Joining two .ts files from an old set top DVR box

[flexmcmurphy]

Hello,

This kind of question was asked before on here a few years ago but didn't get solved so I was hoping to see if anyone else has any new ideas.

I have recordings I made from a Xoro 9000 DVR about 10 years ago.

A movie recording made from this box is not one file, instead it is split in to several 1GB .ts files and for each 000.ts there is a matching 000.dvr and an extra info(x).dvr also.

Like this:

000.dvr
000.ts
001.dvr
001.ts
002.dvr
002.ts
003.dvr
003.ts
info3.dvr

The .ts files play fine in vlc but I would like to join them together, preferably without loosing quality.

I tried using the kdenlive video editor but there is a brief audio/video glitch at the join.

I also tried ffmpeg. I made a file called 'mylist.txt' with this contents:

# this is a comment
file '000.ts'
file '001.ts'

Then ran this command:

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i mylist.txt -c copy output.ts

But I get the same type of glitch at the join for a few seconds.

Is this something that is just never going to work out and I am wasting my time trying to have a perfect seamless join?

Cheers,

Flex

[lollo]

Ali DVR Export Tool

you should have .dvr only, and the tool creates the .ts

[flexmcmurphy]

Thank you. But that does not work. When I try to drag the .dvr files on to the "Ali DVR Export Tool" UI the .dvr files are not recognised.
Same thing if I do File > Open and select the folder containing the .dvr files.

Anyone else have other ideas?

Flex

[lollo]

upload 001.dvr, 002.dvr and 003.dvr here

[The_Doman]

Is this something that is just never going to work out and I am wasting my time trying to have a perfect seamless join?

If the files were originally not recorded/splitted seamlessly it can never work of course.
But with a DVR recorder i would expect them to be seamless.
Long ago i also had a DVR/PVR (MPEG2) cable box which recorded in blocks of 1 GB TS files.
The tool i always used then to join/process/repair the files was ProjextX.

Did you already try to join them with a regular "dumb" file joiner and see what that gives?
Same as you would join seamless VOB segments.
Also try/examine with Avidemux possible?

[lollo]

Long ago i also had a DVR/PVR (MPEG2) cable box which recorded in blocks of 1 GB TS files.

That's different. The dvr files are similar (but not exactly) transport stream files, specific to some recorders. They need to be processed to build the original transport stream .ts file

The tool i always used then to join/process/repair the files was ProjextX.

Excellent tool, but not appropriate for .dvr files AFAIK

Did you already try to join them with a regular "dumb" file joiner and see what that gives?

He did with the ffmpeg command (with the .ts files, that should not be there), apparently without succes.

[flexmcmurphy]

I have added the .dvr files to the attached zip archive.

They are binary files and I don't know what you can do with them unless you have the .ts files also?

@The_Doman
Yes, I have tried combining the .ts files using three ways:
kdenlive
ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i mylist.txt -c copy output.ts
cat 000.ts 001.ts > o2.ts

Each time there is a blip when the two files join. It's not major but for me it's a showstopper.
I checked ProjextX, haven't tried it yet but it's over 10yrs old and doesn't seem to support H.264 which my .ts files are.

Any help much appreciated.

Flex

[lollo]

OK I see. The .dvr files I knew are audio/video files created by the recorders. Yours are a sort of data/support for the .ts files. Same extensions, different content. Ali DVR Export Tool won't help here.

You can try TSDoctor (https://www.cypheros.de/eng/tsdoc4.html) to see how it reacts to the .ts files ...

[ProWo]

You could also remux the ts to mkv (no re-encode, remux only) and the try to join the mkv's.

[The_Doman]

Each time there is a blip when the two files join. It's not major but for me it's a showstopper.
I checked ProjextX, haven't tried it yet but it's over 10yrs old and doesn't seem to support H.264 which my .ts files are.

Yes, I know the exact problem, it annoys me the same too when video joins are not "perfect".

That is why i always like the seamless segmented capture feature of ScenalyzerLive so much.
It can capture in "finished" segments which can be joined/merged afterwards without losing any frames.
That is also so convenient when you doing "marathon" long captures and easily can keep/delete the parts you want.
I really miss that feature, seamless segmented capture, in VirtualDub/AmarecTV.
The old AVi_io also did this perfectly.

If the recorder uses a special header (with help of the accompanying .dvr files?) for every captured segment then ProjectX won't help too.
Possible by analyzing and editing the files manually may be it can be done?

[ProWo]

Another possibility with the ffmpeg concat could be:

FFmpeg.exe -i "concat:path\001.ts|path\002.ts|path\003.ts" output.mkv

where path is the full path to the ts files.

This is often different from using the list.

[The_Doman]

Possible by analyzing and editing the files manually may be it can be done?

