Converting VS9000 DN HD recordings to Divx AVI

[VaqueroEsq]

Ok, here's some info on what I have been doing on converting VS9000 recordings to computer-compatible file formats.

I have a DLINK DSM-330 box that connects to my home lan (ethernet) and HDTV (HDMI) and allows me to play Divx AVI (up to 720p/1080i) files straight from my computer's hard disk to the HDTV. For this reason, I've concentrated on trying to find a software solution to convert VS9000 recordings to Divx format AVI files. This allows me to play them on my DSM-330 box, and also allows me to burn a data CD or DVD with the AVI file so it can play on later-model Divx compatible DVD players.

Converting recordings of SD channels works well. I use HS264 cutter to join the TRP files produced by the VS into a single TS file. Use the utility menu selection 'Convert TRP/REC -> TS'. You can also trim the the TS file to remove unwanted beginning and ending portions.

At this point you can use MPEG Streamclip to read the TS file and create a MPEG2 file if desired. This conversion is done quickly since the TS file already has MPEG2 data in its transport stream. In my case, I want a Divx AVI file, and after some searching and trials, I found that AVS Video Converter 6 does a decent job of producing AVI files. A one hour SD 480i recording of just under 1GB (TS file size) was converted into a Divx AVI file (640x480i) of 400MB. This leads me to believe a 90 minute program will be about 600MB.

AVS Video Converter 6 also seems to do a decent job of converting other file formats (MPEG, MOV, WMV, ASF, non-Divx AVI) to Divx AVI format.

So the above takes care of SD recordings, no problem.

H264TS Cutter (free)
hxxp://www.h264tscutter.de

AVS Video Converter 6 (USD$40 to register)
hxxp://www.avs4you.com

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So ... on to HD recordings. AVS Video Converter (at this time) can't handle the H264 AVC video data in the TS file, along with many other video converter programs. Many of them either complain the TS file data is incorrectly formatted or invalid, or says there is no video data in the TS file, or the program just barfs when trying to convert it. Maybe its the way DN puts MPEG2 data inside MPEG4 headers in its transport streams - not sure.

Finally I came across 'Super Video Transcoder'.

Super Video Transcoder (free)
hxxp://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/super.cfm

I have a short 20 second 10MB TS file recorded at 1440x1080i that I use for testing all the programs I've tried. Super Video was able to read the TS file and produce a series of Divx files in various sizes, based on the options chosen.

(TS file size 10MB)
Size 3MB (1280x720p 170kbps frame rate)
Size 7MB (1280x720p 400kbps frame rate)

Both of the above files were playable on my DLink box, and the smaller file had some noticeable 'squares' on the video image as a result of the lower frame rate. The larger file seems to be about equivalent to the original video image. So far so good!

A full HD movie is about 4GB to 5GB. I'd like to get a Divx file of about 2GB to 2.5GB so I can fit 2 movies on a DVD.

I'm currently using Super Video to transcode a 4.5GB movie to a 1440x1080i Divx file using a frame rate setting that is in between the ones I did for testing above. Hopefully I get a file size of under 3GB and a frame rate of about 300kbps. The PC I'm using for doing the transcoding is a bit of a clunker (P3-800) so it takes a while - its been going for about a day now at normal CPU priority and is at about 1GB so far.

If this works well, I do plan to buy a new faster computer for doing my TS to Divx recording conversions.

I'll let you guys know the results once the slow box finishes its conversion.

[VaqueroEsq]

1)

Super is somewhat finicky about the settings used and often gives errors when starting a conversion.

I've also noticed that the playback of the Super-created AVI file is not as good as the original file (TRP/TS) even if I bump up the frame rate so its not quite there yet, needs some work.

2)

I found out that the latest version of DivX converter (Divx 7) can handle TS (transport stream files) with HD AVC if you add on the MPEG2 option (which one has to purchase after a 15 day trial period). Drop a TS file on the Divx converter, choose from one of the conversion modes (Home Theatre, HD 720p, HD 1080p, Divx Plus HD) and let it do its thing. No complicated settings. DivxPlusHD gives out a MKV file instead of a Divx file.

