Custom dvr-ms to mpg transcode intercepted by gbpvr

[Caseyjones]

This seems to be a good source for pre-compiled ffmpeg

http://ffdshow.faireal.net/mirror/ffmpeg/

[zehd]

I can't recall where I downloaded the binary from, but the ffmpeg that's working for me is a Feb-5-2008 build. I think it's revision 11870. Older versions like the one included within gbpvr don't handle dvr-ms. This one isn't perfect, but it's doing ok.

The command line I'm playing with right now is this:

-y -i {SOURCE_FILE} -target ntsc-dvd -b 4200k -vcodec mpeg2video -ab 224 -ar 48000 -acodec mp2 -ac 2 -r 29.97 -s 720x480 -aspect 4:3 {DEST_FILE}

Like caseyjones, I have to play around with the aspect ratio and padding settings some because converting to ntsc dvd format is making everyone skinny. I think with a widescreen HD broadcast I'll be able to use the -padtop and -padbottom settings to letterbox the program. I'm not sure yet what switches to use on pillarboxed HD broadcasts, because then I should just be able to cut the pillarboxes off and have a perfect 4:3 aspect ratio, but I don't yet know how to do that.

However, this is the first version I've come across that could make mpegs from my dvr-ms files at all, so I'm happy to have something to experiment with.

I know last year I was adding the dvr-ms to ZProcess. And that's where I added the fake, alternate trans2mvp, which is the first program called when trying to view dvr-ms files...

I know that it worked, but I always had the feeling it wasn't done, maybe becoause the version of ffmpeg that worked, did not have a lot of audio codecs turned on. I had always wanted a full version, that did dvr-ms...

Anyway, ZProcess does the aspect ratios stuff, so you might wanna give this a try with dvr-ms files..

Today, I'm going to play a bit more with several versions of ffmpeg. I'm also looking for a version of Mencoder that will do it too...

[zehd]

In case you want to try dvr-ms conversion the ZProcess way, here's steps...

Get the latest ZProcess
Download the alternate ffmpeg from the ZProcess wiki page. Name it ffmpeg-alt.exe and store it in the normal gb-pvr ffmpeg folder...

Insisde the gbpvr folder copy, backup or rename the original 'trans2mvp.exe' file..

Copy from ZProcess zip the trans2mvp.exe to over write the one in gbpvr directory.

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Assuming you have ZProcess2 installed as per norm, whenever you click on a dvr-ms file in MVP Video Library, it will transcode on the fly...

Also, if your dvr-ms are all wide screen you may want to change the setting in ZProcess for 'override dvr-ms to Wide'.

I'm looking at detection of wide or standard dvr-ms files using comskip, but not there yet...

[bgowland]

What resolution does ffmpeg detect in the source, I'm running from a UK PAL digital signal but FFMPEG sees the res as 544x576 rather than 720x576 which is what I would have expected?

The 'majority' (I can't be specific) of Freeview broadcasts are 720x576i although there is one MUX which broadcasts mostly in 704x576i.

544x576i seems to be used for broadcasts at certain times on some channels for some programmes. I just looked with TSReader and More4 is broadcasting at 544x576i at the moment. If ffmpeg is reporting that resolution then it's probably right depending on which channel you recorded.

Cheers,
Brian

[GlowTube]

I'm also looking for a version of Mencoder that will do it too...

And a lonely search it is... All my tests with the official version of Mencoder share the same error -- the video portion of a dvr-ms transcodes well, and the audio portion emerges as 100% white noise (this is with AC3 input). I have found posts on the web complaining about this for at least two years, but no solution has been given so far. Mencoder is affected by this, as are all of the GUI video converter programs that use Mencoder as a backend (MediaCoder, for example).

There is a version of Mencoder that does not have the bug -- one that's been specially modified for dvr-ms support by babgvant:

http://babgvant.com/files/folders/misc/entry4003.aspx

I wish these fixes would migrate into the official build at some point.

As mentioned earlier in the thread the latest FFMpeg handles dvr-ms correctly, or at least for the cases I've tried so far.

[zehd]

And a lonely search it is... All my tests with the official version of Mencoder share the same error -- the video portion of a dvr-ms transcodes well, and the audio portion emerges as 100% white noise (this is with AC3 input). I have found posts on the web complaining about this for at least two years, but no solution has been given so far. Mencoder is affected by this, as are all of the GUI video converter programs that use Mencoder as a backend (MediaCoder, for example).

There is a version of Mencoder that does not have the bug -- one that's been specially modified for dvr-ms support by babgvant:

http://babgvant.com/files/folders/misc/entry4003.aspx

I wish these fixes would migrate into the official build at some point.

As mentioned earlier in the thread the latest FFMpeg handles dvr-ms correctly, or at least for the cases I've tried so far.

That version doesn't quite work all the time either...

I have a nasty sample of dvr-ms that seems to break anything I throw at it except a custom compiled version of ffmpg. Any other version of either transcoder has bad audio sync issues...