[Alan Thew]

Can anyone recommend any software for very basic editing (topping, tailing and cutting out the adverts) of the transport stream (.ts) video files saved by my free-to-air satellite receiver box?

I don't want to have to re-encode the files, so chopping to the nearest keyframe will be fine. Something that keeps the audio in synch and preferably doesn't strip out the subtitles stream would be brilliant. Running on Linux, if possible -- though I have a Windows machine too. Am I asking too much?

[Mr Dos]

I use VideoRedo to edit TV programs from Windows Media Center - frame copy with no re-encoding. The website claims .ts file support and has a free trial offer.

http://www.videoredo.com/en/ProductTVS.htm

[plugs13amp]

I can confirm VideoReDo does support .ts files. I've used it to edit .ts files from my Humax, and was happy enough with it to buy a licence. Unfortunately, it doesn't keep the subtitles - at least not the slightly older version that I have. Subtitle is something that has been requested on their forums, so it may have been implemented in the later versions. Have a go with the trial version. Note you do have to request a trial key, but there were no problems doing that, no spurious junk emails.

[RobinOfLoxley]

You could have a look at MPEG Streamclip. (use WINE under Linux)

Other suggestions:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...deo-editor.htm

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-software-linux.htm?page=0,3#Video-Editor

If you use up 30 day trials, here's another. Great app, bit of a learning curve. Windows only.
http://www.womble.com/download/index.html

Edit: corrected a duplicate link.

[brian_w]

Openshot video editor runs under Linux and I've used it quite a bit. Works well, but not too sure about .ts format, though the indications are that it should be able to import it. (uses FFMPEG)

I've not got any un-encrypted .ts files to try at present to check, but I'm sure in the past that I've been able to top/tail them ok.

There is a 'live' DVD version you can download to try it out without installing anything too. Details on "www.openshot.org/"

[Red_Dwarf]

You don't say what type of video is in the .ts file. VideoRedo v3 only does Mpeg2 video whereas VideoRedo v4 does Mpeg2 & H.264 video. Although it doesn't work that reliably for H.264 video in my experience because it can sometimes corrupt some frames at cut points.

[Alan Thew]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Sorry, I should have said it really needs to handle both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, as the box records both SD and HD. (Though actually it will mostly be needed for SD, because you have to pay extra to get most of the German commercial channels in their HD versions.)

I've used Openshot and it does indeed handle transport stream files (and I agree that it's very nice for a simple, free timeline-based editor) but I thought it would insist on re-encoding everything? I'll have another look when I've got a moment -- and I'll check out some of the other suggestions.

[Alan Thew]

Openshot won't do a direct stream copy: it insists on re-encoding. Avidemux seems to be the Linux application of choice for what I want, but there are some AV synch issues. I'm using Debian, and only version 2.5.6 of Avidemux is in the repositories. Some threads suggest version 2.6.0 will solve the problem, so I'll try getting hold of that (maybe from the Ubuntu repositories, or even by building from source). If not, it is possible to do it with v2.5.6, but it's a pain: you first have to make a direct stream copy of your .ts file using ffmpeg, then you have to use Mediainfo on the new file to read the audio delay figure in milliseconds, which you then feed into Avidemux. Not very practical.

Oh, and either way you lose the subtitles. And Avidemux seems to make a bit of a blocky mess at the cut frames.

So I might still try MPEG Streamclip and VideoPad running under Wine. Anyone know if either of these lets you keep your subtitles?

[redtux]

Originally Posted by Alan Thew

Openshot won't do a direct stream copy: it insists on re-encoding. Avidemux seems to be the Linux application of choice for what I want, but there are some AV synch issues. I'm using Debian, and only version 2.5.6 of Avidemux is in the repositories. Some threads suggest version 2.6.0 will solve the problem, so I'll try getting hold of that (maybe from the Ubuntu repositories, or even by building from source). If not, it is possible to do it with v2.5.6, but it's a pain: you first have to make a direct stream copy of your .ts file using ffmpeg, then you have to use Mediainfo on the new file to read the audio delay figure in milliseconds, which you then feed into Avidemux. Not very practical.

