Importing Tivo Files

batallion · Post by **batallion** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:25 pm

I typically use VSE9 to create season disks of my favorite tv shows. I have a TIVO unit with a dvd burner that I use to create dvd files. I then use Nero recode to edit out the commercials and create a VOB file for each episode that I import into VSE9. This works fine, but I also have my tivo unit networked so that I can transfer the video file directly to my PC. The problem I have is that I can't get VSE9 to recognize the video file that is created by Tivo. In fact, I can only get the tivo file to play properly using windows media player 6.4. The newer players crash when I try to play the file. I've tried changing the .tivo file to a .mpg file, but VSE9 doesn't recognize it. Does anyone try to do something similar, or know thow to import Tivo files into VSE9?

On another note, I create DVD files by using the share/create disc/add project option all the time. I've never had a problem doing this, and wonder why it seems to be frowned upon.

Thanks for any help.

rguthrie · Post by **rguthrie** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:43 pm

batallion,

Try this link http://www.zatznotfunny.com/ttg.htm#freempg. I got it from searching http://www.videohelp.com

BTW, I have Media Center, not TIVO, so I don't don't if this works.

Hope it helps,
Ron

batallion · Post by **batallion** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 11:44 pm

rguthrie wrote:batallion,

Try this link http://www.zatznotfunny.com/ttg.htm#freempg. I got it from searching http://www.videohelp.com

BTW, I have Media Center, not TIVO, so I don't don't if this works.

Hope it helps,
Ron

Ron,

Got a program from that website that does exactly what I need. Thanks.

mathis · Post by **mathis** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 3:10 pm

Batallion,
Have you sucessusfully burned a usable DVD with the program you downloaded at the site mentioned below? I found a program that converts from Tivo to MPG just fine, but when I burn them to DVD, the sound goes about two to five minutes ahead of the video. If the program you got here works, let me know so I can get it. The program I got is VideoRedo Plus, and it is very easy to use, but the sound is my problem. I have four more more days on the trial, so I don't want to buy it if I can't burn DVDs with the MPGs it makes. I tried the My Sonic that Tivo recomends, and the sound was messed up on it, too. So far I've wasted about 7 DVDs trying to do this. But I don't like having to use the analog option to get the shows from my Tivo to my computer.

Thanks
Mathis...

batallion wrote:
rguthrie wrote:batallion,

Try this link http://www.zatznotfunny.com/ttg.htm#freempg. I got it from searching http://www.videohelp.com

BTW, I have Media Center, not TIVO, so I don't don't if this works.

Hope it helps,
Ron
Ron,

Got a program from that website that does exactly what I need. Thanks.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:26 pm

I thought one of the main objects of Video ReDo was precisely to bring out-of-sync video and audio back into sync...? What audio format do you use in Video ReDo?

mathis · Post by **mathis** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:56 pm

I didn't see any options to change anything until you mentioned this, Ken. So, I just checked and it's set to "No Change" and a bit rate of 256.

My options are MPEG or LPCM/WAV. And the rage options for Bit Rate for MPEG are:
64, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320, 384.

LPCM/WAVE grays out 256 and cannot be changed.

Thanks.
Mathis...

Ken Berry wrote:I thought one of the main objects of Video ReDo was precisely to bring out-of-sync video and audio back into sync...? What audio format do you use in Video ReDo?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:23 pm

Unfortunately, I have quite an old version of ReDo (1.6) so am not sure about the settings in the latest version of which you have the trial copy. But in mine, under Tools, there is the Audio Synchronisation option which allows you to vary the audio placement by up to one second in either direction. And you can repeat this operation several times until the sync is satisfactory. I also only seem to have the choice between primary and elementary stream audio (that's mpeg layer 2 and .mpa) and .WAV, with no LPCM.

I am not sure where you are in the world (NTSC or PAL), but my own choice would be LPCM (if I had it!) if you are in an NTSC country. This is because mpeg layer 2 audio is not part of the NTSC DVD standard. While it is used in programs like VS9, that does not mean every NTSC stand-alone DVD player will in fact play it. It also seems to cause its own out-of-sync problems when used in VS9, which may or may not be related to the problem you are having. But LPCM is a part of both NTSC and PAL DVD standards. If you are in a PAL country, you could of course opt for mpeg audio. But in ReDo my tendency would still be to go for LPCM, and then in VS9, change this to Dolby AC-3 at 256 kbps.

mathis · Post by **mathis** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:22 am

Thanks, Ken.

I'm in Texas (NTSC country). The problem with trying to get in sync is that when I play the converted MPEG on my computer, it works perfectly. It's only after I burn it to DVD with VS9 (that's all I've tried so far) that the sound gets ahead of the video.

Okay, I just resaved the mpg to mpg format with the LPCM/WAV and when I get home from Church tonight, I'll see if it will burn properly.

Thanks again.

Mathis...

phd · Post by **phd** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:49 am

Mathis: LPCM is uncompressed audio so there is no bitrate option in VRD. This function does not adjust audio sync. It merely converts to MPEG or LPCM audio.
Does the output file play in-sync when loaded back into VRD?

Also post over at the VRD forum. http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/index.php
They have lots of users who edit tivo files and create DVDs

Ken: New version of VideoReDo Plus allow you to convert your audio to MPEG or LPCM. It takes about the same time as simple output without audio conversion.

mathis · Post by **mathis** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 11:53 am

Phd, yes, as long as I keep the MPG in my computer, it is in sync. It's when I burn it to DVD that it gets out of sync. I copied the VOB file from the DVD and changed the extension to MPG and loaded it in both Windows Media Player and VRD and it's out of sync. It was too late when I got back from church last night to try to burn with the LPCM option, but I'll get that done later and get back to you on the results.

