Proper cutting and converting of TS

[Plasma2000]

Hello Everybody,

even if I'm a bit new to video editing I have a specific question with regards to cutting (and converting) of transport streams (from TV recording), so I dared not to post this question into the newbie section.

My problem is that I have several TS that are driving me crazy as I'm struggling with getting them cut properly and converted into a more 'standard' format, such as mpg (PS) or putting them into mkv containers. I'd like also to preserve as much original data as possible, so I'd like to avoid transcoding the videos.
My TS files are of 2 categories:
- ts containing an mpeg video stream and one mpeg audio stream (+ one teletext stream)
- ts containing a H264 stream, 3 audio streams: 2x mpeg audio, 1x AC3 (+ one teletext stream)

One of the issues that seems to be that the streams are pretty faulty - on one hand the broadcaster defines streams in the ts files that are actually missing (not sure whether there are further issues like this) and on the other hand the DVB signal was clearly weak, so there are broken information in the stream as well (btw, they're not so broken that VLC cannot play them).

I tried (really) many tools already, the best one was VideoReDo, but also this is struggling with some ts files and crashes sometimes. On the other hand I'm pretty sure there must be also ways to achieve my target with free tools, as there are so many and also pretty good ones out there.

Unfortunately I tried already with many tools, but didn't succeed, as some tools crash, like TsRemux, sometimes Avidemux (I guess because they don't cope with the erroneous data in the ts files) and others succeed only with a part of what I'd like to do, like TS Sniper (e.g. only cutting, but not converting). Using tools that potentially could do everything, such as Avidemux turn out to create files that show heavy A/V sync problems (besides the fact that it crashes on some files).

I start understanding that I obviously need several tools, not just one, for what I'd like to do, and that the streams need to be demuxed before cutting them and putting them together again with some other tool.
The point is that there are so many tools out there that trying all combinations to find the best working workflow would probably take my whole lifetime .

This is why I'm searching for your expertise and experiences - does anybody have some good advice on which tools to use in which workflow? Maybe also some advice on how to correct those faulty streams?

Sorry for the long thread,
Thanks in advance,
Plasma2000

[The Mariner]

Howdy,

You might like to try running your .ts files through MPEG2Repair before opening them in Video ReDo to see if that helps.

[jman98]

You may wish to tell us where you live (I am guessing Australia). You're definitely not in North America as we don't have TV streams like you describe. Someone in your country may have specific advice.

I've been using VideoReDo for all my editing needs for some years now. The Mariner has good advice. However, I can tell you that here in the USA I gave up trying to record shows on CBS (a major broadcaster) because my cable TV provider was giving me a really crazy feed just on that channel where the streams were just completely messed up. Resolution would change during the show and there were dropped audio packets and such. Even VideoReDo couldn't handle the kind of crap I was getting on that one channel.

You don't actually need to demux and editing demuxed files and then trying to put them back together is a really bad and complicated idea. VideoReDo also has a stream repair function that can usually fix stream issues. However, it couldn't help me with my jacked up CBS captures but it's never failed me on anything else. What I ended up doing was just getting the TV shows I couldn't record via alternate means such as Bit Torrent as people in other cities weren't having the kind of crazy issues I was. If you don't have too many of these shows to get you might consider that too.

Finally it's perfectly fine that you put your post here but in my opinion it would not have been some kind of horrible breach of protocol to have put it in the newbie section. There's one thing to remember - if you have a Mac and you have a question that relates to ANYTHING being done on a Mac, then it needs to go in our Mac forum as we have members who specifically watch that forum to help other Mac users.

[netmask56]

For the file you describe as

ts containing an mpeg video stream and one mpeg audio stream (+ one teletext stream)

You should use ProjectX - see my signature for setting it up. If you are in Australia then the page number for the subs is 801. For the UK I'm not sure.

You should also use the Demux mode as this mode will fix a lot of transmission errors including time code etc. You will then be presented with a mpv video file (MPEG 2), a mpa Audio file and a subtitle srt file if you indicated that format from the drop down menu. You will then need to remux the audio and video into a composite mpeg2 file which you can use as is or convert ot whatever format you wish. You will have the srt file as a separate file.

[Plasma2000]

Hi All,

thanks a lot for the suggestions on how to solve the problems I'm experiencing.
Actually the ts files are recorded DVB-S (Satellite) from Astra 19.2 directly with my TV and it's german channels. I don't think they're messing up the signal too much, but obviously they are messed up at least a little bit.
I'm working with a PC so my questions are not MAC-specific.

Thanks for giving me the hint with mpeg2repair - I used it already, but unfortunately it seems like it's supporting one audio channel only, so I'd be loosing the other channels. Also after having corrected the stream tools like avidemux or VideoReDo seem to be crashing when trying to cut them...

I'll give ProjectX a try, hoping not to get the sync issue again as I got with AviDemux.
For the moment TS Sniper seems to be the best working alternative to VideoReDo (which I find to be a bit expensive).
I'll get back with my experiences with ProjectX soon.

Thanks, Plasma2000

[hech54]

I use ProjectX with DVB-T TS files recorded with a Telefunken TF 3000 C CI+(although it just died yesterday) and Kabel Deutschland and it works perfectly.