Best Way To Batch Convert DVR-MS and WTV Files

[dj4monie]

I have quite a bit of free time on my hands these day since my hours have been cut at work.

I picked up a 640GB internal drive recently and I'm dismayed that its almost full already. I also put Window 7 RC on my desktop recently and of course MS is using the same format from its Fiji update (.wtv). I love W7 since it will playback h264 files without issue, which means smaller files.

I would like most of my HD space back as four drives have mostly DVR-MS files on them.

I've tried DVR-MS Tool Box and MCE Buddy but they don't seem to work as I thought or in the case of Tool Box it didn't work very well and I found it hard to set up to even deleted adverts from shows.

Are there any other solutions?

I had been using Movie Maker to edit DVR-MS files and I'll use it again as its simple to use and free. I don't mind converting them to WMV files because fast forward and reserve all work. They work with h264 but not as well and of course W7 is a work in progress so its too early to poo-poo that.

Its been awhile since I have posted and with renewed interest, I want to digitize all my analog video and audio files to free up space elsewhere in the house if you know what I mean.

Thanks

[lowellriggsiam]

Although time comsuming, if I absolutely had to convert to another format other than wmv I'd hook up my external HDD to an WDHD media player hook that up to to my panisonic VHS/DVDR and record it to a blank DVD, then convert it to an iso file on my computer, from that I would use fairuse wizard to convert to an avi. Otherwise I could use DVD-RAM and copy the vso file to my computer, rename it *.mpg and use any one of a variety of programs to convert it from mpeg2 to whatever other format.

[edDV]

DVR-MS is MPeg2 (with extensive metadata for MCE) and sort of an intermediate rather than long term archive format.

Win7 can convert WTV to DVR-MS format. That is as far as I've gotten with WTV.

So I have the same goal as you to convert DVR-MS and/or WTV to h.264. I just haven't got around to it yet. I hope others have done the work.

[dj4monie]

Well there are converters out there. Just not sure if they are good though... I might try one. I might re-try Buddy or Tool Box.

I ended up deleting quite of bit of stuff I wanted to keep like Travel shows. I think I'll just have to convert one by one for the time being.

I have all the Avengers they showed on DXD and most of the Iron Man series, I think I'm just missing one or two. I just want to delete the adverts out of them and put them all in one folder by series.

I really need to straighten out where all my media is and put it all in one spot and then let some type of RAID setup backup the information. I also have a Mozy account, I might back up some of the stuff I don't watch often like ALMS races from 2006 or 2007 and put those on Mozy.

First things first, USB ports on the laptop stop working and its not OS related, they are loose too....

[PatrickMc]

There is a good discussion going on at http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/windows-7-media-center-software/36117-help-w...tv-dvr-ms.html about wtv and dvr-ms files. You may find that useful. I like the biterscripting-based script mentioned there by a couple of people.

[lacywest]

I found this at the site mentioned above ... seems to be a good idea but at the time ... I have only a 80 GB drive split into 2 partitions ... 40 GB each ... may have to bump up to a slightly larger Drive with more capacity to do this if I install WIN 7 within a virtual Drive inside WINXP.

Re: Suggestions for the todvrms script

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

Just a FYI. The latest videoredo beta apparent allows you to quickstream fix WTV to dvrms. I havent used it yet, so cant comment on its effectiveness ...

Re- WTV Conversion Conclusions:
After a few days of searching, fiddling and contemplation - I have tried everything, dvrmstb, mce buddy, videoredo beta... sure it can 'sorta work' ....but all CLUNKY and or cumbersome with oft dubious results. I hate that. I hate scripts even more

I have found this the most easy WTV>DVRMS conversion option from within an XP or vista pc >>> Im sure there might be a few who find this useful
1. Run a virtual W7 from your xp/vista whetaver desktop. (Im using MS virtual PC, VMware is nice but too bloated for such a simple use IMO)
2. Make sure the location where WTVs are stored are networked so you can access them from your virtual rig
3. Use W7s inbuilt dvrms converter(accesible from R click menu) >> Thats it!!

Now I have all those accumulating WTVs ready to accumulate as DVRMS until I can be arsed trimming and encoding them

Works as fast as your CPU/Allocated RAM to the virtual rig allows. Ive got 1.5GB to my virtual W7 and converting took same time as it did in a native win7 install environment. Good ole virtualistion eh I'll be happy to abandon this method once video redo etc are smooth an steady with WTVs

Astro ... Lacywest says thank you to the person going by Astro and I hope you dont mind my posting this elsewhere.

