How to Open DVR Files?

[devilcoelhodog]

As the title says: how to view, play, open, convert, edit DVR files on my PC?

One friend of mine got one "machine" that can capture things in such format. But, which player can handle that kind of files?

If you know something about, point some programs / codecs that can allow me watch such files on my computer.

Thank you.

[Baldrick]

A "machine"? We need more information than that. A DVR file could be anything.

[devilcoelhodog]

Hello. The "machine" is a kind of hardware device that can capture content from TV and similar ones.

The name: LEXUZ BOX F90. It's a Digital Receiver - HD PVR.

But, it seems that are more models about such machine: LEXUZ BOX F36, F38 and F90, among others. The output is DVR files.

And I got curious to know which player can "read" such kind of material.

My fellow said to me that he tried some players, like VLC, with no good results.

Do you know some players that can play such extension files?

And some ones which can edit them too, just like Virtualdud does with AVI files?

---> http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1212-Definition-Personal-Recorder/dp/B0018LX0DY ( it's similar hardware that save into DVD output files)

Thanks.

devil (johner)

[Baldrick]

I guess you have checked http://az-world.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11750 ?

[devilcoelhodog]

Hi... No. I do not.

Here, in my service, I can't access such sites ( firewall block everything). :C

I'm get very curious about that format. Not only editing and converting, but viewing them too.

The link does it works? It'll be nice to see a good manual about playing such extension. :P

Specially if we can use freeware programs instead payware alternatives.

VLC or KMPlayer doesn't handle such files?

Even using some "codec" or "filter" for decoding them?

Thanks.

[Baldrick]

They are using ProjectX, I have attached the pdf

[devilcoelhodog]

Hello !!!

Thank you for attaching the guide. It may help !!! :P

I could find some other things that may be useful about the subject:

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=79204

---> https://www.videohelp.com/tools/VideoReDo ( does it works for DVR files? )

---> http://jeffreygriffin.com/files/folders/dvr_ms_conversion/entry148.aspx

---> http://jeffreygriffin.com/files/folders/dvr_ms_conversion/entry153.aspx

---> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316992

---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVR-MS

PS: I wonder if are there any player to open such kind files. Editing it will be nice. But we lose quality. Play them it will be better.

Thanks for your help !!! If I get more tips, I'll post it here.

Best regards.

devil (johner)

[rcubed]

devilcoelhodog,
My Toshiba DVR (assuming the DVR you are talking about records to DVDs) has an option to finalize the DVD. Not many programs are able to open the file as recorded on the DVD unless it has been finalized. Note when the disk is finalized you may not be able to record any additional information on the disk. If the DVR supports it I would recommend recording on DVD RWs and once the data is transferred to another media, they can be re-formatted and used again.

rcubed

[devilcoelhodog]

Hello.

I could find some useful information about the subject.

I'll point some links that can be nice for those who need to deal with DVR format.

---> http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/5918/44290.aspx

Ok, I think I found an answer for stripping dvr-ms down to pure MPG for archiving HBO and other protected content. This techique is intended for the sole purpose of archiving and compressing the files to save disk space.

I followed up on the quoted post regarding using Graphedit and the reference to the Cyberlink multiplexer and dump filters (find the other related posts [Wink] ). Note that I also tried PD, NVE, DVR2WMV and many other commercial programs. While they worked good for non protected files they each struggled with protected content. They would either lock or throw obscure errors. My technique is as follows and has worked on many HBO recordings. It isn't pretty but its fast and it works...

1) Open GraphEdit but don't load any filters or anything yet.

2) Open MCE and begin playing the content you are interested in converting.

3) In GraphEdit choose File | Connect to remote graph. This should show you a list of graphs currently running. The names are not intuitive but if MCE is the only thing running the only graph should be the one that MCE has constructed to play your content. Choose that one.

4) GraphEdit will load the MCE graph which is going to have many filters. One will be the file and several will be the decoder filters WITH THE DECRYPTION KEYS ALREADY LOADED.

5) Now in GraphEdit push play. Then push stop. This is important. Nothing will happen visually but at this point GraphEdit takes over the graph and MCE will stop playing the content.

6) Now deconstruct the graph keeping ONLY the file and the audio and video decoder filters. You will have to note which is which. You can get rid of all the other filters including the line 21 decoder if its present.

7) Now reconstruct the graph hooking the file back to the decoders and then the decoders to the Cyberlink MPEG multipexer and then the mux to the Cyberling MPEG dump filter (find other related posts [Wink] ).

