# ReplayTV 5K Tools (Revision 4)



## Lee Thompson

I am very pleased to announce the fourth revision of the ReplayTV 5000 Toolkit.


ReplayTV tools are a collection of command line utilities to work with MPEG-2 streams for the ReplayTV 5000 series Personal Video Recorder.


These tools will allow you to do the following:


* Edit downloaded shows without reencoding; stream them with DVArchive

* Convert RTV files for use with DVD Authoring

* Convert RTV4K MPEGs for streaming to a RTV5K

* Convert MPEG-2 streams and stream to a RTV5K with DVArchive



What's New in Rev 4:



Revised Documentation

RTVEDIT: if no associated ndx is found for the given mpg, create a 5k ndx

EVTDUMP: added -p and -i switches to set program time and ignore time

RTVCONV: added -d switch to write demultiplexed streams (.m2v, .mp2)

RVTCONV: added filtering of RTVEDIT-ed files for DVD authoring



EVTDUMP:


* EVTDUMP switches may be useful for changing detection parameters without recompiling. Specify times in seconds. For example, a 30 minute show may have program segments shorter than the default 5 minutes, use -p180 to set the program time limit to 3 minutes.



RTVEDIT:


* RTVEDIT will now re-build a .ndx corresponding to the original .mpg if no .ndx is found. It will *assume* the mpg is a RTV5K stream. There is no check for this and results on a non-RTV5K stream are unpredictable (read "bad"). An .ndx is required for editing the stream, so once the .ndx is re-generated, you can run RTVEDIT on the fileset as normal.



RTVCONVERT:


* RTVCONVERT can now process an RTVEDIT-ed mpg and produce a stream suitable for DVD authoring. Simply run RTVCONVERT on the output of an RTVEDIT stream and use the resulting stream in your DVD authoring program (tested on MediaChance DVDLab, Sonic Solutions DVDit, Sonic/Daikin Scenarist, Ulead MovieFactory 1.x.).


* If your DVD authoring program accepts demultiplexed streams, use the -d switch to have RTVCONVERT write .m2v and .mp2 files directly.



Binaries are included for Mac OS X, Win32 and Linux. Enjoy!

 

rtvtoolsrev4.zip 144.9775390625k . file


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## agent-x

"suitable for DVD authoring" means your audio should stay in sync.


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## LaserDick

Beautiful! Thanks to Lee & anon....


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## dyker

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*"suitable for DVD authoring" means your audio should stay in sync. *
Does this mean no need to buy womble to fix the mpeg? Is this as fast as Womble?


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## Bobcrane

You're my boy blue! Uh... I mean... way to go Lee! Especially adding the conversion functionality.


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## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by dyker_
*Does this mean no need to buy womble to fix the mpeg? Is this as fast as Womble?*
Womble should not be necessary.


If you wanted to convert a 60 minute show to a DVD (waste of space I know but bear with me  ) you would just need to do the following steps:


1. Download to your PC (time varies)


2. You'll need to create a simple RTVEDIT script even if you aren't trimming the MPEG at all.

Code:


Code:


FMyFile.mpg
E

Code:


Code:


rtvedit myfile.txt

Even with minor edits and trims it should not take more than 2-3 minutes to process on a 2Ghz machine. (NOTE if you have Write Caching disabled on Windows it'll double the time.)


3. Now all you need to do is run RTVCONVERT on the file RTVEDIT just made. (using the above example it would be *MyFile1.mpg*).

Code:


Code:


rtvconvert myfile1.mpg DVDfile.mpg

If your DVD authoring tool perfers demuxed streams you can specify -d on the command line and rtvconvert will demux it for you.

Code:


Code:


rtvconvert -d myfile1.mpg DVDfile.mpg

Either way about 2-3 minutes for this step. As with RTVEDIT, if write caching is disabled on the drive it'll be closer to 5-6.



So the total time for processing the MPG after it's on your PC to when it's in your DVD Authoring application can be as little as 5-6 minutes. (Obviously it depends on the speed of your machine and how long the MPG is)


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## icecow

I love these tools. Just been keeping quiet waiting for others to talk about it so it's spelled out to me and all I have to do is add it up. I suspect others are doing the same because not much has been said in this thread so far.


In a different thread, some smart-type person showed how to make a little batch file script as an icon. All you have to do is drop a file(a replay mpg in this case) on to the icon and several command line programs are run in sequence making the process a nobrainer. Where did I see that? I might search for it later and post back here or EDIT this post. It seems perfect for these tools (batch files are so easy to reconfigure too).


There's other programs that will wait till a file arrives in a directory and then processes it how ever you have it set up(however you want). I'm eyeing out a way to use all of the above to automate the process from DVArchive transfer scheduling to ripping out the commercials and saving space or sending dvd-ready mpgs to a folder so all is left is to burn them.


I don't like the grammatic structuring of this post, but I'm tired right now; hope it's readable.


I love Lee for being the bringer of all good things. Hope the creator of the program understands how much the work is appreciated. The praise goes unheard from people all over who celebrate the tools quietly in their unmarked and uncounted casas with little grins and smiles. There have been bigger software productions that are more formidable, but these little tools are the ones fueling the revolutionary process. I want to give recognition. Hope I didn't hit too many cheesey notes telling you how I feel. I'd leave it said by the poets, but they never show up.


cow


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## wen-king

Re: rtvconvert for DVD authoring


Is it to say that the output mpeg (assuming no demux)

of rtvconvert on a 5K mpeg can be streamed back to the replaytv as well as be used in DVD authoring tool?


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## dyker

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*Womble should not be necessary.

*
WOW!! Thanks!! Wife just asked me about copying off some kid's show that is only airing this weekend to DVD and I was thinking I'd have to crack open the wally. If this all works as billed, are you asking for anything via Paypal?


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## Amazingly Smooth

Ok, I have been too lazy to try these tools until last night. My compatibility-exchange units are arriving tomorrow, and I want to be able to keep some of my old recordings. I ran rtvedit on my 4k files and converted them to "5k" files. Seems to have worked and the files do stream back to the 5k's using DVArchive. I'm amazed at how quickly this works. The longest it rans was 5 minutes!


The basic procedure (for those who haven't tried it) is to create a text file with the commands shown in one of the readme files. I think it is all of three lines long. Then execute "rtvedit edit.txt" on the command line. Once the files are converted you will need to notify DVArchive that the MPEG is now compatible with the 5k's. Go into DVArchive and select the shows properties. Under the Advanced tab there is a pull-down for configuring the MPEG RTV version.


I did receive a couple of different errors... first was something about an invalid ndx file. It was just ignored and it contued straight on. The second was something about an improper index. It just skips to a valid index and continues converting. So far I have not found any problems in the new MPEG files, but I haven't watched them all the way through yet. Of course, YMMV.


Thanks a lot Lee and 'anonymous' for producing these tools. I suspect 'anonymous' is one of the RTV programmers, but this is only a guess.


Cheers


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## Cobalt_Crysalis

Hey, I've never tried these tools and I'm thinking of doing so this weekend -- just a couple of questions first:


Since this tool appears to depend on RTV's detecting commercials, it seems for those that are not detected, you have to go through the video and find the beginning/end times of the commercial segments and put those in the evtdump file manually? If this is the case, my other question is, in order to view the video beforehand (to find the commercials) I have to use VLAN, and since the video is recorded in VBR, the time fluctuates constantly, making it impossible to tell exactly when the commercial segment commences/ends. Any suggestions?


Thanks!



CC


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## alyosha

Well, if you do look closely at the evt dump file, you would notice that all the commercials and more (scene changes) are detected and dumped, it is just that the CA logic didnt identify them as commercial breaks. So all you need to do is flip a few A's into D's 

Here is how I do it. I run the evtdump on the file and open it in editor. I than run rtvedit and take a note at what points the show was edited (it is also obvious from the evt file, but much easier to see in the output of the edit file (you can also just redirect the output of the editing program to a file and open it for viewing later). For example is the 60 minutes show shows that the edited file is 43 minutes, good chance is nothing needs to be done, and all commercials were detected correctly. If the file is smaller or bigger, I'll open the original video file in WMP or VLAN and drag to the first edit point, than second than so on. I do not need to determine points, I just want to find, where they are approximately. Once I see that any of the points are out of wack, I go to the opened evt.txt file and sure enough, if there is a porblem, that means that there is A in front of that edit point - flip it to D. Try it and you get a hand of it, really the whole process is a lot faster than wombling, cause you dont really have to detect frames and such.

I use far.exe from rarsoft.com instead of the run interface of windows, but maybe somebody will write a gui interface to the tools.

Quote:

_Originally posted by Cobalt_Crysalis_
*Hey, I've never tried these tools and I'm thinking of doing so this weekend -- just a couple of questions first:


Since this tool appears to depend on RTV's detecting commercials, it seems for those that are not detected, you have to go through the video and find the beginning/end times of the commercial segments and put those in the evtdump file manually? If this is the case, my other question is, in order to view the video beforehand (to find the commercials) I have to use VLAN, and since the video is recorded in VBR, the time fluctuates constantly, making it impossible to tell exactly when the commercial segment commences/ends. Any suggestions?


Thanks!



CC*


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## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by wen-king_
*Re: rtvconvert for DVD authoring


Is it to say that the output mpeg (assuming no demux)

of rtvconvert on a 5K mpeg can be streamed back to the replaytv as well as be used in DVD authoring tool?*
Yes.


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## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by alyosha_
*Well, if you do look closely at the evt dump file, you would notice that all the commercials and more (scene changes) are detected and dumped, it is just that the CA logic didnt identify them as commercial breaks. So all you need to do is flip a few A's into D's 

Here is how I do it. I run the evtdump on the file and open it in editor. I than run rtvedit and take a note at what points the show was edited (it is also obvious from the evt file, but much easier to see in the output of the edit file (you can also just redirect the output of the editing program to a file and open it for viewing later). For example is the 60 minutes show shows that the edited file is 43 minutes, good chance is nothing needs to be done, and all commercials were detected correctly. If the file is smaller or bigger, I'll open the original video file in WMP or VLAN and drag to the first edit point, than second than so on. I do not need to determine points, I just want to find, where they are approximately. Once I see that any of the points are out of wack, I go to the opened evt.txt file and sure enough, if there is a porblem, that means that there is A in front of that edit point - flip it to D. Try it and you get a hand of it, really the whole process is a lot faster than wombling, cause you dont really have to detect frames and such.

I use far.exe from rarsoft.com instead of the run interface of windows, but maybe somebody will write a gui interface to the tools.*
Personally, I run evtdump and then modify the result manually using VirtualDub-MPEG2 (VirtualDub with the MPEG2 modification) since it always shows the timestamp in HHH:MM.HSEC.


Note if you use edit times from any external (non EVTDUMP) source you'll want to use rtvedit with the -t1 option. (The NDX's clock is a little different than the MPG's clock.)



Also remember the new additions to evtdump let you tune the commercial detection (-p and -i flags).


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## alyosha

Neat, I have to play with the -p and -i to see if I can create templates for specific shows, and just use them instead of editing evt file.


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## wen-king

I can't get my mplex (linux/unix) to recognize the

output of rtvconvert. In my simple script for making

DVD, mplex is used to add VOB header to mpeg2

file before dvdauthor (linux/unix). Is adding VOB

header perhaps something that can be incorporated

into a future release of rtvconvert?


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## Clay Schneider

Great job.


And, for what it's worth, an 'rtvconvert into regular dvd' not only makes a great input to Ulead DMF2, it also makes the Hauppague MediaMVP a lot happier. MediaMVP can open a directory with dozens of 'rtvconverted' mpg files virtually instantly -- first time, every time.


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## alcuin99

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*I am very pleased to announce the fourth revision of the ReplayTV 5000 Toolkit.


RTVCONV: added -d switch to write demultiplexed streams (.m2v, .mp2)

RVTCONV: added filtering of RTVEDIT-ed files for DVD authoring


Binaries are included for Mac OS X, Win32 and Linux. Enjoy!*
Um, not trying to nitpick or anything, but is there a separate/different RVTconv utility, as opposed to RTVconv? If there is, I don't see it for any os. Just wondering, thanks. Keep up the great work!


-e


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## Lee Thompson

RTVCONV is short for RTVCONVERT.


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## Jeff D

Lee, couple of questions for you...


1) The -i and -p options that can modify the commercial detection, is this just the way the events are handled or is there acutal reprocessing of the mpeg stream?


2) The cut on rtvconvert... it's limited to cutting on GOP boundries? Or are partial GOPs reconstructed?


Looks cool!


I'm about to use event dump to look at the commercial detection differences between 5.0 and 5.1. I might need to bone up on events quickly, any documentation on the events?


Thanks to you guys!


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## Lee Thompson

1. The former. Just changes the detect parameters.


2. It should work on any I-frame.



There were docs on events but Molehill appears to be offline.


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## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by wen-king_
*I can't get my mplex (linux/unix) to recognize the

output of rtvconvert. In my simple script for making

DVD, mplex is used to add VOB header to mpeg2

file before dvdauthor (linux/unix). Is adding VOB

header perhaps something that can be incorporated

into a future release of rtvconvert?*
mplex recognizes the elementary streams just fine. Use -d in rtvconvert to write demuxed streams and use -f 8 or -f 9 in mplex for dvd.


mplex -f 8 -o dvd.mpg rtvprog1.m2v rtvprog1.mp2


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## Jeff D

agent-x care to clue me in on what you've done with the audio stream? I'm very curious to see how your findings compare with what I know. I'm sure you know more, I'm very curious. =) The clock values and PTS times always seem wrong, but I haven't figured it out exactly. It's almost like the MPEG system clock isn't running at exactly 90Mhz?? I've been confused by this for a while and never figured out exactly what is going on.




On another note...

Is it possible to evtdump, rtvedit and import that file back into DVA for serving? I've tried to do both of the following and neither worked when imported back into DVA...


evtdump

rtvedit using output from evtdump

import that new file, no luck


evtdump

rtvedit using output form evtdump

rtvconv with output from rtvedit

import

still no luck


both result in the replay hanging and rebooting.

NOTE: I did this at 1:30AM so I might have screwed something up. I tried to follow the read me as best I could.


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## icecow

Lee,

A guy made a mpg player for hos 4xxx laptop that skips commercials when it gets to them like a replaytv.


He says he can make a 5xxx version if he has some 5xxx documentation on the .evt files.


Here's the link:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=314993 


I was hoping you would point him in the right direction


cow


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## agent-x

Jeff D,


I've added a PS demux filter in rtvconvert that acts like a P-STD demuxer which is needed to synchronize elementary streams from MPEG-2 program streams. Just demultiplexing PS alone isn't sufficient, yet this is what most DVD authoring programs will do and they will break end-to-end timing unless the elementary streams are already aligned. DVD players are P-STDs, which is why the raw RTV streams play in sync, but may be out of sync after authoring. You need to have one of these filters somewhere in your path and depending on your system setup and tools, it might be coming from DirectShow or embedded in your encoder or editor. This version of rtvconvert has a simple one built-in.


MPEG-2 system clock is 27MHz. PTS clock is 90KHz. The SCR extensions don't seem to be used in RTV mpegs, so the timing model only relies on a 90KHz clock (which is perfectly fine). I haven't seen this clock drift out of tolerance and am curious what makes you say the "PTS times always seem wrong".


I'm not sure what problem you're having with importing and streaming. I haven't seen any issues other than the known ones. TCP stack settings and back-to-back DVA streaming are known to cause problems, but they're not anything specific to edited/converted streams. You might find some useful information in the DVArchive event log. Also, if you're editing a downloaded show, you don't technically need to re-import the stream - you can just replace the fileset that's already there (rename the originals if you want to keep them) and update the guide entry.


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## jingcha

Are there similar tools for the 4K series, I have 4504 RTV. Please help

jingcha


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## dyker

OK, stupid newbie question on these tools. I have a show called "Tiny Planets". I've downloaded it to DVA and extracted the files:

Tiny Planets.mpg

Tiny Planets.ndx

Tiny Planets.evt


I am just not getting the documentation on how to simply process the file so that the audio doesn't get out of sync.


I created a text file called TP.txt which contains the text:
_Tiny Planets.mpg

E_


I then go to DOS and run:
_rtvedit.exe tp.txt._


This process gives me the output:
_Target: iny Planets.mpg

New Program Time: 000:00.000

Edit Time: 000:00.172_


I look in my directory and low and behold, a 2k file called "iny Planets.mpg" now exists. I'm figuring this is what is supposed to happen, the first character being trimmed off. I'm not sure why the file is so small. I then try to run:
_rtvconvert "iny planets.mpg" DVDTinyPlanets.mpg_


The resulting DVDTinyPlanets.mpg file is about 2k and unusable.


What am I doing wrong and are there other directions somewhere that are clearer for a newbie like me?


(On a side note, I also tried the process against the "Baby Looney Tunes.mpg" file but when I try to run rtvedit against that file it says that it doesn't recognize the command "B".)


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## Lee Thompson

Quote:

I created a text file called TP.txt which contains the text:

Tiny Planets.mpg

E
That should be:
Code:


Code:


FTiny Planets.mpg
E

The resulting file will be Tiny Planets1.mpg, process that file with rtvconvert for authoring.


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## Jeff D

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*I've added a PS demux filter in rtvconvert that acts like a P-STD demuxer which is needed to synchronize elementary streams from MPEG-2 program streams. Just demultiplexing PS alone isn't sufficient, yet this is what most DVD authoring programs will do and they will break end-to-end timing unless the elementary streams are already aligned. DVD players are P-STDs, which is why the raw RTV streams play in sync, but may be out of sync after authoring. You need to have one of these filters somewhere in your path and depending on your system setup and tools, it might be coming from DirectShow or embedded in your encoder or editor. This version of rtvconvert has a simple one built-in.
*
I think I follow, but I know very little about the differences between T-STD and P-STD. What you're saying is the timing relationship between the two streams is lost on a plain ol' split the stream demux. So, it would be best to split the streams with rtvconvert -d to go to dvd source files. Is the only time the rtvconvert demuxer used when using the -d option?

Quote:

*

MPEG-2 system clock is 27MHz. PTS clock is 90KHz. The SCR extensions don't seem to be used in RTV mpegs, so the timing model only relies on a 90KHz clock (which is perfectly fine). I haven't seen this clock drift out of tolerance and am curious what makes you say the "PTS times always seem wrong".
*
Right, sorry, as I understand it the PTS clock is derived from the STC.


My comment on the PTS always being wrong is based off several things some of which can be explained by your previous description of the demux process and how the PC can screw with the streams.

Quote:

*

I'm not sure what problem you're having with importing and streaming. I haven't seen any issues other than the known ones. TCP stack settings and back-to-back DVA streaming are known to cause problems, but they're not anything specific to edited/converted streams. You might find some useful information in the DVArchive event log. Also, if you're editing a downloaded show, you don't technically need to re-import the stream - you can just replace the fileset that's already there (rename the originals if you want to keep them) and update the guide entry.*
One of the crazy things I'm trying to use rtvconvert for....

I don't know if you saw that some of us are having problem on the 5k recordings where video freezes for 2-4 seconds on playback. After the video starts back up the audio may go out of sync. I've noticed the part of the stream where the replay freezes has a "good" video and audio stream. Demuxing and remuxing the mpeg the remuxed stream plays fine on the replay but all sync is lost. I'm curious rtvconvert can fix what I suspect is garbage in the source recording. The error output I mentioned earlier gives a file offset, but not a time offset, so I'm having a tough time figuring out if the two are one in the same.


Thanks!


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## versed

I've been wanting to use my replay as a DVD server for a while, and now these tools have allowed me to (mostly) do so.


On Linux, I am using transcode and mpeg2enc to transcode the vob into a 480x480 mpeg2 stream using the settings for an SVCD. Mplex then muxes the elementary streams for me, and rtvconvert allows me to import them successfully into DVarchive and stream back to my 5040.


Now for my questions. First, I have not been able to figure out how to create one large mpg from the vobs that will work with rtvconvert. The only settings that seem to work are the ones for SVCD, and this forces mplex to split the output at approx 730 Mb boundaries. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to create one large mpeg that can be converted with rtvconvert?


Here is the transcode command I am using:

transcode -H 10 -a 0 -x vob

-i path/to/vobs -w 2088 -F 5,'-B 180 -S 736 -I 0 -g 9 -G 18 ' --export_asr 3 -b 128 -s 1.419 -V -f 24,1 -

B 0,30,8 -y mpeg2enc,mp2enc -E 48000 --psu_mode --nav_seek /path/to/navlog/created/by/dvdrip --no_split -o

/outputfile/foo


Here is the mux:

mplex -f 4 -V foo.m2v foo.mpa -o foo-%d.mpg


Does anyone have any suggestions on how to create one large mpeg that can be converted with rtvconvert? When I have tried to prevent the splitting, I have ended up with files that rtvconvert would not handle, failing with an invalid stream id message. The svcd settings above are the only ones I've found thus far that appear to set the corrrect stream ID.


Also, if anyone tries to use the above method there is a quirk to getting the files to work correctly. The first file of the series can be rtvconverted and imported directly. The subsequent files must be rtvconverted then rtvedited to make them work. The edit step appears to trim around 250ms from the beginning of the clip, and if it is left out the clip will cause my 5040 to hang and reboot.


Thanks for all the great tools, and as things stand I am already VERY happy with my new ability to stream my DVD's to my replays. If anyone has suggestions on how to improve the above process, or can shed some light on what causes some of the behavior I'm describing, I would be quite grateful.


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## Loren Kruse.

QUESTION:


NOTE - JBARR JUMP IN HERE IN YOU HAVE ANY ADDITONAL THOUGHTS


Could it be possible to do on the fly conversion of MP3 and stream the resulting file with DVArchive? Would be cool if a program like DVArchive could search your computer for MP3's and offer them for streaming where the ReplayTV would see them. Then if a particular song is called it would be converted and streamed on the fly.


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## mastafunk

Here is the batch file icecow was refering to I had foundit a while back in another thread (cant seem to find it anymore) Thanks to the original author.......


evtdump %1 > evt.txt

rtvedit -t1 evt.txt

pause


Put these lines in a text file called edit.bat, then drag the evt file for the mpeg you wish to edit and drop it on the icon for this batch file, it will edit the file and drop it into the same directory as the original.


(I forgot, this might be obvious, but for this to work you must drop the utilities somewhere in your path ie. c:\\windows\\system32)


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## Lee Thompson

Quote:

I think I follow, but I know very little about the differences between T-STD and P-STD. What you're saying is the timing relationship between the two streams is lost on a plain ol' split the stream demux. So, it would be best to split the streams with rtvconvert -d to go to dvd source files. Is the only time the rtvconvert demuxer used when using the -d option?
Actually it will work either way with release 4, the -d option actually just tells rtvconvert to leave the streams separate instead of re-muxing them (since most DVD authoring programs want them separated anyway).


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## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by jingcha_

Are there similar tools for the 4K series, I have 4504 RTV. Please help
I do think it's possible, but I don't have access to a 4K series box to make it work. We tried to include 4K support the second release, but debugging via proxy doesn't work for this. If I can find one for cheap, I might look at it again.

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_

I think I follow, but I know very little about the differences between T-STD and P-STD. What you're saying is the timing relationship between the two streams is lost on a plain ol' split the stream demux. So, it would be best to split the streams with rtvconvert -d to go to dvd source files. Is the only time the rtvconvert demuxer used when using the -d option?
T-STD isn't relevant here. It's another end-to-end model designed to solve a completely different set of problems for digital broadcast. In P-STD, the original timing has to be propogated to maintain sync. That doesn't mean the original timestamps have to be used, but the timing relationship across streams has to be maintained. This is already done by rtvedit since the first release and is needed to stream back to your RTV in sync.


If your DVD authoring program can take elementary streams (not all of them do), you are better off using -d to write them. The new demuxer is still used internally whether you use -d or not, so the .mpg written out can be imported in your DVD authoring program as well (it will just have to demux it again).

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_

Demuxing and remuxing the mpeg the remuxed stream plays fine on the replay but all sync is lost. I'm curious rtvconvert can fix what I suspect is garbage in the source recording.
rtvconvert won't fix this. If there are any errors in the stream, they will get propogated through. You can try to cut out the offending part with rtvedit, but if the sync error is in the source stream this will have no effect. If the error is caused by a decoder reset, this has a good chance of fixing it.


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## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by versed_

When I have tried to prevent the splitting, I have ended up with files that rtvconvert would not handle, failing with an invalid stream id message. The svcd settings above are the only ones I've found thus far that appear to set the corrrect stream ID.
When you are coming from vobs, make sure your audio is converted from ac3 to mp2 and you only have a single audio track. The invalid stream id is almost always an ac3 stream or a second audio track. When you run mplex, make sure you get this and I think you should be okay:


INFO: [mplex] MPEG AUDIO STREAM: c0

INFO: [mplex] Audio version : 1.0

INFO: [mplex] Layer : 2


Quote:

_Originally posted by Loren Kruse._

Could it be possible to do on the fly conversion of MP3 and stream the resulting file with DVArchive?
Possible. Even mpeg-2 streaming conversion could be possible. But the .ndx would have to be faked and you can't use standard filesystem calls to access or move through the stream. You'd likely need to have a server plug-in interface in DVArchive, which to my knowledge does not exist.


Quote:

_Originally posted by mastafunk_

evtdump %1 > evt.txt

rtvedit -t1 evt.txt

pause
If you're using edit times from evtdump, you really shouldn't be using -t1 in rtvedit. That is, unless you like having cut times being wrong.  That's pretty cool though, add a notepad evt.txt between evtdump and rtvedit and it'll automatically pop up a window to tweak the script in and automatically run when you close it.


----------



## dyker

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*That should be:
*
*Code:*


Code:


[B]FTiny Planets.mpg
E[/B]

*The resulting file will be Tiny Planets1.mpg, process that file with rtvconvert for authoring.*
Worked perfect. I needed to do 6 files. Can they be batched? I tried

Code:


Code:


FTiny Planets.mpg
FTiny Planets1.mpg
FTiny Planets2.mpg
FTiny Planets3.mpg
FTiny Planets4.mpg
E

This only seemed to do the last file. No big deal, but curious if the command can be batched like this?

*Thanks again! DVD authored like a champ!!*


----------



## Jeff D

agent-x, do you have any way to convert the byte offset reported back in the error to a time code so it can be edited out?


The errror reported was an unsupported stream, type B5. I don't know what a b5 stream is, not "normal" audio or video...


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_

agent-x, do you have any way to convert the byte offset reported back in the error to a time code so it can be edited out?


The errror reported was an unsupported stream, type B5. I don't know what a b5 stream is, not "normal" audio or video...
No easy way, but you can convert the byte offset manually using the .ndx file to within a half second. Use a hex editor on the .ndx and look for the entry just before the given offset. Then find the associated time for that entry (it'll be 8 bytes long in nanoseconds). I can have the tools report the last known time in the next release.


B5 indicates an mpeg-2 extension in the video stream. You're somewhere in the middle of a video frame, which means your RTV dropped some video buffers out of the encoder.


----------



## st5000

Quote:

_Originally posted by Loren Kruse._
*QUESTION:


Could it be possible to do on the fly conversion of MP3 and stream the resulting file with DVArchive? Would be cool if a program like DVArchive could search your computer for MP3's and offer them for streaming where the ReplayTV would see them. Then if a particular song is called it would be converted and streamed on the fly.*
I think so, I have started 2 threads on this already ( http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...t=mp3+replaytv ) and posted the suggestion to sourceforge under the dvarchive forum. So much for talk, the work I have done (just a little scripting) is spelled out here ( http://www.xnet.com/~stuart/mp3replaytv ). But for all of it to work (stream it to a replaytv) we needed 2 things. First rtvconvert needed to be rewritten to be able to use named pipes... Hey hey, this latest version allows that! Tell your "friend" thanks Lee! Second, we need a tool to spool the mpeg 2 back to the replaytv unit. And DVArchive is my pick. There is no source code on line as (I think) it had a "CVS moment" over at sourceforge.net. So I am waiting for version 3.0 (current version 2.1) to see how the streaming is done in Java.