[Bilskate]

The best software for me for DVR-MS & WTV files is Windows Live Movie Maker. It's new, excellent, light, and free !
But I don't know if you can convert them to other thing than WMV. But you can upload them directly to youtube using this software, and can make a DVD of the files ...

[usually_quiet]

I've had good luck using TSConverter to go from DVR-MS to .mpg. Unfortunately, there is no pre-defined batch mode for TSConverter that I know of.

I have been using it mostly on one series, recorded from an SD ATSC channel. I have converted and edited about a dozen episodes so far and the resulting.mpg files have played perfectly in every case, if they played perfectly as .wtv files. DVRMSToolbox's, DVRMStoMPEGGUI didn't always produce .mpg files that played correctly when using the same sources. VideoReDo didn't always do a good job either.

I have it installed on a PC running Windows 7 32-bit. and for some unknown reason TSConverter always generates dozens of empty error message windows, but it works.

[gigijord]

Trying to find a fast and good converter for my dvr-ms files and came across this thread. Tried TSConverter and also get constant error windows, but also get another immediately on starting the process.

"Could not build graph to render source file. Please check the direct x requirements for this application. HRESULT = 80040154. Checkpoint = 0006, CLMux" I do not get any mpeg files created. This program looks promising but no luck in getting it working.

[V1de0Luvr]

I use ffmpeg for MPG Muxing to remux DVR-MS to standard MPEG. Download from http://babgvant.com/files/folders/misc/entry3716.aspx and use two BAT files that look like this:

for %%i in (*.dvr-ms) do call DVRMS2MPG "%%i"

ffmpeg_MPGMUX.exe -i "%~n1.dvr-ms" -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f dvd "%~n1.mpg"

[jyhemlin]

I had good results with AVANTI / ffmpeg. Very easy to use on WinXP, a bit more touchy for configuration on Windows 7.

[usually_quiet]

I'm using MC-TVConverter now, which had not been released when this thread began. It works without a hitch and can process multiple .wtv or .dvr-ms files added to its input list.

[Edit]MC-TVConverter isn't able to remove advertisements automatically, but I prefer to do that manually using AviDemux. VideoReDo TVSuite H.264 is another option for those open to a paid solution.

[Baldrick]

ninjoe banned. dvdvideosoft crapware spammer.

[cjbrown80]

Is there any other options to MC-TVConverter? What would be nice would be a video editing app like AviDemux that can load the .wtv and .dvr-ms files, and then save as any other format, thus skipping a step.

I have bunches of shows I've been gathering with an InfiniTV card that I want to deinterlace into 1080p and preserve the surround sound, not sure if I'll use MKV or MP4. The latter seems to play better natively in WMC. Also, can MP4 files handle AC3 or DTS? I was under the impression they could only use the AAC audio.

[dylz]

VideoRedo --> www.videoredo.com you can use the trial with full function for 14days and if you need more buy a license.
cuts, edits, remuxes, fixes, converts, authors, smart renders mpeg and h.264, need I say more?.

[jagabo]

This post: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/325139-WTV-remux-to-MPG discusses remuxing the WTV files to plain MPG. That makes them easier to deal with. A simple BAT file is given -- you can drag-and-drop a WTV file onto the BAT file to convert it to MPG.

[cjbrown80]

Thanks guys, I'll try all three solutions.

[cjbrown80]

The 1080i files (with AC3) I'm trying aren't working properly. The audio is ending up displaced by several seconds when I try to convert to MP4 with MC-TVConverter. If I use the Stream Copy option to .ts file type, the audio stays together (played back with MPC-HC). It gets messed up again when I try converting the .ts with another app (tried RipBot264 and HandBrake). If I demux the .wtv with MC-TVConverter, I'm able to import the video part into Sony Vegas 10 and work with it, but the audio file won't import, giving an incompatibility error (I was attempting to use Vegas to see if I could manually re-align the audio with the video stream).

My best guess is that the AC3 part of the file is corrupted (???).

Any ideas?

[dylz]

Use Videoredo = tvsuite h.264 http://www.videoredo.com/en/Download.htm?download=tvsuitev4

Try remuxing to mpg(PS) in MCTV it's lossless aswell.