Oh, and either way you lose the subtitles. And Avidemux seems to make a bit of a blocky mess at the cut frames.

So I might still try MPEG Streamclip and VideoPad running under Wine. Anyone know if either of these lets you keep your subtitles?

You shouldn't need to.

avidemux should read in ts files (at least mpeg2), you have to let it index the file

for av sync, before you do any editing do build vbr map from the audio menu and sync should be fine

also save using copy mode as AVI
Finally dont cut by frame (the single arrow) cut by keyframe (the double arrow) and cuts should be fine

[Alan Thew]

Thanks, redtux. Sorry I've let this thread go cold. I did in fact work out a solution over Christmas, and I've written the steps up as a blog post, but I was away until the new year and then got ill... I will get round to posting it, though, as I invested a lot of time making it work and I've not found any other guides on the web that cover all my requirements (editing, audio sync, subtitles, no re-encoding). Just need to check it's all correct.

I was still getting blocking in Avidemux even when cutting on keyframes. Also, I don't think the vbr map is relevant, for what it's worth. DVB-S transmissions don't have a variable bitrate; the problem is getting the audio/video delay right from the transport stream. Transport streams are quite different beasts from programme streams or headered media files, even if the actual content contained within is encoded the same way. Anyway, the solution I'll blog doesn't use avidemux, and the a/v synch is fine.

[Alan Thew]

As promised, so I don't forget how to do it, and in case it's of any use to anybody else out there, here is a link to my tutorial on editing TV recordings stored as DVB transport streams (.ts files) without losing the DVB subtitles stream, and burning the result on to a standard video DVD, if required.

[brian_w]

Although I don't do very much in the way of editing, there have been times when doing so has been a pain in the proverbial, so I thank you for taking the time and effort to log your work so that others may benefit.

I've nothing in the pipeline at present for editing, but if I get a chance in the next few days, I'll record a .ts stream to edit and see if it works for me.

[Alan Thew]

Originally Posted by brian_w

Although I don't do very much in the way of editing, there have been times when doing so has been a pain in the proverbial

I completely agree with that! If you do have a go, please leave a comment to say how you got on, or if you need a hand with anything, and I'll try to help. Are you using Windows, by the way? It would be good to hear if someone gets it to work under Windows. I can't see there would be any problem, but I use Linux and haven't tried. I guess a couple of things (flagged in the blog) might be different.

[brian_w]

Cant assist with how usable it is on Windows as I run Linux here (Mint 14) on a 64bit machine.

After a bit of faffing around with ProjectX, managed to do a brief edit on a short .ts file, and to convert it - complete with subs - to a vob file following Alan's tutorial blog. This process will definitely come in handy as/if/when I need to work on a 'proper' programme file, so thanks again for your work Alan.

[Alan Thew]

Originally Posted by brian_w

Cant assist with how usable it is on Windows as I run Linux here (Mint 14) on a 64bit machine.

I'm running 32-bit Debian (basically the same as Mint under the bonnet) on nine-year-old hardware -- one of the reasons (besides avoiding quality loss) that I was keen to avoid transcoding! Even on an old PC, no stage of the process takes too long, because it basically boils down to copying files (albeit large ones) around on the disk.

Originally Posted by brian_w

faffing around with ProjectX

I'll second that! ProjectX is a minefield of esoteric tickboxes and mysterious menu options (some of which seem to appear in multiple locations) with apparently no documentation at all and a user forum written largely in German. But I find it difficult to criticize, as it's free, fast, platform agnostic, uniquely powerful and gets the job done perfectly where no other program I tried succeeds.

Originally Posted by brian_w

This process will definitely come in handy as/if/when I need to work on a 'proper' programme file, so thanks again for your work Alan.

Glad to share something useful. Please do comment or post back if it works, or if you get stuck -- I may have stumbled across the answer in the many hours it took me to work out as much as I put in the blog.