Best tool for HD conversion

[carlmart]

I'm looking for the best tool for converting HD video files, particularly .ts to .mkv.

I've tried MultiAVCHD, but there are some files it refused to convert. The good thing about MultiAVCHD is that it uses Avisynth tools, which I've found more transparent in the past. I've tried to go into the MultiAVCHD forum, but I couldn't get in with questions.

Yesterday I found Xilisoft Video Converter, and I'm converting one file as we speak. Problem is it takes a long time to convert.

That is not necessarily wrong, as quality is very important for me. But I wonder if conversion quality is really good with it.

Has anyone tried and compared both programs?

Thanks.

[dylz]

multiavchd is a really good program though I use avchdconverter as i only need the avchd, In your case you can use tsmuxer and demux the streams from the TS and remux using mkvtoolnix Note: Muxing means no converting= no loss of quality.

Xilisoft Is crapware.

[carlmart]

Well, I did try your suggestion: demuxed with tsmuxer and remuxed with MKVmerge.

Two problems: audio goes out of sync and movement is not smooth.

Xilisoft may be crapwsare, but I paused the conversion and had a look on my plasma screen. It seems to be alright, in fact very good.

Maybe it's not perfect, but I wouldn't say it's bad at all. Certainly not crap.

In any case, if I could make the other way work, it certainly has the potential to be better as there's no conversion involved. As it is it's very poor.

[Moontrash]

Try TsDemux and mkvmerge and see what happens

[DarrellS]

I've had fewer sync issues using GDSmux to demux the files. It comes with haaili media splitter.

[carlmart]

I've had fewer sync issues using GDSmux to demux the files. It comes with haaili media splitter.

How do I load files onto it? It doesn't seem very user friendly.

I tried moving the file in with my mouse, but nothing.

[DarrellS]

I've had fewer sync issues using GDSmux to demux the files. It comes with haaili media splitter.

How do I load files onto it? It doesn't seem very user friendly.

I tried moving the file in with my mouse, but nothing.

In Input Tab > Right Click > Add Source

[lacywest]

Interesting ...

[carlmart]

I've had fewer sync issues using GDSmux to demux the files. It comes with haaili media splitter.

How do I load files onto it? It doesn't seem very user friendly.

I tried moving the file in with my mouse, but nothing.

In Input Tab > Right Click > Add Source

Thanks. It worked like a charm.

This matter is solved.

[carlmart]

Today I used GDSMux again on another ts file, but this time things didn't work so well. Movement is jumpy, as if having a frame-rate problem.

The original file is smooth, so the problem is not there. Frame rate is also 25fps, as on the other file I had converted.

Didn't try Xilisoft on it yet, as it takes long to convert. But I will probably do some short tests with it to see what happens.

[DarrellS]

.TS files seem to be the hardest files to work with. They seem to all be corrupt and the only tool that I've seen that can handle them is Videoredo 4 but it does not support mkv. You would have to save as mp4 and then use mkvmerge to mux to mkv. You can probably find a handful of threads where I've had problems with these files.

The first problem is that most programs can't do frame accurate editing of these files which leads to sync issues and for some reason, trying to put the files into a mkv container seems to throw them out of sync even though the .ts file plays perfectly on it's own. If you have a stand alone media player that will play .ts files then you're better off leaving them as .ts files.

[carlmart]

Yesterday I did my first tests with Xilisoft, as I said I would, and they proved very good. So I did an overnight conversion with the whole file. Results were very good, even if the file (because of my mishandling in the setup) ended up larger than 8Gb. For that I have to correct the bitrate from 10000 to 9000, which I don't think will affect quality that much and give my right size.

First of all let em state that I do not advocate this program to do any magic or anything, and what I always look for is transparency in the conversion. The final product must look as good as the original. Better rarely is possible, except if you change things to "make it look better", which is always subjective. Even so I did get better looking images in the past with avisynth tools, but I don't yet know how to apply them with HD video.

So far results seem very good with Xilisoft, even if I will keep open to other suggestions. This time I can say that it's definitely not crapware and will think so until someone can suggest some test proving it is.

My problem with ts files is that they do not seem to be as universal as mkv files as containers. Some of them play through my BD player, some don't. Couldn't yet figure why. That's why I convert to mkv.

Even so sometimes I have to re-merge some mkv files with MKVmerge to get them to play. Tricky.

[dylz]

xilisoft, allok, imtoo, aone are all the same sh*t programs but for mediocre purposes can be ok. If you have ts then tsmuxer is highly rated except it hasn't been updated lately and can have sync problems, I havn't tried tsdemux or the others but they might keep it in sync.
Look if you want a program to build a mkv file perfectly use mkvtoolnix to extract mkvextractgui2 or mkvcleaver Reencoding will not get you as good results or the same and no way close if you use xilisoft, extract the elemetary streams using one of the ts apps and mux it to mkv it will be the Exact Same Quality.