Instead of uploading whole 1GB TS files possible you can split them in smaller (50/100 MB?) segments?
"Dumb" Splitted TS files are usually playable thanks to the extra recovery/resync data included.
Assuming they are real TS files.
Then you could post the last part of 000.ts and the first part of 001.ts for example to see if/how they can be joined "perfectly".

[jagabo]

What about a simple concat with Windows command line COPY:

COPY/B 001.ts+002.ts+003.ts output.ts

[flexmcmurphy]

@jagabo
I tried that COPY/B command from Windows...

COPY/B 000.ts+001.ts output.ts

It joins the files but there is a blip at the join. That's a showstopper for me.

Although, the result in Windows was better than doing this in Linux which is I think basically the same thing:

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i mylist.txt -c copy output.ts

... because the audio went out of sync AFTER the join using that ffmpeg command in Linux.

@The_Doman
Splitting the .ts files into small sizes and then trying to join just two small .ts files would make things easier, but I fear I could spend hours and hours on that. I don't know enough about video and audio codecs and so on.

@lollo
I haven't tried TSDoctor yet but I doubt it will make any difference. It seems those binary .dvr files are needed to make all the .ts files join together seamlessly. The .dvr files probably contain tracking information and so on to make the join perfect.

I think I need the Xoro HRC 9000 media player to play these files. I suppose there is no chance that player could be available to download from the internet because it is likely proprietary software?!

@ProWo
I tried re-mux'ing the .ts files using MKVToolNix.
Then I used this command in Linux to try to join them...

ffmpeg -i "concat:000.mkv|001.mkv" output.mkv

I tried with the same two files in Windows...

COPY/B 000.mkv+001.mkv output.mkv

With each method the result is terrible, playback just ends a few seconds after where the join should be.
Perhaps you cannot join .mkv files? Or maybe MKVToolNix is no good or I used it the wrong way.

I actually wrote an email to info@xoro.fr but I doubt I will get any response. The Xoro 9000 is from 2011 or older.

Flex

[davexnet]

Can't you just use Audacity or anither audio editor to fix the blip ?

[jagabo]

Then I used this command in Linux to try to join them...

ffmpeg -i "concat:000.mkv|001.mkv" output.mkv

I tried with the same two files in Windows...

COPY/B 000.mkv+001.mkv output.mkv

With each method the result is terrible, playback just ends a few seconds after where the join should be.
Perhaps you cannot join .mkv files?

You definitely cannot append MKV files that way.

[pcspeak]

If you have the disk space maybe try this. I'm guessing you'll need about 100 GB.
Create AVI files from two of the TS files, and then join them.

ffmpeg -i 000.ts -c:v huffyuv -c:a copy 000.avi
ffmpeg -i 001.ts -c:v huffyuv -c:a copy 001.avi
copy /b 000.avi 001.avi output.avi

Hopefully the glitch will be gone.

That said, I'd use ffmpeg to join them.

for %%a in (*.avi) do echo file '%%a' >> list.txt
ffmpeg -safe 0 -f concat -i list.txt -c copy output.avi
del list.txt
pause

Cheers

[ProWo]

@ProWo
I tried re-mux'ing the .ts files using MKVToolNix.
Then I used this command in Linux to try to join them...

ffmpeg -i "concat:000.mkv|001.mkv" output.mkv

I tried with the same two files in Windows...

COPY/B 000.mkv+001.mkv output.mkv

With each method the result is terrible, playback just ends a few seconds after where the join should be.
Flex

I wrote:

FFmpeg.exe -i "concat:001.ts|002.ts" output.mkv

[ProWo]

The problem is probably that the video stream and the audio stream of the individual ts junks are not the same length.
If the stream lengths match exactly, the join will also work.

[lollo]

@lollo
I haven't tried TSDoctor yet but I doubt it will make any difference. It seems those binary .dvr files are needed to make all the .ts files join together seamlessly. The .dvr files probably contain tracking information and so on to make the join perfect.

Give TS Doctor a try. In https://www.videohelp.com/software/TS-Doctor/reviews there is a mention on joining files similar to yours (the date of the report is Oct 27, 2009)

[The_Doman]

Give TS Doctor a try. In https://www.videohelp.com/software/TS-Doctor/reviews there is a mention on joining files similar to yours (the date of the report is Oct 27, 2009)

Indeed, they are a Germany based company and support a lot of different DVR/PVR recording formats what i read.
Also that Xoro DVR box is from Germany too.

The Xoro spitted recordings are mentioned on their (geman) forum too:
Cypheros Forum: Bearbeiten gesplitteter Dateien (Xoro HRS 8750)
Wen loading the first part, it should ask to join the other parts of the recording.