But, even after these two mile stones, there are other problems to work on. Right now, I have seen a buffering problem into / out-of a program called mp2enc. I am using it to change a .wav file to a .mpg (level 2) audio file. I noticed that the buffering is such that playback will stop while mp2enc processes a bunch of data (I think 4K bytes) then continue again once mp2enc is done. I hope I will discover or someone will point out a way to avoid this stuttering.


Also, it appears that rtvconvert does not create the .ndx and .evt files until the streaming process is finished. Well, to be exact the .ndx is written to once for about each minute of material and once at the end. The .evt file is written to at the end. These files are necessary for DVArchive, well if you play back the mpeg locally on your computer they don't appear to be necessary. But, if you try to play back an mpeg an a RepalyTV after deleting them from the DVArchive directory the ReplayTV will crash (freeze up). So, in order to stream MP3s for playback on a ReplayTV - some code some where will have to analyze the MP3 and generate these files before the streaming process starts. Can anyone fill me in on the format of a .ndx or .evt file?


----------



## icecow

I'm a bit confused about video file formats. There are some Maya (3d program) tutorials I have which are in quicktime format. I have some others in .avi format.


I'd like to watch the tutorials on the TV w/Replay awhile I follow along on the laptop


Over the last few years I've had alot of "who's on first..." (classic comedy routine reference) conversations with people about video formats.


I'm told things like ".avi is an MPEG..." when I try to figure out the minutia (details) differences between the two.


I've read all the readme's of RTVtools. I can't determine (or perhaps remember reading) how to get .avi files and quicktime files to an acceptible form where it can then be converted with RTVtools for playback via DVA to my TV screen.


hobbling questions I'd just like to get completely straight:

1)can RTVtools handle .avi files? (I can hear the ax falling already)is there any other extentions that are acceptable MPGS in disguise?

2)Is there a command line program that will convert 1>quicktime 2>.avi(if applicable), 3>.divx, 4>any other common interent to an MPG2 which can then be used by RTVtools.


I have unpromised intentions to figure out some stuff and report back anything good. Need to be babystepped though misconceptions first.


cow


----------



## Lee Thompson

AVI stands for Audio Video Interleave. It's a codec based multimedia format, it's possible to have MPEG-4 in an AVI but I don't think it's possible to have MPEG-1 or MPEG-2.


You'll need to encode the AVI using TMPGEnc, Vegas Video, Premiere etc. Ttemplates for TMPGEnc are included in the RTV Toolkit package.



1. No. AVI is not MPEG-2.

2. Don't know of one.

3. DivX is an AVI MPEG-4 codec with a spotty history - TMPGEnc can handle it with a little massaging.


You can find TMPGEnc at http://www.tmpgenc.net


----------



## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by dyker_

*Worked perfect. I needed to do 6 files. Can they be batched? I tried

Code:


Code:


FTiny Planets.mpg
FTiny Planets1.mpg
FTiny Planets2.mpg
FTiny Planets3.mpg
FTiny Planets4.mpg
E

*
*
Each output file needs it's own edit script. You CAN combine multiple inputs into one output however.


There's more detail and examples of this in the documentation.*


----------



## Jeff D

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*AVI stands for Audio Video Interleave. It's a codec based multimedia format, it's possible to have MPEG-4 in an AVI but I don't think it's possible to have MPEG-1 or MPEG-2.


You'll need to encode the AVI using TMPGEnc, Vegas Video, Premiere etc. Ttemplates for TMPGEnc are included in the RTV Toolkit package.



1. No. AVI is not MPEG-2.

2. Don't know of one.

3. DivX is an AVI MPEG-4 codec with a spotty history - TMPGEnc can handle it with a little massaging.


You can find TMPGEnc at http://www.tmpgenc.net *
I think you might be wrong on this... Microsoft has taken a very strange (read closed and open) position on "other file formats" they basturdized (misspelled to beat censored to *******ized) thier format to work with other popular formats. You could possibly wrap a avi wrapper around an MPEG file and get something that's an MPEG in an AVI file.


MS does this with MP3's in wave files. Took me a while to hunt this down when working on some audio decoder code a while back. I saw this file that looked like both a wav and a MP3 file, turns out it was both. They just put a wav file header on an MP3 file and then it's a WAV MP3 file! But I view it as an MP3 file with junk at the beginning! 


I wouldn't put it past them to do the same with AVI.

And the AVI format can be thought of as a stream wrapper... so it makes sense, but once again... it's dumb because it's confusing.


----------



## icecow

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by mastafunk

evtdump %1 > evt.txt

rtvedit -t1 evt.txt

pause

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



If you're using edit times from evtdump, you really shouldn't be using -t1 in rtvedit. That is, unless you like having cut times being wrong.  That's pretty cool though, add a notepad evt.txt between evtdump and rtvedit and it'll automatically pop up a window to tweak the script in and automatically run when you close it.*
so... I've been hedging towards something entirely obvious and I can't figure out why it seemly has not been brought up..


Assuming one is willing to accept the replayTV's judgement of where commercials are, and transfer the show to a PC via DVArchive..


Couldn't we offer a very basic batch file that:

>found the commercials (entdump)

>removed the commercials (rtvedit)

>made the dvd compliant (rtvconvert)

Done


modeled from above looking something like this:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

evtdump %1 > evt.txt

rtvedit -t1 evt.txt

rconvert %1 > .mpg for the record, here's the link of the original post about the little batch script icon:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...20#post2790420 


>here's a link to a batch file that finds the root name of a file if that is applicable: http://www.ericphelps.com/batch/samp...otname.bat.txt 



cow


----------



## wen-king

> Use -d in rtvconvert to write demuxed streams and use -f 8 or -f 9 in mplex for dvd.


This works great. I have finally made my first DVD using

solaris x86 box running rtvtools, mplex, and dvdauthor. I

have not figured out how to burn dvd on that machine

yet, but using a win98 machine to acess the resulting

directory across the network and burn it on dvd is just

as good.


----------



## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_
*I think you might be wrong on this... Microsoft has taken a very strange (read closed and open) position on "other file formats" they basturdized (misspelled to beat censored to *******ized) thier format to work with other popular formats. You could possibly wrap a avi wrapper around an MPEG file and get something that's an MPEG in an AVI file.*



Maybe but I don't think I am. At any rate Microsoft now uses their Windows Media wrapper on everything which primarily uses MPEG-4.


I suppose it's possible someone could write such a thing but AVI's design doesn't really support it. You could probably get an MPEG-2 codec video stream running but the audio is always interleaved, no PTS support. So whatever it would be would be funky indeed and would not be.. MPEG.


----------



## jbarr

Re-rendering question: If I take a "raw" ReplayTV file recorded at Medium Quality and import it into Ulead DVD Movie Factory 2, it may or may not import. This is typical. If I take a "raw" file and run it through rtvconvert, the resulting file imports nicely into DMF2, and the audio is in sync, but when I go to burn a disk, it still needs to re-render the file. Is this typical? One HUGE feature of Womble is that the "raw" file edited and saved using Womble imports into DMF2, but doesn't require re-rendering.


Any thoughts? Oh, and I have nothing at all against the rtvconvert app in any way! It's a cool and very quick app that nicely cleans up the file. I just am wondering why it requires re-rendering in DMF2.


----------



## Lee Thompson

It should not require re-rendering.


Neither I nor agent-x have DVD Movie Factory v2 so we cannot test on it.


----------



## agent-x

I've tested it on UDMF1 and it doesn't re-render there. First, don't run a "raw" RTV file through rtvconvert. You *have* to run it through rtvedit first. If you're not doing that, it may fix the problem. If you are, then have rtvconvert demux the stream and re-mux it with bbmpg or something that can mux a dvd stream.

The primary goal of rtvconvert is still to generate a mpg that is muxed for streaming to an RTV. It's possible UDMF2 may not like something about it, but none of the authoring apps we've used have re-rendered, including UDMF1.


----------



## krkaufman

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_

The primary goal of rtvconvert is still to generate a mpg that is muxed for streaming to an RTV.
I've been wondering about this, so I'm glad you mentioned it. From what I can tell, I should be running all my downloaded ReplayTV files through rtvedit and then rtvconvert, to improve their compatibility with other decoders and applications. And this post-processing doesn't adversely affect streaming back to the ReplayTV, so there's no harm, right?


However, is there a limit to how many times you can/should run rtvedit and/or rtvconvert against a given video file?


----------



## reccitron

Quote:

_Originally posted by jbarr_
*If I take a "raw" file and run it through rtvconvert, the resulting file imports nicely into DMF2, and the audio is in sync, but when I go to burn a disk, it still needs to re-render the file. Is this typical?*
jbarr,

I've been making DVD's according to your "ReplayTV to DVD HOWTO" guide. Great work. It helped a lot and I've burned about 30 dvd's that way. Over the weekend I had a problem with audio sync in 1 file using womble. Pretty good success rate (1 of 90). I found this thread over the weekend when I was trying to fix the audio problem. I tried the RTVedit and RTVConvert on 3 shows and it worked great. I then imported them into DMF2, set up the menu's and burned them. DMF2 didn't re-render them. I'm going to continue to test out this method and hopefully DMF2 will continue to not re-render.


----------



## jbarr

Cool! Looks like the essential rtvedit step is what I left out. I'll try it and see what happens.


Thanks!!!


----------



## kcossabo

what am I doing wrong?


I have a Windows XP machine and get the following;



-=-=-=-from a dos window-=-=-=-=-


F:\\wiggles-new>dir try*

Volume in drive F is VIDEO

Volume Serial Number is 547C-1CC7


Directory of F:\\wiggles-new


10/23/2003 04:10 PM 80 tryme.evt

10/23/2003 04:10 PM 323,231,900 tryme.mpg

10/23/2003 04:10 PM 64,232 tryme.ndx

3 File(s) 323,296,212 bytes

0 Dir(s) 25,909,500,928 bytes free


F:\\wiggles-new>rtvconvert -d tryme

Can't open file -d.mpg


F:\\wiggles-new>rtvconvert -d tryme.mpg

Can't open file -d.mpg


F:\\wiggles-new>rtvconvert

rtvconvert [-d] 


F:\\wiggles-new>


----------



## kcossabo

Need to have output file name


F:\\wiggles-new>rtvconvert -d tryme.mpg out2

Source: tryme.mpg

Target: out2.m2v, out2.mp2

Program Time: 022:18.369

Convert Time: 001:06.360


F:\\wiggles-new>


----------



## orbitzboy

Still waiting for these tools on the 4XXXX platform :>


----------



## horseflesh

I've been super busy lately but I look forward to using my free time next week to figure out these new tools. I have been keeping that 3 hour documentary on The Spartans around until I had time to DVD-ize it.


With an early version of the tools I made an edit list for that show, to snip the pledge breaks, but my edit points were all off by a few seconds after I processed the file. At the time I couldn't find any info about that problem.. sound familiar to anyone? v5.0 5040 high-Q file, it was.


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by krkaufman_

However, is there a limit to how many times you can/should run rtvedit and/or rtvconvert against a given video file?
I would recommend 1 and 1.  That said, you can run rtvedit against an rtvedited stream without any issues (at least in theory). But once you run it through rtvconvert, there are a few issues that may prevent rtvedit from working properly. Realize that once you do this, it's not a 5K stream any more - it's a 5K "like" stream. If you want to keep the streams, keep the rtvedit ones and simply run rtvconvert before you burn it.


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by horseflesh_

With an early version of the tools I made an edit list for that show, to snip the pledge breaks, but my edit points were all off by a few seconds after I processed the file. At the time I couldn't find any info about that problem.. sound familiar to anyone?
Use the -t1 switch if you are manually creating edits. Check the docs for more info.


----------



## breaux124

Just wanted to say thanks. Took some shows off the Replay and used your tools to remove the commericals. I still had to remove a second or so from one of the commercial breaks with Womble but all the others were trimmed perfectly. I then used DVD Lab to author the disc and it accepted the demuxed streams without any errors.


The final burned disc plays great on my DVD player and there is no audio sync issues.

Thanks for taking time to do this.


----------



## maxjim

Quote:

_Originally posted by reccitron_
*jbarr,

I've been making DVD's according to your "ReplayTV to DVD HOWTO" guide. Great work. It helped a lot and I've burned about 30 dvd's that way. Over the weekend I had a problem with audio sync in 1 file using womble. Pretty good success rate (1 of 90). I found this thread over the weekend when I was trying to fix the audio problem. I tried the RTVedit and RTVConvert on 3 shows and it worked great. I then imported them into DMF2, set up the menu's and burned them. DMF2 didn't re-render them. I'm going to continue to test out this method and hopefully DMF2 will continue to not re-render.*
Are you always successful using this method? I've tried twice using the RTVedit and RTVConvert method and both times DMF2 required re-rendering. The good news is that the finished product seems to have no audio sync problems.


----------



## antnjen

Check your DMF2 project settings.


Max bit rate should be 9800 and variable.

Audio should be 48khz, 224 bits.

And make sure you check off "do not encode compliant files"


Someone else posted this once before, and once I made this change (it's not the default), I have been burning w/out issue.


----------



## Clay Schneider

I have never changed my defaults from the standard DMF2 install defaults, and I have never had it re-encode [low quality files].


----------



## Jeff D

agent-x, any chance you could enable PMs? I want to discuss these stream errors a bit with you, but I don't think here is a good place. If not, I understand.


----------



## dszlucha

For those interested, I've written a batch file that will allow you to drag and drop any *.evt, *.ndx, or *.mpg and create a *.dvd.mpg. It also cleans up any intermediate/temporary files as well....

Code:


Code:


@echo off

rem rtvtools must be in the path

rem Grab input file and trim off extension - so drag and drop will work...
set temp=%1
set filename=%temp:~0,-5%

rem process file...
evtdump %filename%.evt" > evt.txt
rtvedit -t1 evt.txt
rtvconvert %filename%1.mpg" %filename%.dvd.mpg"

rem delete temporary files...
del %filename%1.evt"
del %filename%1.ndx"
del %filename%1.mpg"
del evt.txt

rem For those who want to stream the converted file back to a ReplayTV, comment
rem out the next two lines
del %filename%.dvd.evt"
del %filename%.dvd.ndx"


----------



## reccitron

Quote:

_Originally posted by maxjim_
*Are you always successful using this method? I've tried twice using the RTVedit and RTVConvert method and both times DMF2 required re-rendering. The good news is that the finished product seems to have no audio sync problems.*
I've created 2 DVD's with RTVEdit, RTVConvert and DMF2 and DMF2 has not re-encoded either time.


----------



## icecow

thanks dszlucha


xactly what I was looking for.


cow


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

evtdump %filename%.evt" > evt.txt

rtvedit -t1 evt.txt
I keep seeing -t1 being misused, so I would like to make clear what this switch actually does.

What does -t1 do?


-t1 is a switch to turn on an internal conversion to correct frame rates from video editors (29.97) to match the ndx/evt (30) plus an offset. This switch is only intended as a convenience for those users who handpick timestamps from an external video editor. _It is not a magic switch that can be turned on all the time, if it were it would be on by default and there would be no reason to need a switch._

When should I use it?


You should only use -t1 when you create an edit script *manually* using timestamps derived from an external video editor.

When should I *not* use it?


You should not use it when you are using timestamps derived from the .evt or .ndx files. This includes any output from evtdump.

What if evtdump picks up some parts of a commercial? Will -t1 fix it?


No. In early parts of the show, the change is small enough that it may look like this works, but over time it will make the problem worse. Instead, if this happens, you can adjust it by adding or subtracting .5 seconds to the timestamp at the problem location.

What happens if I use it wrong?


You will see increasingly inaccurate edit points, the worst near the end of your program. I.e., you will introduce the same problem the switch is trying to correct.


----------



## dszlucha

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*When should I use it?


You should only use -t1 when you create an edit script manually using timestamps derived from an external video editor.
*
Does this apply when I hold SHIFT while using Virtualdub with MPEG2 capability? Or only when I don't use I-frames?


----------



## Bargonaut

Quote:

_Originally posted by dszlucha_
*Does this apply when I hold SHIFT while using Virtualdub with MPEG2 capability? Or only when I don't use I-frames?*
From the rtvtools docs:

Quote:

Since RVTEDIT is intended to use times from EVTDUMP, the times used in the

edit list are based off the .ndx/.evt clock (which is different from the

stream clock). If you are creating an edit list manually, you must use an

application that will give you frame times (not MPEG times) or your results

will be off. The -t1 flag allows using frame times from an external

application. This only works for original RTV 5K streams (not converted or

edited).


VirtualDub-MPEG2, 1.5.4 or later, is recommended for manually finding edit

times. For best results, hold SHIFT to snap to I-frames and pick the one

where you want the edit to occur. Once you've created the edit list, use:


rtvedit -t1 


This will adjust the script times to the closest editable locations in the

stream. This should be much more accurate (within 2 frames from my testing

with medium quality streams).
Basically, any external MPEG editor will use a different time-base than the replay files.

Therefore, you need the switch unless you rely on the evt times themselves.

I-frames don't matter in regard to the "t1" switch, but you SHOULD snap to I-frames

when locating cut points.


Here's a slightly flawed analogy:

Suppose two guys, Ernie and Bert are driving from LA to Vegas. They take separate cars,

but drive the same speed. Each one keeps a log in which he writes down the time every 10 miles.

However, Ernie's watch is SLIGHTLY faster than Bert's.


Now, if you want to know at what time Ernie was at 100 miles, you'd have to rely on his watch.

Likewise, all of Bert's logs are based on his watch. So, if you want to know how long it takes

to get to a specific point along the route, you need to know whose watch was used to record the times.


Similarly, since the Replay "evt" times are a slightly different speed than most MPEG editors,

rtvedit needs to know whose watch was used to record the log. That's what the "t1" switch does:

it distinguishes between the default "evt" times, and the external editor times.


-BS


----------



## dszlucha

Good point, thanks. Let's say I use the .evt created punch in/out times, but I also use a time from Virtualdub/MPEG (I added one that the Replay did not detect). That would create a conflict.


----------



## madcap

I pulled an mpg file off the ReplayTV and then did the following:


Ran the file through the rtvedit program (no edits).

Ran the file thougth the rtvconvert program and demuxed the files.

Put the files into two different DVD burning programs (ULead Digital Movie Factory 2 and DVDLab) and burned a DVD with a simple menu.


Both the discs that I created have sound when I play them on the computer, but have no sound when playing on my DVD player. Do I need to convert the audio file before burning to a DVD?


Any help would be appreciated. And thanks to the authors for this great set of tools and all your hard work!


- madcap


----------



## Jeff D

Quote:

_Originally posted by madcap_
*I pulled an mpg file off the ReplayTV and then did the following:


Ran the file through the rtvedit program (no edits).

Ran the file thougth the rtvconvert program and demuxed the files.

Put the files into two different DVD burning programs (ULead Digital Movie Factory 2 and DVDLab) and burned a DVD with a simple menu.


Both the discs that I created have sound when I play them on the computer, but have no sound when playing on my DVD player. Do I need to convert the audio file before burning to a DVD?


Any help would be appreciated. And thanks to the authors for this great set of tools and all your hard work!


- madcap*


Your dvd player most likely has a problem with MPEG Audio, there are two things you can do....

1) configure your dvd player to output PCM data, not bitstream digital audio for these dvds. It's a pain to do, but it works for most players. Older toshiba players had this problem.

2) convert the audio to AC-3 2.0 with besweet or something else that will convert the audio. BesweetGUI makes the commandline besweet tools a bit easier to use, but they can still be tricky.


----------



## reccitron

Quote:

_Originally posted by madcap_
*I pulled an mpg file off the ReplayTV and then did the following:


Ran the file through the rtvedit program (no edits).

Ran the file thougth the rtvconvert program and demuxed the files.

Put the files into two different DVD burning programs (ULead Digital Movie Factory 2 and DVDLab) and burned a DVD with a simple menu.


- madcap*
Did you me mean DVD Movie Factory? If so, you don't need to demux in the rtvconvert step unless your planning on doing something else with the audio. DVD Movie Factory imports the file fine without demuxing.


----------



## premierht

Okay guys, I have read this thread 4 times and printed it out for reference. I have read the user guide in the tools twice and also have a hard copy of that for reference.


I am new to the DVD burning world, but am a techie at heart. I am not able to get my arms around one part of the process. Namely, how is the final DVD.MPEG file burned directly to disc and played on standalone DVD players?


I thought that a DVD had to be comprised of .VOB files in order to play. I am only familiar with Nero's burning capabilities. Is that why people use the Ulead program? Does the Ulead program somehow extract a single VOB file from the DVD.MPEG file before publishing on the disc? I was hoping to use Nero for this final step.


Thanks for the help here. I feel like I am on the 3 yard line.


E. J.


----------



## Chadmanii

I know I'm showing my naivete, but could someone familiar with OS X please tell me where to put these tools so I can execute them from the terminal?


Any help is greatly appreciated.


----------



## antibody128

EJ

Some DVD players (especially cheap ones) can play *.mpg files directly off the DVD-R or even CD-R's. If you've got one of these players all you'll need is something like Nero to burn the files on the disk like any other data.


Most DVD players will require the .VOB's etc. so for that you may need DVDlab or Ulead's DMF2. You may be able to find some freeware to do this on DVDRhelp.com, but full DVD compliance may be an issue.


----------



## MasterShake

Quote:

_Originally posted by Chadmanii_
*I know I'm showing my naivete, but could someone familiar with OS X please tell me where to put these tools so I can execute them from the terminal?


Any help is greatly appreciated.*
Any directory that is in your path will work. Type *set* at a prompt to display the shell variables - pick a directory listed in the path. A good choice would be /Users/userid/bin (where userid is your login name), though your may need to create it [1]. Alternatively you can just run them from wherever you downloaded them [2].


Assuming a new terminal session (current dir is /Users/userid):

[1] *mkdir bin*

[2] If you downloaded the zip file and let StuffIt do it's thing, then this would be: *./Desktop/rev4/bin/osx/evtdump*


----------



## jakebrake

I see another fellow was having a problem with the -d when using rtvconvert. He indicated he had fixed the problem, but I'm not having any luck. Using Win2000, and going into Dos using the "Run CMD".


Here's what I get:


J:\\DVR\

tvtools\

tvconvert -d Chicago1.mpg DVDChicago.mpg

Can't open file -d.mpg


In his example, I believe he left off the ".mpg" on the destination file name, but I get the same error message.


Any thoughts what I'm doing wrong? Looks like a DOS version problem maybe.


Jake


----------



## premierht

Okay, so last night it worked, first try. I used the batch file as listed above (thank you dszlucha) and each step was therefore automated. Couldn't have been easier. True drag and drop. Then Ulead DMF2 was great too. I used the free 30 day downloadable trial and it too worked without a a hitch.


Thanks to all who helped me and to all members responsible for the fantastic extras they have made for the RTV. This forum is great.


E. J.


----------



## tedler

These tools ROCK!!


Thank you Lee and Agent-x!


----------



## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by jakebrake_
*I see another fellow was having a problem with the -d when using rtvconvert. He indicated he had fixed the problem, but I'm not having any luck. Using Win2000, and going into Dos using the "Run CMD".


Here's what I get:


J:\\DVR\

tvtools\

tvconvert -d Chicago1.mpg DVDChicago.mpg

Can't open file -d.mpg


In his example, I believe he left off the ".mpg" on the destination file name, but I get the same error message.


Any thoughts what I'm doing wrong? Looks like a DOS version problem maybe.


Jake*
You must run RTVCONVERT from the actual command shell not from the Start->Run entry box. This probably goes for RTVEDIT too.


(Quick way to the shell is to go Start->Run and type in "CMD" and hit enter.)


----------



## jakebrake

Yes, that's how got to the command prompt. I went to start-run-cmd. (Win2000).


If acts as if it thinks "-d" is a file rather than a dos switch.


I also tried the "-d" at the end of the line rather than between "rtvconvert" and the input file name, but that didn't result in the two demux'd files (audio and video).


Jake


----------



## emtoneill

In need of some help.


I am using a WinTV-PVR-250 to capture cable broadcasts (HRC) for viewing on my RTV5040. The capture goes fine using Win2000 with these settings (and localplay "off"):

VIDEO:

Output Stream: Program

Rate: 6000 vbr

GOPs: 15

Resolution: 720x480

AUDIO:

48kHz @ 224 kbps, layer 2


I run the clip through rtvedit (no edits) and then rtvconvert, both of which complete successfully.


I then import the rtvconvert output using DVArchive.


I can playback the initial clip and the output of rtvedit on my PC via WXP Media Player with NO a/v sync problems (no problems at all actually).


However, the output of rtvconvert (played back on my PC via WXP Media Player) and the playback on my TV via RTV5040 have a constant a/v sync problem thoughout the clip.


H/W: PIII/800Mhz/256MB RAM/40GB HDD/NIC/


Any suggestions?


----------



## reccitron

Quote:

_Originally posted by jakebrake_
*Yes, that's how got to the command prompt. I went to start-run-cmd. (Win2000).


If acts as if it thinks "-d" is a file rather than a dos switch.


I also tried the "-d" at the end of the line rather than between "rtvconvert" and the input file name, but that didn't result in the two demux'd files (audio and video).


Jake*
Make sure there are no spaces in your file names including the directory path. If there are, you will have to use quotes around them.


----------



## reccitron

Quote:

_Originally posted by emtoneill_
*In need of some help.


I am using a WinTV-PVR-250 to capture cable broadcasts (HRC) for viewing on my RTV5040. The capture goes fine using Win2000 with these settings (and localplay "off"):

VIDEO:

Output Stream: Program

Rate: 6000 vbr

GOPs: 15

Resolution: 720x480

AUDIO:

48kHz @ 224 kbps, layer 2




Any suggestions?*
Yeah, Record on the ReplayTV and save on your PC until your ready to stream it back. I bought the replay so I could get away from the PC Tv cards. I get a lot better quality and consistency from the ReplayTV.


----------



## American Freak

A GUI would be nice for this tool kit....I think it would help alot of people.


----------



## jakebrake

Quote:

_Originally posted by reccitron_
*Make sure there are no spaces in your file names including the directory path. If there are, you will have to use quotes around them.*
No spaces in file name. See previous post in thread. I started to test it in Win98se DOS, when I realized my file was larger than 2 Gb, so I have to leave on a NTFS drive and use Win2000. Are any of you guys using Win2000 or are you using NT and XP? I'm wondering if this problem is specific to Win2000 version of DOS.


For some reason it identifies the "-d" as the file it's suppose to open:


J:\\DVR\

tvtools\

tvconvert -d Chicago1.mpg DVDChicago.mpg

Can't open file -d.mpg



Jake


----------



## Lee Thompson

There are two versions of the DOS interpreter on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. command.com and cmd.exe ... Make sure you're using cmd.exe.


----------



## Leepz

I love these files. No more sync issues and no more re encoding (with DVD Movie Factory 2).


I use the following batch file to help in the processing. Wrote it for myself, but maybe it will help some others. Drag the Replay evt file onto this file to get things going. I put the RTVTools files right in the same directory as my replay files, and the batch file expects this.


You will need to change two lines as indicated below for your specific setup so it will know were to find your replay files and were to find VirtualDub. For the record I am using Windows XP Home. Hope you find this helpful.


@echo off

Rem This process assumes that RTVTools are in the same directory as

Rem your movies. Change the two lines indicated ** below as needed.


color 73


Echo REPLAY to DVD Conversion

Echo _________________________


rem Change Directory to RTVTools and Replay MPG location...

rem ** edit the following line to the directory of your replay mpgs

CD c:\

eplay movies\\Local_guide


rem Grab input file and trim off extension so drag and drop will work...

set temp=%1

set filename=%temp:~0,-5%


rem process event file...

evtdump %filename%.evt" > evt.txt

echo Event file has been processed


rem check to see if manual edit desired

set yes=y

Set /P answer="Would you like to edit using Virtual Dub? [Y/N]"

If /I %answer% EQU %yes% goto edit

goto noedit


Rem Manual edit using VirtualDub

:edit

echo VirtualDub will be loaded. Note edit times

pause

rem **edit the following line to the directory for VirtualDub

call C:\\VirtualDub\\VeedubP4.exe %filename%.mpg

echo The evt.txt file will be loaded for you to manually edit

pause

evt.txt

rtvedit -t1 evt.txt

goto convert


Rem No Manual edit

:noedit

echo File will be auto edited

pause

rtvedit evt.txt


rem Convert file.....

