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WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 5:09 pm
by Crash2009
I have a Samsung tv that refuses to play WTV or DVRMS files. The TV files play well at any Win 7 workstation, and even on my one and only XP box. I did a little reading around here, and one of the suggestions that I found was to convert the WTV to WMV using Window Live Movie Maker. The WMV plays good on the Samsung. I am just looking for a better way to do this. The conversion process takes more than 2 hours for a 30 minute show. The WTV is only 503 MB to start with, and the WMV ends up to be 2500 MB.

I was also thinking about putting this (in stock spare) IBM eServer 325 to work to do the conversions. 4 GB ram, dual Opteron 2.2 ghz's.

Maybe I am just overlooking a setting? Or perhaps there is a better way?

Thank-you in advance for any suggestions you can make.

Crash2009

WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 5:25 pm
by StumpyBloke
What do you mean they refuse to play?

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 5:41 pm
by Crash2009
I can see the WTV files from the Samsung TV. When I select a file to watch, the Samsung trys to open the file. Then the Samsung gives me an error message that it is unable to play the file.

WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 5:57 pm
by StumpyBloke
Hang on, you are on about using the TVs built in media player rather than playing through Windows Media Center aren't you?

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 8:27 pm
by Crash2009
Yes, that is correct. I would like to watch my recorded WTV files on a Samsung TV. Would be nice if I didn't have to convert the WTV files to a format that my Samsung TV can play. If I must convert the files from WTV to "something" that a Samsung can play, it would be nice to do the conversion in a reasonable time.

RE: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 12:08 pm
by holidayboy
There are several programs that will convert wtv files to other formats, you need to find out what formats your tv supports and then try to transcode the wtv files (convert them without having to swap codecs).
If you post the tv model / supported formats then we'll be able to give more advice.

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 2:22 pm
by Crash2009
The model # of the Samsung is UN32D5500RF. I will try to upload a jpg from the manual.

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 2:27 pm
by Crash2009
Three file max, no wonder it didn't work the first time.

RE: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:25 am
by holidayboy
Mpg is shown as supported so assuming the recordings are mpeg2 then that would be my first choice, you can try using dvrmstoolbox to convert a wtv file to mpg and see how you go, make sure you choose a profile that will not re-encode the video - that's what takes a long time.

http://babgvant.com

I see that mkv is there too so that's another option, especially if you have h.264 recordings.

There are also paid for programs such as videoredo. Others here probably have more suggestions.

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:58 am
by gpatlanta
I noticed in our profile you are using an Infinitv and Comcast. This won't work for DRM protected files. For those you would need an extender.

RE: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 11:34 am
by holidayboy
Good point!

I should have looked, it's not easy on the wp7 tapatalk app.

No drm over here :)

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:57 pm
by Crash2009
Thank-you Holidayboy! Dvrmstoolbox works just fine for me. Not sure if this is what I was supposed to do but I opened DTBVideoeditor, I left all the settings set to default, with the exception of the output file which I set to mpg. Hit enter and the file was converted (transcoded ?) in minutes rather than hours. Tested the new mpg file on the Samsung, plays fine.

Gpatlanta, thank-you for your advice as well. I am currently running a minimal cable package, with NO cableCARD. Apparently, the Ceton Infini4 pciE is not even supposed to work configured the way I have it set up. When I configured Media Center, I did so manually, under the assumption that I had a cableCARD. This is all going to change soon, when I upgrade the phone/internet/cable to all Comcast. Likely, at that time, I will have a need for an extender. Which extender (or type of) would you recomend? And also, if I did get an extender, would this eliminate the need to convert files with software?

Any tips on organizing these copies of files so that they are easy for my wife to find when she is watching recorded TV? Should I just throw the mpgs in the mpg folder in the root of the storage drive?

RE: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:08 am
by holidayboy
Good stuff :)

It's worth renaming the files to episode number/name and having a subfolder for each series in the mpg folder I guess.

dvrmstb has lots of options, I don't know if it can rename files for you based on episode name in the metadata - it's a while since I used it.

You could use a program to rename the wtv files before you convert them - they should still be organised OK in the MC recorded TV library.

I can't remember which program I used a while back, it organised tv recordings into subfolders for you, it might be in the 3rd party forum here.

I assume the TV just has a simple file browser?

