pc to tivo transfer is it here? - Page 3

Re-Hash · 08-24-2005, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Actually it's unnecessary to transcode DVDs.

True for video, but I think there is an (yet untested?) issue on the SA TiVos handling AC3. Anyone try AC3 on a SA unit?

rog · 08-24-2005, 04:21 PM

Quote:

'Course you can't send a .tivo back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Re-Hash

2-way .tivo transfers work.

2 way transfers work, and in my experience, they work quite well! This is super freaking cool stuff!

TiVoMovieMan · 08-24-2005, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

Interesting. I was amazed at the resolution possible on the Tivo with 720x480 files- especially when displayed to an HDTV using progressive component output on a DVD burner Tivo.

And transfer of non protected content is super easy. I have about 50 family videos mostly created using Sonic MyDVD, and I did as ZeoTivo mentionned-

Just right click on the dvd to explore the disk, go to the Video_TS folder and copy the .vob files to your Tivo directory. Then rename to a .mpg file.

Worked just dandy on all but one of four DVDs. Not sure why yet.

The DVD I'm using for this (I,Robot) will not let me copy any files from the contents of the DVD to anything. It's all locked! How can I get around this?

greg_burns · 08-24-2005, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiVoMovieMan

The DVD I'm using for this (I,Robot) will not let me copy any files from the contents of the DVD to anything. It's all locked! How can I get around this?

You need software like DVDDecrypter. Maybe be getting hard to find, now that the man came knocking on his door.

Dan203 · 08-24-2005, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Re-Hash

True for video, but I think there is an (yet untested?) issue on the SA TiVos handling AC3. Anyone try AC3 on a SA unit?

The TiVo documentation is wrong. ALL TiVos can play AC3 audio. The only difference is that non-DVD units don't have optical outputs so they have to downsample the audio to stereo. Not only that but they don't have any compression logic, so there is no way to adjust the dynamic range of the audio. Meaning you could end up with recordings where the talking is really low and the explosions are really loud.

If you run into that then all you have to do is run the audio through BeSweetGUI to convert it to MP2 and normalize it.

Dan

jasch · 08-24-2005, 06:38 PM

I just converted a DVD to MPEG2 using FFMPEG. I took care of most of the option to make them compatible with the Tivo suggested values... The only thing was the resolution. While most of my streams are 480x480, I left the DVD converson at the possible max.

The DVD image was 4 gig more or less, the inserted stream was 1.6gb. And it looks pretty good.

greg_burns · 08-24-2005, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

And transfer of non protected content is super easy. I have about 50 family videos mostly created using Sonic MyDVD, and I did as ZeoTivo mentionned-

Just right click on the dvd to explore the disk, go to the Video_TS folder and copy the .vob files to your Tivo directory. Then rename to a .mpg file.

Ok, I've used DVD Decrypter on a DVD to get at the .vob files. Renamed one of them to .mpg and dropped it into my Tivo Recordings directory. When I try to transfer I get some bogus error on the Tivo about the file not being transfered because it was not found on the <insert my computer name here>.

I didn't expect this to work, because of the AC3 issue. (I have a 240) But I am hearing conflicting things so I thought I would give it a try. (I assume Justin's .vob files worked because it was not AC3 since it was home made). The resolution of the vob/mpg is 720 x 480.

Is this weird error message due to the audio, or is something else wrong here?

Justin Thyme · 08-24-2005, 07:23 PM

I am totally baffled. I dropped my camcorder origin MyDvd created VOB into graphedit and it has an ac3 filter there. Fine. So it shouldn't play on a 540 right? Well wrong. It plays just fine. Tried it on the 240. Plays even better (240 plays at real time, 540 is a little too slow for these higher data rate files.

I don't get it. what the tivo help page says, due to the AC3 problem I thought I should only be able to play it on a 560. Better take a look at that spec again....

I have written a few graphedit filters for mapping AC3 out to PCM so if that's it, we can pass this info off to the eTivo dude and maybe he would be add some more filters for massaging a pile of files regardless of format quirkiness (including DivX6) back to compatible mpg2 format that Tivo will eat. The AC3 filter I used was the open source one pointed to from the Divx6 board.

[edit- just read Dan's second note that the AC3 info on the Tivo page is wrong. OK. I was not hallucinating. I guess I can stop breathing into the paper bag now.]

There is some little util that tells you all the mpeg header stuff including type of audio and bitrate and all that. I have to search around to find it. YOu know a good one?

I am chewing the nugget Dan tossed us. I think he means using Decrypter:
1) use IFO mode,
2) on the right hand tab, click on stream processing tab.
3) check the box to extract streams
4) uncheck the streams you don't want.

That will give you a video and separate audio file.