:convert

rtvconvert %filename%1.mpg" %filename%.dvd.mpg"



rem delete temporary files...

del %filename%1.evt"

del %filename%1.ndx"

del %filename%1.mpg"

del evt.txt


rem delete next 2 lines to stream converted file back to a ReplayTV

del %filename%.dvd.evt"

del %filename%.dvd.ndx"


echo File processing Complete

pause


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by jakebrake_

[For some reason it identifies the "-d" as the file it's suppose to open:


J:\\DVR\

tvtools\

tvconvert -d Chicago1.mpg DVDChicago.mpg

Can't open file -d.mpg
Type "rtvconvert" by itself. Does it show:

rtvconvert [-d] 


If it doesn't show the [-d], you've got an old version in your path.


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by emtoneill_

I am using a WinTV-PVR-250 to capture cable broadcasts (HRC) for viewing on my RTV5040. The capture goes fine using Win2000 with these settings (and localplay "off"):

...

I run the clip through rtvedit (no edits) and then rtvconvert, both of which complete successfully.
You shouldn't run non-rtv files through rtvedit. It makes a lot of assumptions about the source stream that aren't applicable to non-rtv streams. I'm not even sure how you got it to work since it needs an ndx file and the ndx builder assumes a 5k stream.


For conforming non-rtv streams. just run them through rtvconvert directly. If you still get a sync issue, try the rtvconvert from rev3. There was a minor change in rev4 that may be affecting you.


----------



## jakebrake

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*Type "rtvconvert" by itself. Does it show:

rtvconvert [-d] 


If it doesn't show the [-d], you've got an old version in your path.*
Thanks Lee and Agent-X for the suggestions. I don't think I have an older version of rtvconvert because version 4 was the first version I've downloaded (new DVR owner).


The suggestion Lee made, checking to see which version of Dos is loading is a possible solution. I'm on the road and won't be able to check and try it again until Friday night. I'll post my results. I hope you'll check on me - I appreciate the "hand holding" as I try to get it working.


I note on another thread Agent-X mentioned going back to a version 3 for audio sync problems. I may try that too. Since I couldn't get a de-mux'd output from version 4, I used another program (bbmux) to de-mux the output file, and then used ifoedit to author, and nero to burn a dvd. I ended up with a fraction of a second sync offset. Just enough to be bothersome. I'm not sure how you determine how much offset to compensate.


Jake


----------



## emtoneill

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*For conforming non-rtv streams. just run them through rtvconvert directly. If you still get a sync issue, try the rtvconvert from rev3. There was a minor change in rev4 that may be affecting you.*
Agent-x, thanks.


The recommendations did significantly reduce the level of sync offset.


----------



## Rob Mason

On one of the earlier rtvtools threads , I commented that I suffered from a problem previously posted by another .


Since I haven't seen others mention they have the problem, I have to assume it's something here. In short, I am able to build an edit script and use it to build a new mpg with rtvedit and then stream it back to my RTV with DVArchive (v2.1). The mpeg plays fine and the commercials are pretty much gone. But then the trouble starts. If I try and stream anything else (or the same edited mpeg), my Replay 5120 (upgraded from a 5040) reboots.


Is anyone else seeing this or do any of you have an idea of what I might try to fix it? This problem is turning out to be pretty much a show stopper (yeah, pitiful pun intended).


BTW, same problem with all versions of RTV Tools up to and including v4.


Oh, and if I try and convert a "normal" mpeg to RTV, I get the same results. It works, but then throws my RTV into a reboot on my next attempt to stream anything.


----------



## Phule

Quote:

_Originally posted by American Freak_
*A GUI would be nice for this tool kit....I think it would help alot of people.*
I am hoping to have the initial version of my Windows front-end ready this weekend. I have the screen for RTVDump done, and I just have to do the RTVEdit and RTVConvert screens.


I am initially planning on the front end being VERY simple for the initial versions. Aside from wrapping all the command-line switches, I have an edit box so you can edit the text file inside the app (no searching or anything fancy yet).


Later, if I have time, I was planning to add the ability to use a slider control to mark the in/out points.


I'll keep everyone posted.


----------



## afalzone

Leepz,


I tried your batch file and it seems to work great. Totally takes away the need of figuring out the dos commands. This batch file should be included with RTVTools itself.


----------



## American Freak

Quote:

_Originally posted by Phule_
*I am hoping to have the initial version of my Windows front-end ready this weekend. I have the screen for RTVDump done, and I just have to do the RTVEdit and RTVConvert screens.


I am initially planning on the front end being VERY simple for the initial versions. Aside from wrapping all the command-line switches, I have an edit box so you can edit the text file inside the app (no searching or anything fancy yet).


Later, if I have time, I was planning to add the ability to use a slider control to mark the in/out points.


I'll keep everyone posted.*


I know you had posted in the MAC section that you were working on a Windows version......I'm sure you'll get alot of new attention here.....



PM if you need someone to test it.....


----------



## kog

Quote:

_Originally posted by Rob Mason_

Since I haven't seen others mention they have the problem, I have to assume it's something here. In short, I am able to build an edit script and use it to build a new mpg with rtvedit and then stream it back to my RTV with DVArchive (v2.1). The mpeg plays fine and the commercials are pretty much gone. But then the trouble starts. If I try and stream anything else (or the same edited mpeg), my Replay 5120 (upgraded from a 5040) reboots.

[/b]
This is a known issue with DVArchive running on a Windows box. If you try and stream 2 shows consecutively from DVArchive your ReplayTV will reboot. If you stream one show, then tune to a different channel, and then try streaming the second show it shouldn't reboot. This is not an issue if you're running DVArchive on Mac OS X.


-KoG


----------



## Phule

Quote:

_Originally posted by American Freak_
*I know you had posted in the MAC section that you were working on a Windows version......I'm sure you'll get alot of new attention here.....



PM if you need someone to test it.....*
Oh, I'll take all the help I can get!


----------



## shawnharper

Thanks for working on it, Phule!!


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by jakebrake_

I don't think I have an older version of rtvconvert because version 4 was the first version I've downloaded (new DVR owner).


I note on another thread Agent-X mentioned going back to a version 3 for audio sync problems.
I just wanted to rule out an "unknown" from this issue because it sounds to me like you are using an older version. From both the -d not working and your audio sync. The rev3 suggestion I made to someone else is only for non-rtv streams. If you use rev3 with an rtv stream, you will have a sync problem.


Now, I do know that the thread for rev3 was recently bumped and it's possible that someone downloaded that version thinking it was new as the threads do look very much alike. It's just a simple test to see if you really do have rev4.


Anyway, I have tried both command.com and cmd.exe under Win2K with rev4 and I don't have this problem.


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by emtoneill_

The recommendations did significantly reduce the level of sync offset.
Did you have to go back to rev3? If you did, let me know so I can fix it in the next rev - I just didn't think it would ever happen.


----------



## emtoneill

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*Did you have to go back to rev3? If you did, let me know so I can fix it in the next rev - I just didn't think it would ever happen. *
No, I didn't. Relative to the a/v sync issue, there doesn't appear to be a significant difference between rev3 and rev4.


My problem was in starting with rev2, running into problems, reading through this thread, switching to rev4 AND following the advice to run streams through rtvedit (even without edits) first - without noting that that only pertained to rtv downloaded streams.


----------



## tluxon

How cool would it be if DVArchive 3.0 provides an option to rtvedit and/or rtvconvert any files that are downloaded from your Replay?


----------



## moeronn

Quote:

How cool would it be if DVArchive 3.0 provides an option to rtvedit and/or rtvconvert any files that are downloaded from your Replay?
That would be pretty cool, but I think Gerry already ruled out providing any editing capabilities in DVA. Though, he did mention providing a method to create plug-ins, so others could add this functionality in. Now, if only we could get the front-end GUI (with ability to see and edit break points visually) for RTVTools, along with the tools, as a plug in... that would be great. I don't ask for _*too*_ much


----------



## icecow

Forgive me if this has already been discussed in this rather huge thread.


after I used the evtdump/rtvedit/rtvconver batch script to make a show shorter and try to import it back into DVArchive, DVA prompts me to put in the show name, description, and time. I put in 25 min as the time. It works, but am I missing something? Is there a way to do it so the file retains the show title/description and updates the time (new length of show)?


cow


----------



## jakebrake

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*Type "rtvconvert" by itself. Does it show:

rtvconvert [-d] 


If it doesn't show the [-d], you've got an old version in your path.*
Got home, checked, and sure enough I had an old version of rtvconvert (August date). Don't know how I managed to do that.


Thanks for the help.


Jake


----------



## icecow

Quote:

_Originally posted by icecow_
*Forgive me if this has already been discussed in this rather huge thread.


after I used the evtdump/rtvedit/rtvconver batch script to make a show shorter and try to import it back into DVArchive, DVA prompts me to put in the show name, description, and time. I put in 25 min as the time. It works, but am I missing something? Is there a way to do it so the file retains the show title/description and updates the time (new length of show)?


cow*
bump


nudge


nudge LeeThompson


----------



## Lee Thompson

oh I didn't know you were nudging me.. heh I have no idea heh


----------



## krkaufman

Quote:

_Originally posted by icecow_ after I used the evtdump/rtvedit/rtvconver batch script to make a show shorter and try to import it back into DVArchive, DVA prompts me to put in the show name, description, and time. I put in 25 min as the time. It works, but am I missing something? Is there a way to do it so the file retains the show title/description and updates the time (new length of show)?
Short answer: You'll want to export the show info (XML file) from DVA, and then edit it to match the post-rtvedit length.


Without the XML show info file, DVA will prompt you for some of the info. Having to enter this manually is a pain, so I always export the XML file for any show I'm editing.


My process:
Move evt/ndx/mpg files to same DVA 'Local_Guide' directory
Use rtvedit/rtvconvert to create a new, shortened RTV-compliant set of files.
Export show info XML to same directory as rtvtool'd fileset
Rename XML file to match rtvtool'd filenames
Edit XML file to reflect new length (and maybe tweak the episode name to indicate the modification).
Import rtvtool'd show into DVA. (And DVA won't prompt for info, since the XML file contains all the info.)

Of course, if the file wasn't originally downloaded from a ReplayTV, you *will* have to manually enter all the info.


----------



## icecow

good answer

well written

thank you


cow


----------



## DavidEC

Quote:

_Originally posted by Leepz_
*I I use the following batch file to help in the processing. ..... I am using Windows XP Home. Hope you find this helpful.


@echo off

Rem This process assumes that RTVTools are in the same directory as

Rem your movies. Change the two lines indicated ** below as needed.


color 73


Echo REPLAY to DVD Conversion

Echo _________________________


rem Change Directory to RTVTools and Replay MPG location...

rem ** edit the following line to the directory of your replay mpgs

CD c:\

eplay movies\\Local_guide


rem Grab input file and trim off extension so drag and drop will work...

set temp=%1

set filename=%temp:~0,-5%


rem process event file...

evtdump %filename%.evt" > evt.txt

echo Event file has been processed


rem check to see if manual edit desired

set yes=y

Set /P answer="Would you like to edit using Virtual Dub? [Y/N]"

If /I %answer% EQU %yes% goto edit

goto noedit


Rem Manual edit using VirtualDub

:edit

echo VirtualDub will be loaded. Note edit times

pause

rem **edit the following line to the directory for VirtualDub

call C:\\VirtualDub\\VeedubP4.exe %filename%.mpg

echo The evt.txt file will be loaded for you to manually edit

pause

evt.txt

rtvedit -t1 evt.txt

goto convert


Rem No Manual edit

:noedit

echo File will be auto edited

pause

rtvedit evt.txt


rem Convert file.....

:convert

rtvconvert %filename%1.mpg" %filename%.dvd.mpg"



rem delete temporary files...

del %filename%1.evt"

del %filename%1.ndx"

del %filename%1.mpg"

del evt.txt


rem delete next 2 lines to stream converted file back to a ReplayTV

del %filename%.dvd.evt"

del %filename%.dvd.ndx"


echo File processing Complete

pause*
Questions about changing bat file...

[been too many years since I wrote a dos bat file]


What would I need to change to have the following happen...

[A] a 'notepad' readable file of the edit points/times?

* have the "temp" files written to and then read from another drive?

in my case from drive "F:\\" to "C:\\" and then from "C:\\" back to "F:\\"


On my system I had to add a "SET PATH =" command to the batch file.


Thanks-

David*


----------



## shawnharper

bump


Phule - any word on the GUI for Win?


----------



## antibody128

Shawnharper have you checked out KSB's rtvplayer( http://inside.drexel.edu/ksb/rtvPlayer )? I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like the latest version (0.91?) includes features that work with rtvedit and may be at least a partial GUI you're looking for.


I just burned my first DVD yesterday, using these tools and the free Sonic MyDVD that came with my recorder. It was a standard quality recording from the ReplayTV and I was very impressed with the DVD. Nice picture and no audio psynch problem. The output from rtvconvert was accepted by Sonic MyDVD without reencoding so the whole process took maybe 10 minutes since the 1/2 hour standard recording only took a few minutes to actually burn. Thanks to all for the great software. It's so easy to use, I'm not sure why you would need the GUI anyway.


----------



## shawnharper

Thanks antibody128. I've been keeping up with the rtvplayer thread, and now that it supports 5ks, I'll check it out.


I'd tried the rtvtools in the past, but I'm not much of a DOS guy, so all the command-line stuff scared me away after I tried it without success.


Looks like the rtvplayer will help, so I'll dive back into the pool.


-Shawn


----------



## dirtyDogStink

First off, thanks for all the work you've put into these tools Lee! I've been able to successfully archive several of my RTV5 files to DVD-R using your toolset! 

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
** Convert MPEG-2 streams and stream to a RTV5K with DVArchive
*
Perhaps I'll get b**ch-slapped for asking a pretty newb question, but I've done several hours of searching AVSForums.com, DVDRHelp.com and several other Googled sites without having had much luck finding an answer to my dilemma. I've probably run across the answers, but don't know enough to correlate them and/or put them together in the proper order. I would like to transfer some of my TV shows on DVD (Friends, 24, etc.) to an .MPG format that will work with DVArchive and my RTV5040. According to the quote above it appears as though RTVCONVERT will do this, but I've had no luck so far...


Here's what I've tried:

1. Used DVDCompress to copy & compress a DVD to my HDD.

2. Renamed the .VOB to .MPG, as directed in a forum on DVDRHelp.com.

2.a. This .MPG worked fine in WM9.

3. Attempted to run RTVCONVERT, but it puked with the following output:
*C:\\24.Episodes1-4>rtvconvert VTS_04_1.mpg 24.Episode1.mpg

Source: VTS_04_1.mpg

Target: 24.Episode1.mpg

Video overrun, unknown or bad audio mux: len=3145734*


I realize that I'm probably missing something around the .VOB to .MPG conversion, but I honestly don't know what and haven't found anything that explains it to me. 


Anyway, here are my specific questions:

1. Just to verify...RTVCONVERT will transfer an MPEG-2 file to a RTV5 .MPG file that I can use with DVArchive?

2. Any idea how I can convert the DVD's .VOB files to a suitable format for conversion (i.e.: MPEG-2)?

3. Do I need to run DVDDecrypter before compressing the files in order to get a 'clean' .VOB file?


I know that I'm revealing my newbie-ness, but alas I'm at a standstill. 


Thanks!


----------



## Lee Thompson

1. Yes

2. Yes and you're not doing it the right way. VOBs are *segments* of MPEG-2 (with Dolby Digital audio) so you'll need to merge them and convert the audio to MPEG audio. There's a few different ways to do this.

3. You'll need to run DVD Decryptor, Smart Ripper etc to initially get the VOB set. You generally can't just copy VOBs (they are encrypted).


With DVDs you're frankly just better off watching it on the DVD player - converting them for Replay use is possible but has a number of steps. In general: 1. Rip, 2. Merge, 3. Demux, 4. Transcode audio (generally just the english track), 5. Mux, 6. Convert.


----------



## dirtyDogStink

Thanks Lee. I wondered if it was more work than it was really worth to convert the DVD to RTV compatibility.


1. Cool.

2. Ok, that's what I figured, but was experiencing a brainfart.  Btw, I did find a program called 'AVI2MPG2' and might give that a go for converting the .VOB files (after decrypting them).

3. Thx, I'll do this next time around.


Thanks again for your help!


----------



## Bargonaut

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*Type "rtvconvert" by itself. Does it show:

rtvconvert [-d] 


If it doesn't show the [-d], you've got an old version in your path.*
I saw this error, too. The CMD.exe and spaces in the path are red herrings -- the real problem is user error. If you forget to supply a "dest.mpg", rtvconvert thinks the "-d" is the source name. Don't forget both src and dest filenames.


-BS


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by dirtyDogStink_

Thanks Lee. I wondered if it was more work than it was really worth to convert the DVD to RTV compatibility.
As Lee said, you're better off watching the DVD.


While you can do this conversion, it's usually not worth the effort and its success depends on the DVD encoding. Besides needing layer 2 audio, you may still have issues with the video. If it's interlaced video, you should have no problems. But if it's progressive - it needs to be entirely progessive within a progressive sequence. If it's mixed progressive and interlaced frames, the conversion won't work. But this really only affects DVDs from studios, which means it won't be fixed.


----------



## jdn

dirtydogstink-

The easiest way to convert DVD to RTV is to simply connect your DVD player to an input on the RTV and do a manual record.


----------



## antibody128

I know this DVD rip > Rtvconvert > ReplayTV is more work than it's worth and more than I'll do, but it got me thinking. Isn't this really the holy grail of what the ReplayTV's digital audio outputs are for? People have been complaining since the 5XXX's have come out that there's no digital in so the digital out is kind of silly. Now with a ripped DVD, RTVconvert, and DVarchive, the ReplayTV IS playing digital audio that never went through an analogue convert.


Please excuse me if this brainfart is not original since I'm sure someone has thought of it by now.


----------



## volleynerd

I'm sure I'm screwing up something, or otherwise don't completely understand the process. I've read the numerous FAQs, etc.


First time trying to get a DVD burn of a show I pulled down from Replay using DVArchive. When importing into a couple different DVD author programs, I get *illegal mpg (mpeg) video stream* (or there abouts)


My understanding of these tools is that RTVEDIT, then RTVCONVERT will "fix" the streams so as to be compatible with the authoring software?


Am I missing something?

Or maybe my author software is poor?

-- Roxio DVD Builder 1.0.0.263

-- Sonic MyDVD 4.0


Note that I *have* successfully imported a replay MPG into the DVD s/w, but only after running it through Womble, as suggested by many. I'm using a 30 day trial version for now, so just wonder if I need that for long term? Thought these Replay tools (namely RTVCONVERT) was maybe meant to replace the need for Womble?


Thanks for any direction.


----------



## antibody128

Yes, the RTVtools V4 (RTVedit and RTVconvert) pretty much are a free alternative to Womble for what it sounds like you are doing.


I just made my first DVD from a replaytv recording using just these tools and Sonic's MyDVD. Worked great!


----------



## volleynerd

Thanks for the info antibody. Since you seem to have the same config as me....I pm'd you for a little more info if you have a spare moment.

THANKS !!


----------



## dirtyDogStink

Quote:

_Originally posted by jdn_
*dirtydogstink-

The easiest way to convert DVD to RTV is to simply connect your DVD player to an input on the RTV and do a manual record.*
Yeah, that would be the easiest method  , but the whole reason I'm even entertaining/investigating this process is because I don't have a DVD player hooked up in the same room as my RTV. If I did then I'd just watch the DVDs and be done with it...  We watch most of our TV in our bedroom (with the RTV) due to convenience and then my living room is our home theater setup where we watch DVDs. I could always just go spend $60 on a DVD player for the bedroom, but it seems like a waste given a smaller TV and no surround sound.


Oh well, thanks for all the suggestions and advice! I truly appreciate the assistance!


----------



## tluxon

I wanted to chop off the first 2 hours 32 minutes off of a 4 hour football game recording so I entered "A152:00.000" in my rtvedit script. Instead of cutting out the first 152 minutes, it cut out about the first 172 minutes. Does anybody know why?


----------



## krkaufman

Quote:

_Originally posted by dirtyDogStink_
*...the whole reason I'm even entertaining/investigating this process is because I don't have a DVD player hooked up in the same room as my RTV. ... We watch most of our TV in our bedroom (with the RTV) due to convenience and then my living room is our home theater setup where we watch DVDs. I could always just go spend $60 on a DVD player for the bedroom, but it seems like a waste given a smaller TV and no surround sound. ...*
I'm in a similar situation, and plan on looking into the following solution: keep the RTV and DVD locally attached to the home theater setup, but find a way to feed their signals to the bedroom -- and control both units from either the HT room or the bedroom (with add'l remotes, of course; possibly universals).


I'm hoping that the *Home Integration and Distribution* AVSForum discussion forum will shed some light.


Good luck.


----------



## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by tluxon_
*I wanted to chop off the first 2 hours 32 minutes off of a 4 hour football game recording so I entered "A152:00.000" in my rtvedit script. Instead of cutting out the first 152 minutes, it cut out about the first 172 minutes. Does anybody know why?*
Did you use the -t1 switch with rtvedit?


----------



## tluxon

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*Did you use the -t1 switch with rtvedit?*
No. I thought the -t1 switch was only for timecodes that were obtained from other viewers. FWIW, this was a 4k stream so the script was modeled after ed14k.txt with the "A152:00.000" line inserted before the "E" line.


Tim


----------



## agent-x

Is it an original 4k mpg and ndx or were they processed in any way before editing? If the ndx is the original one, I would be interested in looking at it if it's not too big to attach. I don't have a 4K, so there could very well be a bug in the 4K index code.


----------



## tluxon

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*Is it an original 4k mpg and ndx or were they processed in any way before editing? If the ndx is the original one, I would be interested in looking at it if it's not too big to attach. I don't have a 4K, so there could very well be a bug in the 4K index code.*
Would you like just THAT ndx file or will ANY 4k ndx file do? The game is still on the 4k, so I can download it again, but I wouldn't be able to make the ndx available to you until morning. If ANY 4k ndx file will do, I can attach it right away.


[edit]

Okay, I got just the ndx file from the Replay, but it's over 900kb. You can get it here in about 3 minutes.


Thanks,


Tim


----------



## agent-x

"Is it an original 4k mpg and ndx or were they processed in any way before editing?"


So, to be clear, when you saw the time problem were you using the original .mpg and .ndx files?


----------



## tluxon

agent-x,


I usually will run the original mpg and ndx files through rtvedit without any trimming before editing in Womble. On _this_ file set I ran the originals through rtvedit _with_ the "A152:00.000" trim line in the script. The exact ndx of the file set in question is linked in my previous post. Right-click the hyperlinked "here" and select "save target as". The htm file extension should be corrected to ndx.


Thanks,


Tim


----------



## dszlucha

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*I've added a PS demux filter in rtvconvert that acts like a P-STD demuxer which is needed to synchronize elementary streams from MPEG-2 program streams. Just demultiplexing PS alone isn't sufficient, yet this is what most DVD authoring programs will do and they will break end-to-end timing unless the elementary streams are already aligned. DVD players are P-STDs, which is why the raw RTV streams play in sync, but may be out of sync after authoring. You need to have one of these filters somewhere in your path and depending on your system setup and tools, it might be coming from DirectShow or embedded in your encoder or editor. This version of rtvconvert has a simple one built-in.
*
So from this can I assume that a DVD authoring program can introduce a/v sync problems? Here's my problem - I do an rtvedit and can stream back to my replay with no a/v sync problems. The rtvconverted version of my mpg plays back find with WMP, but when I burn it to DVD with DVDMF1x it has a couple of spots where the a/v are out of sync. I've also tried editing with womble and the same exact spots in my video are out of sync when played on the DVD player. The only common component was DVDMF1x.


Since rtvconvert can do the dmux for me, without relying on an unknown directshow filter path, I would assume that using the -d option and finding an authoring program that can accept demuxed mpg's would be my best option?


Thanks.


----------



## Jeff D

dszlucha, are you saying the audio goes in an out of sync over the recording on DVD? (That's sounds strange. But I won't say I haven't seen this) Or the audio starts fine and drifts out of sync by the end?


----------



## Lee Thompson

In my experience the DVD authoring programs that only accept program streams are pretty ... well... lame. I won't mention them by name but it's included as a freebie a lot of the time heh.


The whole DVD authoring software selection on the PC has been rather bizarre, the low end programs are horrible and the high end programs are wildly expensive ($1000+). This has slowly been improving with some middle "prosumer" level programs appearing.


Recently a reasonably priced pretty good (and improving weekly) DVD authoring program was released, DVDLab from MediaChance ($79!). I had a lot of good luck with it both in general authoring terms and also player compatiblity terms. There is a 30 day free trial.


----------



## dszlucha

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_
*dszlucha, are you saying the audio goes in an out of sync over the recording on DVD? (That's sounds strange. But I won't say I haven't seen this) Or the audio starts fine and drifts out of sync by the end?*
Yes. There are a couple of parts in a show that have video slightly ahead of audio. The problem comes and goes, i.e., a couple of seconds of out of sync a/v and then it's fine. When streaming back to the replay I don't have this problem. Doesn't matter if I do womble or the rtvtools, a/v sync problem in the same part either way. I haven't tried using a different authoring package though.


----------



## dszlucha

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*In my experience the DVD authoring programs that only accept program streams are pretty ... well... lame. I won't mention them by name but it's included as a freebie a lot of the time heh.


The whole DVD authoring software selection on the PC has been rather bizarre, the low end programs are horrible and the high end programs are wildly expensive ($1000+). This has slowly been improving with some middle "prosumer" level programs appearing.


Recently a reasonably priced pretty good (and improving weekly) DVD authoring program was released, DVDLab from MediaChance ($79!). I had a lot of good luck with it both in general authoring terms and also player compatiblity terms. There is a 30 day free trial.*
I'm trying the demo of DVDLab, but it won't accept the demuxed mpg from rtvconvert. Is this typical? I used rtvedit and changed some of the puch ins/punch outs, but maintained the time stamps.


----------



## Lee Thompson

Hmm no; works perfectly in DVDlab over here.


----------



## dszlucha

The 'problem spot' in my video was fine when authored with DVDlab. Authored again with DVDMF1 and the a/v was out of sync in that spot. I may stick with DVDlab. Not sure why it wouldn't take the demuxed video from rtvconvert though.


----------



## Lee Thompson

Bump


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by dszlucha_

There are a couple of parts in a show that have video slightly ahead of audio. The problem comes and goes, i.e., a couple of seconds of out of sync a/v and then it's fine. When streaming back to the replay I don't have this problem. Doesn't matter if I do womble or the rtvtools, a/v sync problem in the same part either way.
This sounds suspiciously like the video bitrate may be spiking near those points. Are you using a MQ or HQ recording?


----------



## dszlucha

Medium quality. I've noticed that if I author with a tool that takes seperate streams I don't have sync problems. If I author with a tool that has to demux/remux, then I have the problem, in same spots.


----------



## Jeff D

Quote:

_Originally posted by dszlucha_
*Medium quality. I've noticed that if I author with a tool that takes seperate streams I don't have sync problems. If I author with a tool that has to demux/remux, then I have the problem, in same spots.*
As agent-x stated, this could likely be caused by a problem in the souce. Bitrate spikes with HQ are just one example.


The replays have been known to have errors in the streams. It's rare, but it happens. If this is the case all bets would be off. Not any easy way to check for these. I think rtvconvert tries to fix ones it finds.


If you run the source mpeg (muxed output from rtvconvert) through bitrate viewer, do you see any spikes above 10Mb? One listing gives peek info the one in the upper left(?).


----------



## dszlucha

Peak is 7083. I'm suspecting that the apps that use a directshow filter to remux the streams is the cause. Not the apps, but something messed up with my system.


----------



## DavidEC

OK for the main program everything works just fine with the basic settings as posted in the " "BAT" " files in this message base posted by "Leepz".


But It keeps wanting to cut off the credits on a number of * NBC * shows...


