Hi.
I'm trying to help a friend out with an annoying problem.

We have copied some files from a Humax 9200 by connecting the hard drive to the pc directly and then using HumaxRW to extract the files.
The TS files play OK in VLC. We are now trying to convert them to DVDs.

We were using VideoReDo TV Suite V3.1.4.549 and the QuickStream Fix function worked OK.
We then upgraded to V3.15.564 and now it doesn't. It reaches the output complete window but shows 0 frames processed in 0 seconds! The "actual video bitate" shows "-1.#J" Mbps which seems a tad strange.
Can anyone shed any light please? Maybe it is just a setting issue.

We updated because we had another problem with the early version. When the QuickStream Fixed MPG OR the completed DVD files were played the audio wasn't working. It stuttered from the beginning and then throughout the file. He's using an oldish copy of WinDVD V4.5 - that plays back all other DVDs OK, ripped ones, originals, and some created on his home DVD recorder that have been backed up to the pc.
If we try and play either the fixed MPG or VOB file in VLC they are OK. They also play OK in VirtualDub_MPEG.
If we examine the file information in VirtualDub_MPEG we can see that the files that don't play correctly (audio stutter) have audio information of:

48KHz mixed stereo, 128Kbps layer II.

Those files that successfully play back in WinDVD, created via VideoReDo have audio information of:

48KHz stereo, 256Kbps layer II.

And those created by the home DVD recorder are:
48KHz stereo, 256Kbps AC-3.

Could there be an issue with the mixed stereo output?

Again, if anyone has some ideas please pass them on!
Many thanks.
Stu.

I am using 3.1.5.564 with no problem so the version isn't an issue. VRDo always saves in audio in mpeg unless it isn't changing anything as it has no licence for AC3. You cannot join clips with the different audio. Do I take it that these failed clips will actually play on VRDo? If not, we'd better sort that first. There was a problem with .ts files - go to "Tools" > "Option" > "Stream parameters" and make sure "Ignore transport stream maps" is ticked. I've played with VRDo and my Humax 9200 an awful lot so come back to me if you don't get any joy. Have a look at the VRDo Forum also:
http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/index.php

EDIT: I've just had another look at your post - you CANNOT join clips with differing mpeg audio either but it will always tell you. Instead of QSFix have you tried "save as" and tried altering output options?

Big fan of VideoReDo - I spotted the Audio 'problem' the other day and - as was said I changed the Audio output settings of the clips - easy but - several stage process -

1. Load the first clip as usual - don't bother to trim it just Save it as-is - BUT in Save - select Options - and change the Audio Properties - Encoding to MPEG - then Save.

2. Load the second clip and do the same with it - now you have 2 clips with the same Audio stream.

3. Load these - use Join - to put them together and Join.

4. Load the resulting clip and Edit as you would normally.

Good luck

Thanks for replying both of you. I shall have another look later. We weren't trying to join any files but having re-read my post I can see how that may have appeared to be the case. Initially we were just trying to produce DVD folders on the pc from single TS files, 1 file per DVD.

I'll get my friend to check all the settings and see what happens.
All the raw TS files played OK in VideoReDo.

Right, load the .ts then trim/crop bits out as required, if any and save as an mpeg, altering any output options if required (I usually use the defaults and "no change" with AR set to Auto unless I'm up to something). Close the file, open the new file, click on "make DVD". If the .ts is playing audio and video in VRDo then there should not be a problem.

Thanks again to both of you.

I think we have sorted it now. The tips about changing the audio to MPEG seem to have worked and the audio has changed from mixed stereo to stereo and now plays ok in WinDVD. The other suggestion to change the 'ignore transport streams' setting might have done the trick too.

The problem with QuickStream Fix not processing any frames at all and chucking up the weird bitrate count seems to have been a licensing problem caused by upgrading incorrectly.

Am I right in thinking that if he saves the TS file to an MPG straight away (or after making any cuts) there will be no loss in quality, it is just changing the structure to make it DVD compliant?
Thanks.

There's no loss of quality, videoredo only encodes at edits and preserves the original mpeg2 data (That's why it's so quick)

Graham - when it just encodes at the edit points is it just making a DVD compliant/an MPEG standard file around those frames affected by the cut? i.e. when the cuts are made it breaks the structure and those points need to be re-structured correctly?
Thanks.

Correct it creates a new I frame and gop for the edit points to produce a seamless mpeg stream. The more edits you have it takes slightly longer to convert. Very clever programme, in my opinion.

Yes, from the little I have played with it that would seem to be true. The lack of need to re-encode the majority of the file seems very useful. I might have to invest in a copy for myself as it also seems quite nicely priced.

