Recording HDTV on a Computer
Bill Anderson
-- sometimes.
Here's my setup:
I subscribe to HDTV cable.
My set top box is a Motorola DCT6412 connected via IEEE 1394 Firewire to
my Windows XP computer.
I can use CapDVHS to record a transport stream .ts file to my hard drive
from any HD channel I can tune to on the set top box.
I can use HDTV2MPEG2 to convert the .ts file to a .mpg file. NOTE: I
watch the video skip by as this program processes the .ts file. I
ALWAYS see the video being processed. It's always there.
If I capture the .ts file from HBO and some other channels, I get an
.mpg file that plays back in Media Player or Real Player or other file
players with a beautiful Hi-Def picture and stereo sound. I can output
the video to a 42" plasma screen monitor, andio to a stereo. Looks and
sounds great. Oddly, though, fast forward and such don't work with
these files, no matter what file player I use.
If I capture the .ts file from HDNET or ABC or some other channels, I
still get a .mpg file after running the HDTV2MPEG2 conversion.
Remember, I really do see the video as the file is being converted, so I
know I got the .ts file properly and I can see the conversion taking
place. The picture is there. But, when I try to play back the
resulting .mpg file, all I get is a black screen with no sound. And
oddly, it appears fast forward and such WOULD work with these files, if
only something were being displayed.
If I convert the troublesome .ts file using PVAStrumento, I get an .mpg
file that's in beautiful Hi-Def -- just what I'm looking for. BUT --
the audio is stripped (demuxed?) out as a separate ac3 file.
Can somebody help me understand what's going on? Why would a transport
stream from one Hi-Def channel be different from another? Why do HBO
recordings convert just fine, but ABC recordings do not? What program
other than HDTV2MPEG2 would do all my conversions? Or what program
other than CapDVHS would grab a transport stream and save it
consistently in a format I can easily use?
Help, please.
Thanks.
--
Bill Anderson
I am the Mighty Favog
Del Mibbler
>I want to record HDTV shows on my hard drive, and I actually can do it
>-- sometimes.
>
>Here's my setup:
>
>I subscribe to HDTV cable.
>
>My set top box is a Motorola DCT6412 connected via IEEE 1394 Firewire to
>my Windows XP computer.
>
>I can use CapDVHS to record a transport stream .ts file to my hard drive
>from any HD channel I can tune to on the set top box.
>
>I can use HDTV2MPEG2 to convert the .ts file to a .mpg file. NOTE: I
>watch the video skip by as this program processes the .ts file. I
>ALWAYS see the video being processed. It's always there.
This will be a partial response. I'm not familiar with conversion
problems because I don't convert. I keep them as transport streams,
which uses more hard drive space but avoids a lot of potential
problems. First, let me correct a common and understandable
misconception. As the name implies, HDTV2MPEG2 was originally
intended to convert HD transport streams to MPEG2. But that is no
longer its purpose, and even the current author of the program
strongly recommends that it NOT be used for that. He is considering a
name change, and I wish he'd hurry up; it would avoid a lot of
confusion. The latest versions of the program are best at editing out
unwanted parts such as commercials (there's even a function that
recognizes SD (4:3) segments in HD recordings and sets the edit
points) and saving the result as one or more transport stream files of
a user-selected size. Check out this thread on AVS Forum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=395744
Several media players can play transport streams, either natively
(e.g. VLC) or with added codecs. I tried a demo version of the Fusion
player which did a better job than VLC on their own sample clips. But
you'd need a Fusion product to get the player without limitations.
http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/Eng/Download/Demo.aspx
I use MyHD cards for capture and playback; they're a near-ideal
playback solution but wouldn't be useful for capture in your situation
since they can only capture unscrambled cable (and OTA, of course).
>If I capture the .ts file from HBO and some other channels, I get an
>.mpg file that plays back in Media Player or Real Player or other file
>players with a beautiful Hi-Def picture and stereo sound. I can output
>the video to a 42" plasma screen monitor, andio to a stereo. Looks and
>sounds great. Oddly, though, fast forward and such don't work with
>these files, no matter what file player I use.
. . .
>Can somebody help me understand what's going on?
I suspect the FF/RW problems come from stripping out the nulls in the
transport stream, turning a constant bit rate (CBR) into a variable
bit rate (VBR). Many players have trouble jumping around in VBR files
because they don't know how far to jump to go forward or back a fixed
amount of time. Their running time counters are often wrong as well.
>Why would a transport stream from one Hi-Def channel be different from another?
