How to author DVD from Humax 9200T??

[2tox]

Apologies - I am a video novice!

I have bought the new Humax 9200T PVR, which records digital terrestrial tv to its hard disc. It has a USB connection for downloading tv files.

I have successfully transferred a short tv recording to my laptop. At first I could not view it but now, after downloading an mpeg-2 codec, it works in Windows Media Player. Also, I have found a nice freeware player, the GOM Player, that does not need extra codecs.

I can burn the recording to a dvd and play the disc in the same laptop media players but the file format is wrong for a normal dvd player.

I have been told that the Humax file is mpeg-ts but I do not understand what that is. How do I convert it to make a playable dvd? My dvd player will read both dvd+r and dvd-r discs, and I can burn both in my laptop.

My thanks to anyone who can help!

[2tox]

Apologies - I am a video novice!......
......I have been told that the Humax file is mpeg-ts but I do not understand what that is. How do I convert it to make a playable dvd?

I have made some progress. I have found that MusicFactory4 can read and burn my Humax tv recording, after I have run it through a program called VideoReDo. I have burned a 5-minute clip to a video-cd. The sound quality is excellent but the picture is not acceptable - there is shadowing around moving objects, rather like viewing the picture under water with ripples on the surface.

What do I not understand? How can adjust settings to get good pictures? Thanks again!

[DVDDoug]

I can burn the recording to a dvd and play the disc in the same laptop media players but the file format is wrong for a normal dvd player. ...My dvd player will read both dvd+r and dvd-r discs, and I can burn both in my laptop.

That is WEIRD! Whenever I've had a "bad" file, The various Ulead programs would refuse to continue (or crash).

I have burned a 5-minute clip to a video-cd.

Video CDs have a lower bitrate than (typical) DVDs. Do you have a DVD burner? Since you are are a novice, pick-up a couple of DVD-RW's so that you can experiment without making "coasters".

FYI- VideoReDo will not reduce the bitrate (or video resolution/quality of your files.)

TS = Transmission Stream.
PS = Program Stream.

A DVD or a "regular" MPEG video file is a PS. Real-time over-the-air MPEG is a TS. I gather that sometimes "captured" broadcasts are also stored as TS's.

[2tox]

I would think that you have spotted the issue. I am using a Dell 5160, which contains a Sony DVD+/-RW burner. I'll go buy some DVD-RWs tomorrow and shall post the result of the trial here.

MovieFactory4 would not accept the TS file. I happened to see a reference to VideoReDo in another forum and so decided to download and try it. I have no understanding of what the application actually does but it modified the TS file in some way that made the result acceptable for burning by MF4. Maybe it converted it from TS to PS?

Re your 'weird' comment: I had expressed myself badly - sorry. What I meant was that I can burn the TS file unchanged, as a data file. That can be read in my Dell by a media player with the correct codec - but not in a DVD player.

[rwernyei]

Try this, it's free.

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=HDTVtoMPEG2

[2tox]

Success at last! I burned the file to a DVD-R with MF4 and both the sound and picture quality are as originally captured by my new PVR. The first attempt had simply demonstrated the limitations of VCD. Doug - thanks again for your advice.

Now for the next task - to find a way of capturing a few VHS tapes and archiving them to DVD, so that we can dispose of the VHS machine!