Conversions of SD or HD files works well in Theatre mode and gives a 640x400Divx file from a SD file and a 720x400 Divx file from a HD file, and the Divx file size is about a third of the original TS file (ie 10MB down to 3.7MB using my test file).

Using a 10MB HD TS file (original recording 1440x1080i) I get:
(file names edited to show what mode gives what resolution)

01/28/2009 05:20 PM 2,464 Bangkok Danger_0000.idx
01/28/2009 05:20 PM 4,228 Bangkok Danger_0000.ifo
01/28/2009 05:20 PM 10,780,672 Bangkok Danger_0000.trp
01/28/2009 05:26 PM 10,216,672 Bangkok Danger_0000.ts

02/09/2009 09:19 PM 13,779,186 BD DivxPlusHD 1440x1080.mkv
02/09/2009 09:07 PM 10,712,780 BD HD1080p 1920x1080.divx
02/09/2009 08:59 PM 10,035,310 BD HD720p 1276x720.divx
02/09/2009 08:51 PM 3,826,126 BD HomeTheatre 720x400.divx

02/09/2009 08:24 PM 10,478,910 BD Super NC 4032 FR Divx.AVI (not very good conversion using Super)


(... note re above - it seems the Divx conversion mode selection button is a big buggy - it does not use the selected conversion mode until after a conversion is done? Ie it uses the previous setting for the current conversion? )

Too bad the Divx conversion settings are a bit TOO simple - you don't find out the actual output file resolution until after you analyze the resulting output file.

To give you an idea of conversion time: it takes a few minutes to convert a 20 second HD TS recording (10MB) on my P4 2.6GHz box. A full movie of about 4GB to 5GB will take about a day or so to convert to Divx.

[VaqueroEsq]

Just a note to say I was successful in converting a HD TS file to a Divx AVI file.

I used Divx Converter V7 with its MPG2 addon to convert directly from TS to AVI.

A 4.3GB TS 1440x1080i file (combined from the original VS9000HD TRP files) was converted into a 3.0GB Divx 1276x720p AVI file with AC3 audio. The AVI file is (to my eyes) the same quality playback as the original TS file.

The conversion took about 2-1/2 days on my P4 2.6Ghz box.

[VaqueroEsq]

Good news. I tried TMPGenc Express 4 and it converted the 4.3GB TS file into a 2.7GB AVI Divx 1280x720p file in about 15 hours. That's 5 times faster than Divx7 Converter.

[VaqueroEsq]

Not sure if it is me, or the software, however, TMPGenc Express 4 sometimes does not like to load a TS file that is a recording of a SD channel? Not a big deal though - I just convert it to MPEG first using MPEG Streamclip.

SD recordings:
- convert TRP to TS using h264Cutter (quick)
- convert TS to MPEG using MPEG Streamclip (quick)
- convert (and trim) MPEG to Divx AVI using TMPGEnc
(last step is the longest step - about 2 to 4 hours on my slow P4 for a typical SD movie)
(or use your favorite conversion software for the last step, does not need to know about HD H264 AVC).

HD recordings:
- convert TRP to TS using h264Cutter (quick)
- convert (and trim) TS to Divx AVI using TMPGEnc
(last step is the longest step - about 10 to 15 hours on my slow P4 for a typical HD movie)
(or use your favorite conversion software for the last step; needs to know how to handle HD TS H264 AVC files).

I've now got a bunch of HD recordings (about 5GB to 8GB each, about 80GB total) that will be converted to Divx AVI. I transferred to them to the computer overnight, so now will start processing them. This will give me the start of a better movie library using HD recordings rather than SD Rips of DVDs.

[mjl12407]

Sticky if i have ever seen one, nice read my friend!