Any suggestions and hints on how to tell the program not to process the last two minutes so that I can hand edit or get the batch file to not edit out the production company and ending credits would be nice!


Durring the ending credits they show bloopers from the show.


--David


----------



## Jeff D

Quote:

_Originally posted by DavidEC_
*OK for the main program everything works just fine with the basic settings as posted in the " "BAT" " files in this message base posted by "Leepz".


But It keeps wanting to cut off the credits on a number of NBC shows...


Any suggestions and hints on how to tell the program not to process the last two minutes so that I can hand edit or get the batch file to not edit out the production company and ending credits would be nice!


Durring the ending credits they show bloopers from the show.


--David*
You'll have to modify the bat file. You want to be able to edit the evtdump output to get rid of the last out point. Send this edited file event file to rtvedit. I don't remember which way it works A or D, I think D is out, but it's in the docs.


----------



## DavidEC

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_
*You'll have to modify the bat file. You want to be able to edit the evtdump output to get rid of the last out point. Send this edited file event file to rtvedit. I don't remember which way it works A or D, I think D is out, but it's in the docs.*
Jeff -

I have been playing around with the end setting for the last 12 hours....

Here is an example of the output...


A017:15.724

D026:45.006

A027:46.591

A028:01.541

A028:16.538

A028:46.574

A029:06.522

A029:17.011

A029:22.517

A029:54.587

E


I need to keep points starting at :0:29:17:xx and ending 0:29:45:xx per the clock on two different mpeg players.... yet the 0:29:45:xx {yes "45"} point is not even listed??


IF I change the point at A029:17.011 to a "D" it still edits out parts in the ending credits at A029:22.517 and A029:54.587..... I have played around with these last three/four points so much that maybe I need a fresh set of eyes to help me out.... {deleting them from the file, changing all to "D" changing time codes and a combination of all}


--David


----------



## Norbert

David,


I just fiddled with a file for some one here at work. I found that I needed to modify the evt.txt file by adding lines for the punch-out places (the "D"s)where the file did not show one.


I copied a line where there was an "A" where I wanted to come back in, changed the time code to what I needed and put the "D" on the beginning of it.


Here would be an example:


"original evt.txt"


A006:21.245

A019:03.532

A029:45.258

A037:41.231

A040:24.478

E


"edited evt.txt"


A006:21.245

D016:30.147


----------



## DavidEC

Quote:

_Originally posted by Norbert_
*David,


I just fiddled with a file for some one here at work. ...... Have you tried something like that?*
I have tried may things like that.... I even went so far as to add "A" every 20 hundredths of a second from time point 0:29:00


But the "NBC" logo and the production house logos still get trimmed from the final mpeg....?!?!


Just wished that these was some way to tell the program not to process commercial breaks during the last two minutes of the file.


--David


----------



## Norbert

Hmmm.... a program that reads minds....


----------



## Jeff D

David,

Have you played around with the -p or -i option in evtdump. This is used to figure out where scenes change and how to detect commercials.


----------



## DavidEC

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_
*David,

Have you played around with the -p or -i option in evtdump. This is used to figure out where scenes change and how to detect commercials.*
I have changed the "-P" setting to as low as 20 and bumped the "-i" setting to 3 at one point....


--David


----------



## tluxon

My results in using evt.txt haven't been consistent enough to rely on the in and out points. I'm still using Womble to drag through the file while editing evt.txt. I've yet to experiment with the -p or -i options to see if evt.txt could be more reliable without editing.


Tim


----------



## antibody128

I'm not sure I'm following the problem. It sounds to me that you are following the directions so it should work, but isn't. So I guess I need more info on exactly what's happening. For instance, are you saying that no matter what you do you are getting some clipping of the last 2 min. I don't think you can expect rtvedit to be perfectly frame accurate for editing as if you were using Womble or something. It's possible you are doing it right and you are still going to clip a small part of that 2 min.


Or is it just cutting off at the same point about 2 min from the end no matter what you do? I have found from working on a videotape transfer that record errors can cause early termination with rtvedit. If this is the case then I wouldn't expect it to happen every time in the last 2 min so are you saying this happins every time you record this NBC show?


That having been asked, and without really knowing what the problem is I'll offer some suggestions. First I'd get rid of every A and or D that is not needed. Using your example I'd do this:


A017:15.724

D026:45.006

A029:17.011

E


In this case I assume the A017... is a punch in from a previous commercial break you don't list (otherwise I would just start with the D026...). This will run for A017... to D026... and come back at A029... until the end. No need to put in a final D timepoint.


Or you can alway edit the last 2 min back in.


Fstarting.mpg

Tany.mpg

A017:15.724

D026:45.006

Tany.mpg

A029:17.011

E


This should give the same result as my first example. You could even use this appending feature to create a batch file that will first run the evtdump file then run the rtvedit a second time to append that first file with just the last 2 min of the show.


If you've got errors, you have to try to find them by looking at the frames following the cut off point. Then you have to flank the error with a stop and start. So if your cutoff always happens at A029:17.011, you may need to put in a D at the preceding frame and an A on the next frame.



A017:15.724

D026:45.006

A027:46.591

D029:06.522

A029:22.517

E


Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I'm not just ranting completely off topic.


----------



## DavidEC

Quote:

_Originally posted by antibody128_
*I'm not sure I'm following the problem. It sounds to me that you are following the directions so it should work, but isn't. So I guess I need more info on exactly what's happening. For instance, are you saying that no matter what you do you are getting some clipping of the last 2 min. I don't think you can expect rtvedit to be perfectly frame accurate for editing as if you were using Womble or something. It's possible you are doing it right and you are still going to clip a small part of that 2 min.


Or is it just cutting off at the same point about 2 min from the end no matter what you do? .....*
_?? *it just cutting off at the same point about 2 min from the end no matter what you do?*??_


It is the last commerical break of more than one NBC 30 minute program...

the following all happens during the last two minutes of the 30 minute time slot..


The main show end and a commerical break happens...


They come back for the commerical break and start the production logos.. first the NBC Peacock, then the production company logo then they start running the ending credits...using a split screen where on one side of the screen they show either a wrap up of the show or bloopers from making the show..


Now unless some file is not getting saved correctly on my system...


no mater what I try to do at the point that the NBC Peacock come back on the screen to the point where the final credit rolls...


Is always getting trimmed...!?!?!


The points are al most always between 0:29:19:xxx and 0:29:50:xxx


Less than 30 seconds of programing...


The info is on the "RAW" RTV MPEG and can be viewed on the computer..


Here is a sample of the last few minutes of the ETV file..

D026:45.006

A027:46.591

A028:01.541

A028:16.538

A028:46.574

A029:06.522

A029:17.011

A029:22.517

A029:54.587

E

and as you can see "29:19" is not even listed and if I add it it does not seem to make any difference....


I have tried to changing the "A029:06.522" to "D029:06.522" with no help...


I know that the program does not do "FRAME EDITS" but just like editing on a old VHS video recorder.. if you know how much the tape moves when you hit stop you can either play ahead or behind depending on the machine and make some really great edits.


--David


----------



## Jeff D

As mentioned earlier (and it really makes sense) rtvedit cuts on GOP boundries. Same is true for the replayTV's CA. It will always come back in on a GOP I frame. Now a GOP is only 1/2 second, so that can't be the cause.


David, Don't the A and D's work in pairs? For example A is the out and D is the in point. You always end on an A, how about adding a D in at the correct time.


agent-x has told me that rtvedit should have no problem picking up the correct edit point if it's with-in a resonable closeness to the correct time. Lastly... the end credits really exist in the source, right? Dumb question, but I gotta ask. =)


----------



## DavidEC

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_
*As mentioned earlier (and it really makes sense) rtvedit cuts on GOP boundries. ..... Lastly... the end credits really exist in the source, right? Dumb question, but I gotta ask. =)*
Yes the credits are on the source file...


I have given up.. the tools work great on 'AMC' & "F/X" movies recorded from DirecTV...


It seems to only have troubles with the last two minutes of a few NBC Comedies....??


I have gone ahead and hand edited the files that I was working with..


--David


----------



## agent-x

Am I missing something? From the docs: "Chains of A or D entries are ok, the rtvedit tool will use the last entry in the chain." This means that:


D026:45.006

A027:46.591

A028:01.541

A028:16.538

A028:46.574

A029:06.522

A029:17.011

A029:22.517

A029:54.587

E


is equivalent to:


D026:45.006

A029:54.587

E


Inserting another A entry is meaningless. Each successive A entry will *cancel* the previous one.


If you want to include the last 2 minutes of your show, use:


D026:45.006

A028:00.000

E


Your 29:19 is most likely the 29:17 entry accounting for the ndx drift. If you want to add starting there, you just need to delete the ones after it.


D026:45.006

A027:46.591

A028:01.541

A028:16.538

A028:46.574

A029:06.522

A029:17.011

E


which is exactly the same as:


D026:45.006

A029:17.011

E


----------



## dszlucha

Don't know if this has been covered before - I've been using the -d option with rtvconvert to get the elementary streams for authoring in TMPgenc and DVDLab (still evaluating both) and the time stamps are reflecting the original MPG length and not the rtvedited length. I don't think it's causing a problem with the authored DVD, but it's making hard to set chapter points.


I've also run the rtvedited and rtvconverted files through womble's gop fixer and it shows gop errors. Again, I don't think this has an impact on the final DVD.


----------



## DavidEC

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*Am I missing something? From the docs: "Chains of A or D entries are ok, the rtvedit tool will use the last entry in the chain." This means that:


D026:45.006

A027:46.591

A028:01.541

A028:16.538

A028:46.574

A029:06.522

A029:17.011

A029:22.517

A029:54.587

E


is equivalent to:


D026:45.006

A029:54.587

E


Inserting another A entry is meaningless. Each successive A entry will cancel the previous one.


If you want to include the last 2 minutes of your show, use:


D026:45.006

A028:00.000

E


Your 29:19 is most likely the 29:17 entry accounting for the ndx drift. If you want to add starting there, you just need to delete the ones after it.


D026:45.006

A027:46.591

A028:01.541

A028:16.538

A028:46.574

A029:06.522

A029:17.011

E


which is exactly the same as:


D026:45.006

A029:17.011

E*
I will give this a try on the next group of NBC files that I have...


The way that I way reading the "DOC" file I needed to have all the points listed or "IF" there was a fade or audio change the "TOOLS" would act on them as if they were edit points??


"IF" what you say is correct a 50 line EVT file could be edited down to about 10 lines as long as the sequence goes something like:

F ->A ->D ->A ->D ->A ->D ->A ->D ->A ->E


Where the orignal file might of looked like:

F ->A ->A ->A ->D ->A ->A ->A ->A ->D ->A ->A ->A ->D ->A ->A ->A ->A ->A ->D ->A ->A ->A ->A ->A ->A ->A ->D ->A ->A ->A ->E


--David


----------



## DavidEC

Dropping my jaw on the floor he says..*It does work!*


Quote:

What you say is correct a 50 line EVT file could be edited down to about 10 lines as long as the sequence goes something like:

F ->A ->D ->A ->D ->A ->D ->A ->D ->A ->E
One question.. 


Why are the edit time almost off by 2 seconds in the EVT file when compaired to the times displayed in two different mpeg play back programs??


--David


----------



## Lee Thompson

Depends on the codec being used for the MPEG2 data. So far the best program for getting timestamps for the edits (in my experience) is the MPEG2 version of VirtualDub. (The URL is in the docs for the RTV Toolkit)


(Naggy Reminder: When deriving timestamps outside of "evtdump" make sure you use the -t1 flag when running rtvedit.)



My own procedure has become:

1. Run evtdump against the EVT

2. Load the mpg in VirtualDub-MPEG2, using the timestamps in the evtdump data as a general guide get all the actual timestamps for the editing in VirtualDub and update the evtdump text file accordingly.

3. Run rtvedit -t1

4. Run rtvconvert -d

5. Convert the audio streams to dolby digital in Vegas Video+DVD. (I have two DVD players that handle mpeg audio ok but a third does not.)

6. Throw it all into DVDLab, whip up a menu, go go go


----------



## antibody128

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say in my usual unclear way. I always cut out all the unneccessary A's and D's. Just leave in the ones needed for the actual edit points. The others just confuse things.


----------



## tluxon

agent-x, I wonder if you can help me with this problem.


I was watching much of the Alabama-LSU footgame in HDTV while the Replay 4508 was recording it from the s-video output of my Comcast Motorola 5100. I downloaded this 4.4+GB file with DVArchive and opened it in Womble only to find that dragging the pointer all the way to end of the file showed it was only 12 minutes 28 seconds in length.


I tried to open it with each of my mpeg players and they each crashed. Next, I decided to rtvedit it, trimming off the first 5 seconds (I also tried trimming the first 2 minutes with similar results).


My ed14k.txt file was:
Quote:

*

FT:\\ReplayTV\\Local_Guide\\Alabama-LSU_Football.mpg

TR:\\Alabama-LSU_Football.mpg

A000:05.000

E*



Then I ran the txt script through rtvedit and got:
Quote:

*

r:\

tvtools>rtvedit ed14k.txt

Source: T:\\ReplayTV\\Local_Guide\\Alabama-LSU_Football.mpg

Target: R:\\Alabama-LSU_Football.mpg

Time=(000:04:810. 148:17.525) SCR=000:00.495 File+(0000224300. 01139A0000)

Stream error at 00578A80B0, found next start code at 00578A82D0

Stream error at 00588B0200, found next start code at 00588B02D0

Stream error at 005B350024, found next start code at 005B3502D0

Stream error at 005DA78124, found next start code at 005DA782D0

Stream error at 00697F81A4, found next start code at 00697F82D0

Stream error at 006B298478, found next start code at 006B298580

Stream error at 007B6F84D0, found next start code at 007B6F8580

Stream error at 007D4A8448, found next start code at 007D4A8580

Stream error at 00FAC006E4, found next start code at 00FAC00D94

Stream error at 00FBC780BC, found next start code at 00FBC782D0

New Program Time: 148:12.715

Edit Time: 007:21.465


r:\

tvtools>*


It resulted in a file that was just about the same size, but it still only showed 12 minutes 28 seconds in Womble and won't play on any of my software DVD players (PowerDVD, Windows Media Player, Ulead DVD Player).


Any idea what could be wrong here and what I could do about it?


Thanks,


Tim


----------



## Lee Thompson

Tim,


Try running it through rtvconvert and see if that helps. (Don't delete the original tho  )


----------



## alhull

Will the tools also work on files recorded from my 4160 model ReplayTV? I have DVArchive and it works well with these.


----------



## tluxon

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*Tim,


Try running it through rtvconvert and see if that helps. (Don't delete the original tho  )*
Should I run the original through rtvconvert or should I run the rtvedit-ed show through rtvconvert?

Thanks,

Tim


----------



## tluxon

Quote:

_Originally posted by alhull_
*Will the tools also work on files recorded from my 4160 model ReplayTV? I have DVArchive and it works well with these.*
You won't be able to edit them and stream them back to your 4160, if that's what you mean. It _will_ allow you to extract your 4K files and, after conversion, stream them back through DVArchive to a 5K Replay.


----------



## alhull

I was thinking more along the line of burning them to DVDs...


----------



## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by tluxon_
*Should I run the original through rtvconvert or should I run the rtvedit-ed show through rtvconvert?

Thanks,

Tim*
I was thinking the latter.


----------



## tluxon

Lee,


I ran the rtvedit-ed show through rtvconvert and it didn't help.


I ran Womble's GOP Fix on the original and it kinda did the trick. The file still crashes PowerDVD, but it plays in Windows Media Player and doesn't lock up Womble scrubbing anymore.


I ran rtvconvert on the original and it seemed to have the same affect that GOP Fix had.


Apparently, the original had some mismatched audio and video that GOP Fix and rtvconvert repaired, while rtvedit didn't. My prior experience with rtvedit was leading me to think it would be more help than rtvconvert. I'm still not sure exactly what the deal was, but thanks for the tip.


Tim


----------



## dszlucha

Quote:

_Originally posted by dszlucha_
*Don't know if this has been covered before - I've been using the -d option with rtvconvert to get the elementary streams for authoring in TMPgenc and DVDLab (still evaluating both) and the time stamps are reflecting the original MPG length and not the rtvedited length. I don't think it's causing a problem with the authored DVD, but it's making hard to set chapter points.


I've also run the rtvedited and rtvconverted files through womble's gop fixer and it shows gop errors. Again, I don't think this has an impact on the final DVD.*
I posted this a while back, but it may have been "lost" due to other discussions. Is anyone else seeing GOP errors after removing program segments with rtvedit and making DVD ready with rtvconvert? I'm doing this on medium quality 5xxx mpgs. I find that rtvconvert fixes the PTS errors, but womble's gop fixer shows lots of gop errors in my rtvconverted stuff.


Also, I've found that when I use '-d' that my authoring programs get confused with the time stamps. TMPGenc DVD Author for example uses time stamps from my original unedited program, but when burning to DVD the chaper points I set reflect the time stamps from the edited/shortened program. This makes it impossible to add chapter points.


Thanks.


----------



## agent-x

Not sure what gop fixer is using to detect "errors", but if it's relying on the IEC timecodes, those are known to be wrong. That may be the cause of your second problem. The timecodes are not used by MPEG at all, but I'll look at fixing them in the next tools release since it sounds like they're being used here.


----------



## dszlucha

Cool, thanks. In the mean time I will probably just set chapter points every couple of minutes or so, rather than specific scene changes.


As for the gop thing - I just wanted to see if that was typical, or maybe a problem with mpgs coming from my unit. Womble's gop fixer shows that there are errors, but again, the DVD's play fine so it may be a non-issue.


----------



## tluxon

So, if I want to run a Replay mpeg through GOP Fixer AND rtvconvert, which one should I do first or is there no point in using both?


----------



## st5000

Quote:

_Originally posted by st5000_
*I think so, I have started 2 threads on this already ( http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...t=mp3+replaytv ) and posted the suggestion to sourceforge under the dvarchive forum. So much for talk, the work I have done (just a little scripting) is spelled out here ( http://www.xnet.com/~stuart/mp3replaytv ). But for all of it to work (stream it to a replaytv) we needed 2 things. First rtvconvert needed to be rewritten to be able to use named pipes... Hey hey, this latest version allows that! Tell your "friend" thanks Lee! Second, we need a tool to spool the mpeg 2 back to the replaytv unit. And DVArchive is my pick. There is no source code on line as (I think) it had a "CVS moment" over at sourceforge.net. So I am waiting for version 3.0 (current version 2.1) to see how the streaming is done in Java.


But, even after these two mile stones, there are other problems to work on. Right now, I have seen a buffering problem into / out-of a program called mp2enc. I am using it to change a .wav file to a .mpg (level 2) audio file. I noticed that the buffering is such that playback will stop while mp2enc processes a bunch of data (I think 4K bytes) then continue again once mp2enc is done. I hope I will discover or someone will point out a way to avoid this stuttering.


Also, it appears that rtvconvert does not create the .ndx and .evt files until the streaming process is finished. Well, to be exact the .ndx is written to once for about each minute of material and once at the end. The .evt file is written to at the end. These files are necessary for DVArchive, well if you play back the mpeg locally on your computer they don't appear to be necessary. But, if you try to play back an mpeg an a RepalyTV after deleting them from the DVArchive directory the ReplayTV will crash (freeze up). So, in order to stream MP3s for playback on a ReplayTV - some code some where will have to analyze the MP3 and generate these files before the streaming process starts. Can anyone fill me in on the format of a .ndx or .evt file?*


Hi Lee ...


Adding MP3 play back capabilities to a DVArchive / ReplayTV combination is looking to be an up hill battle. To this end, however, I have a feature request for rtvtools based on several assumptions:


The evt and ndx file are needed to disclose the possible jump locations for skipping (I am thinking the next P frame) and major events (like station breaks).


It is possible to look at a video file before sound is added to it to generate the skipping information?


While looking at the video file, could the rtvtool also evaluate an event file containing lengths of time. That is, the time duration of each MP3 in a set of MP3s to be streamed together.


My problem is this: Even if streaming the MP3 as an MPEG Level II through rtvtools to be sent to a ReplayTV is possible, the evt and ndx files are not generated until rtvtools had read the entire MPEG stream. As the ReplayTV needs this information ahead of time (I assume) this process is non-causal.


But if the the video to be attached to the sound was always the same (except for overall length), it would follow that some of the information in the evt and ndx files would never change simplifying their generation. Further, if the length (in time) of the MP3s were known (should be easy to do) ahead of time, major evt and ndx event skipping information could be "synthesized" before the streaming starts.


At this point I confess I am composing at the key board. And it sounds more and more I am pointing at a totally new rtvtool application. One that would assume the video is always the same and can also accept major event skipping information in a separate file (or pipe). Oh well, most of us here are having fun pushing our ReplayTVs to do more. This is just another push in another direction. If is works out, great, we'll have fun and a new ReplayTV feature.


----------



## Turok

Hi,


I have some mpegs without .ndx files, so I run them through rtvedit, then it re-generates the .ndx file for each mpeg. rtvedit then asks me to run the program again. Once this process is completed. I then take each file and attempt to run them through rtvconvert, when I do I get the error message that the sound is not 48khz.


My main question is, should I run these files through womble and fix the sound and make it 48khz? Also when should I run it through womble? before I run these files through rtvedit or after rtvedit? These files have been previously unedited files and are directly from my replay. They are all recorded in medium quality.


Btw these files are from 5K replay


Turok


----------



## Turok

Hi,


I have some mpegs without .ndx files, so I run them through rtvedit, then it re-generates the .ndx file for each mpeg. rtvedit then asks me to run the program again. Once this process is completed. I then take each file and attempt to run them through rtvconvert, when I do I get the error message that the sound is not 48khz.


My main question is, should I run these files through womble and fix the sound and make it 48khz? Also when should I run it through womble? before I run these files through rtvedit or after rtvedit? These files have been previously unedited files and are directly from my replay. They are all recorded in medium quality.


Btw these files are from 5K replay


Turok


----------



## Lee Thompson

If the files are really from a 5k they audio should already be at 48khz.


----------



## Turok

Yes they are all from my 5K and recorded at medium quality. As I mentioned before the .ndx files were re-generated when I run rtvedit, then it asks me to run rtvedit again, I do. Then I run rtvconvert and it gives me that error. I'll cut and paste the error when I get home to my computer. Im going to attempt the same thing with new mpegs from my 5k, which have the original .ndx files.


----------



## BeefStu

Slightly off-topic, but is there a utility anywhere that will identify the version of a particular ReplayTV MPG file? This summer I extracted about 160GB worth of old recordings from my old Showstopper and 3020 and in the course of reorganizing my media server they got mixed in with some 4k and 5k DVArchive recordings.


I've been trying to run RTVEdit on some misc. files I assumed were 4K files, but after I import them into DVArchive and try to stream them to my 5K, I get an error message saying "No video source - The selected show was not recorded. Verify that: etc. etc." The only thing I can think of is that they're really 3K files.


----------



## icecow

I'm wondering if Agent X might have any interest adding a new option to rtv edit to help handshake with ReVue. ReVue can make new videos cutting out unwanted segments (usually commercials), but doesn't do clean cuts.. something about I-frames. Revue spits out it's own propriatory files that have the segment point information after a user adjusts them.


I'm kinda murky on this whole thing, but I'm guessing it would be child's play for Agent X to add a new option to rtvEdit that would optionally process the propriatory ReVue file instead of an .evt file.


I'm merely suggesting the idea. If the idea is impossible or greatly imposing then please happily disregard that I asked.





cow


----------



## Turok

I have a question:


I have a new mpeg from my replay, do I need to run it through rtvedit -t1 or can I just edit the commercials out with womble and then run it through rtvconvert? And will the mpeg be ok for DVD authoring if I only run it through rtvconvert?


----------



## icecow

I just can't remember and I can't find where it's written.


What if I want to use rtvtools to just make a replayTV show into a standard mpg for a computer?


If I use rtvconvert with -d off it converts a regular mpg to an mpg that a replay can play.

If I use rtvconvert with -d on it demuxes the show into two files.


Don't recall how to make a a reg PC .mpg file though.


I'm tring to get some shows into my pocket pc


cow


----------



## kcossabo

do not include the -d and it will produce a proper MPEG.


the -d is to de-mux


----------



## PVRick

Quote:

_Originally posted by Turok_
*I have a question:


I have a new mpeg from my replay, do I need to run it through rtvedit -t1 or can I just edit the commercials out with womble and then run it through rtvconvert? And will the mpeg be ok for DVD authoring if I only run it through rtvconvert?*
My experience: have to do RTVEdit then RTVConvert even if no editing done, or the audio sync issue appears. YMMV. BTW, this works perfectly and Womble editing doesn't mess it up. Note to Santa: take good care of Agent-x this year.


----------



## Turok

Quote:

_Originally posted by PVRick_
*My experience: have to do RTVEdit then RTVConvert even if no editing done, or the audio sync issue appears. YMMV. BTW, this works perfectly and Womble editing doesn't mess it up. Note to Santa: take good care of Agent-x this year.*
PVRick- So should I run all my original mpegs through RTVEdit then RTVConvert, then edit them in womble? Or can I edit them first then run them through RTVEdit then RTVConvert. See my problem is I run some of my originals through RTVEdit, then when I goto run it through RTVConvert it says the audio must be 48Khz. These are mpegs are recorded at medium record level on my replay 5K.


So that's why I'm wondering if it's ok to edit the mpegs first, then run them through both apps.


----------



## icecow

Quote:

_Originally posted by PVRick_
*My experience: have to do RTVEdit then RTVConvert even if no editing done, or the audio sync issue appears. YMMV. BTW, this works perfectly and Womble editing doesn't mess it up. Note to Santa: take good care of Agent-x this year.*
That's the information I was looking for. I read it long ago but couldn't remember or find it.


you just do a plain RTVedit , then a flat RTVconvert ? ya?


no evtdump? ya?

no arguments after rtvedit or rtvconvert? ya?


cow


----------



## PVRick

uh, if you're asking me:

I make a xyz.txt file that contains
Code:


Code:


FX:\\inputfile.mpg
TY:\\outputfile.mpg
E

(I use the T option to put it on a different physical drive from the input, makes it run much faster)


then I run
Code:


Code:


rtvedit xyz.txt

then I run
Code:


Code:


rtvconvert outputfile.mpg outputconverted.mpg

then if editing is needed I run MPEG2VCR on outputconverted.mpg and save to yet a third file


then burn the final result. When I tried using Womble on the output of RTVEDIT I had audio sync problems.


As my CA marking is not too reliable (for whatever reason), rather than check it and use it for RTVedit, I just use Womble to cut commercials. I like frame accurate edits on my DVDs and evtdump'd edit doesn't always hit exactly in my setup.


The comment on audio datarate is curious because I believe the 5000 RTVs always record audio at 48k sample rate, 192k MPEG bitrate. Maybe the file's corrupted somehow?


I eagerly await the final GUI somebody's doing for running these little RTVTOOL piggies. In the meantime I'm cobbling a little REXX exec to run this sequence. REXX is a great little language from IBM but its not free and hardly anyone knows and uses it (I have it as a side-effect of work).


----------



## Turok

I just bought the 5K in September, let me double check.. it might have been referring to my old Panasonic Showstopper replay mpegs.. the real old one.. Let me double check when I get home from work.


Thanks PVRick. I'll submit a post once I verify when I get home.


----------



## icecow

Quote:

_Originally posted by PVRick_
*uh, if you're asking me:

I make a xyz.txt file that contains
*
*Code:*


Code:


[B]FX:\\inputfile.mpg
TY:\\outputfile.mpg
E[/B]


What's the E at the end mean?



Also, this is your method of making a ReplayTV.mpg into a RegularComputer.mpg, is this correct?


cow


----------



## Jeff D

Quote:

_Originally posted by icecow_
*What's the E at the end mean?
*
Um.... "End"


----------



## PVRick

RegularComputer.mpg, DVDburnable.mpg - once through this process, the nasties that RTV5K files cause in programs like MyDVD, DVDLab and DVDMF (slow scrolling, jumping timestamps, crashes, audio sync issues, refuse to burn) go away. They become as well-behaved as the ones I get from the Hauppauge PVR250 card.