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 3:03 am
by Crash2009
Yes, I think you would call it a simple file browser. You can navigate deep into directorys and use "upper folder" to back your way out. The picture didn't turn out very well, but for example Simpsons "Love Blatually" was listed 4 times. The original WTV, a DVR-MS, an AVI that I made with Windows Live Movie Maker, and finally the file you helped me with- a MPG. When I am using the Samsung file browser it doesn't tell me which one of the four is the MPG.

I might just get in the habit of deleting the original WTV, so there is only one copy for the Samsung to display, the MPG. I was just asking the question to see if this was a common problem with a common solution. If not, my delete key works quite well.

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:12 am
by holidayboy
Could you not save the converted .mpg files to a completely different folder when you use dvrmstb, well away from the .wtv files - and then only navigate to that folder on the TV?

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:43 pm
by barnabas1969
I have a Samsung TV with the same functionality. Basically, it is a DLNA client that can browse the files that are published by Windows Media Player (not to be confused with Windows Media Center). Any file that is defined in Media Player's libraries will be displayed on the TV. The TV is limited as to which file types and audio/video encoding that can be played. It's really a very clunky interface compared to Media Center...

So, my question is this: Why not connect the PC to your TV via HDMI, or as an alternative, use an extender? This would allow you to use the native Media Center interface, which is MUCH nicer than the clunky interface on the TV.

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:44 pm
by barnabas1969
I should add that my TV also allows "Play-To". This is where you can define the TV as a device in Windows, and then in Media Player, you can push an audio/video file to the TV. The same restrictions on file types and encoding applies.

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:12 pm
by Crash2009
Holidayboy, yes that is exactly what I had to do. I created a folder named Samsung_mpg. Then made that folder the default export folder for dvrmtoolbox. When we want to watch recorded TV from the Samsung, we just navigate to D:\Samsung_mpg (just 2 clicks) and all the converted to mpg files are there. This is an acceptable workaround for my wife, doesn't cost me any $$$, and doesn't take much time to do the conversions from WTV to MPG. All in all, this is workable and is a great improvement from where I was at a few days ago.

Barnabas, Yes, I agree that the Samsung interface is clunky (to put it mildly) compared to WMC. It would be a great improvement to have the WMC interface displayed on the Samsung. The television is installed in a "smoking permitted" room. I would prefer to keep the HTPC installed in a "non smoking" room. The distance for a wire run is about 50 feet. I do have in stock a couple "smoking permitted" laptops. I was thinking along the lines of pulling another network wire for a laptop. Then plugging the laptop into the Samsung's VGA. I understand HDMI is a better input.

Would an extender be a better alternative than a laptop? If so, what model/type extender would you recomend?

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 2:58 pm
by barnabas1969
Most folks will steer you to the XBox as an extender. Of course, the Ceton Echo is supposed to be out this year... and I have high hopes that it will be a great one. I, personally, prefer the HP X280N. You can get them on e-bay for anywhere between $50 and $150. The X280N works fine for me... but I don't have any ripped files... just recorded TV.

Yes, an extender is a better choice than a 2nd PC with a drive mapped to the PC where the recordings are stored. Have you considered running a 50' HDMI cable? You can get them at monoprice.com. You can use a USB extender to put an IR dongle in the "smoking room".

Re: WTV or DVRMS to SAMSUNG

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:21 pm
by Crash2009
barnabas1969 wrote:Most folks will steer you to the XBox as an extender. Of course, the Ceton Echo is supposed to be out this year... and I have high hopes that it will be a great one. I, personally, prefer the HP X280N. You can get them on e-bay for anywhere between $50 and $150. The X280N works fine for me... but I don't have any ripped files... just recorded TV.

Yes, an extender is a better choice than a 2nd PC with a drive mapped to the PC where the recordings are stored. Have you considered running a 50' HDMI cable? You can get them at monoprice.com. You can use a USB extender to put an IR dongle in the "smoking room".
So, there are a few different ways to go after this problem:

1- I can just use the WTV to MPG converter and continue using the clunky Samsung TV interface.
2- I could buy an extender, which would extend WMC but not the rest of the desktop ie: internet, e-mail, etc.
3- Leave the HTPC where it sits right now and extend the input devices (keyboard, mouse, handheld remote) and the display.
4- Use the Samsung as the display for the laptop while I shop for the end result.

I think I am going to start out with (4) and work towards (3). 50 foot HDMI cable about 50 bucks for the display. I was looking around at some USB extender over ethernet with power supply around 30 bucks. Probably need some sort of USB hub for all the input devices. Looks like the cost would be a couple hundred and a Saturday afternoon.