H.264 TS files created using HD PVR to MKV.

[Red Hat]

Cuts off in both... not sure what the problem could be. The AAC file is fine, but when I mux it with the cut MKV the audio gets a bit out of sync towards the end as well.

This means you didn't do the AAC=>AC3 conversion correctly.

How did you do the corresponding edits (e.g. commercial cuts) in the audio?

I used the cutfile created by the AVS cutter. I loaded that into the audio cutter to make a new AAC file, which I then converted to AC3. Is there another way?

Do it this way. Go to Audio Cutter in the menu and save it as another aac file. For some reason convertin aac files to ac3 doesn't work right in megui. Don't know why. H264 TS Cutter gives you a butchered ts file when you cut with it. You can cut with DGAVCIndex too but I only use that to select like 10 seconds before the show and 10 minutes after the show ends if I recorded a lot more than the show.

[Kilyin]

Do it this way. Go to Audio Cutter in the menu and save it as another aac file. For some reason convertin aac files to ac3 doesn't work right in megui. Don't know why. H264 TS Cutter gives you a butchered ts file when you cut with it. You can cut with DGAVCIndex too but I only use that to select like 10 seconds before the show and 10 minutes after the show ends if I recorded a lot more than the show.

I've tried that too and it works for the most part, except the audio ends up slightly off sync toward the end of the replay (I guess because there's a lot of cuts).

[Red Hat]

Do it this way. Go to Audio Cutter in the menu and save it as another aac file. For some reason convertin aac files to ac3 doesn't work right in megui. Don't know why. H264 TS Cutter gives you a butchered ts file when you cut with it. You can cut with DGAVCIndex too but I only use that to select like 10 seconds before the show and 10 minutes after the show ends if I recorded a lot more than the show.

I've tried that too and it works for the most part, except the audio ends up slightly off sync toward the end of the replay (I guess because there's a lot of cuts).

Use no transition.

[Kilyin]

Use no transition.

I did. I've also tried using 0 delay, and the delay of the original AAC file demuxed by DGAVCIndex.

[Kilyin]

Got an acceptable result using +150 delay... I guess nothing is perfect.

[Red Hat]

It works fine for me. Use the audio cutter under the Tools Menu with the AAC file created by DGAVCIndex. DO NOT USE THE ONE IN INPUT for cutting audio.

[Kilyin]

It works fine for me. Use the audio cutter under the Tools Menu with the AAC file created by DGAVCIndex. DO NOT USE THE ONE IN INPUT for cutting audio.

Works fine for me too on most stuff, but not an entire half of NFL football after chopping all the commercials out. It's fine, with +150 delay it looks synced.

[cgott42]

Open this subset of your script with VirtualDubMod:

LoadPlugin("C:\Documents and Settings\Michael\Desktop\dgavcdec102\DGAVCDecode.dll")
AVCSource("d:\dropbox\angels\angels.dga")

Use it's mark-in, mark-out, and cut tools to remove all the commercials. Export the cut list (tools, script editor, insert frameset as trims). Add it to your earlier AVS script.

Is there a way to use comskip to somehow import the cut marks into VirtualDub? I would imagine doing it manually would be a PITA. If not, I might just leave the commercials in and just FF through them while watching.

Yes I have the same question - I read to the end of the thread and didn't see an automated way to remove the commercials - sorry if I missed it.
Can someone (re)explain how to automatically remove the commericals?

FWIW I have VideoRedo and after I convert the .mkv into .mpg via GOTsent I still can't open/edit them in VideoRedo???

[bc55]

Hiya guys,

excuse me for jumping on the bandwagon here in this unruly fashion, but I have a similar situation :

I too have the HD PVR, and I save my caps direct to M2TS format. I then convert the caps to MKVs. I want to be able to edit out commercials as well, but it seems all apps available require elementary streams.

I have tried X264TSCutter, ProjectX and AvsP, none of which worked, I don't get a preview or anything. I have Haali Media Splitter and FFDShow installed, also AVISynth and all that shebang, but no joy.

Anyone here up for a full tutorial that would help me out ?

Or do I need to grab in TS to edit and then reencode to MKV ?

Thanks

BC55

[jagabo]

I usually capture as TS. TsMuxerGUI can demux the streams. For simple cut editing (non re-encoding) I use h264ts_cutter.