----------



## antibody128

PVRick,


There are 2 very functional GUI's for RTVtools.


evtEdit for windows

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=330242 


ReVue

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&goto=lastpost 


I just tried evtEdit for windows yesterday (I haven't tried reVue) and I was very impressed. I've been doing the command line/batch file thing until now, but I'm pretty sure I'm done with that.


----------



## PVRick

cool ... will check them out


----------



## worldofaaron

Quote:

Also, I've found that when I use '-d' that my authoring programs get confused with the time stamps. TMPGenc DVD Author for example uses time stamps from my original unedited program, but when burning to DVD the chaper points I set reflect the time stamps from the edited/shortened program. This makes it impossible to add chapter points.
PMCNeil's MpegTools have a function called fix-time which rewrites the timestamps sequentially. The thread is here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=236117 This will solve your problem as long as your first segment begins at the beginning of the show. If you cut out any material in the beginning, you end up with perfectly sequential timestamps beginning not at zero, but at whatever the original timestamp for the first segment was.


Lee,


If you plan to try and work this correction into the next release, you might be able to build on the work Neil already did. All his proggie is lacking is the ability to force fix-time.exe to begin at zero.


Aaron


----------



## tim price

I was using the tools for the first time and the filename assigned in DVArchive worked fine wih RTVedit. But when I tried to use the output filename, appended with a "1", in RTVConvert, it would not recognize the long filename. The filename was "fresh prince of bel-air - the client1.mpg"


I was able to rename the file to "prince1.mpg" and use that in the RTVConvert command line and it worked fine.


I tried both cmd line prompts in XP with the same result.


What I am missing?


Thanks


----------



## tluxon

Quote:

_Originally posted by tim price_
*I was using the tools for the first time and the filename assigned in DVArchive worked fine wih RTVedit. But when I tried to use the output filename, appended with a "1", in RTVConvert, it would not recognize the long filename. The filename was "fresh prince of bel-air - the client1.mpg"


I was able to rename the file to "prince1.mpg" and use that in the RTVConvert command line and it worked fine.


I tried both cmd line prompts in XP with the same result.


What I am missing?


Thanks*
The problem isn't the long filename, it's the space(s) in the name. RTVedit and RTVconvert use spaces as argument delimiters, so when there's a space in the filename, they think the next string after the space is a new argument.


Tim


----------



## BaysideBas

The usual fix is to enclose the whole string in quotes.


----------



## tim price

Thanks Tim and BaysideBas......I didn't hink about the arguement in rtvconvert..and defining the filename as ASCII string worked like a champ.....moving from my 3K Replay to the 5060 is like living in a whole new world!!


----------



## lah

Anyone here successfully used rtvtools in linux to convert mpegs to DVD formatted mpegs? I can go so far as to rtvedit the mpeg file to create near commercial free mpegs, but when I try to use rtvconv to then convert these edited files to something that I could use to dvdauthor, I have no luck. rtvconv seems to hang there doing nothing. Or is it just that I'm impatient? How long should it take rtvconv to convert a half hour mpeg recorded in Standard Qual? I let it run for 15 minutes to 30 minutes and still get no outputted mpeg file. Am I doing something wrong? Would it be possible to download the source to rtvconv so that I could recompile? I apologize for all the questions, but everything else in linux works well for me but this. If I could get this to work, it would help me tremendously in automating my DVD authoring process. Thanks!


----------



## pio!pio!

Suggestion w/ RTVEdit


Can the input file add and cut on specific frames instead of just times? We can get much more accurate cuttings that way.


Of course all the A times must start on a keyframe, but the D times (the times to cut off) don't necessarily have to cut on a keyframe correct?


That way the segments we want to keep always start on a keyframe, but doesn't have to end on one


----------



## dmk11

OT Question:

How do you combine two mpg files together?


can I combine 2 ready to stream RTV mpg files or do I have to do it before the rtvconvert?


----------



## lah

Nevermind, I think I know what the problem is. I've been trying to setup a bash script to automate rtvconvert but have no luck doing so. The problem with rtvconvert is that if I try to pass the filename, which is a long filename with spaces in it due to DVArchive, with quotes around the filename, rtvconvert does not recognize it. Well, actually, let me rephrase that. If I type in the command myself at the command prompt, as so:


rtvconvert -d "Battlestar Galactica.mpg" "dvd/Battlestar Galactica"


It works fine. No problems. However if I have a script call the command like so:


rtvconvert -d "$i" "dvd/`basename $i .mpg`"


Where $i is the filename string, I get nothing. I even do a ps -x to show me the full command that the script runs and it looks like:


rtvconvert -d "Battlestar Galactica.mpg" "dvd/Battlestar Galactica"


It has the quotes and all and should work. I need to add that I have almost the exact same script for other commands (to serve other functions, obviously) other than rtvconvert and it works flawlessly. Could anyone shed light on how I could get things to work here? If you can confirm that you have the same problem please let me know.


----------



## Amazingly Smooth

You can specify spaces and other special characters using the '\\' command. So for spaces you would use \\b. Not sure if this helps, but you may have to parse the string and then use \\b to fill in the spaces.


Cheers


----------



## moyekj

First thing I do before using rtvtools is rename the mpg & ndx files to something short without spaces. I too am using a script to automate the whole process (Perl) and didn't want to deal with backlashing/quoting to get around file name problems. It's easier just to rename the files to something short like f.mpg/f.ndx & process them with your script and then rename them back if you wish.


----------



## PVRick

these tools don't like a dash "-" in the filename even if the filename is quoted, or so it seems; whenever I have such a file I have to rename to remove the dash to make it work. Maybe the dash is being interpreted as an option indicator regardless of the quoting?


----------



## dmk11

Quote:

_Originally posted by PVRick_
*these tools don't like a dash "-" in the filename even if the filename is quoted, or so it seems; whenever I have such a file I have to rename to remove the dash to make it work. Maybe the dash is being interpreted as an option indicator regardless of the quoting? *
When I use reVue (that uses tools), I can have names with spaces and dashes and it works fine. you should ask ksb how he does it, because his program does the calling to the rtvtools.


----------



## Razzberry

Quote:

_Originally posted by lah_
*... However if I have a script call the command like so:


rtvconvert -d "$i" "dvd/`basename $i .mpg`"


Where $i is the filename string, I get nothing. I even do a ps -x to show me the full command that the script runs and it looks like:


rtvconvert -d "Battlestar Galactica.mpg" "dvd/Battlestar Galactica"


It has the quotes and all and should work. I need to add that I have almost the exact same script for other commands (to serve other functions, obviously) other than rtvconvert and it works flawlessly. Could anyone shed light on how I could get things to work here? If you can confirm that you have the same problem please let me know.*
I can't imagine why the "basename" call should resolve "Battlestar Galactica" because it would interpret the space as a parameter separator, and give a syntax error. Give this a try:


rtvconvert -d "$i" "dvd/`basename \\"$i\\" .mpg`"


This will preserve the $i file name (including embedded spaces) as a single argument passed into basename, which should then do what you want. But if the "ps -x" command you executed shows the filename correctly expanded, I'm perplexed...


Robert


----------



## rmanaka

Newbie with these tools.


Have a RTV5040 and am downloading with DVArchive 2.1


Downloaded a series of shows using medium quality.


Ran eleven shows recorded from food channel (unwrapped) through RTV tools (rtvtoolsrev4.zip)... using a slightly modified drag-and-drop batch file as posted by leepz.


Most shows trimmed just fine with two generating strange errors...one file became almost twice as large (the output file kept appending the last few frames for over twenty minutes) and one file trimmed exceptionally short.


Here are the issues I'm hoping for some enlightenment! 


If I run the output files through Womble's Mpeg Video Wizard's Gop fixer, it reports timecode errors and generates a file almost twice as large as the RTV tools file.


The interesting part about the Womble fixed files, is that they will play with both PowerDVD 5.0 and Intervideo's WinDVD 5.0 Gold (which seems to suggest that they are slightly more mpeg compliant than the original RTV medium files)


Neither the original RTV files nor the RTVtool processed files will play with PowerDVD 5.0 nor WinDVD 5 Gold (but will play with VLC and Windows Media Player)...they will, however, play with PowerDVD XP!!!


If I skip all of the RTV Tools, and process directly with Womble Mpeg Video Wizard, the files are about the same size as the RTV Tool files and are fully PowerDVD 5.0, WinDVD 5.0, VLC and Windows Media Player compliant...it's not as easy or fast as the RTVtool/Leepz batch combination, but the resulting output seems to be much more stable.


I've processed about a hundred 5040 medium (and about a dozen high) quality shows from the RTV using Womble Mpeg2VCR and more recently Mpeg Video Wizard 2003, and burned them onto DVD's using DVDlab 1.3.1 without any problems or audio synch issues. I've even taken to using DVDlab to burn two movie DVD compilations (over 4.7GB) and then use NERO recode, Pinnacle Instant Copy or DVD Shrink to burn them to DVD4 media.


Can anybody shed any light on the timecode errors as well as the PowerDVD XP/5.0 and WinDVD 5.0 Gold issues? Has anybody been able to keep both PowerDVD XP and version 5.0 on the same machine?


I used to use PowerDVD XP for direct streaming output from my RTV5040, and the fast forward, backup, etc. worked great. PowerDVD 5.0 won't play at all.


Thanks in advance to all replies!


p.s. Thanks A Bundle to LT for writing the RTV tools, Leepz and Dszlucha for posting the batch file jump starts!


----------



## toxic

Will we poor 4K series users ever be able to stream home-brew MPEGs to our boxes? I'd certainly kill for this kind of functionality.


----------



## skleiser

I really appreciate these tools - I now use them with evtEdit for Windows, and it all works great. I start with medium quality and burn the results to DVD.


However, I have had the following happen several times - on 1 occassion I was able to find the problem spot and create a "red" segment to avoid it - but this time, the program had no breaks.


Can LT or agent-x shed any light?
Code:


Code:


Source: G:\\DVarchive\\Local_Guide\\Send Me No Flowers.mpg
Target: G:\\DVarchive\\Local_Guide\\Send Me No Flowers_edited.mpg
Time=(000:51.000, 046:38.495) SCR=000:00.495 File=(0001A58A18, 004E5029D0)
Time=(046:38.495, 081:58.000) SCR=045:47.990 File=(004E5029D0, 008917A31C)
Stream error at 007B91E338, found next start code at 007B91E41B
Unsupported stream_id: 02
Time=(081:58.000, 100:24.495) SCR=081:07.495 File=(008917A31C, 00A8010AC4)
New Program Time: 099:33.495
Edit Time: 011:49.922

Thanks,

-steve-


----------



## moyekj

Quote:

_Originally posted by skleiser_
*I really appreciate these tools - I now use them with evtEdit for Windows, and it all works great. I start with medium quality and burn the results to DVD.


However, I have had the following happen several times - on 1 occassion I was able to find the problem spot and create a "red" segment to avoid it - but this time, the program had no breaks.


Can LT or agent-x shed any light?
*
*Code:*


Code:


[B]Source: G:\\DVarchive\\Local_Guide\\Send Me No Flowers.mpg
Target: G:\\DVarchive\\Local_Guide\\Send Me No Flowers_edited.mpg
Time=(000:51.000, 046:38.495) SCR=000:00.495 File=(0001A58A18, 004E5029D0)
Time=(046:38.495, 081:58.000) SCR=045:47.990 File=(004E5029D0, 008917A31C)
Stream error at 007B91E338, found next start code at 007B91E41B
Unsupported stream_id: 02
Time=(081:58.000, 100:24.495) SCR=081:07.495 File=(008917A31C, 00A8010AC4)
New Program Time: 099:33.495
Edit Time: 011:49.922[/B]

*Thanks,

-steve-*
I have seen these exact same kinds of errors too on occasion. I assumed it was because my mpegs come from 4K RTVs and therefore didn't expect these tools to necessary work all the time. For those cases I "cleaned up" mpegs using mpegtools fix-time.exe instead and they appeared to go through OK for DVD auhthoring.


----------



## back40

I recently posted about a problem trying to import an rtvconverted file into an mpeg editor. Someone responded telling me I had to run it through rtvedit first, with just

Ffilename

E


Then through rtvconvert. This did solve my problem.


Since there were not any edit commands in the edit.txt file, what exactly did rtvedit due to my file to make it importable into my editor?


Thanks...


----------



## skleiser

Quote:

_Originally posted by moyekj_
*I have seen these exact same kinds of errors too on occasion. I assumed it was because my mpegs come from 4K RTVs and therefore didn't expect these tools to necessary work all the time. For those cases I "cleaned up" mpegs using mpegtools fix-time.exe instead and they appeared to go through OK for DVD auhthoring.*
In my case, they are from a 5K RTV. I ran them through fix-time, but the problem continued, so I just had to discard them. 


LT or agent-x, any ideas?


----------



## wcattey

rtvtools Rocks!


Since I got my RTV and Mac Powerbook with SuperDrive, I've been unable to burn DVD's that stay in sync past half an hour. I was getting ready to read the MPEG spec, and transition from UNIX systems guru to Mac applications guru to find and fix that problem.


rtvtools fixed it for me!


THANK YOU THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!


-wdc


P.S. Warning: If you create your edit script by hand, do not leave trailing spaces on lines. My "F" line at one point ended in a space, and I had to ponder a bit why it was saying I'd specified no source...


----------



## krkaufman

Quote:

_Originally posted by krkaufman_
*However, is there a limit to how many times you can/should run rtvedit and/or rtvconvert against a given video file?*

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*I would recommend 1 and 1.  That said, you can run rtvedit against an rtvedited stream without any issues (at least in theory). But once you run it through rtvconvert, there are a few issues that may prevent rtvedit from working properly. Realize that once you do this, it's not a 5K stream any more - it's a 5K "like" stream. If you want to keep the streams, keep the rtvedit ones and simply run rtvconvert before you burn it.*
Thanks for the response, agent-x; I suspected that it wouldn't be wise to re-process rtvconvert'd files, but wanted expert confirmation. Thanks for your development and support efforts.


Followup question(s)....


Do rtvconvert'd files stream back to ReplayTV better, or worse, than native 5xxx or rtvedit'd videos?


Is there a way to identify whether a given *.mpg file has been previously run through rtvconvert (and/or rtvedit, for that matter)? I have a bunch of files where I'm uncertain as to whether they've already been run through rtvconvert. (It'd be great if there were a rtvtools -- or other -- binary that could report whether a given MPEG file were native 50xx/55xx, rtvedit'd, or rtvconvert'd, or none of the above.)


Is there a way to regenerate missing ndx and evt files for a given RTV 5xxx mpg?


Thanks....!


Karl K.



(EDIT: Added question Re: generating ndx/evt files.)


----------



## agent-x

Quote:

_Originally posted by krkaufman_
*Do rtvconvert'd files stream back to ReplayTV better, or worse, than native 5xxx or rtvedit'd videos?


Is there a way to identify whether a given *.mpg file has been previously run through rtvconvert (and/or rtvedit, for that matter)? I have a bunch of files where I'm uncertain as to whether they've already been run through rtvconvert. (It'd be great if there were a rtvtools -- or other -- binary that could report whether a given MPEG file were native 50xx/55xx, rtvedit'd, or rtvconvert'd, or none of the above.)


Is there a way to regenerate missing ndx and evt files for a given RTV 5xxx mpg?*
I haven't noticed that rtvconverted files stream any differently than native or edited files, given that the source stream is within the suggested parameters. But, I have no way to know what kind of streams people are converting, so YMMV in this respect. The tool tries to check to make sure it will work, but it probably does allow some through that won't stream at all.


No easy way to tell from the mpeg itself, but if you have the evt files that were generated, there is an easy way that should work. The ones created by rtvconvert don't have any entries in them beyond the header and terminating entry. The ones created by rtvedit contain entries for each edit point. So, you can try using evtdump -graph on the .evts and if there's no data shown at all, it's probably from rtvconvert.


As for regenerating missing ndx and evts, rtvedit will regenerate missing ndx for you - but this only works flawlessy for real 5K streams. If you are missing evts, there's no way to reconstruct them. You can make dummy evts like rtvconvert does, it just won't have any entries in it.


----------



## kegill

I have created a help file for Mac folks -- showing how to use these tools to burn DVDs:
http://motogrrl.com/replayTV/replay_to_dvd.html 


Kathy


----------



## ashedon

Would it be possible to get binaries for FreeBSD 4.x? I hope there are others that run this great OS....


Thanks!


----------



## kegill

For information about the tools -- see the first post in THIS forum.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...67#post2799667 



Kathy


----------



## jsimotas

For anyone who cares:


I've attached a pretty comprehensive batch file I made to run rtvedit and rtvconvert in one shot.


It supports drag and drop so you just drop your .mpg file onto the batch file and it starts.


-Jason


-----------------------------------

- Dropfilehere.cmd (2.23.2004)

-

- Use this batch file to apply RTVtools to your replayrtv files.

- RTVtools are used to 'clean' the MPEG formatting of your files

- and (optionally) to remove commercials as originally detected by the Replay.

-

- Usage:

-

- See this help:

- Dbl-click Dropfilehere.cmd

-

- No commercial removal:

- Drag and drop your .MPG file onto the Dropfilehere.cmd to begin.

-

- Commercial removal:

- Drag and drop your .EVT file onto the Dropfilehere.cmd to begin.

- This just runs evtdump.exe before beginning the process,

- the intermediate .TXT file will contain the edit points

- for the commercials.

-

-----------------------------------

 

dropfilehere.zip 1.173828125k . file


----------



## ibmer95

I am new to the tools and I looked throughout the forum and did not see any one else experiencing the same problem.


I have a 2 minute 13 sec DVD that was ripped into a VOB using DVD:RIP on Linux.

I demultipled the VOB into an AC3 file for the audio and a MPEG2 file for video using tcextract

I then multiplexed the files into a single mpeg2 file using tcmplex

When I view the new mpeg2 file, everything looks great. Audio and Video are in sync and all looks good.

I then run rtvconvert on the mpeg to create the necessary files for viewing on my 5080.

rtconvert complains: Video overrun, unknow or bad audio mux: len=3146426


At the surface it looks like the video and audio do not match and that the video is longer than the audio and that the multiplexing process caused the problem.

How can I verify this?

Is my assumption correct?


Help.


Thanks


Ed


----------



## agent-x

This message comes up when there is a problem feeding the multiplexor. It uses the bits in the elementary stream headers to determine the output rate, but the input rate doesn't match. This can happen for a number of reasons, but probably is occurring here because an audio stream is never found. We can't use AC3 audio, so you'll need to convert the audio to MPEG1 layer 2 first.


----------



## ibmer95

I have multiplexed a mpeg that meets the requirements of rtvconvert. The convert process completes, and I am able to stream the video to my reply 5080.


I huge step forward!


The last problem I have is that during the multiplexing, I had to add a 500ms delay to the start of the audio in order to keep the video and audio is sync, however when I run rtvconvert, I lose the delay and the audio and video are out of sync.


When I watch the mpeg before using the rtvconvert everything is fine. When I watch the newly converted mpeg (via rtvconvert) the audio and video are out of sync.


Is there anything I can do to prevent rtvconvert from ignoring the delay?


Thanks.


Ed Calusinski


----------



## agent-x

Not in rev 4. There is a bug fix version that should fix it, but you'll have to poke Lee if you want to help test it.  Otherwise, you can use rev 3 which should handle this properly.


----------



## mabar1

Hey all... Great info in here. I have sifted and read, and have gotten 90% of the way through, just need a few pointers to get it finished.


Heres what I have done so far....


Pushed a VCR recording to my Replay 5080 recorded at HIGH quality. (I haven't seen much info on converting/burning high qual stuff around)


I brought the file over to my pc with DVarchive (love that little proggy)!


I initally tried running through womble without any changes to strip out supposed errors that would force a dvd authoring program to re-process.

I had no luck, the authoring programs still seem to want to process before burning.


I have now run rtools on the file following the info in this forum. (I am using the same file I ran through womble, not the original file from the RTV) (this may be my problem??) (the file does not have any ndx or other rtv files along with it when I run the process below...the process below does create those files tho....)


I ran rtvedit with a script file and seem to have had success.

I ran rtvconvert and it created the file I specified.


I then bring the file into Ulead DVD Movie Factory 2, and it wants to process the entire thing before burning.


Same goes for Sonic (the dvd software that came with my dvd burner).


I am now trying the demux command to see if that makes a difference.


Not knowing how long it typically takes the dvd software to get its' act together to burn, How would I know if it is not processing the video prior to burning..... should it get right down to the burn process? I figure that is the whole point of what I think I am trying to do.



sorry to ramble, just getting it all in writing.....


another note, I tried to adjust the variable bit rate in Ulead dvd movie Factory 2 to 9800 (as suggested in another post) but it told me the range had to be lower than that, so I just left it as it was.



Anyway, any suggs you have would be appreciated.

Mabar1


----------



## gatisimo

If you're using Ulead MovieFactory 2, try viewing the properties of the clip. Check its bitrate (usually variable at 7713kbps, I think). Then when making the disc, go for custom quality, and make it whatever the bitrate of the clip was in its properties. Works for me every time in Normal recording quality. Haven't tried high yet.


----------



## mabar1

as a continuation to my message above, I have demuxed the file with r-tools....


Does ulead DVD Movie factory 2 accept a demuxed file? I am unsure how to go about making a dvd out of 2 seperate files. It created a .mp2 and a .m2v file. Any quickies on how to do that would help. I also have access to several other authoring proggys...if you have a suggestion...keep in mind...the more idiot proof the better...


Bottom line from what you are saying gatisimo, is that the file you are going to burn has to match the bitrate of the dvd bruning proggy? If they match, it should not re-encode before burning...right?


This site really really has helped me out on all sorts of neato stuff, I just want to say thanks to everyone.


Mabar1


UPDATE---------------------1:30pm Thurs Central time

Ok...

So I checked the properties of the video clip in UDVDMF2. It is variable bit rate 9800 max. If i try to match that bit rate in UDVDMF2, it maxes out at like 8200 something....


Any suggestions?

I guess that is probably why most people seem to use Medium quality for this stuff... Can you tell a diff btwn med and High? Keep in mind this video comes off of VHS to begin with.


I will play around....maybe womble or tmpenc..(spelling) would help.


I am still lookin to figure out how to put de-muxed video into one of these proggys to see if that will work.


Mabar1


----------



## Mystic1

I noticed no one responded to the inquiry about RTV4 future compatibility... we poor slobs stuck with RTV4K units would be ETERNALLY GRATEFUL if we could get RTVConvert to stream home-made mpegs back to our (now ancient) RTV4k units! Any chance of that happening? Can any of us help the process? Provide info? help test?


Please, please, please, pleeeeaaaassssee......


----------



## Lee Thompson

Mystic, the problem is simply that agent-x (nor I) have access to Replay 4Ks at this time.


----------



## skleiser

Quote:

_Originally posted by mabar1_
*Does ulead DVD Movie factory 2 accept a demuxed file? I also have access to several other authoring proggys*
Does that include SpruceUp? This is probably still my favorite authoring program. It does accept demuxed files (but it is so old, you need to rename the .mp2 to .m1a).


----------



## mabar1

HO oh kay,


I was finally able to get my file to dvd and play in the dvd player!!!


Bottom line...DVD lab was the one proggy that was able to deal with the HIGH quality bitrate from my replay unit.


I used r-tools to clean, and then demux the mpg.


I then pushed the two files from demuxing into dvd lab (I had tolearn how to use the program first!)


It processed fairly quickly, and then I used the burn feature in dvd lab to burn the file.


Worked like a charm. My 3 year old is watching it as I type.


Thanks for all the info and references folks... This is a great forum.


Mabar1


I am going to try to record at MEDIUM quality for my next experiment. I would like to be able to use a plain and simple dvd burning proggy if poss, without having to demux the file.


I will share my results if anyone is interested.


skleiser....I am not familiar with spruceup... Thanks for the info tho... I will check it out it I hit a wall again.


----------



## gatisimo

Quote:

_Originally posted by mabar1_
*Bottom line from what you are saying gatisimo, is that the file you are going to burn has to match the bitrate of the dvd bruning proggy? If they match, it should not re-encode before burning...right?*
That is correct. I have only done this with Medium quality recording, so I can't be sure about High. As for the difference in quality... Medium looks VERY close to High. I'm not sure I could take the Pepsi challenge on that one. Try it for yourself, you might find it suitable.


----------



## horseflesh

Quote:

_Originally posted by ashedon_
*Would it be possible to get binaries for FreeBSD 4.x? I hope there are others that run this great OS....


Thanks!*
Have you tried enabling "Linux binary compatibility" and using the Linux bins?

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO.../linuxemu.html


----------



## Bigjohns

probably a dumb question but...


I want to move showstopper files to DVArchive. Can it be done? Do I need the .ndx files that are associated with the mpg files on the showstopper disk?


Please advise!


John


----------



## Bixit219

Quote:

_Originally posted by Bigjohns_
*probably a dumb question but...


I want to move showstopper files to DVArchive. Can it be done? Do I need the .ndx files that are associated with the mpg files on the showstopper disk?


Please advise!


John*
Well to begin with the audio is recorded at the wrong rate (32khz on the showstopper) vs 48khz on the replay 5K (and dvd discs), so you will need to demux the file, transcode the audio to 48khz, then remux it, before you can even begin to tackle the video part of the mpg file.. if what I just said confuses or scares you (and you are unfamiliar with the terms), then I wouldn't even try it.. I fooled around with a showstopper file, got it into the apparently "correct" format for RTVTOOLS and the rtv edit/convert did ultimately accept the file, which means it might work for dvarchive, but i haven't actually tried viewing the file from my 5k machine yet.. based on what I did experience with the showstopper mpg file (its very nonstandard) I am not that optimistic it would work without a lot of messaging to it.. though if I still have the file kicking around i will try it. but my guess is , its probably going to be some degree of work to get it to play nice with dvarchive and streaming to a remote 5k machine.


----------



## Bigjohns

Ahh, a little work won't bother me. I wonder if ReVue will open these files! I'll give that a shot first...


John


----------



## ibmer95

I have successfully ripped DVDs, demux them to mpeg2 video and mpeg1 layer II audio files and then muxed to a single mpeg2. I used the rtvconvert and successfully converted the file so my replaytv can view it via DVArchive.


when I view the mpeg via xine or mplayer, the aspect ratio looks good. When I view it on my replay unit, the ratio looks off (everything seems too tall).


Have others experienced such an issue? It is very possible that the mplayer is correcting it and the replaytv unit is not (is it because replaytv expects 4:3)?


Thanks in advance


Ed


----------



## Lee Thompson

The replaytv wants 4:3, it will PLAY 16:9 streams but that will only be satisfactory if you have a widescreen TV.


----------



## Bixit219

Quote:

_Originally posted by Bigjohns_
*Ahh, a little work won't bother me. I wonder if ReVue will open these files! I'll give that a shot first...


John*
It will but to play only, it cant seem to do anything with them editing wise because in the "raw" the files cause rtvtools abort because of the problem with the audio stream being at a non standard rate.. if you fix the audio stream (e.g. transcode it to 48khz and remux) you could then probably use ReVue to edit commercials out.


----------



## snoutmeat

These tools are great -- thanks! But I'm still having a lingering problem with my files -- they all "hiccup". I was initially using WinReplayPC with Womble and Ulead DVD Movie Factory (not using these command-line tools), but was having audio sync issues. I thought these tools would solve all my problems -- they get the audio in sync, but now I have audio dropouts and MPEG artifacts.


Here's my process:


--Using WinReplayPC to copy files to PC

--Using rtvedit to recreate .ndx files and to get files into rtvconvert-ready format.

--Using RTVconvert to fix sync issues.


After the sync is all fixed, then I open Womble and hack out the commercials.


The result: when I use my DVD authoring software, burn a disc, and play it on my home machine, it looks great.....99% of the time. But every few minutes, the audio cuts out for half a second, then I get garbage or wicked MPEG artifacts for a few frames, then it works fine again for a few minutes, and the problem repeats.


Is anyone else having these problems? I'm wondering if it's the ndx-creation part that's messing things up, since I'm guessing most folks aren't using WinReplayPC to transfer their files.


