Hello,
I have a Humax HTD-T2 and following the advice on this forum (several tips and advice) I've managed to download/copy a saved SD TV program to a USB stick from my Humax hard drive. However, I'm unclear as what to do next so that I can watch my recordings on another TV set. I see that the files are in .TS format.
Would someone please advise me what I need to do to these .TS files and how, including what software I may need so I can view them elsewhere. I would like to add that I don't particularity want to watch my items on a PC. All advice most welcome,
Many thanks, Mike

To understand video files, something that causes most people confusion is that there are actually three file formats for each video file — the way the video itself is actually encoded/compressed, the way the audio is encoded/compressed, and the thing that binds the two together (called the container format). A TS file ("transport stream") is the container format used over the air, ie it's basically a straight copy of the data received for that channel from the broadcast. The format of the video and audio itself for a SD Freeview recording will be MPEG2 for the video and I don't recall offhand for the audio, but it's something that's well supported probably by most devices you'll want to use.

Other Freeview/DVB recorders are possibly able to play .ts files directly, but different devices might not. You'll want to remultiplex the file into a different container format if this is the case — this doesn't mean reencoding the video, though, so such a conversion should be very fast if you do it correctly. I'm afraid I'm not a Windows user so I can't really recommend which software to use, I'm sure someone else can though. Generally well-supported container formats that are compatible with these video encodings are AVI, MKV, and the MPEG4 container format (MPEG4 part 14, aka .mp4)

What were you thinking of doing with the files? I mean hardware-wise? If the 'other' TV set has a slot for a USB stick, you could try plugging it in. Or burn it to DVD on a PC and play it on a DVD player. Or connect your PC to the TV by a VGA or HDMI cable.

If you mean the HDR-FOX-T2? You might want to look at the customised firmware here...

http://hummy.tv/forum/forums/hd-hdr-...d-firmware.28/

I have a HDR with content sharing turned on so it is a DLNA server and can be accessed in that way from smart tv various other tv devices. Also have a HD-FOX-T2 which with one of the packages on the custom firmware can use the files from the HDR directly.

So lots you can do in that way. Meanwhile if you have just copied the TS off the hard drive accessing it directly then it won't play anyway as it will be encrypted. If you used the menu options on the HDR screen to copy it to USB then it will be unecrypted. If it is a HD recording then ithout custom fimrware that will still be encrypted too.

The people on the forum above know lots more about it than me and if you haven't tried it the custom firmware very good!

Steve

STeve, that is not correct.

If it was an HDR-FOX T2, ( or an HDR-1800T or an HDR-2000T) all SD and radio recordings copied by the USB port(s) are decrypted as they are written to the USB drive. They can be played on any other device that can understand the format of the .ts file. Next time you have a vanilla Humax HDR recorder which has not been customised try it!

What you have stated applies if the recording was copied over by FTP through a LAN connection, but not to copying by the USB ports.

I said that in the next sentence!

Steve

Actually Mike, to summarise, if you want to view material on your HDR-FOX T2 on a TV in another room, there are various ways to do this, depending on the remote TV, and you may not need to copy the files off the Humax.

If the remote TV is a 'smart' one with a connection to your home network, you may be able to stream video (and other material) directly to the other TV. (It certainly seems to be easier to do this with SD video than HD, but that appears to be what you want to do.)

Let us know a little more about your setup.

Hello,
Thank you to all for your replies.
The single SD program I've copied to my usb stick from the Humax is shown as 3 files as follows when I look at the contents of the USB on my PC:
Napoleon the Russian Campaign NTS file 2817 KB
Napoleon the Russian Campaign THM file 43 KB
Napoleon the Russian Campaign MPEG-2 TS VIDEO 1,151,120 KB

My intention was to watch the program at a friends house on his TV (with USB ports).
What actually happens when USB stick inserted in TV is "no files found" which got me thinking that I may need to convert the copied files into another format.
I then tried the same USB stick in my spare TV at home and the same problem arises (no files found).
I then tried the USB stick in my PC (default media player is VLC player) and the program fired up with perfect visual and audio.
Thanks guys,
Mike

Although the freeview TVs can understand the transport stream of the broadcast only 1 of the few I've tried could understand one produced by a freeview recorder and the 1 that did could not get the aspect ration correct.
You only need the .ts file (transport stream). The others are purely support files that your recorder needs. (Which recorder is this? If It is the HDR-FOX T2 then you should also have an htm file.)