[Sharc]

If you join the .ts files in an NLE (e.g. Shotcut) how does the audio waveform look at the joints?
Maybe you can smooth the audio transition (gap? step discontinuity? spike? ....) by applying a local filter around the transitions.

[pcspeak]

Can you upload the last 15 seconds of 000.ts and the first 15 seconds of 001.ts? Something for us to work with.

[jagabo]

If you have the disk space maybe try this. I'm guessing you'll need about 100 GB.
Create AVI files from two of the TS files, and then join them.

ffmpeg -i 000.ts -c:v huffyuv -c:a copy 000.avi
ffmpeg -i 001.ts -c:v huffyuv -c:a copy 001.avi
copy /b 000.avi 001.avi output.avi

Hopefully the glitch will be gone.

You can't append AVI file like that either. That type of appending only works with transport streams and elementary streams.

[Sharc]

See here, maybe Tssplitter helps.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/416026-Merging-files-from-Panasonic-HC-V180-with-H...-!#post2751754

[flexmcmurphy]

Thank you to everyone for all your advice so far.

I have about 80 movie recordings that were recorded using that Xoro 9000 box about 10-years ago. Yes I am being pedantic about glitches where I join the .ts files but for me that's a showstopper and if I cannot join the multiple .ts files perfectly I might as well just re-download them, rip them again from friends DVDs or try to record them again when they are shown on TV again.

@Sharc
Thanks. I tried Tssplitter but it's the same as the other joining methods... at the join the audio and video skip about 2 seconds so there is a noticeable glitch. The matching .dvr files must be needed to co-ordinate the timing of connecting the different .ts files.

@The_Domon
I tried TSDoctor in a Win 10 VM but it limits the saved file sized to 500MB so I need to boot in to Windows bare metal and try it again that way. I will report back.

@pcspeak
That's a good idea to split my .ts files into maybe 30 second chunks to share with you guys but after googling a little about how to split the .ts files down to smaller sizes now I think splitting the .ts files may just introduce more potential for out-of-sync audio/video problems! Unless you are sure of a way to split .ts files that preserves the audio and video streams start and stop timestamps then I think that might be a frustrating waste of time because the main issue here IS trying to preserve and re-join the audio and video streams start and stop timestamps exactly.

I also tried converting the .ts files to .avi and yes the resulting .avi file size is so huge that I do not actually have easy access to enough drive storage to try that out fully.

@18davexnet
The glitch is both audio and video. I would not be able to fix the join using Audacity or another video editing tool as far as I can tell because about 2 seconds of audio and video are lost in the transition from one .ts file to the next. I tried lining them up together in kdenlive in Linux and it just doesn't work.

Flex

[The_Doman]

That's a good idea to split my .ts files into maybe 30 second chunks to share with you guys but after googling a little about how to split the .ts files down to smaller sizes now I think splitting the .ts files may just introduce more potential for out-of-sync audio/video problems! Unless you are sure of a way to split .ts files that preserves the audio and video streams start and stop timestamps then I think that might be a frustrating waste of time because the main issue here IS trying to preserve and re-join the audio and video streams start and stop timestamps exactly.

If you are using "dumb" data file-splitter, which only splits the files without any other operation, you will end up with exact the same data when the parts are joined again.
So especially NOT use a video splitting tool.
There are many tools around which can do this.
For example with the excellent filemanager Total Commander you co do it easily.
Or the Total Commander inspired Double Commander for Win/Linux/Mac.

Total Commander - Splitting Files:

[Attachment 82460 - Click to enlarge]

[flexmcmurphy]

@The_Doman
Thanks for the advice. But I don't think I will need to try that method now because...

@lollo
TSDoctor works! Thank you so much for mentioning this to me. I doubt I would have ever found it.

Yes that commenter must have had the exact same problem as myself.
I just feed the info(n).dvr file in to it and it syncs up all the .ts files in to one without any glitches
It is really sophisticated software and I can use it free for 30 days or else pay the pretty reasonable license fee.

My last question:
What is the best way to losslessly change/mux the large .ts file to a format suitable for editing out commercials?
I think TSDoctor offers functionality along those lines but it looks complicated and I might have to pay extra for plugins.

From this thread I found some suggestions. Would this work? Is .mkv the best choice output file type to work on removing commercials later in a video editor?

ffmpeg -i movie.ts -map 0 -c copy movie.mkv

Do I also need -crf 0 to make the output lossless?

Or maybe I don't need lossless which will create files that are too big so maybe I would re-encode the video to H.264 and audio to aac?

ffmpeg -i movie.ts -map 0 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac movie.mkv

Cheers,

Flex

[pcspeak]

You can't append AVI file like that either. That type of appending only works with transport streams and elementary streams.

Oops, my bad. I didn't test.