Absolute confusion - advice for editing/converting files recorded in MCE 7

[elsmandino]

Hello,

I have been recording loads of programmes in Media Centre (Windows 7), thus have got loads of .wtv files.
I would like to save some of these files permanently, and would like to not only edit the adverts out but also make them smaller - .wvt files are massive!
Ideally, I would like also like to try and keep subtitles if possible.

I am a bit of a novice when it comes to video conversion, but it seems that perhaps the best way would be to either convert my files to .wtv (h.264) or mkv.(h.264) as both of these can retain subtitles.

Would be really grateful for your views on the best way to archive my recorded files.

Thank you

[sambat]

This program can be used to convert .wtv to mpeg (it lists other formats, but I didn't find those worked).

http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://mctvconverter.vivolum.net/&e...40%26bih%3D669


This thread is where I ended up.
I use the Graphedit method and scheduled batch files to convert the files to mpeg, then batch them through AutoGK to avi format.

I'm not sure about subtitles.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/325139-WTV-remux-to-MPG

[elsmandino]

Thanks for that, I'll give that programmes a try and see what I can come up.

[milatchi]

I really don't know anything about the WTV container. Does anyone... and does anyone really care?

It appears that .dvr-ms is merely MPEG-2 video & AC3 or MP2 audio. I'm sure I'm preaching the choir with that though.
So I convert the .wtv to .dvr-ms (right-click the .wtv file and convert it to .dvr-ms in Windows Explorer) then open the .dvr-ms file with
"Video ReDo TVSuite" -- which is hands down the best MPEG and transport stream editor around; it was worth the $74.00 price and has probably saved me from so many heaches and also saved me so much time. After I cut the commercials, etc. I export as a .mpg file then import into HandBrake & convert, giving me a .mp4 or .mkv (I'm partial to .mp4 though).
And yes, the Video ReDo TVSuite export to HandBrake encode does retain the subtitles.

So my workflow looks like this:
.wtv->.dvr-ms->Video ReDo TVSuite->.mpg->HandBrake->.mp4 or .mkv

Hope that helps.

I really need to make a VBScript to convert the .wtvs to .dvr-mses and then take out the .wtv trash.