I've eliminated Womble as the cause of the problems by taking it out of the editing process (copied to PC with WinReplayPC, ran rtvedit (twice -- one to restore the ndx, then one to run rtvedit), then ran rtvconvert, then straight to the authoring software with no Womble...the problem's still there.


When I was just using WinReplayPC, Womble, and Ulead DVD Movie Factory, I wasn't getting the dropouts, so I'm guessing these tools are introducing the glitches.


I'm trying to archive a show that's not available on DVD, so I'd like the quality to be as good as possible. Any suggestions?


Thank you!


EDIT: After much experimentation, it appears that it was the DVD mastering software (Ulead DVD Movie Factory) that was causing the drop-outs and artifacts. I dug thru my big stack of software and found another DVD authoring program -- this one is made by Dazzle. I hate the interface, but when I master a new DVD with the same shows, the garbage disappears. Apologies for accusing rtvedit!


----------



## clydeism

whew, 13 pages, and I wanted to read it all before I even ask this question in case it has been answered


13 pages later, nope


I used all these tools, tips and all, and apparently the files dont do any line21 conversion, or it strips em.


line 21 is closed captioning.


as I've written a DVD and its sucessful, but rather disapointed no closed captioning, as I would need it so I can watch the movies.


my next step is prolly just buy an Apex DVD-R and tell it to record to VCR (the DVDR) and forget the softwares


othewise I do hope there is a solution, thanks for checking.


----------



## clambert11

Ok, here's the deal. I regularly download HDTV/PDTV commercial-less caps from newsgroups (a.b.multimedia) to watch on TV. I used to burn them 2 discs, but recently I began transcoding them with TMPGEnc and the RTV template for better network viewing around the house.


For the most part, I haven't had any issues. Occasionally, I do have minor problems.


Here's what I'm doing...


Transcoding the MPEG-2 File w/ the RTV Template

RTVConverting the new RTV Ready MPEG-2 File

Importing the show with DVA


The minor issues I'm sometimes having...


1) The high end on *some* shows ends up sounding a little tinny


2) Ocassionally the audio falls out of sync with the video



I haven't been able yet to determine if the problem is a result of the transcoding or the RTVConvert. Obviously, the tinny audio is a transcode problem.


I think I read somewhere in this thread about running an RTVEdit first. But then I think I read somewhere else where someone mentioned not to even bother RTVEditing non-RTV files.


It's my belief that both problems may be a result of the transcoding, but I'm not all that sure.


Anyone have some experience with this?


Thanks in advance 4 any enlightenment.


----------



## Jeff D

clambert11. your playing with things that will generally give you bad results.


newgroup download... well, they are generally pretty low quality. This includes audio. How's the audio sound on the PC before reencoding (note I didn't say transcoding, it's reencoding) the clip?


The sync could be because of the audio conversion. Let's see what you can tell about the source before going any further.


I'm also really curious what the audio properties on you source clip. Gspot can tell you that. If it's low like 11KHz (sometimes 22KHz) or something around there, there's no question what the problem is.


Next tmpgenc is a GREAT video encoder... audio is a different story (at least in my experience). So it's obvious you are converting the audio to 48KHz and the right encoded bitrate becuase rtvtools will work with your file. My guess for the audio is that the source quailty isn't that great. Tinny highs is a sign of low sample rate or high compression.


----------



## clambert11

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_
*

newgroup download... well, they are generally pretty low quality. This includes audio. How's the audio sound on the PC before reencoding (note I didn't say transcoding, it's reencoding) the clip?*
No, no. These are quality caps. I started back when I had cable. These are HDTV/PDTV caps that are near DVD quality but sampled @ SVCD rates. Now that I recently got satellite, it's not quite as important. But the overall HDTV quality is still better than what I can get on satellite (DTV). Groups like SD-6, STNJ, TGL, 442, and Crimson release some top notch stuff in the newsgroups.

*Quote:*

The sync could be because of the audio conversion. Let's see what you can tell about the source before going any further.
Well, I didn't currently have an unconverted MPEG on hand from one of the groups I use most of the time. But here are the rates of a show from one of the groups that has recently started posting.


TMPGEnc Results for the MPEG-2 File:

MPEG-2 480x480 29.97fps CQ_VBR 50, Layer-2 44100Hz 192kbps

*Quote:*

Next tmpgenc is a GREAT video encoder... audio is a different story (at least in my experience). So it's obvious you are converting the audio to 48KHz and the right encoded bitrate becuase rtvtools will work with your file. My guess for the audio is that the source quailty isn't that great. Tinny highs is a sign of low sample rate or high compression.
If that's the case, what ap do you recommend for re-encoding the audio Jeff? I'm open to suggestions to new aps if there is something better.


I appreciate your insight & help.


-- Craig


----------



## Jeff D

Craig, sorry, I wasn't sure what you were talking about, I got confused. =)


Anyway so the source on the PC sounds good before the tmpgenc audio conversion. What's the format of the audio after conversion? Is that the 44.1 192kbps you stated about, just wanting to be sure that's the output. There another thread here about "no sound" in tmpgenc files for rtvtools, just saw the thread minutes ago. In that thread some tells how to adjust the audio settings can you 2x check that?


One thing to note... rtvtools requires 48KHz sample rate audio. Or at least the last time I checked this was true. The replay sample rate is 48KHz so you need to be at that samplerate and I thought rtvtools enforces that.


----------



## mlrtime

I'm wondering if anyone has created a nice bash script to do some of the automation. Anyone mind sharing their scripts?


I'm trying to devise a way to have a cron read from a directory and covert files automatically that are scheduled from dvarchive. If this has been covered in another thread please let me know.


thanks,

mlr


----------



## clambert11

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_
*Craig, sorry, I wasn't sure what you were talking about, I got confused. =)


Anyway so the source on the PC sounds good before the tmpgenc audio conversion. What's the format of the audio after conversion? Is that the 44.1 192kbps you stated about, just wanting to be sure that's the output. There another thread here about "no sound" in tmpgenc files for rtvtools, just saw the thread minutes ago. In that thread some tells how to adjust the audio settings can you 2x check that?


One thing to note... rtvtools requires 48KHz sample rate audio. Or at least the last time I checked this was true. The replay sample rate is 48KHz so you need to be at that samplerate and I thought rtvtools enforces that.*
Yeah Jeff. The audio sample rate before the conversion is indeed 44 kHz @ 192 kbps (at least for the one particular mpeg I had).


RTVTools does still require 48 kHz audio. It only cares because the RTV apparently does.


Thanks for the help. I'm going to make a more deliberate attempt to check into the sampling rate before starting the conversions and see if I can come up with anything. I'll also see if I can find that post.


You have been a help. Thanks.


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

I am looking for a DVD server and with this tool and a ReplayTV I think I have found it, am I right? Excuse me if something I say sounds a little off...


I am unsure how to use this program, Is there a guide? I read the readme text but I still have no Idea how to use it.


So far I have learned that the video must be mpeg 2 and the sound must be mpeg 2 at 48 kHz. Correct me if I'm wrong.


The first step I think is to get video off of a DVD by using DVD decrypter. I have two options, one is to stream a direct stream copy which will produce one .vob file with AC3 sound and 720x480 16:9 mpeg2 video. The other method, demux, will produce two files. One video file and one .vob sound file. I am unsure on which method to use in order to change the AC3 sound to mpeg sound.


The second step would be to convert the sound to mpeg instead of AC3. What is a good program/programs to do this?


The third step would be to put mix the video and audio back together to produce one mpeg file that has both sound and video. What program/programs should I use to do this?


The forth step would be to use RTVTools and convert the mpeg file to a ReplayTV file. I am unsure how to do this.


Correct me if something I say is wrong because as a said earlyer, I am confused.


----------



## moyekj

This is how I occasionally do what you are looking to do:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...95#post3572295


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

New idea. I have herd a .vob file is just a mpeg2. I can rename movie.vob to movie.mpg and it will play. I can demux the audio and video and rename the audio file from audio.vob to audio.mpg


With that said, can I just rename the movie.vob to movie.mpg and use RTVconvert to make a replayTV file?


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

Quote:

_Originally posted by moyekj_
*This is how I occasionally do what you are looking to do:
*
Thanks moyekj but I still would like to know how to use RTVconvert if somehow I do end up with a good mpeg worth converting. Anyone willing to explain to me how to use RTVconvert?


----------



## moyekj

It's among one of the first few posts in this thread. But that assumes the mpeg is already within specs for the RTV. If it is not (and most DVD-based mpegs will not be) you will have to re-encode to specs before attempting rtvtools and that is a major pain. I don't have a link to the exact specs handy right now but I'm sure you can find them in this thread somehwere.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...84#post2803184


----------



## Lee Thompson

moyekj,


That isn't entirely true.


If you record shows on MEDIUM in particular they're near enough that you can just use the rtvtoolkit (rtvedit/rtvconvert) and produce a usable disc. I've made about 20 this way.


If you record on HIGH chances are you'll need to transcode because HIGH peaks at 12~15Mbps sometimes and that's far past DVD spec (which is 9.8 for dolby digital audio). (It does depend on the recording, sometimes you might luck out and not have a peak beyond spec.)


As for STANDARD, while 352x480 is *technically* within the DVD spec, you may end up with some player compatiblity issues. You can always just try it first and see if your players handle it ok. Older model DVD players may display it in a stretched format. Your mileage may vary on this one.



If you want to be on the safe side, always transcode in a suitable editing package that can produce DVD compliant streams. (Vegas, M2 Edit Pro, EditStudio, TMPGEnc Plus, *sigh* even Womble  )


If your editor is having trouble opening Replay MPEGs you can run it through rtvtools which will likely make it happier about opening a Replay program stream. Of course if the program doesn't support MPEG-2 for input you'll need to use DVD2AVI/VFAPIConv or a similar solution to proceed.


----------



## Lee Thompson

Quote:

_Originally posted by EC-EXCURSION_
*New idea. I have herd a .vob file is just a mpeg2. I can rename movie.vob to movie.mpg and it will play. I can demux the audio and video and rename the audio file from audio.vob to audio.mpg


With that said, can I just rename the movie.vob to movie.mpg and use RTVconvert to make a replayTV file?*
Yes and no. A VOB is a Video Object and may contain MPEG-2, MPEG-1 (which is technically also legal for DVD), AC3, PCM, DTS, Subpictures, and other data. Most demuxers will decode them, however, which is useful.


You cannot just rename it to an .mpg because rtvconvert does not decode AC3 audio which, chances are, your VOB uses. (If the VOB happens to use MPEG audio your odds would be better).


You're much better off just using DVD2AVI or a simliar tool and feeding the resulting D2V/WAV files into TMPGEnc and using the TMPGEnc ReplayTV template.


----------



## moyekj

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*moyekj,


That isn't entirely true.


If you record shows on MEDIUM in particular they're near enough that you can just use the rtvtoolkit (rtvedit/rtvconvert) and produce a usable disc. I've made about 20 this way.


If you record on HIGH chances are you'll need to transcode because HIGH peaks at 12~15Mbps sometimes and that's far past DVD spec (which is 9.8 for dolby digital audio). (It does depend on the recording, sometimes you might luck out and not have a peak beyond spec.)


As for STANDARD, while 352x480 is *technically* within the DVD spec, you may end up with some player compatiblity issues. You can always just try it first and see if your players handle it ok. Older model DVD players may display it in a stretched format. Your mileage may vary on this one.



If you want to be on the safe side, always transcode in a suitable editing package that can produce DVD compliant streams. (Vegas, M2 Edit Pro, EditStudio, TMPGEnc Plus, *sigh* even Womble  )


If your editor is having trouble opening Replay MPEGs you can run it through rtvtools which will likely make it happier about opening a Replay program stream. Of course if the program doesn't support MPEG-2 for input you'll need to use DVD2AVI/VFAPIConv or a similar solution to proceed.*
Lee, I'm addressing EC's post above where from my read he wants to go from a DVD to an RTV-compatible mpeg. All mpegs I have extracted from DVDs so far have been out of the RTV spec range which means you've got to re-encode or re-transcode.


----------



## Lee Thompson

moyekj,


Ah, sorry I misunderstood. The audio will need to be transcoded, the video will probably be ok.


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

Okay I now have perfict mpeg audio. I used DVD2AVI and because there was no tut on doom9.net I didnt know what I was doing. I managed to extract the AC3 audio. I used a program called HeadAC3he to extract the mpeg from the AC3. Now I have a movieaudio.mp2 file and a movievideo.mpg file.


How do I make the audio and video file into one file?


P.S. What is a delay, DVD2AVI said It had a -12ms delay in the title. Using HeadAC3he It autmatically filled out the delay option.


----------



## Lee Thompson

Execursion, you did an extra couple steps there.. DVD2AVI will decode the audio to .wav for you. Just check out the audio options in DVD2AVI.


You'll want to make sure you "save project (F4)" in DVD2AVI, this will produce the .d2v and .wav simultaneously - the next step is to use the .d2v for video and .wav for audio in TMPGEnc and use the rtvtools Replay template. (The next step after that is to run rtvconvert and then DVA)


DVD2AVI:


Under AUDIO:

Track (select #1)

Channel Format (AutoDetect) - you can also force it to DD if there's both DD and DTS.

Under "Dolby Digital" select "Decode". You'll probably also want to do a dolby surround downmix.

The rest of the default settings should be fine.


You should be able to leave all the video settings alone. DVDs tend to use Field order A which is the same as the Replay so nothing to worry about there. (Also the Replay can probably play back field order B just as well.)


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

Is there any other way to run RTVconvert?


Anyone know of a good mpeg video and audio multiplexer?


----------



## Bigjohns

Quote:

_Originally posted by EC-EXCURSION_
*Is there any other way to run RTVconvert?


Anyone know of a good mpeg video and audio multiplexer?*
bbmpeg. It's free, part of the DVD2SVCD tool kit.


I used bbdmux, besweet, and bbmpeg to clean up and convert some showstopper files to make then RTV compatible (the last step is rtvconvert 


John


----------



## Lee Thompson

Excursion,


If you're converting from a DVD you will need to, at the very least, transcode the audio to mpeg audio layer 2 at 192k/s 48khz.


If the video is 16:9 you'll likely need to transcode the video and letterbox the image if you don't have a 16:9 TV.


There's a number of multiplexers out there although I don't know of a free one... TMPGEnc has a built in multiplexer (under Mpeg Tools) that works quite well.


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

I have found converting the video with DVD2AVI makes the video quality undesireable and converting the avi file back to mpg makes a much bigger file than the origional vob.


I have found a good solution but it takes a lot of time. First I use DVDdecrypter and extract a VOB file that has both audio and video. Then I use DVDdecrypter again and extract just the video into .m2v form.


I then open up DVD2AVI and open the VOB file with the video and audio. I then save the project to a folder. once that is compleated I have the audio from the VOB file in AC3 form.


I then use HeadAC3he to convert the .ace file to a .mp2 audio file at 192k/s 48khz.


I will then start up TMPGEnc to mux the video.m2v file and the audio.mp2 file. The wizzard that starts up with TMPGEnc can not handle the video.m2v file or any .m2v file. So I cannot patch the file with RTVconvert instide TMPGenc. I then exit the wizzard and stay in TMPGEnc. I click on "file" at the top of my screen and scrol down to "MPEG tools...". In the "simple multiplex" tab I enter the video.m2v file for video and audio.mp2 for audio. The program will then start to multiplex the files.


On to the questions...


1. Is there any other way to "patch" my movies with RTVconvert so I can use the video in my ReplayTV?


2. What program do you recomend to letterbox the video? XMPEG maybe?


----------



## Lee Thompson

EC,


*bangs head on desk* I don't think you've read my instructions. DVD2AVI in this instance does NOT make an AVI, there is no (or very little) quality loss*. (I'm not angry but I am very frustrated). Maybe it's my fault ... I'll try again. Ok deep breath.


I'm sure this is not the only way to do it but this is going to give you consistant results. I don't really care what way you do it in the end but clearly either you didn't read my instructions well or I wasn't clear enough.


If your source is anamorphic you are NOT going to avoid transcoding the MPEG, but TMPGEnc's got one of the best encoder's you're going to find this side of $1500.

**NOTE: If you end up having to re-encode the video you may notice some picture quality loss, that can be further tweaked but if you're that picky about quality just buy another DVD player for the bedroom - you're just being silly with this. They are as cheap as $35.*



Here it is again:


1. Load up the VOB title set in DVD2AVI.


2. Save the *PROJECT* *NOT* an AVI. The keyboard shortcut is F4. This creates a .d2v and .wav file for TMPGEnc. The .d2v will be fairly small, usually it's less than 500KB. The .wav will probably be fairly large probably just under a gigabyte for most DVDs. The good news is the .WAV is decoded dolby digital (with a surround downmix if you selected that in DVD2AVI's menu) and is even synced up.


3. Load up TMPGEnc, put the .d2v in for the video, and the .wav for the audio. You can also tell it how you want it to handle aspect ratios (settings->advanced) and whatnot and any other filter options you may desire. Use the RTVTools 5K MPEG template here for best results.


If your source is anamorphic you will definately need to re-encode the video, once the template is loaded to go settings and then advanced and select 'Full Screen (keep aspect ratio)'. You may need to tell it the source is 16:9 if it didn't detect it properly.


If your source isn't anamorphic and the video does not need reencoding, just use the .wav from step #2 and encode the audio (or you can use another program to encode the audio). 48khz MPEG-1 Layer 2 at 192kbps. Once you have a .m2v and .mpa use TMPGEnc's MPEG Tools and multiplex it and pick this up at step 5.




4. Encode.


5. Use RTVConvert.


6. Then import into DVA.


7. Enjoy.



That's it. I've given you all the help I can and I'm just gonna let you figure it out now. If you want to try again, reread, if you have a question.. ask.


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

DVD2AVI did not give me a wav file, it gave me a .ac3 file.


----------



## Lee Thompson

EC,


You need to pull down the AUDIO menu, select DOLBY DIGITAL and tell it to DECODE. I had this in my original message.


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

Thanks... and sorry, I didnt see it in your origional message


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

I have just created a replaymovie.mpg  I have noticed on my computer I can play the file, is this normal?


----------



## Lee Thompson

If you have MPEG-2 codecs installed you'll likely be able to playback ReplayTV compatible files.


A common misconception is that ReplayTV MPEGs are not standard MPEG-2 files. They are. The MPEG-2 specification is quite broad, however, and incompatiblities arise. The ReplayTV MPEGs are produced for a particular decoder with little regard for other decoders so they are a bit on that edge which is why they can be difficult to work with. Some MPEG-2 decoders can handle ReplayTV files fine and others cannot.


For streaming to the ReplayTV is where things get tricky. The ReplayTV is quite picky about the MPEG-2 files it will play and also requires the EVT and NDX files to be present. (The actual EVT data produced by rtvconvert is not valid enough to actually allow commercial skip but is enough for the machine to play it back.)


----------



## EC-EXCURSION

Do the evt and ndx files have anything to do with the name of the movie? I want to change the name, can I just rename the files?


----------



## Lee Thompson

The EVT and NDX files are only necessary if you are planning to stream that file back to the ReplayTV. If you aren't streaming back to it you can delete them.


DVA has a facility that renames all three files (EVT, NDX and MPG) for you.


----------



## Aztlan

I have a Replay 5040, After I get the files from DVArchive, I want to make a DVD.


So I need to run RTVedit, do I use the original ndx I got from dvarchive or do I let RTVedit recreate it?


----------



## Lee Thompson

Original for best results.


----------



## little_blaine

I've been trying to convert a DVD and stream it to my replayTV... followed Lee's instructions to the letter (DVD2AVI for .d2v and .wav, then TMPGEnc with the Replay 5k FILM template, then rtvconvert, then import to DVArchive).


If I only encode a couple of minutes of video from the DVD, the entire process works ok. However, if I encode the entire movie, DVArchive fails to import the file. No errors are produced other than "failed to import MPEG" in the Messages tab. The failure occurs almost immediately after I say "Import" on the DVArchive import window.


Is there a size limitation in the files that DVArchive (3.0) an handle? The .mpg that I'm trying to import is 3.8G. I can play it fine on windows with various players. When I interrupt the TMPGEnc encoding process and get a 20-30M file, there's no problem at all.


Thanks in advance!


----------



## little_blaine

Never mind I fixed my problem... the disk where DVArchive was keeping imported videos by default didn't have enough space to receive the converted video. I configured to use a different, bigger partition and it worked fine.


Apparently DVArchive figures out there's not enough space and doesn't even attempt the import, but the error message just says "failure", and doesn't provide a reason. I'll send Gerry a report about it. But it's still my fault, I should have known better.


----------



## phaedrus

Thanks to Lee and agent-x for these excellent tools, especially rtvconvert.


Here in the UK I don't own a replay-tv but I do have an mpeg-2 hardware encoder (from ADStech). This produces decent mpeg-2 streams in real-time but at the end of encodes it doesn't always write the end of stream information correctly. There are also occasional GOP errors.


Several DVD authoring packages complain that there is a problem with the end of these files.


Rtvconvert is definitely the simplest and fastest tool at fixing this, and if I have an NTSC encode I can very quickly run rtvconvert on it and then write a perfect DVD. I'm using the OSX binary on a Macintosh.


My problem is that the majority of my captures are PAL, and therefore 25fps. RTVconvert objects to these as it currently only supports frame rates of 23.976 29.97 and 59.94.


Would it be possible to have rtvconvert accept PAL frame rates as valid? I don't know how much work this would involve, but certainly a tool that could "fix" my streams for DVD encoding would be very valuable to me, and probably to others in Europe too.


Many Thanks,


----------



## tluxon

Since upgrading to DVA 3.0, I noticed that all my old 4K shows have a dedicated xml file containing the details of the recorded show. When I rtvedit/rtvconvert them and import back into DVA, I see no way of getting the xml data back in except for manually adding it field by field.


During a rtvconvert, what happens to the xml file? Can I simply make a copy of it and name it to match the converted file before importing?


I have about 40 files to convert, so I'd sure like an easier way than manually entering the show data.


Thanks,


Tim


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## skleiser

Quote:

_Originally posted by tluxon_
*Can I simply make a copy of [the xml file] and name it to match the converted file before importing?*
That'll work!


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## tluxon

Well, renaming the xml file works great.


I have a drag-and-drop batch file the automatically trims off the first second with rtvedit and then runs it through rtvconvert. I got almost all 50 of these shows converted when I ran into my first rtvtools accident. To save disk space I delete the old file as soon as the new one (rtvedit or rtvconvert) is created. This may seem a bit risky but up to now I never ran into a situation where I needed the original file back, so I implemented this function. When I "imported" this particular movie into DVA, I noticed the import happened instantly. Looking into it I see the filesize of the mpg is - YIKES - 0 bytes.


Now I guess I'll have to manually delete files after confirming that they were properly rtvtool'd. In the meantime, I need to get the deleted file (2.8MB) back, but I'd sure like to avoid paying $30 for a utility to do a direct disk recovery, as I haven't needed one in over 10 years. I've been unable to find a free trial version that can do what I need (Windows 2000). Does anybody have an undelete tool I can use one-time only? If so, please PM me.


Thanks,


Tim


[edit]

Update: I got Executive Software Emergency Undelete and the files I needed were no longer recoverable. Unfortunately, nobody has this movie listed on poopli or planet replay . I guess I'll have to be a lot more careful in the future.


----------



## apmadoc

I have adobe premiere pro.


I'm trying to create mpg video that i can then use with DVarchive


1. What are the best settings that I should use creating those mpg's


2. Once I create them what's the best way to use rtvconvert to make it accesible to dvarchive?


Thanks in advance!


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## tluxon

I've done this quite a bit capturing with my ATI AIW 9600 video card. I use pretty much the same format a Replay medium quality mpeg uses:


720 x 480 4000 (avg) kbps VBR mpeg-2 with audio of 48 kHz @ 226 kbps, MPEG-1 layer II. Oh yes, I use 1 I-frame per VOB, 5 P-frames per I-frame, and 2 B-frames per P-frame, same as the Replay mpeg. If your CPU has a hard time keeping up without dropping frames (live capturing), you can try 2 P-frames per I-frame or just encode with I-frames only.


Also, there's a TMPGENc template included with rtvtools that you can use if you're planning to re-encode.


As far as running rtvconvert on the mpeg, just go to a command prompt and type rtvconvert .mpg .mpg. Then you import that into DVA.


Enjoy!


Tim


----------



## TucsonPred

Has anyone had RTV tools 4 freak out and clip off the last 10 minutes of a show leaving the last 30 seconds no matter what you do to the EVT file?


What I'm runninginto is 50 to 70% of my shows will flip out and clip from about 42 miutes to 59.39 minutes (removing this) and joining the 59.39 to 59.95 minutes of the show. This happens most with Discovery channel shows. I've replaced the rtvedit and evtdump files numerous times in several directories with no luck. I can clip the first few seconds with no problems and it runs fine right up until the 42/43 minute mark, then it freaks, deletes everything from 42/43 minutes up til 59.39 and almost every time it's 59.39 to 59.95. Even if those are not cut points in the evt file. I have used evtdump with p180, p220, p320 settings and it clips the exact same way every time. Is there a cache for evtdump or just the .txt it creates. Some of my shows cut perfectly but most snip the last 20 minutes of the show off. This is consistant with American Chopper, Monster Garage, American Hotrod and the Great biker build off shows. I've got a 5504 and my machine is stacked pretty heavy with a 3.2 gig p4 a gig of ram and 200 gigs of hd space. I'm running into a wall here. Also does anyone have a break down of how to read the A, D transitions in the EVT dump to make sence of them?


----------



## yxboom

With that out of the way I am in need of some assistance.


I have DVarchive 3 and toolkit rev.4 and I have for 2 months been converting svcd and avi files with tmpgenc and rtvconvert for replaytv use with no problems when just yesterday I am no longer able to use rtvconvert. I manually insert the info such that it is:


F:\\>rtvconvert 01.mpg o1new.mpg


And I get an error, rtvconvert can not open 01.mpg even though the file is in the same folder as the rtvconvert.exe It has been doing this for any mpeg file I convert with tmpgenc using the rtv templates from the toolkit. It just stopped working after 2 months of no doing this every day almost with no problems. In case the file got corrupted, I downloaded a fresh zip and tried to run the fresh rtvconvert.exe to no avail. I have used other previously successful file conversions to test to no avail.


Any help will be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Wrecks

Quote:

F:\\>rtvconvert 01.mpg o1new.mpg
Did you cut and paste that code from your application? If so, you probably made a typing mistake.


The 0 in 01.mpg is a zero. The O in o1new.mpg is the letter O as in "Oh, no! I typed it wrong..."


You may have done something similar when your named the file before conversion.


----------



## yxboom

Thanks for the reply. No that was just a typo as an example I made last night. Yea I feel pretty retarded about it. I had attempted to do multiple files that is why I made up a generic example and done messed that up. The actual code I used on the original file that messed up was:


rtvconvert fr.mpg fr_cvt.mpg


----------



## Wrecks

Do you get the error on every mpeg file you try, or just one?


Have you re-booted the computer to make sure that no other process could have the file locked for some reason?


Are you attempting to send the names of actual files to the batch program? It is possible to have shortcuts to the files which will work when you click on them, but won't work when you pass them to a batch file.


----------



## yxboom

Quote:

_Originally posted by Wrecks_

Do you get the error on every mpeg file you try, or just one?
Any mpeg. Even ones that I was able to just last week convert successfully.

Quote:

Have you re-booted the computer to make sure that no other process could have the file locked for some reason?
Yes and I have rebooted a few times and have turned off proccesses in Task Manager. I have since installed reVue and attempted to convert the files that way with no success. I have not installed any other programs.

Quote:

Are you attempting to send the names of actual files to the batch program?
Yes the mpeg files are located in the same folder as the rtvconvert.exe.

Quote:

It is possible to have shortcuts to the files which will work when you click on them, but won't work when you pass them to a batch file.
Yes I am certain these are not shortcuts. They range from 800Mb to 3Gb in size.


----------



## bsoplinger

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*No easy way, but you can convert the byte offset manually using the .ndx file to within a half second. Use a hex editor on the .ndx and look for the entry just before the given offset. Then find the associated time for that entry (it'll be 8 bytes long in nanoseconds). I can have the tools report the last known time in the next release.