Where to begin? Suffice to say that there can be a LOT of
differences, some legitimate, some due to design errors in the
hardware/firmware/software anywhere along the line. But don't press
me for details; I'm no expert.
>What program other than HDTV2MPEG2 would do all my conversions?
From all I've read, the gold standard seems to be VideoRedo. I've
never tried it because I've never really needed it and it's not free,
but I'll probably buy it eventually anyway. It's only about $50. It
reportedly does a better editing job than HDTV2MPEG2 (frame accurate,
while H2M is only accurate within a few frames) and it does good
conversions to MPEG2.
A few other (free) programs to have in your arsenal are MPEG2Repair,
HDTVtoDVD, TStoATSC and TSReader Lite. The latter will list details
of your transport stream files but will not repair or do anything else
with them; TSReader Standard and Professional will do more for money.
Finally, a couple of sites with more information than you can possibly
absorb:
http://www.avsforum.com
http://www.videohelp.com
Del Mibbler
Bill Anderson
>
> Finally, a couple of sites with more information than you can possibly
> absorb:
>
> http://www.avsforum.com
> http://www.videohelp.com
>
> Del Mibbler
Many many thanks, Del. I do have much to learn. But I'm working on it.
Bill Anderson
"Del Mibbler" <mib...@large.net> wrote in message
news:b4aia21ad2l9155lv...@4ax.com...
> Bill Anderson <billand...@yahoo.com> wrote (in part):
>
>>What program other than HDTV2MPEG2 would do all my conversions?
>
> From all I've read, the gold standard seems to be VideoRedo. I've
> never tried it because I've never really needed it and it's not free,
> but I'll probably buy it eventually anyway. It's only about $50. It
> reportedly does a better editing job than HDTV2MPEG2 (frame accurate,
> while H2M is only accurate within a few frames) and it does good
> conversions to MPEG2.
>
I have just tried VideoReDo and it appears to do exactly what I want. I
noticed some jumpiness in one conversion -- like dropped frames. I will
need to spend some time with this, try different settings if I can, but it
appears VideoReDo may be what I was looking for. The mpg files it creates
from transport stream files appear *at first glance* to play beautifully in
any file player. I know I may be jumping the gun here, but it looks like
VideoReDo is the answer.
I think I never explained that the .ts files I capture with CapDVHS from
certain cable HD channels will play in VLC Media Player (and only VLC Media
Player) on my computer, but whenever there's motion, I see severe tearing of
the image. No jumpiness as described above, but awful tearing. That seems
to go away after processing with VideoReDo and playing in a regular video
player. I will keep experimenting. I hope the jumpiness doesn't turn up as
a recurring problem.
I wonder if I'm experiencing tearing in VLC Media Player because I need a
better video card? I'm running an All-In-Wonder 9600XT which is AGP 8X, 128
MB RAM. This card gives me dual output -- so I can send the video to my HD
plasma screen that's also a computer monitor. I don't want to give up the
dual output, or the ability to capture regular TV with the AIW. It's taken
years, literally, but I seem finally to have conquered the AIW. I can
capture TV, edit out commercials if necessary, and create DVDs easy as pie.
Now I'm hoping to do the same with HDTV.
Again, many thanks, Del.
--
Bill Anderson
quigl...@gmail.com
Bill Anderson wrote:
> I think I never explained that the .ts files I capture with CapDVHS from
> certain cable HD channels will play in VLC Media Player (and only VLC Media
> Player) on my computer, but whenever there's motion, I see severe tearing of
> the image. No jumpiness as described above, but awful tearing. That seems
> to go away after processing with VideoReDo and playing in a regular video
> player.
Have you tried the Deinterlace option of VLC?
Jeff OTF
<quigl...@gmail.com> wrote:
I have found that Zoom Player
http://www.inmatrix.com/files/zoomplayer_download.shtml gives a much
better picture with TS files than VLC Media Player. It also
automatically deinterlaces 1080i which sounds like the problem you are
having.
It may be necessary to install the hdtv pump filter
http://www.dvbportal.de/projects/hdtvpump/ to get the TS file to play
in Zoom Player.
Bill Anderson
Thank you very much for the help. I will try this in the next few days
and let you know how it turned out.
Today I have recorded the launch of the Space Shuttle in Hi-Def, and I
am about to try to post the RAR files on alt.binaries.hdtv. Keep your
fingers crossed. I have downloaded thousands of binary files, but I've
just realized I've never tried to upload any. Hope I get this right.
With a little experimenting I found a rar file size that seems
reasonable, and I've included some SmartPar files too. I really hope
this works.