[usually_quiet]

If the audio and video synchronization becomes progressively worse, then there are likely multiple errors in the recording. If the audio and video synchronization is off by a constant amount throughout, that is normal and can be fixed. The synchronization never seems to be off by the same amount from one recording to the next, so it is impossible to correct this in multiple files at once.

AviDemux has a shift feature under Audio which can either delay or advance the audio. You can play back the imported file to check the correction before exporting it. My preference is to output MPEG-PS for MC-TVConverter as well as AviDemux. I have not used them for re-encoding to non MPEG-2 codecs and don't know how well the Audio shift feature works in that case. I do not use Handbrake or RipBot264, and cannot say whether they have a similar feature for synchronizing the audio.

[cjbrown80]

Haven't tried videoredo yet, can't say I'm crazy about paying $100 for it.

I just checked the file and the audio synch does get progressively worse, so the audio shift feature won't help. The show is Nikita and some of the episodes do have little glitches in them, but they appear to be video glitches. My InfiniTV card also has troubles with anything on the AMC channel. I'll see if any of those shows have the same or similar problems. If so, I'm assuming those files are a lost cause?

Also, what setting in MC-TV is the MPEG-PS? I don't see it.

[usually_quiet]

The problem recordings probably can't be fixed. *.mpg is a container used for program streams. This setting works for SD or HD MPEG-2

[cjbrown80]

Nice, I thought that was only for SD streams since it is labeled as such. I'm now working with a file that seems to have a uniform amount of offset so I'm going to use the shift function in AviDemux. Is there a trick to knowing how much to shift by? I know with MediaInfo or tsMuxer it shows you an offset value in ms. Is that the correct amount to use for this situation?

[usually_quiet]

Nice, I thought that was only for SD streams since it is labeled as such. I'm now working with a file that seems to have a uniform amount of offset so I'm going to use the shift function in AviDemux. Is there a trick to knowing how much to shift by? I know with MediaInfo or tsMuxer it shows you an offset value in ms. Is that the correct amount to use for this situation?

Such offsets are often right, but not always. Once in a while, I have to guess and do things by trial and error.

[dylz]

Haven't tried videoredo yet, can't say I'm crazy about paying $100 for it.

Videoredo could be cheaper but if your using it only once or a couple of times then it's a full functioning trial for 14days and if the original wtv plays insync in window media center then videoredo will correct the errors and keep the output in sync,
MC-TV converter is just a repacker IOW It removes the wtv wrapper so if it's bad then it won't fix it.

[cjbrown80]

Okay. I've been messing with VideoRedo. First of all, the editor sucks, but I'd only be using it to trim the commercials out, so not a big deal. Aside from that the audio did stay synched properly, even for the files that I though were broken. The weird thing is when I try to export them to another mpeg format, it dumps the audio down to one channel. I need to be able to preserve the original surround format which I'm guessing can be done somehow that I haven't figured out yet. If not and it has to create a mono audio track then Videoredo is totally worthless to me. All in all I can't say I'm willing to spend $95 for this software. Total rip off at that price.

[dylz]

I sadly agree it's not the greatest editor regarding smooth editing, and the price is too expensive so I used the trial and ran :P, the best free way I found is to use cuttermaran which is gop accurate until you set up quenc, hcenc, mpeg2enc to encode the cuts and make it frame accurate http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.cu...oJzZgXD4pEAu4A
and imago will remux it back to mpg,vob,splitvob, the best part it's free and quick, the only reason you need something the videoredo is convienience it will open the mpg but cuttermaran only opens demuxed mpg's(m2v, mp3,ac3,mp2) so you need dgindex or projectx for that.
and to remux wtv to mpg or wtv to elementarystreams you'll need mc-tv converter.

[cjbrown80]

That sounds like a headache. I think the TV show conversion will have to wait a few weeks. Right now I'm working on converting my entire bluray backup library to MP4 for smoother streaming from my home server. I am book marking this thread so I can come back to it later. Thanks for your input Dylz.

[feellucky]

I was looking for the same thing.

After a long time of searching I found this: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LBJW5Y2U or http://www.triols.com/apps.aspx?AppID=3 and scroll to the bottom. This is simple and worked for me.

[cjbrown80]

Windows 7 does that without using a piece of software which leads me to believe you are peddling some type of malware. Can one of the mods please remove the above comment?