B5 indicates an mpeg-2 extension in the video stream. You're somewhere in the middle of a video frame, which means your RTV dropped some video buffers out of the encoder. *
OK: I'm getting this:
Quote:

G4-Digital-Audio.local.{ 105 }% rtvedit rtv.txt

Target: /Volumes/G4 HD7/Ang 5.13 Why We Fight.mpg

Source: Angel - Why We Fight.mpg

Time=(000:00.495, 061:57.000) SCR=000:00.495 File=(0000037984, 00686D6400)

Stream error at 0061419CB0, found next start code at 0061419E20

Unsupported stream_id: 18

New Program Time: 061:56.505

Edit Time: 001:08.545
So I wrote a program to go through the .ndx file to find the entries before and after 0061419CBO. I got this data (assuming I did it right) 00000000614004A4 057:44.000

000000006144EEFC 057:44.495


So I made an input file for rtvedit like this:

T/Volumes/G4 HD7/Ang 5.13 Why We Fight.mpg

SAngel - Why We Fight.mpg

D057:44.000

A057:44.495

E


And I figured I'd cut out the offending half second of badness. But now I've ended up with this mess:
Quote:

G4-Digital-Audio.local.{ 101 }% rtvedit rtv.txt

Target: /Volumes/G4 HD7/Ang 5.13 Why We Fight.mpg

Source: Angel - Why We Fight.mpg

Time=(000:00.495, 057:44.000) SCR=000:00.495 File=(0000037984, 00614004A4)

ndx entry has invalid offset (006144EEFC), skipping...
_...many of these ndx entry invalid messages ...._

Time=(058:51.000, 061:57.000) SCR=057:44.000 File=(0063413ED0, 00686D6400)

Stream error at 0063422ED4, found next start code at 0063423794

Unsupported stream_id: 13

New Program Time: 060:49.505

Edit Time: 001:11.925
But when I then ran rtvconvert on the file it reports Program Time: 057:47.529 which is the time up to the error and not the 61 minutes I'd expect.


So now I'm stumped. Didn't I get the info right for the timecode? I tried 057:44.495 to 057:45.000 and 057:43.495 to 057:44.000 also, just in case I was off by one in trying to link up the time with the position. What am I doing wrong here? Or is this file just toast?


PS: I did note the change in time and error number and reran my program to generate 0000000063413ED0 058:51.000 000000006348A3EC 058:51.495 and added them to my rtvedit file also. And things just seemed to keep getting worse so I gave up.


----------



## gfxdave99

I have a 5040 and have read inside this post that you need rev 3 and you wont have the audio sync issues, however i have searched my darndest and cant find version 3.. any help?


----------



## Jeff D

Quote:

_Originally posted by gfxdave99_
*I have a 5040 and have read inside this post that you need rev 3 and you wont have the audio sync issues, however i have searched my darndest and cant find version 3.. any help?*
what exactly are you looking for with rev 3?


The other thing... new guy (welcome) is SEARCH. You can type rtvtools in to the search box at the top of the topics list. Look on results page 7 for a last post on 11-10-03 from Lee Thompson


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## gfxdave99

Quote:

have multiplexed a mpeg that meets the requirements of rtvconvert. The convert process completes, and I am able to stream the video to my reply 5080.


I huge step forward!


The last problem I have is that during the multiplexing, I had to add a 500ms delay to the start of the audio in order to keep the video and audio is sync, however when I run rtvconvert, I lose the delay and the audio and video are out of sync.


When I watch the mpeg before using the rtvconvert everything is fine. When I watch the newly converted mpeg (via rtvconvert) the audio and video are out of sync.


Is there anything I can do to prevent rtvconvert from ignoring the delay?


Thanks.


Ed Calusinski




POST #227 | Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged




02-27-04 06:22 AM


agent-x

Member


Registered: Aug 2003

Location: Silicon Valley, CA

Posts: 65

Not in rev 4. There is a bug fix version that should fix it, but you'll have to poke Lee if you want to help test it. Otherwise, you can use rev 3 which should handle this properly.

And i searched but the search sucks because you cant search for anything under 2 char. so i cant look for version 4.


I have solved the sync problem by re-rproccesing the mpeg in womble but thats a manual process, wiith this if i got it working I could automate conversion of all my replay files and have them prepped for burning.


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## Revwillie

I searched this thread and I don't think this question has been asked.


My problem....I archived lots of shows on DVD-R last year in hopes that new software would come along that would help me easily burn them to DVD video without commercials ...and without paying for womble.


Revue is great. It works like a champ on the shows I still have in DVArchive and DVDMF 3.0 authors the VOBs without re-encoding as long as my editing is limited to mark in and mark outs, but those old archived shows are just 4k mpgs....I didn't know that I would need to save the 4k .ndx files.


I have manually run rtvedit with the two-line txt file trick to generate evt and ndx files. Then, revue lets me mark commerical and content blocks and save rsi and evtdump files. But when I try to create a new movie to remove the commercial blocks, nothing happens. I get an RTV file of 0 bytes. If I manually run rtvedit with an evtdump file out of revue, it complains about an invalid ndx file. Am I stuck if I don't have the original ndx files?


----------



## Jeff D

Quote:

_Originally posted by gfxdave99_
*And i searched but the search sucks because you cant search for anything under 2 char. so i cant look for version 4.


I have solved the sync problem by re-rproccesing the mpeg in womble but thats a manual process, wiith this if i got it working I could automate conversion of all my replay files and have them prepped for burning.*
Sounds like you are thinking this is all needed because of what you read, not from trying it, correct? Give v4 a shot and if you have problems then try rev3. I know there were a few timing things that dissapeard with v4, but most people shouldn't have a need for this stuff.


On the search, yeah it sucks. There's some good tips by David Bott in the feedback area on how to optimize the way you want to search. It really helps to understand the software's search logic. Did you find it?"rtvtools" in the replay area will give you 8 pages of hits, on page 7 is the link you want. =)


----------



## hillclimber20

After many, unsuccessful experiments, I finally came up with the following script that can convert videos (any that mplayer can play with 23.976 or 29.96 frame rates) to RTV 5xxx files that can be imported into DVArchive and streamed to the replayTV (I'm streaming successfully over 11Mbs wireless from linux to my 5504).


I'm posting the script so that someone who is reading these posts like I did looking for answers can find some guidance. Obviously, this script is not the most general and there are several parameters that could be changed (and some that can't) so feel free to look at the man pages for mplayer and mpeg2enc for more instructions.


The script is called with 5 arguments (make sure to use quotes if spaces are in the name(s).


toreplay 


Below is the script:


#!/bin/sh


INFILE=$1

OUTFILE=$2

CW=$3 # Crop Width

CH=$4 # Crop Height

FT=$5 # mpeg2enc Frame-rate code


mkfifo stream.yuv

mplayer -vf crop=$CW:$CH,scale=720:480 -ao null -noframedrop -vo yuv4mpeg "$INFILE" &

cat stream.yuv | mpeg2enc -v 0 -V 230 -a 2 -S 5000 -d -f 5 -F $FT -b 6000 -q 10 -g 9 -G 15

-s -o _tempfile.m2v


mplayer -noframedrop -vo null -ao pcm -aofile sound.wav "$INFILE"

cat sound.wav | mp2enc -b 192 -r 48000 -o _tempfile.mp2


mplex -f 5 -V -o _preconvert.mpg _tempfile.mp2 _tempfile.m2v


rtvconvert _preconvert.mpg $OUTFILE


rm sound.wav _tempfile.mp2 _tempfile.m2v _preconvert.mpg


----------



## jwillsey

I had this problem.. I had to disable the AES or "Enhanced surround sound" it is a stting on my dvd player to simulate surround soud through my tv.. once I disable this feature, it played perfectly.

Quote:

_Originally posted by madcap_
*I pulled an mpg file off the ReplayTV and then did the following:


Ran the file through the rtvedit program (no edits).

Ran the file thougth the rtvconvert program and demuxed the files.

Put the files into two different DVD burning programs (ULead Digital Movie Factory 2 and DVDLab) and burned a DVD with a simple menu.


Both the discs that I created have sound when I play them on the computer, but have no sound when playing on my DVD player. Do I need to convert the audio file before burning to a DVD?


Any help would be appreciated. And thanks to the authors for this great set of tools and all your hard work!


- madcap*


----------



## DSuit

Quote:

_Originally posted by Lee Thompson_
*I am very pleased to announce the fourth revision of the ReplayTV 5000 Toolkit.
*
We have an old Showstopper and want to create DVDs (without the commercials). My husband and I have access to corporate software that captures the video from our TV and allows the video with audio to be stored in different formats, bitrates, etc. It also marks commercials, but right now doesn't export the file without the commercials, since the users store, play and schedule the video within the software.


I have a High Quality Recording I'm playing with. I have saved the video using MPEG-2 with a variable bitrate of 6000 Mbps and Layer2 for Audio (I have other options, but can't remember them this late in the day). With this method, I obviously won't have the ndx and evt files from Replay.


Question 1: Will the RTVEdit / RTVConvert process work with my created MPEG-2 file? Seems like it should as long as all my parms are OK.


Question 2a: The software we have lets us view the video and gives us hour.minute.second.frame for the saved MPEG-2. Can I use these times to create a manual file for RTVEdit or is it not going to work because my file isn't an "original RTV 5k stream"?


b: Would it work if I did an empty RTVEdit / converted to 5k using RTVConvert / viewed it in our software to get the h.m.s.f / set up the manual file and ran RTVEdit?



Just trying to figure out an interim solution even if it means jumping through some hoops. Basically I just want to get my Stargate's on DVD and can't rely on Sci-Fi re-playing them because they've hosed up their schedule of showing them in order.


Thanks a bunch!


----------



## enjoylife78

ok, new to all this.. i have a movie i recorded in mpeg format (as outlined at motogrrl.com/replayTV/replay_to_dvd.html ), supposedly ready to burn. I tried toast 5 first cuz that's what i had.. it burned it ok, but my dvd player couldn't read it (and there were no menus etc, which aren't an option in toast 5 if i'm correct. i used 'other-DVD' as the format, since there's no obvious 'DVD-video' choice like in Toast 6--maybe I should try another option?). I thought, maybe Toast 6 will be better, so I got that. But if I try to burn the same exact file (a 3.1gb mpeg), toast now complains that there's not enough free space on my new, blank dvd (it says 5.7gb are needed, and only 4.4gb available.. tho the file is only 3.1gb and it worked in toast 5!). my guess is that it's converting part of it to some much larger format (the audio perhaps, from what i've read a little of here)? that stinks--can you tell Toast 6 not to convert? any other tips?

many thanks...


----------



## bsoplinger

enjoylife, you need to 'author' the DVD. That is design the menus and the like. That's what Toast 6 is trying to do for you. There aren't a lot of Mac options. A free one is sizzle. Its very bare bones. Feel free to try it and send me a pm if you can't figure it out.


----------



## x8086x

I haven't read this thread in awhile, but I tried to catch up tonight looking for info about TMPGEnc 3.0 templates.


I have TMPG 3 (retail) installed, but I understand that the old templates don't work in 3.0.


Am I missing something painfully obvious as to how to make the old templates work in 3.0, or where new templates could be found?


Thanks in advance--


----------



## enjoylife78

as an update to my post.. updating from Toast 6 to 6.0.5 solved all the problems.. it no longer increases the file size, plus the output is smooth (the toast 6 output had been choppy)...


----------



## twokatmew

Newbie here, can anyone tell me what the "D" and "A" in the evtdump file stand for?


----------



## krkaufman

From the RTVTools' documentation*:
The output of EVTDUMP is as follows (see Figure 1):


The first character is the entry type:

F - file name of the source mpg (from an RTV set, .mpg/.evt/.ndx)

A - add point time (punch in)

D - delete point time (punch out)

E - end editing


Also supported by RTVEDIT:

T - target for new file set (optional)

'Gist:

"A" is the timestamp associated with the START of a clip;

"D" is the timestamp associated with the END of a clip.


* documentation can be found in rev4's "doc" directory.


----------



## twokatmew

Thank you!!!!


----------



## morph424

Hi All,


I'm having a strange problem that I hope someone can help me with.


I'm trying to use RTV 5K Tools to trim commercials from shows downloaded from my RTV 5040 with DVArchive 3.0 and stream them back to the RTV.


I can make the tools work ok.


- I can import the modified show into DVA, and

- I can stream the show back to the RTV.


So far, so good.


But I cannot use the "Jump Anywhere" feature of the remote control to jump to the latter part of the modified show. For example, if the new show length is 43 minutes, I cannot jump past the 35 minute mark. Any attempt to jump past that point causes the RTV to terminate playback and present me with the option to play another recorded show. This behavior does not exist with unmodifed shows.


Am I doing something wrong, or am I trying to do something that cannot be done?


Thanx.


----------



## moyekj

Quote:

_Originally posted by morph424_
*But I cannot use the "Jump Anywhere" feature of the remote control to jump to the latter part of the modified show. For example, if the new show length is 43 minutes, I cannot jump past the 35 minute mark. Any attempt to jump past that point causes the RTV to terminate playback and present me with the option to play another recorded show. This behavior does not exist with unmodifed shows.


Am I doing something wrong, or am I trying to do something that cannot be done?


Thanx.*
You need to edit the DVArchive show .xml file (that accompanies the other show files such as the .mpg, .evt, and .ndx) and change DURATION_IN_SECONDS & GOP_COUNT fields. The DURATION_IN_SECONDS may already be correct, but I found the GOP_COUNT field is also crtiical, and usually that number is too low causing the problem you described where you can't jump ahead very far into a show. If you just set the GOP_COUNT to some very large number that should do the trick.


----------



## morph424

Thank you, thank you! That was the problem. You have been a big help!


Michael


----------



## morph424

Quote:

_Originally posted by agent-x_
*Not in rev 4. There is a bug fix version that should fix it, but you'll have to poke Lee if you want to help test it.  Otherwise, you can use rev 3 which should handle this properly.*
I'm having similar problems with rev 4. Is there any way I can get a copy of the prior release?


Thanx.


----------



## Jeff D

morph search (you may need to go to the archives) but it's here. You just need to locate it. =)


----------



## morph424

Quote:

_Originally posted by Jeff D_
*morph search (you may need to go to the archives) but it's here. You just need to locate it. =)*
Thanx, Jeff D. It was in the archives.


----------



## blondangel

To the makers of evtdump,


Is it possible to make it work with RTV4K files? It would be a BIG help.


A developer made a program that extracts closed captioning from the mpg file for the replayTV 5xxx series but this didn't work for replayTV 45xx series. I sent the developer a small replayTV 45xx mpg file and he made a few tweaks in his program. He said it was easy to fix. (look for a topic titled 'Who want to try a CC filter' threadid=364040)


I am thinking that it may be easy to implement the commercial detection for evtdump on replayTV 45xx files. The hiccup is that there is no evt file for 45xx -- only mpg and ndx files.


Do you need a sample 45xx file with commercials?


Let me know ASAP.


----------



## blondangel

What is the quickest and easiest way to visually scan for commercials when you wish to make your own evtdump file? Which program would be best for that?


I am using a Windose machine.


----------



## SpaceCadet

"Windose" is spelled Win-Doze.


----------



## vidtech

I am looking for the most efficient procedure for removing commercials from a recorded replay show. I've been messin around with Revue, manually creating commercial and content blocks, but the output doesn't reflect the changes I made accurately. BTW....Thanks Lee and X for all the awsome work you have done with theese RTVtools. You are some BMFs


So, after trying a few different methods the best/quickest procedure I have found so far is as follows:


1. Copy RTV File to PC using DVArchive.

2. Clean RTV File with rtvtools using reVue as just a GUI, no editing.

3. (optional) run file through rtvcc for closed caption conversion

4. Open file in Womble for frame accurate edits.

5. Author DVD w/ Ulead's DVD Movie Factory 3

6. Burn w/ Nero


Note: Womble is a great tool for doing quick frame accurate edits, it is a true godsend for this purpose. I tried TMPG Editor, which has a nice interface, but it wiped out the closed captions. *shrug* If that is not important to you, it is a great editor too. After using womble for about 10 min, I was able to clear a one hour show free of commercials in about 2 minutes. Love the scroll wheel action to do frame-by-frame.


Using this method I am able to fit 4 one hour shows at medium quality on a DVD sans commercials!


----------



## tlparker

Two questions, from what I've seen in the rtvtools docs, it will not use the .ndx event files from a 40xx series replaytv, correct?


Are you (or anyone else) aware of software that will convert a 40xx series event/commercial file to a 50xx series file? I've actually got the latest Womble which will supposedly read .evt files directly, but my 4080 does not, of course, produce those.


----------



## tbarney

Anyone have a workaround for this problem.


I may have an evt.txt from evtdump that looks similar to this

D047:00.935

A049:47.267

D059:45.907

A060:43.832

A060:48.875


but when RTVEDIT is cutting out the commericials, it doesn't use the exact times that I give it, it goes to the .000 or .495 section of the file, where above I have .935 or .267


Time=(049:47.495, 059:46.000)

Time=(060:49.000, 060:57.000)


Make note here that it rounded 60:48.875 to 60:49.000

I edit my evt file perfectly, but the result of the mpg still shows some of the end of the commerical, up to about 1 second.


So, my question... Is there anyway to get rtvedit to use the exact time in the evt file and not round it off?


thanks,

tom


----------



## tlparker

Quote:

_Originally posted by tlparker_
*Two questions, from what I've seen in the rtvtools docs, it will not use the .ndx event files from a 40xx series replaytv, correct?


Are you (or anyone else) aware of software that will convert a 40xx series event/commercial file to a 50xx series file? I've actually got the latest Womble which will supposedly read .evt files directly, but my 4080 does not, of course, produce those.*
I still haven't gotten a response to this, but on further inspection, inside the evtdump usage docs there are the lines describing the output file which read:


The first character is the entry type:

F - file name of the source mpg (from an RTV set, .mpg/.evt/.ndx)


This would seem to imply that evtdump can read in a .ndx file, yet every time I try to do this, it just comes right back with the usage text. I notice that rtvedit doc describes converting the mpeg files from 4000 to 5000 series formats, but creating a dummy .evt file, with no real commercial/event information, which implies it doesn't really read .ndx files or convert them (contrary to implication above). Can someone tell me definitively whether or not the rtvtools will work with 4000 series files (in terms of using the event files to edit out commercials or even general a womble readable event list)?


If not, are there any other solutions for converting between the two or using some other tool to take the .ndx file and create a womble readable bookmark file (or something at least close, I've exchanged e-mail with Chang and he's willing to take a look at it, but would like at least a text readable output file).


----------



## Bargonaut

Quote:

_Originally posted by tbarney_
*Anyone have a workaround for this problem.


So, my question... Is there anyway to get rtvedit to use the exact time in the evt file and not round it off?
*
No. You can minimize the difference by using an external program like VirtualDub-MPEG2 to find I-frames, and using the -t1 flag with rtvedit.

Rtvedit cuts at the closest I-frame to the specified time, so you can't just mark any time to cut the video.


If you want that capability, buy Womble which will re-encode the frames around your cuts. Then you can edit on a frame-accurate boundary.


-BS


----------



## sduds

I've been on a converting spree! Was using reVue for most of it because accuracy of the cuts wasn't all the imperative, however, on the most recent stuff I've been editing, the cuts were so far off, I was missing content and it was taking me forever to do a single show.


So now I've ditched the gui and gone to writing my own scripts. I downloaded VirtualDub and just scroll through and grab the times from there. All was going smoothly until this last file I'm working with. I have the script written, but when I run rtvedit, I get some "Invalid time" messages.


I tried deleting the ndx file and having rtvedit rebuild it, but get the same results.


any suggestions? thanks.



D:\\My Movies\\Local_Guide>c:\\progra~1\

tvtools\

ev4\\bin\\win32\

tvedit -t1 macc_1.

txt

Adjusting input times to .ndx times, mode 1.

Source: MACC_1.mpg

Target: MACC_11.mpg

Time=(000:04.000, 005:36.000) SCR=000:00.495 File=(0000145DF0, 0009EE2048)

Time=(011:14.495, 011:47.495) SCR=005:32.495 File=(0013221970, 00147A79D4)

Time=(012:50.495, 019:22.000) SCR=006:05.495 File=(001668B91C, 0021A1CC80)

Time=(021:22.000, 026:16.000) SCR=012:37.000 File=(0024C8CAE8, 002D2D3848)

Time=(027:57.495, 042:12.000) SCR=017:31.000 File=(002FBACD00, 00478B4B60)

Invalid time: 054:44:281


Time=(057:17.000, 068:14.000) SCR=031:45.505 File=(00607EE5E4, 0072B45540)

Invalid time: 073:26:402


Invalid time: 081:51:407


Time=(083:18.495, 087:09.495) SCR=042:42.505 File=(008BF298CC, 0092492470)

Time=(088:40.000, 098:46.000) SCR=046:33.505 File=(0094BAA5E0, 00A560A4D4)

Invalid time: 100:56:050


Invalid time: 102:12:126


Time=(101:51.000, 103:22.000) SCR=056:39.505 File=(00AAEB20CC, 00AD15D800)

New Program Time: 058:10.010

Edit Time: 003:55.228


----------



## boober

I'm a newb to this all. I've used the trial of womble, but I'm too cheap to pop for the program. I was wondering if there is a website that has a tutorial of using 5K tools. Any help is much appreciated.


----------



## L0stS0ul

I have seen the invalid time index when the recorded mpeg is invalid. Most often due to a loss of signal from a satalite dish or something along those lines. Something that caused the video to become corrupted. Generally I can play the video in a player all the way to the end but with the tools I can only make edits up until the coruption in the video stream.


----------



## tour93

Quote:

_Originally posted by x8086x_
*I haven't read this thread in awhile, but I tried to catch up tonight looking for info about TMPGEnc 3.0 templates.


I have TMPG 3 (retail) installed, but I understand that the old templates don't work in 3.0.
*
A simple solution is to edit a template from 3.0 and the rtvtool's template from 2.5 and compare them. Then replace the data from 3.0 with some data used in 2.5


----------



## sduds

Quote:

_Originally posted by L0stS0ul_
*I have seen the invalid time index when the recorded mpeg is invalid. Most often due to a loss of signal from a satalite dish or something ...*
Thanks, L0stS0ul. That sounds feasible since I'm now on satellite. I'm gonna try mpeg2vcr and see if I get anywhere with that and if not, hope it fits on the disc without the edits.


----------



## STL

Any ideas why RTVConvert isn't "cleaning" my RTV mpgs? I have tried both evtEdit and ReVue (that use RTVConvert) and while both act like everything worked fine, neither seems to yield an output file that I can manipulate in editors (like TMPGEnc or Windows Movie Maker). Any suggestions would be appreciated...


----------



## famewolf

Any gui's for linux? Both of these are windows only. You'd think someone would have used java for one. 





Quote:

_Originally posted by antibody128_
*PVRick,


There are 2 very functional GUI's for RTVtools.


evtEdit for windows

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=330242 


ReVue

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&goto=lastpost 


I just tried evtEdit for windows yesterday (I haven't tried reVue) and I was very impressed. I've been doing the command line/batch file thing until now, but I'm pretty sure I'm done with that.*


----------



## blizzardo

Quote:

_Originally posted by STL_
*Any ideas why RTVConvert isn't "cleaning" my RTV mpgs? I have tried both evtEdit and ReVue (that use RTVConvert) and while both act like everything worked fine, neither seems to yield an output file that I can manipulate in editors (like TMPGEnc or Windows Movie Maker). Any suggestions would be appreciated...*
i have the same issue.


edit file
Quote:

source: test.mpg

target: test2.mpg
after i run it and error
Quote:

C:\\Program Files\

tvtools\\bin\\win32>rtvedit -t1 test.txt

Adjusting input times to .ndx times, mode 1.

Unknown code s - must be one of A, D, F, T or E.

Target: arget: test2.mpg

New Program Time: 000:00.000

Edit Time: 000:00.000
i'd like to use nero to burn the dvd


help


----------



## Bargonaut

Your edit file is totally wrong. Try reading the docs, or even the error message you posted.


But, I take pity on you. What you want is this:
Code:


Code:


Ftest.mpg
Ttest2.mpg
E


-BS


----------



## blizzardo

Quote:

_Originally posted by Bargonaut_
*Your edit file is totally wrong. Try reading the docs, or even the error message you posted.


But, I take pity on you. What you want is this:
*
*Code:*


Code:


[B]Ftest.mpg
Ttest2.mpg
E[/B]

*

-BS*
cool it worked thanks!

Quote:

C:\\Program Files\

tvtools\\bin\\win32>rtvedit test.txt

Unknown code s - must be one of A, D, F, T or E.

Target: arget: test2.mpg

Source: test.mpg

New Program Time: 000:00.000

Edit Time: 000:00.190

Target: test2.mpg

Time=(000:00.495, 099:48.505) SCR=000:00.495 File=(0000030A5C, 00FEAB0200)

New Program Time: 099:48.010

Edit Time: 025:23.771


----------



## famewolf

Got someone who is writing a gop mpeg editor for linux....are there format specs I could give him for the evtedit txt file so he could use it to mark the commercials from the replay mpg's? Similar to how evtedit is doing it but evtedit only works on windows machines.


----------



## Bargonaut

Here is the archive of the Molehill site:
http://web.archive.org/web/200403040...Replay/WebHome 


Also, the source to evtdump is included in the rtvtools package.


-BS


----------



## moyekj

Quote:

_Originally posted by famewolf_
*Got someone who is writing a gop mpeg editor for linux....are there format specs I could give him for the evtedit txt file so he could use it to mark the commercials from the replay mpg's? Similar to how evtedit is doing it but evtedit only works on windows machines.*
Attached zip file has most of the .evt/.ndx parsing C code I used for implementing Commercial Advance in VideoLAN VLC. It contains code for both 4K and 5K series parsing. It contains some code related to VLC that needs to be stripped out to work with whatever app your friend is working on, but the basics of parsing are all there and heavily based on replaypc code.

The code is compatible with WinXP/2K, Linux, OSX, Solaris, etc.

 

rtvparse.zip 9.8525390625k . file


----------



## scottleslie

I have quite a few MPEG Files recorded by a Hauppauge PVR-350 on my PC. I tried to use RTVConvert so that I could view them on my ReplayTV 5500 via DVArchive.


When I run RTVConvert on any of the files, it returns:


Unsupported audio rate - must be 112-320kbs


Is there any way to convert these files?


----------



## dnastrain

If I'm not mistaken, RTVConvert is for converting a ReplayTV Mpeg to a more standard format, and not the other way.


Search the forms for TMPGEnc, as it has custom templates to convert other Mpeg formats to ones that ReplayTV supports.


-dnastrain


----------



## jsm174

Maybe I'm using rtvconvert wrong myself, but I use it to take an mpeg generated with tmpgenc so I can get it into DVArchive. When it processeses, the .ndx and .evt files are generated, and DVArchive import feature will work.


-- Jason


----------



## j.m.

Quote:

_Originally posted by dnastrain_
*If I'm not mistaken, RTVConvert is for converting a ReplayTV Mpeg to a more standard format, and not the other way.
*
You're mistaken.  RTVConvert is for massaging a standard MPEG-2 a little bit to make the RTV accept it for streaming via DVA etc. The source MPEG-2 still must be within the specs the RTV likes in order for RTVConvert to work. It sounds like scottleslie's file an auido rate out of spec for a RTV. He will need to either configure his PC recording software to use a different rate or transcode it with TMPGEnc, BeSweet, etc. The RTV 5xxx uses 192kbps audio.


----------



## dyker

I haven't used rtvconvert for a while and just loaded it to my new Dell w/ a clean install of XP and SP2. I keep getting:

rtvconvert.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.


Anything I'm doing wrong here?


----------



## l8er

Quote:

_Originally posted by dyker_
*Anything I'm doing wrong here?*
Might be good to explain exactly what you're doing or trying to do.


----------



## dyker

I exported the mpeg and ndx files using dvarchive. It is a 2 hour movie 1.7G.... a touchy feelie chick flick my wife has been bugging me to burn for her. I then just want to clean it so I can burn it to DVD. I don't care about advertisement... just want to be sure the audio is in sync.


