TS and PART file? Download/recording tv streams

[joeijm]

As I search how to download/record live streams, I see few words used often.
I read thru this forum few hours, and learned few things about downloading streams.
TS, PMT/PAT. How corrupt PMT will not play TS files.
NPVR is TS player, etc....

Before NPVR I been using "stream downloaders" that downloads PART files then append/aggregate into final MP4.
Then I see NPVR final file is TS but plays in other media players.

I am only a simple end user, not coder, little tech knowledge about downloading, TS, encoder, etc...
So here are few curious questions. I may not even be posing questions correctly.

1. Is PART file same as TS? Or TS part of PART files? NO such file as PART but only TS files?
Downloader I used sometimes has PART file extension but I can't play in any media player.
I guess cus incomplete download?
This tells me PART and TS are separate files?

2. "NextPVR is just recording a dump of whatever comes from the device"
I see NPVR final file is TS that can be played.
So is NVPR downloading many small TS files in a container called sample.ts file?
so as long as PMT is good then any players can play NPVR TS file?

3. Downloaders I used has final MP4, So are they "converting" "append/aggregating" TS into MP4?
Why don't NPVR give final MP4 instead of TS? just asking.

4. What does "append" " aggregate" PART chunks into MP4 mean?
Is there programs for this? or chunks are just added to a container with file extension TS or MP4?

[mvallevand]

It depends on your IPTV provider. Some of them *cough* "allow" you to copy files from their sites in mp4 format , some in ts format and some have both. If it isn't a transport strem NextPVR uses ffmpeg as a downloader to convert to its' standard which is the container. Some of the pirate downloaders probably remux to mp4 for compatibility.

Same thing applies to multipart, it is possible that files are m3u8 and it is the job of the downloader to stitch them together.

Martin

[joeijm]

It depends on your IPTV provider. Some of them *cough* "allow" you to copy files from their sites in mp4 format , some in ts format and some have both. If it isn't a transport strem NextPVR uses ffmpeg as a downloader to convert to its' standard which is the container. Some of the pirate downloaders probably remux to mp4 for compatibility.

Same thing applies to multipart, it is possible that files are m3u8 and it is the job of the downloader to stitch them together.

Martin

OK, I got the basic idea. Sometimes many words are tossed around and novice like me get confused and use wrong words to describe somethings.
Never heard of *cough* "allow" before. But I got the idea.
But thanks for great description of how things work.

I am very curious. So what is PART? how is it different than TS? or are they same?
Why there's file with PART extension and TS extension?

Does PART have anything to do with downloading. say...remux mp4?

So when I see PART file chucks downloaded but can't play till final MP4, then original source was mp4? or not? or TS?

[mvallevand]

Your PART file extention could be how your downloader is handling an m3u8 file segments and it has nothing to do with the standard.

Martin

[Graham]

I am very curious. So what is PART? how is it different than TS? or are they same?
Why there's file with PART extension and TS extension?

Typically, a PART file exists when downloading using file sharing software. The file sharing software creates PART files during the download because the download is incomplete and only "part" of the file has been downloaded. I don't know where you are getting PART files from and the files that you have may be different.

TS indicates a "transport stream" container. The container file will typically contain a video stream and an audio stream (possible multiple audio stream in, for example different languages) plus other information. NextPVR creates ts files when it records and these ts files might contain MPEG2 or H264 video streams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_transport_stream

[joeijm]

Typically, a PART file exists when downloading using file sharing software. The file sharing software creates PART files during the download because the download is incomplete and only "part" of the file has been downloaded. I don't know where you are getting PART files from and the files that you have may be different.

TS indicates a "transport stream" container. The container file will typically contain a video stream and an audio stream (possible multiple audio stream in, for example different languages) plus other information. NextPVR creates ts files when it records and these ts files might contain MPEG2 or H264 video streams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_transport_stream

ok, I got it now.
PART is just a concept where part of file is downloaded into, and someone just gave it .part extension.
It could be any kind of file, but that file parts are downloaded and at the end all parts get append/aggregated, etc... into final playable file like MP4.

Whereas TS is a container with "transport stream" inside. When all parts of TS are downloaded then TS container is played in media Player.

I think novice like me was way too overthinking it, thinking PART was some kind of special file.
It was such a simple concept.

Good trivia question later. LOL
Thank you for all your help, and patience.