What does HRESULT 0x0004028D (VFW_S_DVD_NOT_ACCURATE) mean?

Status / error code:

Category:

Constant name:

Source:

Facility:

Operating System:

Description:

DVD seek completed without frame accuracy

Previous	Next
VFW_S_DVD_CHANNEL_CONTENTS_NOT_AVAILABLE	VFW_S_DVD_RENDER_STATUS

VFW_S_DVD_NOT_ACCURATE

DVD seek completed without frame accuracy

VFW_S_DVD_NOT_ACCURATE is HRESULT 262797 (0x0004028D) from Video for Windows. AllStat describes this result as “The seek into the movie was not frame accurate.” The high-order severity bit is clear, so this is a success result, but it carries more information than plain S_OK.

The DVD seek reached an approximate valid location, but the result is not guaranteed to be frame accurate.

Where the result is encountered

This result can appear in DVD chapter and time seeks; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
This result can appear in navigation across encoded GOP boundaries; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
It can appear in interactive titles where legal navigation constrains exact positioning; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.

The same numeric success value can be mishandled when a wrapper exposes only a Boolean. Keep the original HRESULT until the code-specific outputs and state transition have been evaluated.

State boundary that must be proved

The central question for it is whether the reached cell, chapter, and playback time are acceptable for the user action even if the exact requested frame was not reached. The HRESULT alone confirms neither unrelated work nor the quality of optional outputs.

A reliable interpretation of it names the exact method contract, the object generation, and the outputs that remain valid. This prevents a success-with-information result from being promoted to full success or demoted to a generic error.

Evidence and telemetry to preserve

preserve requested and actual DVD time.
preserve title, chapter, cell, and angle.
preserve seek flags.
preserve navigator events after the seek.
preserve first rendered timestamp.

Also record vfw_s_dvd_not_accurate_operation, vfw_s_dvd_not_accurate_object, vfw_s_dvd_not_accurate_state_before, vfw_s_dvd_not_accurate_state_after, UTC time, process and thread identifiers, and a correlation ID. Keep secrets out of logs while retaining GUIDs, CLSIDs, media subtypes, property IDs, row identities, and hashes needed to distinguish objects.

Correct handling, retry, and recovery

Update UI to the actual position and avoid claiming edit-grade precision. Retry only with a supported navigation method; repeated identical seeks may resolve to the same legal location.

Retry it only when the recorded state can change the documented outcome. Repeating the same call is inappropriate for a stable end marker, cancellation, unsupported format, adjusted property, or partial result whose completed side effects have not been reconciled.

Diagnostic sequence

capture the raw HRESULT 0x0004028D immediately after the returning method and record whether the caller used SUCCEEDED, FAILED, equality testing, or exception translation.
Identify the exact owner of it: interface, method, object instance, provider or filter version, thread or apartment, and operation phase.
Validate the decisive contract boundary for it: the reached cell, chapter, and playback time are acceptable for the user action even if the exact requested frame was not reached.
inspect every output parameter, count, status array, returned interface, or side effect that the method documentation associates with this success-with-information result.
Compare the observed state before and after it; do not assume that a success severity bit means every optional sub-operation completed.
reproduce the smallest request with the same object state and then change only the condition identified by the evidence before repeating the operation.

Practical validation scenario

A user seeks to a time inside a GOP. The navigator lands at the nearest legal point, the player reads the actual position, and the timeline snaps to that value instead of repeatedly seeking.

The negative test should preserve the condition that produces it; the recovery test should alter only that condition and verify the final state as well as the HRESULT.

Difference from nearby HRESULT values

VFW_S_ESTIMATED concerns an estimated returned value; it concerns the actual seek granularity of DVD navigation.

This distinction determines whether the caller should consume partial outputs, stop iteration, wait, reconfigure, notify the user, or perform no error recovery at all.

Developer and administrator guidance

Tests for it should verify both the encoded condition and the resulting outputs. A test for it that checks only SUCCEEDED cannot detect stale counts, partial streams, adjusted properties, missing callbacks, or other code-specific effects.

A support report for it should include decimal 262797, hexadecimal 0x0004028D, the AllStat meaning, the owning API, and the first detailed status or output that explains why the method did not return ordinary S_OK.

References

Looking for a different code? Search another status or error code.