Remux dvr-ms (or WTV) to MKV

[Ramias]

I recorded some shows with my Windows Media Center that I want to remux to MKV so I can view them on my TV via Plex.

Media Info for the dvr-ms file shows it as 1920X1080 at 29.970 fps.

The MKV file is 704x480.

I first tried to convert these with ffmpeg using:

ffmpeg -I input.dvr-ms -acodec copy -vcodec copy output.mkv

but that failed (Non-monotonous DTS inoutput stream....)

So I searched online and at least got it to convert with:
ffmpeg -fflags +genpts -I input.dvr-ms -acodec copy -vcodec copy output.mkv

but that's what gave me the smaller res file.

Any ideas?

I don't want to transcode if I don't have to -- just swap containers.

Thanks

[El Heggunte]

First, demux the WMC files to elementary streams,
then, remux these latter with MKVtoolnix.
I suppose it's safe to use ffmpeg for demuxing WTV and DVR-MS.
The Matroska muxer and demuxer of ffmpeg will NEVER be fixed, apparently

[Ramias]

Thanks what would be the best syntax to demux with ffmpeg?

[El Heggunte]

It depends on the specific contents of the source file.
Since you seem to dislike Mediainfo , you may use ffmpeg -i input.ext instead.

Just as an example, assuming the DVR-MS source has MPEG-2 video and MP2 audio,

ffmpeg -i input.dvr-ms -an -vcodec copy video.m2v

ffmpeg -i input.dvr-ms -vn -acodec copy audio.mp2

[Ramias]

Thanks Picture quality is definitely much better. But the lipsync is way off .

Audio is AC3. Says this on the output when I did the conversion:

[ac3 @ 0000000004202600] Application provided invalid, non monotonically increasing dts to muxer in stream 0: 2880 >= 2880

[usually_quiet]

Thanks Picture quality is definitely much better. But the lipsync is way off .

Audio is AC3. Says this on the output when I did the conversion:

[ac3 @ 0000000004202600] Application provided invalid, non monotonically increasing dts to muxer in stream 0: 2880 >= 2880

Windows Media Center captures a DTV transport stream and wraps it in the .WTV container. DTV transport streams often contain errors and demuxing one into separate audio and video files and then remuxing them may cause the audio and video to go out of sync because of the errors. I use MC-TV Converter 1.5 to extract the transport stream from WTV files. (Later versions are slower.) It is possible to set up a watch folder or to add multiple files to be converted. Audio and video do not go out of sync in the resulting TS file. You can try converting the TS file using MKVToolnix. If the resulting .MKV is unsatisfactory, at least with .TS files you will still have your recordings in a non-proprietary format that PLEX can use.

[Ramias]

Well one of my files worked great the first time; the other is a real pain. Two shows recorded back to back on the same channel!

Here's what I'd like:

Record TV to WTV file.

At some point, trim the beginning and end (commercials etc).

File converted to MKV with subtitles and 5.1 audio (so 6 audio channels). Secondary audio stream not as important.

I tried the trial of Video Redo TV Suite H.264. But it converts to 2 channel audio and doesn't seem to have an option for subtitles when going from WTV to MKV.

[usually_quiet]

I tried the trial of Video Redo TV Suite H.264. But it converts to 2 channel audio and doesn't seem to have an option for subtitles when going from WTV to MKV.

I am assuming you are in a country that uses DVB graphics-based subtitles not ATSC's version of N American closed captioning, because it is easy to extract and convert ATSC's version of N American closed captioning to something that can be muxed into an MKV file.

If you want to preserve graphics-based subtitles from DVB broadcasts that were captured in WTV files, you will need to stick with WTV files. Nothing is available yet that can extract graphics-based subtitles, from WTV files and convert them to a non-proprietary subtitle format for muxing into an MKV. There have been several posts here from people who want to extract DVB graphics-based subtitles from their recordings, and some members here have spent a fair amount of time trying to do it, but nobody has succeeded yet.

[jman98]

I am assuming you are in a country that uses DVB graphics-based subtitles not ATSC's version of N American closed captioning

I would not make that assumption. His frame rate indicates he's dealing with ATSC video.


Ramias - You need to tell us what country you live in because your use of the word "subtitles" is quite possibly incorrect in your situation and you will NOT get the help you need if people like usually_quiet are taking you at your word and assuming you are 100% correct in your terminology. usually_quiet just spent a paragraph giving you advice that I think is completely useless to you because he took you at your word, so clarify where you live so you can get the right help.

[usually_quiet]

I forgot about the video info posted earlier in this thread.

Ramias, if you are using something other than an ATSC/QAM tuner to record TV, you may not be able to extract the closed captions from a WTV file. For example, WTV files produced by most of Hauppauge's capture devices and analog tuners either do not contain closed captions, or do not store them in a way that allows them to be extracted from the WTV file. So, exactly what device are you using to record your shows?