Thanks for the link to the VRD forum. I'll check it out.

Mathis...

phd wrote:Mathis: LPCM is uncompressed audio so there is no bitrate option in VRD. This function does not adjust audio sync. It merely converts to MPEG or LPCM audio.
Does the output file play in-sync when loaded back into VRD?

Also post over at the VRD forum. http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/index.php
They have lots of users who edit tivo files and create DVDs

Ken: New version of VideoReDo Plus allow you to convert your audio to MPEG or LPCM. It takes about the same time as simple output without audio conversion.

phd · Post by **phd** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:11 pm

Do you still have the original File? You should check the AV sync in the original and output files.

Do you burn and author as 2 separate steps? That helped me keep AV sync with DMF.

You can manually perform a sync adjustment on the VOBs as well in VRD. Tools>Adjust Audio Synchronization

The new VRD also can autocombine your VOBs into 1 contiguous file so you could adjust the sync all at one time.

Also, in Ulead, make sure "Normalize audio" is deselected and "Do not convert compliant..." is checked.

Author and burn as 2 separate steps. Confirm that sync is OK on the DVD folder first.

How long does it take to author to the DVD folder? Ulead works best when it does not have to reencode your material.

mathis · Post by **mathis** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:39 pm

phd wrote:Do you still have the original File? You should check the AV sync in the original and output files.

No, phd, I don't have the orginal file, but I have another one I can test this on.

Do you burn and author as 2 separate steps? That helped me keep AV sync with DMF.

I've never done that before. I've always just created the DVD from Create Disk in UVS9. I'll give it a try.

You can manually perform a sync adjustment on the VOBs as well in VRD. Tools>Adjust Audio Synchronization

The new VRD also can autocombine your VOBs into 1 contiguous file so you could adjust the sync all at one time.

Also, in Ulead, make sure "Normalize audio" is deselected and "Do not convert compliant..." is checked.

I tried that, and it didn't help any.

Author and burn as 2 separate steps. Confirm that sync is OK on the DVD folder first.

Okay, I'll give that a shot and will let you know what happens.

How long does it take to author to the DVD folder? Ulead works best when it does not have to reencode your material.

I'll have to check that, too.

mathis · Post by **mathis** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 2:33 am

Okay, phd,
I finally got a moment to test these suggestions out. They didn't work. Since the one I tested it on is only a half hour show, it took about 2 1/2 minutes to reencode it. I loaded it up in VRD and when it gets to the first commercial, it freezes and I can't even drag the bar on to get out of the commercial. Okay, I just tried to drag it again and got a popup error that says "Problem while seeking to: (location). Please concider running Tools> Quickstream fix."

Running it gave me:

Output Complete

Audio frame errors: 1
Video resync frames removed: 9503
Audio resync frames removed: 3253
Video output frames: 42599
Audio output frames: 853780
Processing time (secs): 63
Processed frames/sec: 667.06
Actual Video Bitrate: 1.45 Mbps

I opened up the file it created and in the middle of the commercial that froze is where the sound went into the future. I used the audio sync option and moved the bar all the way to the left, and I although it's really choppy, I could tell that what was being said was still in the future, I couldn't go back far enough to get the commercial.

Okay, I went back to the original and removed all commercials and tried it again. This time I did check "Use Movie Factory" and used Movie Factory to create it. It took almost 8 minutes to render.

I ran the VOB file in Nero Smart and PowerDVD and it worked perfectly.

Okay, I'm ready to send it to the DVD. When I finished rendering the folder, I closed out DVD MovieFactory and MSP 8. So, how do I get them onto the DVD? Do I just copy the folders over?

Thanks!
Mathis....

phd wrote:Do you still have the original File? You should check the AV sync in the original and output files.

Do you burn and author as 2 separate steps? That helped me keep AV sync with DMF.

You can manually perform a sync adjustment on the VOBs as well in VRD. Tools>Adjust Audio Synchronization

The new VRD also can autocombine your VOBs into 1 contiguous file so you could adjust the sync all at one time.

Also, in Ulead, make sure "Normalize audio" is deselected and "Do not convert compliant..." is checked.

Author and burn as 2 separate steps. Confirm that sync is OK on the DVD folder first.

How long does it take to author to the DVD folder? Ulead works best when it does not have to reencode your material.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:24 am

When you say you have a folder, I am assuming it is now a Video_TS folder. If so, then re-open Nero, go to DVD > DVD Video Options > Burn DVD Video Files, and point it at your folder address, transfer the Video_TS folder into the burning frame (second from left of the four that appear in the Nero screen), give it a name, assign a burn speed, and burn. If you burn at 4x, it will take not quite 14 minutes. You can also use the Ulead DVD VCD Disc Image Recorder that will appear on the same menu as VS 8 or 9...

Edit: You can of course use MF to burn the final disc. In MF4, Choose Copy or Fit Disc > Burn DVD Folder to Disc. In MF 3.5 or before, choose Copy of Fit Disc, and on the screen that appears, choose Browse for DVD Folder as the source.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:09 am

Mathis
I am just quickly browsing through at the moment and picked up a couple of points you mention which may have already been solved above.

You say you wasted a few DVD discs.
2 options here:
Burn to a Hard Drive folder and check it with one of the following:
Power DVD
Ulead DVD Player 2
Nero showtime
or anything similar.
Alternatively use a RW disc.

You are having problems with VideoRedo.
There is an alternative which I find more powerful
Womble MPEG Editor http://www.womble.com/download/

If all else fails I have details how to do a last resort fix to get the audio/video more or less back into synch
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=11524

This is as I say a last resort, you should try all other methods first.

Steve J