Transcoding

[darag2358]

Can someone help me with a batch file to convert my entire ts files in the npvr recordings directory to mpg and update the recordings database? I'm not good with command lines. I found a postprocessing.bat file for converting after a recording, but I'd like to convert my existing recordings. Thanks!

[mvallevand]

I don't think that anyone has made that kind of utility, it's really not needed anymore.

Martin

[darag2358]

Yeah, never mind my thinking. What I really want to do is convert it to a smaller file size (avi) not change to mpg wrapper.

[mvallevand]

There are certainly many tools that allow for batch encoding with Handbrake, if you are prepared to spend days/weeks/months converting. Once you confirm the file is converted you can delete the .ts and NextPVR will automatically recognize the matching .mkv file.

Martin

[SteveTyrakowski]

There are certainly many tools that allow for batch encoding with Handbrake, if you are prepared to spend days/weeks/months converting. Once you confirm the file is converted you can delete the .ts and NextPVR will automatically recognize the matching .mkv file.

Martin

FWIW, I do transcoding using MCEBuddy to convert from .TS to .MP4 files. MCEBuddy works very well for about 98% of the files. There are a handful of them that lose their audio after conversion. In particular, the late night NBS shows (Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon). I used to also have problems with latenight FOX shows such as Wendy Williams. My wife hasn't asked me to record any of those in awhile so I don't know if they still have the problem. I suspect that it is due to the audio format that they choose to broadcast them in.

My setup includes:
1. my main NextPvr box (win7) that runs as a server with 4 ATSC tuners.
2. another older quad-core XP box that I use for conversions (runs MCEBuddy)
3. ACER Revo with XP running as client attached to main TV

MCEBuddy runs as a service and looks for new files in an 'input' directory you specify. It converts it according to the rules you set up and puts the result in an 'output' directory you specify. It can optionally delete the source file after conversion which I have turned on. I have both these directories available as file shares.

I wrote a program in Delphi that looks in my NextPvr database for any .TS files and it selects the oldest one and copies it to the conversion computer's 'input directory' and checks at a configurable interval to see if the file still exists. When it sees that the file has been deleted, it copies the new output file back to the NextPvr computer, updates the database with the new filename , and then deletes the old version of the file.

It continually checks the database for any TS files and keeps grabbing the oldest one and converts it. Just as an example, Chuck on NBC records a one hour TS file at about 5.3gb and the resulting MP4 files are between 560mb and 645mb. HawaiiFiveO tends to be around 7.7gb and converts to around 650mb so that's a better than 10-1 savings.

I am running MCEBuddy 1.1. I have tried the 2.0 version that was in beta and had some issues with it.

Anyway, now when I record any talk shows on NBC, I usually turn off my conversion program until we watch them, then delete those recordings and turn the converter back on. Other than that it has been pretty much automatic without much handholding needed. It is kind of a fragile accumulation of software tho. I used to run MCEBuddy on the same PC as GBPVr but switched to offloading it to another computer after I upgraded to NextPvr. I originally tried using MCEBuddy 2 on the Win7 box with NPvr but eventually determined I had best luck with 1.1 running on XP. And even though it is older, the quad core XP box seems to convert the files better than the newer dual core box with NextPVR.

I'd be willing to offer my Delphi app if there is interest in it. It needs to have some SQLLite drivers installed and I don't have a nice installation utility for it since I just made it for my own use. I'd probably have to clean up a couple things and write some documentation.

I'd especially be interested if anyone knows any other reliable conversion utility that works as a service like MCEBuddy or can be easily called with a command line. The key is for it to have some easy way for my program to know when the conversion has completed. Most other software I've tried has had problems with audio being out of sync, generally poor quality, or extremely long conversion times.

Regards,
Steve Tyrakowski