[carlmart]

xilisoft, allok, imtoo, aone are all the same sh*t programs but for mediocre purposes can be ok.

Well, I'm certainly not after mediocre results. My eye is quite critical, as I work with film & video professionally. I don't know about the other programs, but comparing the original ts file (which miraculously my BD player plays) and the converted mkv file on my 42" plasma screen shows no visible aberrations. So Xilisoft, weird as it may seem, must be doing something well.

What is the way these programs do their conversions? Is any of them based on avisynth?

H264 compressed files are quite tricky and I would very much like to understand what ticks in them. Last year I had a hard time exporting and getting to a good final result on an HD doc I edited in Avid Media Composer. Sorensen and other sophisticated top grade programs couldn't get me satisfactory results, and the best I could get was using Carboncoder.

What I do know is when you re-encapsulate the video and audio files in other containers, things go crazy. They go out of sync, get jumpy, weird. In Carboncoder, even if the best on my application, contrast changed from the original, when it shouldn't have.

So if Xilisoft is getting me a result that I found very good (certainly NOT mediocre), I want to know why.

No problem in trying other ways, as I did with TSmuxer, GDSmuxer and TSDemux with other files. GDSMuxer worked beautifully with the last ts file, but did not with this one. Maybe I should try the others with this one, and see what I get.

The only thing I found poor in Xilisoft is processing time, which is very long.

If you have ts then tsmuxer is highly rated except it hasn't been updated lately and can have sync problems, I havn't tried tsdemux or the others but they might keep it in sync.

Sync did fine with GDSmuxer, but image was jumpy, as if frame rate had changed, which it did not.

Look if you want a program to build a mkv file perfectly use mkvtoolnix to extract mkvextractgui2 or mkvcleaver Reencoding will not get you as good results or the same and no way close if you use xilisoft, extract the elemetary streams using one of the ts apps and mux it to mkv it will be the Exact Same Quality.

I DO use mkvtoolnix for muxing and merging, but they do not accept ts files. So muxing them is the step I need to fulfill. The TS demuxers I have tried until now are unpredictable.

Believe me I am open to suggestions or I wouldn't be here asking.

[carlmart]

Just I tried demuxing with TSdemux and merging with MKVmerge (MKVToolnix merging tool). Several problems:

1) Demuxed audio file was not recognized as such by MKVmerge. So I used AvsP/Avisynth to re-convert the file.

2) Merged mkv file was not played well by my BD player.

3) Merged MKV file plays fine on computer, but audio is out of sync.

So back to square one, or at least until there's another suggested tool.

[dylz]

Certainly if you like a program that's all that matters i've just had bad experiences with those programs as most are run by the same company's and use the same open source programs with no respect to the person who made them example they all look the same.

Simply write what you need help with and i''ll do my best, also you could try ffmpeg cmd to take the avc/audio files and put in a mkv container as there are plenty of tutorials use google example: ffmpeg cmdline for remuxing ts to mkv...

You can try h264tsto didn't play back to smoothly for me but give it a try Cmd > h264tsto (SourceFile) (Destination File) -any other options...

[carlmart]

I might like a program for specific reasons, but I don't think that is the case here. There are objective results in this case (ts files) that don't give me much of a choice, really. OTOS I would keep trying the simplest tools to demux and merge first, only then trying Xilisoft (or any other) to work it out.

For now, in my short experience, h264 video and audio seem to run amok when demuxed. Did so on the ts demuxers I tried, only working on one case till now.

Be sure I do value your efforts to help very very much, so I do not wish to sound ungrateful.

[dylz]

Did you try what I said h264tsto, Go start - accessories and find run start it typed cmd /k press enter now drop the h264tsto exe in the cmd do a space after then drop input file then space then output example C:\tvshow.mkv then enter go C drive and find the file.
Yeah there isn't alot of free options to edit TS files and many people have trouble with sync issues it takes trial and error, You should check out the tools section under h.264 editing, demultiplexers or dvb editing.
Glad to help.

[DarrellS]

I found this guide for using MeGUI.

http://blog.newstrekker.com/archives/2010/04/07/23/

To just create an MKV without editing and re-encoding...

Use HD Stream Extractor under Tools to get the elementary streams.
Go to step 4 in the guide and under Tools, choose Muxer > MKV Muxer or use MKVmerge to mux the elementary streams to an MKV file.

