Easy prgram that converts HDTV TS streams to x264??

[peggypwr1]

Is there a program with a great GUI that can walk me thru converting my HD TS recordings to x264 files?

A 2 hour programs is about 12 gigs, what are good settings to get decent quality for x264 files?

[The Mariner]

I use Freemake Video Converter for this. Convert the .ts to .mkv & create your own profile where resolution is 'upto 720x576', h.264 video codec, use a custom bitrate of 750 & output the audio to MP3 @ 128k.

This will bring a 12 GB-ish capture down to around 500-700Kb with pretty good quality. If you aren't happy, experiment with different audio settings & a higher bitrate.

Regards,

Phil.

[lacywest]

Interesting ... may come in handy when I start using my Hauppauge HD PVR device again

[peggypwr1]

THe mariner 720x576 is DVD resolution. I want to keep the same resolution just reduce the file size with the codec. WHat bitrate should I use for2 hour HDTV streams.WHat size am I looking for?

[usually_quiet]

I have seen Handbrake mentioned as a good choice for H.264 conversion. I'm not converting to H.264 yet, so I can't tell you what settings to use.

[johns0]

If your source is good quality then i would encode with higher bitrate than 750Kbps,more like 1500Kbps if there's action,i've done test encodes at 750kbps and artifacting starts to creep in especially with darker scenes.

[The Mariner]

To select a different resolution, change the setting in 'frame size'. To leave it as per the source file, select 'original' as shown in the attached pic. The last screen where you hit 'convert' will show you the estimated output file size & it will also allow you to select either 'one-pass encoding' or 'two-pass encoding'. One pass is quicker (about half the time of two-pass) but two-pass gives a better quality result.

You may indeed find that 750kbps isn't good enough for you & that's why I put that caveat in my original post. I found via experimenting that the quality of h.264 .mkv files coming from Freemake (either from SD or HD DVB captures or a DVD as the source) is pretty good, better than from some other transcoding software, but in some cases dark scene artifacts do creep in. I found increasing bitrate didn't have much effect in reducing them, but did make a big change to the output file size. Maybe that's a function of Freemake's transcoding engine & it might not be the case with other software.

[mail2tom]

Depending on what your finished file is going to be used in you can try MultiAVCHD. You can output to SD-DVD, AVCHD, Blu-ray, or Matroska. The SD-DVD uses HCEnc while the others use x264. The downside is that it doesn't walk you through the process, but there's plenty of information in the MultiAVCHD forum.

[johns0]

Don't go to the MultiAVCHD forum.It's been taken over by spammers.

[edDV]

Is there a program with a great GUI that can walk me thru converting my HD TS recordings to x264 files?

A 2 hour programs is about 12 gigs, what are good settings to get decent quality for x264 files?

Back to start, describe your HD TS recordings. Are these 1080i/720p ATSC/QAM tuner files?

Two hours seem like movies. You are going to need an inverse telecine filter. Do you need to edit out commercials?

Then, how do you want to use the x264 files? For big screen? For computer? For upload?

I've come to like the Handbreak GUI over top of x264 because it adds multiple filter options but there are many other user interfaces.

[peggypwr1]

Ed the recording are made my WMC I have a Gateway 4300. THey are OTA recordings. SOme are 720p others are 1080i. I plan to buy a media box so I can plays these of LCD TV.

[edDV]

Ed the recording are made my WMC I have a Gateway 4300. THey are OTA recordings. SOme are 720p others are 1080i. I plan to buy a media box so I can plays these of LCD TV.

Ahh a tough case DVR-MS (MPeg2) or WTV (various)? Someone has been here.

[peggypwr1]

Hmmodd, Handbrake and Freemaker wont let me convert my demuxed streams to using z264?

They just stop or freeze. But Freemaker will let me do WMV HD?

[The Mariner]

I apologise if I'm missing something, but why are you demuxing first ? Are you doing it to edit out commercials ? Are you re-muxing the streams after editing before trying to convert using Handbrake/Freemake ?

[peggypwr1]

I use Mc-TV converter first. Then I use mpeg-vcr to edit out commericals.

[peggypwr1]

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: FreemakeVC.exe
Application Version: 2.2.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4ddb6a8b
Fault Module Name: StackHash_0634
Fault Module Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Fault Module Timestamp: 4a5bdb3b
Exception Code: c0000374
Exception Offset: 000cdcbb
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 0634
Additional Information 2: 06343bfae3aced0be1b07c6bddc5b81e
Additional Information 3: 5fc0
Additional Information 4: 5fc068c318e8a86303a25f56012cb4c9

[The Mariner]

What I do is read the recorded .ts file into Video ReDo, edit the commercials out & save it back to a .ts file. Then I use Freemake to convert the .ts to .mkv. This keeps the number of steps & programs used to a minimum. Over time I have tried many different tools & combinations... some worked & some didn't, but I believe the more different programs & steps you introduce the greater the chance that some 'incompatibilities' might creep in. Maybe that's what's happening here ?

Video ReDo is not freeware, but after I played around for weeks trying to get a decent solution I was willing to pay!

AVIDemux will read .ts & will allow you to edit commercials before saving to a different container. Apparently there is an experimental version 2.6 mentioned here that works well. Maybe it's worth a try ?