I noticed in the VideoReDo help file that:
"Compliant transport streams are always constant bit rate files. Empty space in the file is full with Null packets to insure that the bit rate remains constant. This can cause very large files to be created if the multiplex rate is significantly higher than that required by the audio and video streams. When this option is checked, Null packets will be not be output. This option is safe to use with many software players. However, for fully compliant streams which may be broadcast, please leave this option checked."
When a TS file is saved as an MPEG (without any cuts) we have noticed that the file size drops, e.g. one very short recording is 274,159 KB and drops to an MPEG of 263,656KB. Could one of the reasons be that VideoReDo is automatically removing any null packets. I would guess that UK DVB transmissions use constant bit rates and therefore will have null packets? Is that correct?

On a related note concerning VideoRedo we noticed that when the Show Video Program Info tool is used the quoted bitrate always seems to be 15Mbps. Is there a bug? By my, possibly incorrect maths...
If the file size of that small clip is 274,159KB
= (274,159*8) Kbits = 2,193,272Kbits = 2,193,272,000 bits.
The file is 9min 51s long = (9*60 + 51s) = 591seconds
Therefore the bitrate is 2,193,272,000 / 591 = 3,710,659bits per second or rather 3.7Mbps.

That roughly agrees with a figure of 3.34Mbps produced by the QuickStream Fix function when applied to the TS file,
Audio output frames: 24652
Processing time (secs): 15
Processed frames/sec: 952.29
Actual Video Bitrate: 3.34 Mbps

Are my maths right?

Thanks. Stu

OK just remembered that the video info in VideoReDo is just that.... VIDEO info.

Using VirtualDub to examine the file I can see that the audio takes up 18,489KB so that would need to be subtracted from the original TS file size to compare against the figures produced from the QuickStream Fix quoted bitrate. When I do that I get a calculated bitrate of about 3.46Mbps which is closer again.

So is the 15Mbps just a bug when TS files are examined? If I open a VOB file as a test the quoted bitrate seems more accurate.

I suspect so - it's never made any sense to me either! I've tried to use it when expanding a miniaturised version of closing credits which the BBC do (don't you just love the way they suddenly jump on the magic of an ending by shouting at you what the next programme will be) but it always shows that - or sometimes other strange values. It's not bothered me as most of the time I just do "no change", after all one cannot make the .ts any better than its actual bit rate. If something I've done won't fit on a size 5 then I have to manually set lower rates until it does.

Some suggestions, some DVB-T and DVB-S transmissions sharing the same mux/transponder are stat muxed so are not a constant bitrate, the total bitrate is shared dynamically between the channels accordimg to the current video content.

Transport stream files can have a significant amount of non mpeg video data in the file header when output as a programme stream .mpg this data will not be there so the output file will be smaller even if no changes to the actual mpeg data is made.

Going to have a play with some content to see if I get similar results.

A transport steam file from a topfield pvr (.rec) of wired (1H) reports an original size of 1504962560 bytes

Converted to .mpg using videoredo plus without any edits gives a report of 2.84Mbps and 93262 frames (62 mins) in 310 sec and a file of 1496902852 bytes. Here's the output file details

General
Complete name : L:\Wired\Wired-2.mpg
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1.37 GiB
Duration : 1h 2mn
Overall bit rate : 3 152 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 1h 2mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 2 771 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 4 000 Kbps
Width : 704 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.273
Stream size : 1.20 GiB (88%)

Audio
ID : 192 (0xC0)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Duration : 1h 2mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 114 MiB (8%)

That's reminded me - I think VRDo only looks at the header or the opening for its bitrate figure. You can, and indeed do, get variable bit rate with VRDo from an off air recording. As Graham says, the overall average bit rate gets shown in the report at the end of saving a file.

JamesE:
I know what you mean about the credits. I always think it is a bit insulting to those who made the programme and quite often ruins a good bit of music too.
If VRDo only looks at the file header to get the bitrate is there something in the Humax headers that it doesn't like? Afterall why do all the TS files I have looked at so far show the same 15Mbps? I guess it doesn't really matter as long as the output is OK and like you said you can't add extra bitrate to the original file.

grahamlthompson:
I didn't realise that the bitrates can be dynamic on some muxes/transponders. I had an inkling that there might be extra data lurking in the TS file that might be non-Mpeg compatible. That one hour Topfield recording works out at about 3.2Mbps by my maths so we must be in agreement near enough

1,504,962,560 bytes = 12,039.700,480 bits
62mins = 3720 seconds
so it is roughly 3.2Mbps.

I know it only accounts for a few bytes but I've just checked with a Humax 9200>PC .TS file, VLC can play it back with DVB English subtitles whereas with a VideoRedo converted .TS>.MPG during playback, VLC offers only to open a subtitle file, ie. it finds none in the .MPG.

If you look at a topfield .rec file in a binary editor you will see that a large block at the start contains all the data required for the info screens. videoredo can add this header to a file to create a ts file that can be uploaded and played back on a Toppy.