So I ran rtvconvert.exe (the one found in the first post on this thread)


D:\\DVAFiles\\Export>rtvconvert 1106057314.mpg lep3.mpg

Source: 1106057314.mpg

Target: lep3.mpg

Corrected sync error from 003E1E3600 - 003E1E360D


and at 1.016G it says "Corrected sync error from 003e1e3600 - 003e1e360d" and pukes with the windows error. The resulting file is truncated to 1 hour and 10 minutes instead of the original 2 hours.


Since I'm just getting back into this and didn't do it much before, maybe I'm doing something wrong....


----------



## Bargonaut

According to the README, you must run rtvedit on your Replay mpeg before using rtvconvert. If that doesn't help, you might have some glitches in the recording that often cause rtvedit to stop prematurely. Then you need to use a commercial tool like Womble or VideoReDo.


-BS


----------



## blackiedog

I have had the same problem with RTVTools. After much fiddling around I tried Womble and it worked flawlessly on the same file.


----------



## rmanaka

Same experience here. Womble Mpeg Video Wizard (and the older Mpg2VCR) both work like a champ!


----------



## dyker

yep... bought videoredo today and works like a champ.


I hate to ask but I'm looking at TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.5 for writing DVDs. I have Sonic but it is crap. Is this TMPG software good or is there a better/cheaper DVD authoring solution. I want auto-chaper creating every x minutes on the file and I know this TMP software will do it.


----------



## Bargonaut

I really like TMPGEnc DVD Author for authoring. It makes flawless DVDs, and even converts Showstopper/RTV3000 32KHz audio to DVD-compliant 48KHz audio on the fly. The chapter points are easy to mark/adjust, and it is very stable. I haven't upgraded from 1.5 due to the activation scheme in the latest revs which some find quite cumbersome.


It won't read a RTV5k mpeg directly, but once it is saved by rtvconvert OR VideoReDo, TDA is quite happy.


-BS


----------



## rmanaka

Try DVDlab:


/ http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/ 


I use the pro version, but even the standard version works great.


I also use the TMPGenc AC3 plugin to transcode the audio to AC3 for standardization.


The software isn't as easy as drag-and-drop, but I found it to be extremely flexible. It makes beautiful DVDs with or without menus, subtitles, special features, etc.


They have trial versions for both standard and pro.


----------



## Microman66

Running on Mac OSX and getting:


Adjusting input times to .ndx times, mode 1.

Source: /Users/tomhillig/DVD Archive FOLDER/Local_Guide/ABC World News Tonight.mpg

Can't open file /Media/Movies/Edited TV/ABC World News Tonight1.mpg


when I run Replay TV Toolshell. I dont even see the path /media/moves/Edited TV on my computer. Or do I need to do something with permissions?


Cant even do a > cd without getting permission denied.


Thanks.


----------



## cincyreds

Quote:

_Originally posted by icecow_
*Some smart-type person showed how to make a little batch file script as an icon. All you have to do is drop a file(a replay mpg in this case) on to the icon and several command line programs are run in sequence making the process a nobrainer.*
If you're still looking, I made a batch file for use on Windows XP (not sure if it works under Win2K, maybe it will).

Just drag a .mpg file from Windows Explorer and drop it on the shortcut icon and it runs rtvedit and rtvconvert on the file. A simple menu lets you choose if you want to convert it to a DVD-Ready .mpg, demux it, or create the files necessary for streaming back to a ReplayTV using DVArchive.


Maybe I'll get around to testing it in Win2K. It definitely will not work in Win 9x or ME because it uses new batch commands not available in those OS's.


This is nothing overly fancy - it automatically creates a temporary script for rtvedit. It does not use external scripts. I use it to quickly make my ReplayTV mpgs compliant by running them through rtvedit and rtvconvert without any cuts, edits, etc. etc. It does not cut commercials, etc - it just runs the original .mpg through rtvedit/rtvconvert,


If you just want to make your ReplayTV mpgs compatible with your editing or authoring software and don't know how (or are too lazy!) to use rtvedit, this can make it painless.


If you download it, be sure to look at the Readme file first.











If anyone who uses this has any enhancement requests, please email and I'll do my best to incorporate. If there's enough interest I may consider writing a full blown application for processing/editing replayTV files.


Dean

 

rtvdragdrop.zip 4.6650390625k . file


----------



## cincyreds

Quote:

_Originally posted by rmanaka_
*Try DVDlab:*
I agree. Unbeatable software.

Normal sequence of events is:


Edit in Womble (MPEG Video Wizard)

Author in DVD Lab Pro

Burn with Nero


Works like a charm!


----------



## tlparker

Did you ever find a solution the the issue below? I'm still manually editing my 4080 files with Womble and I'm soooooo tired of doing it that way.

Quote:

_Originally posted by blondangel_
*To the makers of evtdump,


Is it possible to make it work with RTV4K files? It would be a BIG help.


A developer made a program that extracts closed captioning from the mpg file for the replayTV 5xxx series but this didn't work for replayTV 45xx series. I sent the developer a small replayTV 45xx mpg file and he made a few tweaks in his program. He said it was easy to fix. (look for a topic titled 'Who want to try a CC filter' threadid=364040)


I am thinking that it may be easy to implement the commercial detection for evtdump on replayTV 45xx files. The hiccup is that there is no evt file for 45xx -- only mpg and ndx files.


Do you need a sample 45xx file with commercials?


Let me know ASAP.*


----------



## bhgreene

I have a copy of RTVTools, and AVS Video Converter. I am trying to take video from my DV Camcorder and play it through DVArchive onto my Replay 5040.


I have set up a profile that seems to match the ones provided for tmpgenc, but when I run the resulting MPG through rtvconvert I get:

found GOP without sequence header.


I can't find anything on the web about how to repair or create these sequence headers. Is there another name for them, or does anyone know what I am missing in my AVS converter profile? I already own this, and don't really want to spend another $35+ on the MPEG2 option for TMPGEnc.


Help...


----------



## johnmagee4

I have previously used ReVue and the RTV Tools to edit out commercials. I just tried to do it on a new computer and for some reason the "commercial" segments in ReVue didn't line up with the actual mpeg file. It seemed like the commercial spots were all off by at least a little. So I went through and fixed them all, and then created separate cleaned files for each segment. But then the new files were not actually created correctly, ie, the segment chops were not lined up to what they should be in ReVue.


(Yes, I realize this is really a revue question and not a rtv tools question).


Any ideas what happened?


----------



## dstoffa

Quote:

_Originally posted by johnmagee4_
*I have previously used ReVue and the RTV Tools to edit out commercials. I just tried to do it on a new computer and for some reason the "commercial" segments in ReVue didn't line up with the actual mpeg file. It seemed like the commercial spots were all off by at least a little. So I went through and fixed them all, and then created separate cleaned files for each segment. But then the new files were not actually created correctly, ie, the segment chops were not lined up to what they should be in ReVue.


(Yes, I realize this is really a revue question and not a rtv tools question).


Any ideas what happened?*
Replay times are different than MPEG times. evtdump provides Replay times. You will need to use an MPEG frame editor, the evtdump file, and rtvedit (with the -t1 switch) on the command line to edit the file in the desired way. You simply change the edit times in the evtdump file to those you get from the MPEG frame editor. (VirtualMpeg-dub).


-Doug


----------



## johnmagee4

Quote:

_Originally posted by dstoffa_
*Replay times are different than MPEG times. evtdump provides Replay times. You will need to use an MPEG frame editor, the evtdump file, and rtvedit (with the -t1 switch) on the command line to edit the file in the desired way. You simply change the edit times in the evtdump file to those you get from the MPEG frame editor. (VirtualMpeg-dub).


-Doug*
I get that... but when ReVue open a replay mpeg and associated evt file, shouldn't it know how to line up the times correctly? When I made the cuts and "make new video file" with the -t1 option, the cuts didn't end up lining up where they were in ReVue. I swear it worked correctly last time I tried it. Maybe I should re-awaken a ReVue thread.


----------



## sbleonard

Could someone send me the toolkit? Link doesn't seem to work anymore.


Thanks.


----------



## Bargonaut

Quote:

Originally Posted by *johnmagee4*
I have previously used ReVue and the RTV Tools to edit out commercials. I just tried to do it on a new computer and for some reason the "commercial" segments in ReVue didn't line up with the actual mpeg file...
ReVue is dependent on the MPEG2 codec installed on your PC to display the video. When you make cut points with it, they may be off if the codec is different than your other machine. You can check with a util called GSpot (check on videohelp.com).


If you can spare the fee, VideoRedo is a great tool for editing Replay shows, and works perfectly every time.


-BS


----------



## icecow

Quote:

Originally Posted by *sbleonard*
Could someone send me the toolkit? Link doesn't seem to work anymore.


Thanks.
 http://stargate.logh.net/download/rtv5Ktools.zip


----------



## sbleonard

Thank you icecow.


----------



## yevgyeni

I know this thread is old and long and hasn't seen activity in a while, but I was hoping someone might still have the old RTVTools (Revision 3)? I'm having some sync issues and was hoping the older version might do the trick. I've tried extensive searches for it at AVSforum and abroad, but no luck.


thanks,

yevgyeni


----------



## rmanaka

I don't have version 3, but I do have rtv5ktools_v2.zip if that helps...let me know.


----------



## Jeff D

Can someone confirm that this _should_ work with tivo files? I swore I read that somewhere, but now I can't find it.


I'm trying to convert directivo recorded ty files (as mpeg files) into files that will playback on the replay.


I can get audio and video (odd since the tivo has a 480x480 image size) but the audio is out of sync maybe a couple of seconds ahead of the video.


My process was...

extract ty file from tivo

tytools to edit and create a mpeg file

rtvedit to of full file to create a new file and ndx file

rtvedit again after ndx was created

rtvconvert edited file to 5k fixed file

import to dvarchive as 5k file.


Has anyone else done this? If so what did I do wrong?


----------



## moyekj

Jeff, 99% sure the problem is the rtvconvert stage. Back when I was converting DVDs to RTV-compatible mpegs I'd get a few DVDs with audio sync problems and the culprit was always rtvconvert. The mpeg following 2*rtvedit was always OK. If I then ran Womble GOP fixer on the out-of-sync rtvconvert mpg or de-muxed, re-muxed with Womble to fix sync problems then the mpg would no longer play on RTVs. So I think the problem is with rtvconvert, but without source code there's not much else that can be done. There's nothing wrong with the flow you followed.


----------



## whalemangler

Sweet tools, I wish I had wired this thing instead of slow ass wireless b.


----------



## BradleyAM

Hi everyone,

I have been a replaytv user for several years. I used to own a Showstopper 2000 and have many of the Showstopper 2000 MPG files on a hard drive which I had transferred using EXTRACT_RTV. I now have two networked 5040 units, along with dvarchive on my computer. I have read posts about converting 4000 series files to stream, but I am wondering if anyone knows if I can convert and stream the MPG files from my Showstopper which I have on my computer? I would love to import these into dvarchive and be able to watch them again.

Thanks for any info!!

Brad


----------



## Jeff D

moyekj, so you did exactly what I did and got sync problems?


One interesting thing I noticed in the recording is the first frame has a time code of 3 seconds or something. I'm going to try the same test with a ty file that doesn't have a strange start frame time.


I could have sworn Lee or Agent-X had said something about tivo stuff, but still not sure where I saw that. Nor do I know if it was SA tivo or Directivo. I'm really trying to get some stuff from the tivo to the replay without rerecording it on the replay that's easy to do, but takes a lot more time that batch processing. =)


----------



## Jeff D

I just noticed that Lee hasn't been around since December of last year...


Maybe he just got bored with this place?


----------



## Turok

Quick question.


I have a ReplayTv 5K and I do the following before burning my shows to dvd


1)Download from DArchive

2)Run files through rtvedit

3)Run through rtvconvert

4) Burn to dvd using Uleads Movie Factory 2


Do I need to run these files through rtvconvert? I'ts been awhile since I've done any converting/editing.. just wanna make sure I have the steps down right.


Also what does rtvconvert do to the files?


----------



## Jeff D

That's the right process. I believe there's a -d option for rtvcovert that you'll want for output of DVD ready files...


it's been a while for me too!


----------



## turcoferno

Can someone help me convert .avi files to .mpg and import into DVArchive so I can stream onto a ReplayTV 5508 unit? I am converting .avi to .mpg using TMPGenc, but rtvconvert always gives errors. I tried various audio/video settings but did not work. I appreciate if someone can help me out... Thanks


----------



## rknik

Help out of synch guy


I am a newbie. trying to transfer old vhs files that belong to me to dvd because some of them are starting to go bad. I am using an ati card to stream the movies into my puter. the mpg-2 file plays fine, but when I try to use Nero to make a dvd I get coastes. I cannot even burn an image on my second drive.


I have seen the posts and downloaded rtvtools.zip but have no idea what to do with it since i am not a puter programmer (that is what I and my friends call them affectionately.)


Can anyone help an old man who wants to save his videos of family and kids without going broke in the process?


Please feel free to email me direct. I will be grateful.


rknik


----------



## chain777

I'm assuming you're hooking your VCR up to the ATI's input? What settings are you using for the ATI capture?


----------



## dvasco

Quote:

Originally Posted by *BradleyAM*
Hi everyone,

I have been a replaytv user for several years. I used to own a Showstopper 2000 and have many of the Showstopper 2000 MPG files on a hard drive which I had transferred using EXTRACT_RTV. I now have two networked 5040 units, along with dvarchive on my computer. I have read posts about converting 4000 series files to stream, but I am wondering if anyone knows if I can convert and stream the MPG files from my Showstopper which I have on my computer? I would love to import these into dvarchive and be able to watch them again.

Thanks for any info!!

Brad
Brad, if you re-encode the audio to 48kHz I think you should be good. Per RTVtools RTV MPEG-2 files should have the following attributes:


Resolution: any valid MPEG-2 width, 480+ height

Framerate: 23.976, 29.97 and 59.94

Bitrate: 2-8Mpbs CBR/VBR

Audio: 48KHz @ 112-320kbps, MPEG-1 layer II

GOP struct: 1 seq per GOP


There are a lot of different freeware programs that can demux then reencode the audio then mux them back for you. You can get a lot of help at videohelp.com for that. One way is to use TMPGenc to demux then Lame to reencode audio and TMPGenc again to mux them back.


----------



## Dem81

I would give anything to get RTV Convert for replay 4500s...

I would be willing to pay ... ... any ideas anyone ?


----------



## emoboy90

hey you the man or women


----------



## indoctrin8ed

I've been trying to download the rtvtoolsrev4.zip file, but I get an error. Is this a known problem here or am I doing something wrong? I don't see any problems on my end.


----------



## Dem81

a 4k once thought : " If i coud only stream to Replay, I would be as happy as my brother 5k " . Damn ! Why was I born before !


----------



## shinnlly

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Lee Thompson*
EC,


*bangs head on desk* I don't think you've read my instructions. DVD2AVI in this instance does NOT make an AVI, there is no (or very little) quality loss*. (I'm not angry but I am very frustrated). Maybe it's my fault ... I'll try again. Ok deep breath.


I'm sure this is not the only way to do it but this is going to give you consistant results. I don't really care what way you do it in the end but clearly either you didn't read my instructions well or I wasn't clear enough.


If your source is anamorphic you are NOT going to avoid transcoding the MPEG, but TMPGEnc's got one of the best encoder's you're going to find this side of $1500.

**NOTE: If you end up having to re-encode the video you may notice some picture quality loss, that can be further tweaked but if you're that picky about quality just buy another DVD player for the bedroom - you're just being silly with this. They are as cheap as $35.*



Here it is again:


1. Load up the VOB title set in DVD2AVI.


2. Save the *PROJECT* *NOT* an AVI. The keyboard shortcut is F4. This creates a .d2v and .wav file for TMPGEnc. The .d2v will be fairly small, usually it's less than 500KB. The .wav will probably be fairly large probably just under a gigabyte for most DVDs. The good news is the .WAV is decoded dolby digital (with a surround downmix if you selected that in DVD2AVI's menu) and is even synced up.


3. Load up TMPGEnc, put the .d2v in for the video, and the .wav for the audio. You can also tell it how you want it to handle aspect ratios (settings->advanced) and whatnot and any other filter options you may desire. Use the RTVTools 5K MPEG template here for best results.


If your source is anamorphic you will definately need to re-encode the video, once the template is loaded to go settings and then advanced and select 'Full Screen (keep aspect ratio)'. You may need to tell it the source is 16:9 if it didn't detect it properly.


If your source isn't anamorphic and the video does not need reencoding, just use the .wav from step #2 and encode the audio (or you can use another program to encode the audio). 48khz MPEG-1 Layer 2 at 192kbps. Once you have a .m2v and .mpa use TMPGEnc's MPEG Tools and multiplex it and pick this up at step 5.




4. Encode.


5. Use RTVConvert.


6. Then import into DVA.


7. Enjoy.



That's it. I've given you all the help I can and I'm just gonna let you figure it out now. If you want to try again, reread, if you have a question.. ask.
Sorry to revive this thread, but I felt it was the most relavent. I am trying to run a .mpg file through RTVConvert so I can send it to my ReplayTV 5080. It fails because the .mpg has AC3 audio instead of MPEG-1 Layer 2. Above, Lee explains how to use DVD2AVI and TMPGEnc to demux, convert and bring it back together again.


My question is since this post is from March 2004, is there an easier way to do this in 2006? I would love to have a utility where you specify the .mpg file, pick some audio settings, then process.


I have Womble (3 year old version) and it looks like this is an option, but the finished product appears to be Layer III regardless of which Layer type I pick before processing.


I also tried it with VideoReDo. RTVConvert starts processing the file, but then craps out with another error.


So, has anyone had any success doing with one tool?


Thanks,

-Lee


----------



## Wrecks

Go here to get Video2ReplayTV.bat which will transcode not only AC3 but most any other format as well. You don't have to do anything but drag the video file over to it and drop it there.


----------



## shinnlly

Hey, thanks Rex! I actually tried out your script a few days ago, but could not find all the components. I then switched over to a similar batch file that just uses the RTV Toolset. Of course, now I have the AC3 problem.


I had trouble finding a copy of ffmpeg.exe, but I believe I eventually did find it.


Sooooo...... I'll give it a try again tonight and report back.



Thanks for the reply!!!


-Lee


----------



## tlparker

Quote:

Originally Posted by *shinnl*
Sorry to revive this thread, but I felt it was the most relavent. I am trying to run a .mpg file through RTVConvert so I can send it to my ReplayTV 5080. It fails because the .mpg has AC3 audio instead of MPEG-1 Layer 2. Above, Lee explains how to use DVD2AVI and TMPGEnc to demux, convert and bring it back together again.


My question is since this post is from March 2004, is there an easier way to do this in 2006? I would love to have a utility where you specify the .mpg file, pick some audio settings, then process.


I have Womble (3 year old version) and it looks like this is an option, but the finished product appears to be Layer III regardless of which Layer type I pick before processing.


I also tried it with VideoReDo. RTVConvert starts processing the file, but then craps out with another error.


So, has anyone had any success doing with one tool?


Thanks,

-Lee


Be farwarned that if you pay for the upgrade to the current womble which says it supports "replaytv edit files" to auto-edit out the commercials, this only works for 50xx SERIES AND BEYOND replaytv files (which use a text file format for their edit into). The 40xx series uses a binary format which neither the current version of womble (which I annoyingly paid for and got no value in return for since I have a 4080 (well, actually a 40320 )). Caveat emptor.


As far as I know, there is still no piece of software out there that will utilize the 40xx series edit files to allow you to auto-edit out commercials - IF SO, SOMEONE PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIND THIS FOR LITERALLY *YEARS* NOW!


----------



## shinnlly

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Wrecks*
Go here to get Video2ReplayTV.bat which will transcode not only AC3 but most any other format as well. You don't have to do anything but drag the video file over to it and drop it there.
I did find all the necessary components, but when I try to convert a .mpg file it gives me an error.


Digital Video to 5K ReplayTV Converter 2005-12-30

Written by Rex Rivers - mailto:[email protected]

Land of Awes Information Services - Wichita, Kansas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This batch file will convert most digital video files to a "MEDIUM" quality

5K ReplayTV format which can be streamed via the DVArchive program.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Seems that stream 0 comes from film source: 29.97->24.00

Input #0, mpeg, from 'H:\\Convert\\Minnesota Cuke Full.mpg':

Duration: 00:42:58.1, bitrate: 4784 kb/s

Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg2video, 720x480, 29.97 fps

Stream #0.1: Audio: 0x0000

Output #0, vcd, to 'H:\\Convert\\Minnesota Cuke Full.SVCD.mpeg':

Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg2video, 720x480, 29.97 fps, q=2-31, 7413 kb/s

Stream #0.1: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, 192 kb/s

Stream mapping:

Stream #0.0 -> #0.0

Stream #0.1 -> #0.1

Unsupported codec (id=10) for input stream #0.1

Error=1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A problem occurred that prevented the video from converting.

Press any key to continue . . .



Any ideas?


Thanks!


----------



## shinnlly

Quote:

Originally Posted by *tlparker*
Be farwarned that if you pay for the upgrade to the current womble which says it supports "replaytv edit files" to auto-edit out the commercials, this only works for 50xx SERIES AND BEYOND replaytv files (which use a text file format for their edit into). The 40xx series uses a binary format which neither the current version of womble (which I annoyingly paid for and got no value in return for since I have a 4080 (well, actually a 40320 )). Caveat emptor.


As far as I know, there is still no piece of software out there that will utilize the 40xx series edit files to allow you to auto-edit out commercials - IF SO, SOMEONE PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIND THIS FOR LITERALLY *YEARS* NOW!
Good advice. This is the exact reason I dropped $200 bucks last week and ordered 2 5080's off of eBay. I am retiring my 4508.


BTW, you would not believe the difference in quality. If I had known how much better a 5xxx series looked than a 45xx, I would have switched a long time ago. I watched the Panther's game on my 5080 last Sunday and I only saw a tiny bit of pixilization once (is pixilization a real word?). I stopped watching live football games on my 4508 because of the poor quality.


----------



## tlparker

Quote:

Originally Posted by *shinnl*
Good advice. This is the exact reason I dropped $200 bucks last week and ordered 2 5080's off of eBay. I am retiring my 4508.


BTW, you would not believe the difference in quality. If I had known how much better a 5xxx series looked than a 45xx, I would have switched a long time ago. I watched the Panther's game on my 5080 last Sunday and I only saw a tiny bit of pixilization once (is pixilization a real word?). I stopped watching live football games on my 4508 because of the poor quality.
Didn't the 50xx versions take out the commercial skip feature? That's the main reason I never upgraded. Also, are they are easy to "upgrade" the hard drive (I did my 80mb to a 320mb in an hour) as the 40xx's? TIA,


Terry


PS- GIGO applies to these babies big-time -- a weak signal makes for an awful picture, you can stick an amp in and all of a sudden, whammo, beautiful picture. I also use a "dead" Voom satellite box to get my HDTV signals and feed them to my 40320 via S-video and they look awesome.


----------



## shinnlly

Quote:

Originally Posted by *tlparker*
Didn't the 50xx versions take out the commercial skip feature? That's the main reason I never upgraded. Also, are they are easy to "upgrade" the hard drive (I did my 80mb to a 320mb in an hour) as the 40xx's? TIA,


Terry


PS- GIGO applies to these babies big-time -- a weak signal makes for an awful picture, you can stick an amp in and all of a sudden, whammo, beautiful picture. I also use a "dead" Voom satellite box to get my HDTV signals and feed them to my 40320 via S-video and they look awesome.
The 50xx series still has CA. They removed it from the 55xx series.


Never tired an upgrade, I use DVA. From what I understand, they are very similiar in that regard.


I have noticed the GIGO principle with the Replays, but in my case, I unplugged the 4508, stuck the 5080 in its place, hooked the same wires back up, and instant better picture. I am only using the coax. I should have tried S-Video, but never got around to trying it. I need to add that to my list.


-Lee


----------



## Wrecks

Quote:

Originally Posted by *shinnl*
I did find all the necessary components, but when I try to convert a .mpg file it gives me an error.


Digital Video to 5K ReplayTV Converter 2005-12-30

Written by Rex Rivers - mailto:[email protected]

Land of Awes Information Services - Wichita, Kansas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This batch file will convert most digital video files to a "MEDIUM" quality

5K ReplayTV format which can be streamed via the DVArchive program.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Seems that stream 0 comes from film source: 29.97->24.00

Input #0, mpeg, from 'H:\\Convert\\Minnesota Cuke Full.mpg':

Duration: 00:42:58.1, bitrate: 4784 kb/s

Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg2video, 720x480, 29.97 fps

Stream #0.1: Audio: 0x0000

Output #0, vcd, to 'H:\\Convert\\Minnesota Cuke Full.SVCD.mpeg':

Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg2video, 720x480, 29.97 fps, q=2-31, 7413 kb/s

Stream #0.1: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, 192 kb/s

Stream mapping:

Stream #0.0 -> #0.0

Stream #0.1 -> #0.1

Unsupported codec (id=10) for input stream #0.1

Error=1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A problem occurred that prevented the video from converting.

Press any key to continue . . .



Any ideas?


Thanks!
I see a couple of problems.


You may be running a customized version of FFMPEG.EXE that does not have all the code in it. The fact that yours doesn't identify which version it is or what components are included makes this suspect. When you invoke FFMPEG.EXE you should be getting some information like:


ffmpeg version CVS, build 3277056, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard

configuration: --prefix=/c/ffmpeg --enable-mp3lame --enable-libogg --enable-vorbis --enable-theora --enable-faac --enable-xvid --enable-x264 --enable-mingw32 --enable-a52 --enable-dts --enable-pp --enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb --enable-gpl --enable-dirac --enable-memalign-hack

built on Dec 9 2005 01:07:09, gcc: 4.0.2


If not, the codec necessary to decipher the audio may not be in the program. This seems like it might be the case because it seems to be finding either no audio or an unknown audio stream in the file (Stream #0.1: Audio: 0x0000).


In addition, it looks like the batch file has been futzed with. It should be generating a ReplayTV compatible SVCD video file, not a VCD video file.


PS: Isn't this a lot of work for a VeggieTales video?


----------



## shinnlly

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Wrecks*
I see a couple of problems.


You may be running a customized version of FFMPEG.EXE that does not have all the code in it. The fact that yours doesn't identify which version it is or what components are included makes this suspect. When you invoke FFMPEG.EXE you should be getting some information like:


ffmpeg version CVS, build 3277056, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard

configuration: --prefix=/c/ffmpeg --enable-mp3lame --enable-libogg --enable-vorbis --enable-theora --enable-faac --enable-xvid --enable-x264 --enable-mingw32 --enable-a52 --enable-dts --enable-pp --enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb --enable-gpl --enable-dirac --enable-memalign-hack

built on Dec 9 2005 01:07:09, gcc: 4.0.2


If not, the codec necessary to decipher the audio may not be in the program. This seems like it might be the case because it seems to be finding either no audio or an unknown audio stream in the file (Stream #0.1: Audio: 0x0000).


In addition, it looks like the batch file has been futzed with. It should be generating a ReplayTV compatible SVCD video file, not a VCD video file.


PS: Isn't this a lot of work for a VeggieTales video?
The problem was the version of ffmpeg I was using was too old. I found a newer version and I am good to go. Thanks so much for the help and for writing this batch file.


Thanks to Lee T. for the toolkit as well.


-Lee


PS VeggieTales ROCK!!!


----------



## LLaurel

Is there an alternative to the broken link in the first post of this thread for downloading RTVTools?


Thanks.


----------



## Bobcrane

Right-click and do a save target as.


----------



## LLaurel

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Bobcrane*
Right-click and do a save target as.


Awesome!!! That worked like a charm. Huge thanks to you, Bob, and to all of the others who have worked on these tools, tested them, questioned their function, etc.. Also, many thanks to all involved with DVA, RTVPatch, and all of the other tools, tips, and tricks available for our beloved RTV boxes. You people truly make AVS Forum an invaluable resource.


Thank you !!! Thank you !!! Thank you !!! Thank you !!! Thank you !!!


Larry


----------

