Good MPEG2 codec

[bnsinclair]

I am currently using a free MPEG2 codec that came with Windows Media Player Classic. It seems to work fine for regular MPEGS, but my direct show dump MPEGs always suffer from audio syncing problems.

I am willing to spend a couple of dollars on a good MPEG2 codec. I understand that Tivo offers one in the $25 2.3 plus update. Is this codec worth the money? Is there a better, similarly priced codec that people know of? I hate MyDVD. I want to use my Sony Vegas software to edit my movies.

Before you kill this post, I have NEVER given one of my videos to someone else. I simply want to archieve my kid's shows to DVD so that they can watch them in the car. MyDVD works, but the program absolutely sucks. I will never purchase another Sonic program in my lifetime.

[Dan203]

The MPEG2 codec that comes with TiVo Desktop Plus is good, but it's only guaranteed to work when used with .tivo files directly because the TiVo decoder filter explicitly adds it to the DirectShow graph and configures it for TiVo files. When you play a .mpg file it's up to Windows to choose which codec to use and this one may or may not be chosen depending on merit, conpatibility, etc...

As for making DVDs... You should check out this thread...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=300614

It has a method for making DVDs that is a LOT better then the Sonic solution.

Dan

[psygnwave]

The Desktop Plus CODEC gives poor quality :mad: . I too am looking for a CODEC that playes the transfered .tivo files well.

[Dan203]

What are you playing the TiVo files on? TiVo files are recorded at 480x480 or 352x480, depending on quality setting. So they will never look "good" on a 1280x1024 PC monitor no matter what codec you use. If you have a CRT monitor you could change your PC resolution to 640x480 and they will look better. However even then PC monitors are progressive scan and TVs are interlaced, so there will still be some quality loss.

Dan

[greg_burns]

The Desktop Plus CODEC gives poor quality :mad: . I too am looking for a CODEC that playes the transfered .tivo files well.

Really? I've never tried the Desktop Plus one myself.

For myself, I can visually see the difference between Nero's MPEG-2 codec (my default when I reimage my machine) and Nvidia's Pure Video one. You may want to give the trial a test run (verify it becomes your default codec before you spend and $).

Not sure if having an Nvidia card is making the difference for me or not.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

[Exnavy]

Found that by opening any .tivo transferred recording with Nero Vision V4 and exporting to an .mpg file works like a CHAMP! No fiddling with CODECS or any of that mess, it just WORKS! :up:

[greg_burns]

Found that by opening any .tivo transferred recording with Nero Vision V4 and exporting to an .mpg file works like a CHAMP! No fiddling with CODECS or any of that mess, it just WORKS! :up:

.tivo files and .mpg files are both MPEG-2. You need a working MPEG-2 codec for playback. Whether that codec is Nero's or not.

DirectShow Dump will also convert .tivo->.mpg and do it much quicker IIRC.