8) Now push play. The content begins dumping to MPEG. The visuals at this point are not great. You won't see anything happening and my MCE computer gets real slow. I usally get an error of some sort at the end of the dump and the only way I know its done is the MPG output file stops getting bigger. It takes about 25 minutes for a 7GB 2+ hour dvr-ms file. The output file is virtually the same size as the input.

9) MCE will have to be restarted at this point to continue - I assume its because you've jerked the graph out from under it. It complains that the original dvr-ms file has become corrupted but it really hasn't. Just restart MCE and all will be well.

10) Works for me... [Big Grin]

Good Luck!

---> http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/8898/42071.aspx

---> http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/windows-xp-media-center-os/4139-dcut-ru2.html


---> http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=DVR-MS

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=136815&highlight=dvr-ms

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=126397&highlight=dvr-ms

My method is to use dcut95 for the .dvr-ms file and it is real fast. Then I take the .dvr-ms file and convert to .mpg with DVRMSToolbox (real fast). What I do diferent than you is mpeg. You might find a free pgm that will make converting to Xvid format the mpeg.

I use DVR2MPG to convert from .dvr-ms to MPEG Program Stream which I can then edit with various apps. I found it to be much simpler than DVRMSToolbox. However, I'm not sure if DVR2MPG will work without ATI or Elecard drivers. You can give it a try. If it doesn't work, then use DVRMSToolbox to convert to MPEG PS and TMPEnc XPress to edit the resulting MPEG file.

---> https://www.videohelp.com/tools/DVRMSToolbox

---> http://watchhdtv.net/download.aspx

A) DVR2MPG- Simple tool to convert the recorded .dvr-ms files to MPEG2 files. Only supported for the HDTV Wonder. Program provided by an AVSForum.com member.

---> http://watchhdtv.net/download.aspx

B) DVR-MS Editor- This is a utility I've found created by a MS employee. Download the DVR-MS Sample code and you can use the DVR-MS Editor to edit out commercials or cut files into smaller sizes. It's fairly simple to use and seems to work pretty well.

---> http://www.dvr-msconverter.net/how-to-edit-dvr-ms-trim-crop-effects-remove-commercials...om-dvr-ms.html

---> http://blogs.msdn.com/b/toub/archive/2007/09/22/fun-with-dvr-ms.aspx


---> http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/windows-xp-media-center-os/4139-dcut-ru2.html

I have been using DCUT 95 to edit DVR MS files always successfully pre RU2 But now if i replay something edited post RU2 install, if i then replay something edited with dcut pre RU2 it has no audio replay. A resart of MCE restores the audio. The same happens in the reverse, if i replay something edited pre RU2 and then replay something edited post RU2 the post RU2 file has no audio on replay. I am really at a loss to explain this. My RU2 is a fresh install and is running stable with no other faults, i am running a gigabyte MB with onboard sound, with the latest drivers.

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=121351&highlight=dvr-ms

Try the 14 day eval of VideoRedo http://www.videoredo.com/

It'll even open up your DVR-MS file. Save as mpg, and it should fix the glitches. You can also do a "QuickstreamFix" from one of the dropdown menus.

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=101684&highlight=dvr-ms

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=119545&highlight=dvr-ms

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=86445&highlight=dvr-ms

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=105013&highlight=dvr-ms

My current conversion process.

* Record ATSC HD content via MCE2005r2.

* Remove commercials via MSDN addin. (5 Min)

* Run DVR-MS output thru Graphedit using Moonlight M71 muxer to get transport stream MPEG2. (5 Min)

* Import new TS MPEG2 into DGIndex. (5 Min)

* Manually change either of 2 AVS files (720p & 1080i) with new d2v and audio files. (1 Min)

* Import new AVS files into PSPVideo9 or Quenc depending if I want to go to PSP or DVD. (1-4 hours depending on source length)


Lazy DVD Alternative:

* Record ATSC HD content via MCE2005r2.

* Remove commercials via MSDN addin.

* Run DVR-MS output thru Graphedit using Moonlight M71 muxer to get transport stream MPEG2.

* Import new TS MPEG2 into HDTV2DVD 4.0.


Jim

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=97941&highlight=dvr-ms

DVR:

It's MPEG2 in an ASF wrapper. There are tools available to demux the MPEG2.

---> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms778831

---> http://babgvant.com/forums/p/1422/7452.aspx

I am using the FFMPEG to convert DVR-MS to MPG and this is working well.

I then attempt to frame server the MPG using AviSynth and the audio sync starts to drift.

I assume that there are bad video or audio frames that the MPG decoder skips or eats that the frame server does not eat.

Using VideoRedo QuickFix to convert the files does not have this issue and does report that it fixes things.

I would prefer to use the FFMPEG.

Can some switch settiong in FFMPEG do the fix?

Is there something out there that can clean the MPG?

Can FFMPEG "eat" the frames that the the decoder is eating?

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=114397&highlight=dvr-ms

---> http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/20283/99008.aspx#99008

---> http://www.bluwiki.com/go/DVRMSToolbox_User_Guide

---> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=79204

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Very nice guide using GraphEdit to deal with DVR files:

----> http://blogs.msdn.com/b/toub/archive/2007/09/22/fun-with-dvr-ms.aspx


PS: GraphEdit can be useful dealing with DVR files !!!


---> https://www.videohelp.com/tools/GraphEdit

Best regards.


devil (johner)

[devilcoelhodog]

Here some links:

---> https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/308744-Converting-WTV-DVR-MS-to-edit-in-Windows-Movie-Maker

---> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20938235-Vista-Vista-Media-Center-DVRMS-vs-WTV

---> https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/251228-DVR-MS-Conversion

---> http://homepage.mac.com/james.clay/iblog/B894479528/C412085241/E1904142383/index.html

---> https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/308744-Converting-WTV-DVR-MS-to-edit-in-Windows-Movie-Maker

---> http://www.deskshare.com/lang/po/resources/articles/dmc_dvrms.aspx

---> http://www.deskshare.com/media-converter.aspx

Using Microsoft's Graphedit and Cyberlink filters, it is possible to to strip the ASF wrapper from a dvr-ms file and get the recorded mpg file without encoding.

Taken from the Media Portal Forums

Here is a quick guide to strip off the ASF wrapper MS use for their DVR-MS file format. This is used in MediaPortal for recording with MPEG-2 capture cards like the Hauppauge PVR-250 / 350 models.

What you need to have...
1. Graphedit http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/graphedit.html
2. Cyberlink DirectShow filters MPGMUX.AX & CLDUMP.AX (You'll have to find these)

What you need to do...
1. If not done already register the two filters listed above from the directory where they have been installed.
regsvr32.exe MPGMUX.AX
regsvr32.exe CLDUMP.AX
2. Start Graphedit and the click 'File' then 'Render Media File'
3. Choose the *.DVR-MS file you wish to make into a *.MPG equivalent.
This will automatically build a Graph ultimately providing an output to the Video Renderer and Default DirectSound Device.
4. Remove all filters except the *.DVR-MS output box.
5. Click on 'Graph' then 'Insert Filters' within Graph Edit.
6. Go to the 'Direct Show Filters' section and add 'Cyberlink MPEG Muxer' (MPGMUX.AX) to the Graph.
7. Now add the 'Cyberlink Dump Filter' (CLDUMP.AX) to the Graph and it will prompt for a filename give it a name with a .MPG extension. i.e. Test.mpg.
8. Leave the Filter addition window and connect the DVR Out-1 connector to Audio In on the 'Cyberlink MPEG Muxer' on the Graph.
9. Also connect the DVR Out-2 connector to Video In on the 'Cyberlink MPEG Muxer'
10. Next connect the Output pin from the 'Cyberlink MPEG Muxer' to the 'Cyberlink Dump Filter'
11. You are now ready to get your MPG equivalent file click on 'Graph' and then 'Play' (or click the green play button)
12. You'll notice a green progress indicator moving from left to right. Once complete you will have successfully dumped your MPG file in the same quality it was recorded without re-encoding!!!

Note: The MPG file should be slightly smaller the the original. Don't worry if they are not exactly the same size as we have stripped off the ASF guff.

You can do what you want with the MPEG file. i.e. Convert to AVI, Deinterlace it, Crop It, Resize it, Burn it to DVD/SVCD...etc etc

It worked fine with the two files I tried, but I then ran out of time to try doing something with the resulting MPG files. As I was using RDC to connect into the Media Centre, even playing them wouldn't work as expected. I did try VirtualDub but it didn't like the mpg file, but I am not sure if this was a RDC issue or an issue with the mpg files.

Thanks.

best regards.

devil (johner)