Then remux the audio back together using a util such as the one Dan referred to. Haven't gotten that far yet. Have to go unload the groceries from the car....

Dang this is fun.

greg_burns · 08-24-2005, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

There is some little util that tells you all the mpeg header stuff including type of audio and bitrate and all that. I have to search around to find it. YOu know a good one?

You mean like GSpot?

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/GSpot.htm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

The AC3 filter I used was the open source one pointed to from the Divx6 board.

http://ac3filter.sourceforge.net/

Dan203 · 08-24-2005, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg_burns

Ok, I've used DVD Decrypter on a DVD to get at the .vob files. Renamed one of them to .mpg and dropped it into my Tivo Recordings directory. When I try to transfer I get some bogus error on the Tivo about the file not being transfered because it was not found on the <insert my computer name here>.

I have not had any luck transfering renamed VOB's directly from DVD Decrypter. However if I set DVD Decrypter to IFO Mode and tell it to demux the audio and video streams, then remux them into a real .mpg file using mplex it works perfectly every time. Even when they have AC3 audio. (this has been tried on a 140 unit, a 540 unit and a Toshiba DVD-RW unit)

Dan

Dan203 · 08-24-2005, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

I am chewing the nugget Dan tossed us. I think he means using Decrypter:
1) use IFO mode,
2) on the right hand tab, click on stream processing tab.
3) check the box to extract streams
4) uncheck the streams you don't want.

That will give you a video and separate audio file.

Then remux the audio back together using a util such as the one Dan referred to. Haven't gotten that far yet. Have to go unload the groceries from the car....

Dang this is fun.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. And believe me I've done this with several movies and it works perfectly every time, even with AC3 audio.

Dan

Justin Thyme · 08-24-2005, 08:24 PM

OK. I left out you want to click the Demux radio button at the bottom. of the streams tab in Decrypter.

What you wind up with is the AC3 stream in a small .vob file. The video is in the .m2v files. You need to look at the .txt file to see what the audio offsets are....

Okeydokey, now on to mplex.

BTW- Everyone owes Dan big thanks on this. I was really going down some dark alleys with this until his note.

So- everyone all together now...

Thanks Dan!

Re-Hash · 08-24-2005, 08:37 PM

I didn't need to demux at all - I copied a *.VOB to 'My TiVo Recordings' and renamed it to *.MPG and it plays on my 540 (albeit not in real time). Whoda thunk it?

MikeMar · 08-24-2005, 08:39 PM

Thats awesome, so you can easily play a dvd onto tivo that way? (well i guess you could also just burn it and watch on a dvd player, whatever, still cool )

greg_burns · 08-24-2005, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

OK. I left out you want to click the Demux radio button at the bottom. of the streams tab in Decrypter.

Trying again with Demux radio selected.

Should we be going into Tools -> Settings -> IFO mode -> File splitting and setting that to none? Does it matter? Not really sure what the final output is (or what you do with it) just yet...

davidwiz · 08-24-2005, 09:45 PM

I got the Tivo to accept a VOB files (renamed to mpg) simply by making sure there was only one audio stream and no subpicture.

I used Shrinker and just reauthor with just the main movie. Strip out all subpicture and all audio except AC3 5.1 English. In preferences remove checkmark from split VOBs in 1GB chunks. Backup to your hard drive. This will give you 1 large VOB file that you just rename to MPG and transfer to your TIVO.

I had the same problems as others, when trying to transfer after using DVDDecryptor. It didnt seem to be because of the AC3 audio but rather the VOB wasnt being cleaned of all the extra stuff.

josephs911 · 08-24-2005, 10:00 PM

If you want TiVo Version 7.2 visit the address below, it can take up to three days but they will send you the update visit http://research.tivo.com/72priority/

greg_burns · 08-24-2005, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidwiz

I got the Tivo to accept a VOB files (renamed to mpg) simply by making sure there was only one audio stream and no subpicture.

I used Shrinker and just reauthor with just the main movie. Strip out all subpicture and all audio except AC3 5.1 English. In preferences remove checkmark from split VOBs in 1GB chunks. Backup to your hard drive. This will give you 1 large VOB file that you just rename to MPG and transfer to your TIVO.

I had the same problems as others, when trying to transfer after using DVDDecryptor. It didnt seem to be because of the AC3 audio but rather the VOB wasnt being cleaned of all the extra stuff.

That worked on the first try. Thanks David!!!

Justin Thyme · 08-25-2005, 01:33 AM

OK here is the updated step by step list for the dvd decrypter method of generating an Mpeg from a stubborn dvd- not sure if it is any better than other methods. I am just plugging along seeing how this way works...