About a year ago I converted an SD HDR-FOX T2 recording from TS (transport stream MPEG) to program stream MPEG. No quality was lost but it did enable the programme to by played on a Samsung, a couple of LG TVs but with a slight occasional lip-sync issue although it played fine on PC software
I tried the converted file on a newish Sony TV just now and found plays it perfectly.

Unfortunately I no longer have my notes for how I did this. I do know that I used FFMPEG but cannot remember the parameters 100% for certain. It was probably ffmpeg -i input.ts -vcodec copy -acodec copy output.mpg
This conversion for your recording would take about 30 to 60 seconds on most PCs.

Loads of free software does convert from TS to PS, including avidemux and VLC.

As you have VLC you could do an internet search for VLC ts to ps conversion. Although I have never even installed VLC I know there are people who have converted from TS to PS using VLC.

Though VLC will play almost anything, I find it a nightmare to convert formats as there are so many options. You really have to know your stuff to use it in this way.

There's a free Windows programme called QuickMediaConverter that will allow you to convert the .ts files into mp4, flv, avi etc.
Find out what formats the TV will accept and convert it to something suitable.

I haven't tried it with TS files, but I find https://handbrake.fr/ works well to convert almost any kind of video file, and rarely has lip-synch problems.

BTW If you do put on the excellent custom firmware I mentioned then you can simply web browse to the humax, browse for the program you want, and there is an option to export to mpg format directly if you wish.

The custom firmware just needs you to put a file on a USB stick and start up the Humax like you do to put on the Humax firmware updates - plenty of how-to guides on the site above. Then you have a great web browser access to everything.

Steve

Hello,
Thanks for the many replies on how to view copied files. I've not had any success yet but I was wondering if the following maybe a solution to viewing a TV program copied onto a USB stick from my Humax HDR-FOX T2.
If I copied the contents of the USB stick to a suitable laptop; would it then be possible to connect the laptop to the tv set at my friends house and watch the program? The only laptop I have is macbook pro. Also my friends tv has 2 or possibly 3 hdmi ports as well as USB ports. Do you think this is maybe a better option or am I creating yet more problems.
Thanks in advance,
Mike

That certainly seems like a good idea if the files play all right on your laptop. You can connect it by VGA* or HDMI: of course both devices need the relevant sockets. (I think MacBook Pros have adaptors for either, don't they?)

(I do this with my Windows laptop and have a button to disable the laptop display.)

*VGA will need a separate connection for sound if you want the sound to come out of the TV speakers.

Hi,
First of all a big thank you to everyone who contributed to my copying/viewing problem. All is now well and I have watched the recorded program from the Humax on the TV at my friends house. I won't bore you all with the details of how I did it but if anyone does want to know how it was done "word for word" I'd be happy to write it out and post it on this original posting. I also used foxy and watched a decrypted HD file on my friends TV.
In a nutshell, we watched both an SD file and an HD file. I used my MacPro as the host and linked it to the TV using mini display plug (with audio) at the Mac end and HDMI at the TV end.
So thanks again guys for all your help. "Everybody" contributed something. Without your individual inputs I would never have got off the starting blocks.
Mike

quickest format conversion is probably freeware avidemux, which converts several different formats - including the decrypted-while-copying .ts file, directly from a humax - into avi format in just 2-3 minutes for a 1 hour tv programme.. On MY laptop, at least ....... of course, vlc player plays these .ts files directly. Have not tried foxy since I have no use for hd ..... it just takes up more space on the disk ........