Force MPEG2 recording?

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jriker1

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Force MPEG2 recording?

#1

Post by jriker1 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:20 pm

I recently have been playing with a number of add-ons to my Windows 7 MCE setup including removing commercials using VideoReDo. I've noticed also in using tools like MCEBuddy or basically ffmpeg, that converting or modifying MPEG2 based files are fine but anything in H.264 format becomes jerky. Comskip is having iss with what frame rate the videos are at and in general annoying. I even noticed mid season Blindspot changed from recording in MPEG2 to H.264. Is there a way to control the codec used for encoding the WTV files with? Like force them all to stay at MPEG2? Maybe I'm not getting it, but being a live stream, would like to think it can save the incoming stream with whatever codec it wants.

Thanks.

JR

mldenison

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#2

Post by mldenison » Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:25 pm

I can't help you on that, but I have VideoRedo. Can you tell me or point me to where I can incorporate commercial removal with it? Do you have it to where it runs automatically like comskip?

Thanks

jriker1

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#3

Post by jriker1 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 12:00 am

mldenison wrote:I can't help you on that, but I have VideoRedo. Can you tell me or point me to where I can incorporate commercial removal with it? Do you have it to where it runs automatically like comskip?

Thanks
Depends. I didn't use VideoRedo's commercial removal as it was less capable then comskip. VideoReDo literally striped out whole segments of the show. Comskip may leave segments of commercials in but if you want to automate this, at least it didn't touch the shows themselves. Are you preferring to use VideoReDo for everything?

Thanks.

JR

jachin99

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#4

Post by jachin99 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 12:31 am

Do a search on the forums. I do this using comskip video redo and vap. I think the thread is called best setup for removing commercials

Space

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#5

Post by Space » Tue Apr 17, 2018 12:32 am

Generally, WMC just saves the stream in whatever format it is sent in from the provider. I have not heard of shows on the same channel having different encodings (as you posted in another thread), but it is possible for it to change mid-season if your cable company transitioned from MPEG2 to h.264 on that particular channel (usually the entire channel is either MPEG2 or h.264).

As for recording a h.264 channel as MPEG2 in real time, I am not aware of anything that can do this, but I do know that the transcoding version of the SiliconDust tuners (the EXTEND) can convert an MPEG2 stream to h.264 on the fly (not sure if it can go the other way). Note that the EXTEND only works with ATSC signals (digital over the air signals, not digital cable).

WMC itself does not do any encoding as far as I know, it just saves the stream in to a container (WTV) in whichever format it receives it.

jriker1

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#6

Post by jriker1 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 12:46 am

That's what I figured and won't get into a list of my conversions I'm doing right now and which shows did MPEG2 and which did H.264 on the same channel but was hoping there was a way to force MPEG2 encoding on all shows. Only possible way around it is if VideoReDo can convert H.264 to MPEG2 without any frame issues. Xbox just locked up again just now on American Idol which is H.264 Ugh. Issue with the conversion is splicing out commercials and leaving the encoding alone is 2 minutes, conversion can take an hour so trying to avoid it.

JR

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DavidinCT

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#7

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Apr 17, 2018 7:41 pm

As Space said, I dont actually think there is a way to do what your looking for, unless you use some 3rd party program that kicks off as soon as show is completed to transcode/convert the file format. Even if you did that, I could see that to be not the best option for that.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

jriker1

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#8

Post by jriker1 » Wed Apr 18, 2018 12:29 am

Yeah though if you do convert a H.264 WTV to a MPEG2 WTV file, then the problem everyone is having with lockups with extenders goes away. Just have to have delays in watching the shows. Assuming I can get it to re-encode without any framerate issues. Right now with commercials stripped out I don't have to jump at all so it's an improvement. And for now faster than re-encoding by just splicing out commercials.

JR

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