[bc55]

I usually capture as TS. TsMuxerGUI can demux the streams. For simple cut editing (non re-encoding) I use h264ts_cutter.

Hi jagabo,

do you experience any problems with this ? Do you re-encode to MKV after editing the TS in H264TS_Cutter ? I'm reading of audio sync probs etc ? Have you tried AvsP ?!

Thx

BC55

[jagabo]

Do you re-encode to MKV after editing the TS in H264TS_Cutter ?

I usually just keep the resulting TS file. I haven't had sync problems with the edited file. I have also re-encoded to standard def Xvid/MP3 AVI with no sync problems. I have also IVTC'd 1080i back to progressive film frames.

When I do convert I use DgAvcIndex to create a DGA file, then AvcSource() in an AviSynth script. I usually just create my AVS files by hand with notepad.

[bc55]

OK, when I open m2ts file I converted to TS in H264TS_Cutter, I get this error :

Could not init. video playback DS-Error.

I cannot access the Play, Preview or Cut symbols .....

[jagabo]

When the HD PVR first came out in only produced TS files. Later updates allowed it to produce either TS or M2TS files. h264ts_cutter doesn't seem to work with its M2TS files. You can use TsMuxerGUI to convert M2TS to TS.

[bc55]

When the HD PVR first came out in only produced TS files. Later updates allowed it to produce either TS or M2TS files. h264ts_cutter doesn't seem to work with its M2TS files. You can use TsMuxerGUI to convert M2TS to TS.

That's what I did, I used TSMuxerGUI to convert them to TS.

The result was the error message I posted .....

[midnightsun]

Have you tried remuxing the m2ts file to ts with TsRemux?

Alternatively, although a bit convoluted, if DGAVCIndex opens the m2ts file you have, you can demux to elementary streams and then remux to ts using TSMuxer. If anything else fails that could be your last resort

[bc55]

OK, DGAVCIndex opens the file, no probs. Demux also went fine. Still, the M2TS I remuxed to TS using TsRemux brings up an unhandled exception error on h264ts_cutter. As before. AvsP doesn't show a preview, for a reason I can't find, and VirtualDub MOD won't take any of this.

Actually, when I opened the M2TS file in DGAVCIndex, there are buttons on the bottom of the window to mark the start and end of the file, correct. If this could be done marking multiple segments to keep, and then demux the streams with the unselected portions cut out of video and audio, I'd be home free .....

[jagabo]

DgAvcIndex's edit support only extends as far as a single mark-in and mark-out. You could save your video in segments and then load them all up via an AviSynth script:

v1 = AvcSource("file1.dga")
v2 = AvcSource("file2.dga")
v3 = AvcSource("file3.dga")

return(v1+v2+v3)

You might be able to get VirtualDubMod to open the M2TS file using the AviSynth DirectShowSource filter. This will require a DirectShow M2TS splitter and appropriate decoders be installed on your system. I was able to open and convert a short (1 minute) M2TS file that was captured a few days ago. Finding the right splitter and decoders is the hard part. There is a version of Haali around that supports files from the HD PVR.

I'm running a test encode now using DirectShowSource and VirtualDubMod (to Xvid/MP3 AVI). VirtualDubMod is definitely getting the video and audio. I'll see if the audio and video are in sync when the encoding is done...

[bc55]

Could you give me a link to that DirectShowSourceFilter plugin ? Also, how do I go about opening a file with THAT, and not with the standard dialogue ?

[jagabo]

The DirectShowSource filter plugin should already be in VirtualDubMod. At the bottom of the Open Video File dialog select DirectShowSource in the Use AviSynth Template pulldown. You need to have AviSynth installed for this to work. All this does is automatically create a simple AviSynth script with DirectShowSource("filename.ext") with the filename filled in (with whatever file you select), then opens it.

The test encode of a TS file with VirtualDubMod and DirectShowSource ended up with a an A/V sync problem. It starts out OK but by the end of a 2 hour movie audio is about 3 seconds behind the video. I'm trying another encode now with:

DirectShowSource("filename.ts", fps=29.97, convertfps=true)

[bc55]

Ok, jagabo, thanks for helping me out.

Actually, there is another solution that actually works out of the box : TOTAL MEDIA EXTREME by ARCSOFT. It came bundled with my HD PVR and offers a module to create AVCHD disks.

