet is done. It tips its hat to you and leaves town, heading west, as the sun sets.

Your OS takes over. It tries to read the file, extract an image from it, and make that image the icon for the file. You will note that this failed, that the OS could not extract an image from the file, so left it as the default “A BSPlayer file” icon.

It was pretty predictable, really, that if the OS couldn’t read the file, BSPLayer wouldn’t be able to either. Which happened.

BitComet just transfers files. It doesn’t clean them up, and if you feed garbage in, garbage is what comes out. Accurately copied garbage, but still garbage.

The problem is with the source material. That happens, especially with collections like this, which come from multiple original sources. Sometimes the collector finds out after the fact, and re-ups the damaged episodes, so check for it. This is what I did for my “Two Fat Ladies” collection when S3E1 turned out to be damaged somehow.

So just delete the episodes that don’t work, and try to find them in another torrent. When you get them all and have watched them, you can put together your own collection and torrent it yourself, then upload it and tell people that this one works.

9

You’re probably right, but sometimes, after some tricks like I said in my first message, I can read those files, so they’re not corrupted at the source.

Oh and I tried what you said. When i do it, and I restart the download of the file, it comes back and nothing changes. I had too blabla S01E09 who didn’t work…

10

As a supplementary safety precaution you can enable (if it is not already enabled) hash-check on finish in Options → Advanced. This way you can check the file against its source one more time after the completion of download. So, you know now for sure that the file you downloaded is exactly as the original and if it has problems they’re not from the download.

11

There is a difference between “incomplete” and “damaged”.

The point of getting the file out of the download directory is to discover which one is so. If you don’t do this, you’ll keep getting the two confused.

BIttorrent downloads are such that the file is not transferred in linear order. If your download is almost complete, that does not mean that you have all except the end of the file. Instead, you’ve got a file with a piece missing, and that piece could be at the very beginning of the file, as readily as at the end or somewhere in the middle. How each player will treat that incomplete file is a matter of conjecture.

Get the file to where BC says it’s complete and a hash-check agrees.

Stop the task

Copy or move it out of the download directory. Now if BC changes its mind, that won’t affect this file.

Tell BitComet not to download that file, and to start downloading the next file.

Restart the task

Try to watch the file from its new home. If it still doesn’t work, it’s damaged.

12

I don’t find the hash check in the 1.14 version.

And I’m pretty sure the files are not damaged at the source since it’s always the first one of the group I’m downloading who doesnt work. For instance I downloaded today the episodes S02E11 to S02E18, and they all work perfectly except the E11 who got the problem… And it’s always with the first one or the two first ones.

I tried what u said kluelos but it still doesnt work…

13

Manual hash-checking does not appear as an option unless the task is stopped.

Did you try just re-downloading the episode with the problem?