According to the guide, HD Stream Extractor is supposed to fix all the errors that come with transport streams.

[carlmart]

Did you try what I said h264tsto, Go start - accessories and find run start it typed cmd /k press enter now drop the h264tsto exe in the cmd do a space after then drop input file then space then output example C:\tvshow.mkv then enter go C drive and find the file..

Did the full conversion with h264tsto.

Sync is fine but I'm getting the same "jumpy" movement, as if missing frames. I'm starting to think this is what will happen with all programs based just on remuxing.

This time I could see something else: the movement is smooth when I play the mkv file on the my computer, but it's not when I play it through my BD player. It might be a codec question, but I can't change the codec on the player.

I did re-merge it again to see if the problem dissapeared, but it did not.

Next I will try the MeGUI way DarrellS suggests.

[dylz]

That's what I got too it's outdated, DarrellS's megui idea is smart as I have megui and didn't know it could do all that..very useful

[carlmart]

MeGUI may be smart, but is the most user unfriendly program I have seen!

Then I remembered that I did try it in the past for some other conversion and gave up. For this ts file, it took 8.30 hours to process overnight and there were1.40 more hours to go. In the meantime it takes over all CPU and memory on your computer, so you can't do anything. Even moving the mouse is impossible.

On top of that not knowing if it will really do what I want. Not for me.

I'm probably out of options then.

[mail2tom]

I capture video from my Hauppauge HDPVR 1212 using the .TS container. For post-processing I use VideoReDo4 w/h.264 support to edit commercials, and finally HDConvertToX to deinterlace, change the framerate and resolution, packaging it into a Matroska container. Works for me.

[dylz]

DarrellS wrote you a simple extraction and mux under 2minutes no reencoding you should have read it properly

Simple and more explained Explanation to megui:

Open MEGUI> Go tools at the top and select HD Streams extractor>

In the input you can select folder or a file In your case tick select file and look for your .TS file select and open >
Set Output folder for your AVC/h.264 and audio streams > press queue it'll close and where it says jobs click the queue tab click and press start> then in the folder you have your audio video and a logfile>

go back to tools in MEGUI select muxer then Mkv Muxer> in video select the h.264/avc(Video) stream and do the same for the audio under audio tab and subs chapter's whatever you want

>Select output under muxed output find a folder to save to>
then queue it go to the queue tab next to the job tab again and press Start W8 and you'll have your mkv in your output folder.

[DarrellS]

I've been having a problem with playing my newer MKV files on my WDTV and I found out that MKVmerge newer than version 4.0.0 with header stripping is breaking playback in some media players. I checked MEGUI and it is using version 4.4.

I remuxed a couple of MKVs that would not play with version 4.0 and they are both playing now in WDTV. Looks like I need to go back through my folders and remux all the MKVs that say header stripping in MediaInfo.

[carlmart]

DarrellS wrote you a simple extraction and mux under 2minutes no reencoding you should have read it properly

Simple and more explained Explanation to megui:

Open MEGUI> Go tools at the top and select HD Streams extractor>

In the input you can select folder or a file In your case tick select file and look for your .TS file select and open >
Set Output folder for your AVC/h.264 and audio streams > press queue it'll close and where it says jobs click the queue tab click and press start> then in the folder you have your audio video and a logfile>

go back to tools in MEGUI select muxer then Mkv Muxer> in video select the h.264/avc(Video) stream and do the same for the audio under audio tab and subs chapter's whatever you want

>Select output under muxed output find a folder to save to>
then queue it go to the queue tab next to the job tab again and press Start W8 and you'll have your mkv in your output folder.

Tried it. It didn't work. Audio gets out of sync.

Thanks!

[pippas]

Sync is fine but I'm getting the same "jumpy" movement, as if missing frames. I'm starting to think this is what will happen with all programs based just on remuxing.

This time I could see something else: the movement is smooth when I play the mkv file on the my computer, but it's not when I play it through my BD player. It might be a codec question, but I can't change the codec on the player.

I recall in an earlier post you say the files are 25fps. Is that 25 fps progressive, or 50i ?

The reason I mention it is that 25p is not a valid Blu-ray format, the nearsest is 24p. Maybe that would account for your 'jumpy' results on Blu-ray replay ?

Just a thought......

[carlmart]

Mediainfo just says it's 25 fps AVC, not 50i. This was not originated on a Blu-ray video, so I don't see how that would matter.

But I did have such 25fps files in the past and they did not behave like that. There were already mkv though, not ts.

Even if I have already moved on on this job, doing a whole conversion with Xilisoft with very good results, I will hold the file to see if there's a way to do this conversion with more quality.