In that creation process, it lets you mark portions you want to edit out, and then creates a full menu structured folder on your harddisk or a DVD-R or DVD-R DL. I can then convert that M2TS file to MKV and the result is quality-wise the same as the original capture, sans the edited bits.

I'll try that VirtualDub Mod thing though .....

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

Following up on that, even the M2TS file TME makes goes out of sync if you edit out more than just the beginning or the end. I believe this too has to do with not editing exact keyframes.

VirtualDub Mod opened the M2TS file with DirectShowSource, no prob, and I edited that at the exact keyframes, waiting to see whether the resulting AVI plays in sync.

[jagabo]

My second attempt with DirectShowSource("filename.ts", fps=29.97, convertfps=true) also A/V sync problems. Back to DgAvcIndex I guess.

[bc55]

I am still struggling. I am not sure, whether VirtualDub or any other software is the source of the problem, or perhaps the codec used, player(s) .....

I will post results as they are reproduceable.

So far, I have not had a single file with audio in sync.

[jagabo]

VirtualDubMod only encodes the frames that are given to it. The problem is in AviSynth and DirectShowSource().

[bc55]

VirtualDubMod only encodes the frames that are given to it. The problem is in AviSynth and DirectShowSource().

OK, me being a total no-brainer when it comes to details about the software, could you give me a solution ? If the source is captured direct off a 1080i feed and saved to M2TS format, if should have all the key-frames etc., right ? So what's screwing VirtualDubMod up ?

[jagabo]

I don't yet know a way to get DirectShowSource() working consistently with h.264 M2TS or TS files. I would try AviSynth with DgAvcDec's AvcSource().

[VegasBud]

I try to make it a rule to read an entire thread before posting in it, but I just don't have the time to go through this whole thread at the moment. As a result, if this has been mentioned before in this thread, I apologize.

The following technique, which is neither fast nor pretty, is what I've been using until someone comes up with a frame accurate editor for hd-pvr files. I've used this technique quite a bit...with frame accurate cuts (as many as needed) and no a/v sync problems.

I create two graph (*.GRF) files for the ts that the hd-pvr produces:
The first is just the ts file being fed into CoreAVC Video Decoder. The graph is saved as video.grf
The second is just the ts file being fed into CoreAAC Audio Decoder. This graph is saved as audio.grf

The barebones avs file contains:

v=DirectShowSource("video.grf", audio=false)
a=DirectShowSource("audio.grf", video=false)
AudioDub(v, a)

If the file is going to be trimmed, I open the avs file in VirtualDub and make an interim copy using lagarith or huffyuv, and then trim that file in avisynth.

In case it affects how well the technique works, my captures for many months have been using "Simple GOP 4/32/128". I honestly don't remember how well the technique worked using the default "Simple No IDR GOP 4/32/0" and unfortunately I don't have the time to test it.

[jagabo]

v=DirectShowSource("video.grf", audio=false)
a=DirectShowSource("audio.grf", video=false)
AudioDub(v, a)

Interesting. I'll give it a try...

[bc55]

I have found an alternate method :

Use Total Media Extreme, which is bundled with your HD PVR, to create an AVCHD disk of your capture, editing out the commercials etc. with the built-in cutting function when you build the AVCHD file.

Let TME make a directory on your harddisk with the AVCHD structure.

Use TSMuxerGUI to remux the M2TS file TME created into a TS file.

Use http://hauppauge.lightpath.net/software/hd_pvr/mp4creator_setup.exe to create an MP4 file from the TS you just made.

Now you have an MP4 file, which has audio in sync with the video, and you can then convert it to MKV or any other format you want.

I have used this method several times now, and all tries were successful .....

[bc55]

I am still struggling. I am not sure, whether VirtualDub or any other software is the source of the problem, or perhaps the codec used, player(s) .....

I will post results as they are reproduceable.

So far, I have not had a single file with audio in sync.

My conversions with VirtualDubMod work now all of a sudden too.

Just choose your compression, leave frame rate as is ( or convert 50 fps to 25 if you like ), tick DROP FRAMES WHEN BEHIND and SYNC TO AUDIO and do your editing.

Afterwards, save as MKV in FULL PROCESSING MODE.

Takes a while, but does the trick too .....