Tools needed:

DVD decrypter download from Doom9 http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/software.htm
Mplex.EXE location: http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...ease_id=210470

Using DVD decrypter 3.5.4.0 :
Go to tools.settings, tab IFO mode options. Set File Splitting to "None"

1) use IFO mode,
2) on the right hand tab, click on stream processing tab.
3) check the box to extract streams
4) uncheck the streams you don't want.
5) For Each stream, click the stream, then click Radio button Demux.
6) Now click the icon to run the decrypt.

Now for putting the files back together

mplex -f 3 -O nn -o output.mpg VTS_01_1.M2V VTS_01_1.ac3

Where nn = the audio offset stated in DVD decrypter's VTS_01 - Stream Information.txt file.

Previously unresolved problems
* Problem of AC3 not getting outputed to a VOB was solved. If you get a vob with the ac3 file in it, in step 5 you did not click the demux button for the ac3 stream.
* 16:9 aspect ratio "anamorphic" Mpegs will not display correctly on certain combinations of Tivos and Televisions. This is generally rare, but if you are affected the solution in nearly all cases is very quick. See this note for table of combinations affected, and the remedies.

Any suggested corrections? Please PM me.

Edit 9/2- A) corrections so you won't get ac3 in a vob.
B) Pointer to remedies for 16:9 mpeg display problems.
Thanks to Dan for telling us about this approach, Oodie, and other more experienced folks who got me straightenned out on this process.

DVDKingdom · 08-25-2005, 03:38 AM

I have transferred a DVD using the IFO option of Decrypter without checking the demux radio, set file split to none, select stream processing. After deciding which stream I wanted I got a complete copy of my 1:30 movie in one vob file renamed it to .mpg and transferred to the DVR. I was pleasantly surprised to see my TiVo played this 16x9 anamorphic movie unsqueezed after selecting the 16x9 "TV aspect Ratio". One last thing, this dvd had only one audio stream "ac3 Dolby Digital 2.0".

Re-Hash · 08-25-2005, 11:05 AM

Another option, if you just want the VOBs (which can then be renamed MPG) and want to strip out the audio/subtitles, is DVD Shrink. You can choose to "re-Author" the DVD, select the parts of the DVD you want to keep (like the main movie), select the audio stream you want, change the Compression Settings to 'None' (so that it's not 'shrunk'), and then elect to not split the VOBs into 1GB chunks. There is a bit of a learning curve but it's pretty easy after the first use.

TomXP411 · 08-25-2005, 11:10 AM

woohoo!!

YOU CAN TRANSFER TIVO FILES BACK TO THE TIVO
I'm doing it right now with an episode of Monster Garage

So I'm not going to bother trans-coding my stuff to DVD. Since the show information is saved in the .tivo file, I'm just going to start burning the .tivo files straight to DVD-ROM. Sure, I have to have a computer to play them back, but most of my archived movies are AVI files anyway.

Wow, what a time seaver.

Justin Thyme · 08-25-2005, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DVDKingdom

I have transferred a DVD using the IFO option of Decrypter without checking the demux radio...

Yes of course much more simple techniques than the one using the Mplex step work on a huge number of dvds. The process that Dan hipped us to and I elaborated on above deals with the more nasty DVD files. For example, if I use that process with some DVDs, what I get is an mpeg with the audio vastly out of sync.

Until Dan's suggestion, I didn't know of way of dealing with this problem. Maybe the other techniques folks have been talking about take care of this problem too.

Perhaps they could comment on that.

Justin Thyme · 08-25-2005, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Re-Hash

Another option, if you just want the VOBs (which can then be renamed MPG) and want to strip out the audio/subtitles, is DVD Shrink. You can choose to "re-Author" the DVD, select the parts of the DVD you want to keep (like the main movie), select the audio stream you want, change the Compression Settings to 'None' (so that it's not 'shrunk'), and then elect to not split the VOBs into 1GB chunks. There is a bit of a learning curve but it's pretty easy after the first use.

How fast is that? If it is real fast like 10 minutes then this "no shrink option is a simple remux. Since it is in a GUI, it is no doubt much simpler and would be my prefered method.

So- how fast is the step to combine the audio back with the video?

Also- does it deal with out of sync audio issue? Ideally you wouldn't even be aware of the setting and the sofware would do it for you since the data is on the dvd. Chances are that if it is a blockbuster type movie that it would be out of sync unless it had this support.

VOB's are good for me, though others have noted that rename of .vobs to mpgs have problems. If it works 80% of the time, then it looks like this method would save a bunch of time.

Justin Thyme · 08-25-2005, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomXP411

So I'm not going to bother trans-coding my stuff to DVD. Since the show information is saved in the .tivo file, I'm just going to start burning the .tivo files straight to DVD-ROM. Sure, I have to have a computer to play them back,...
.

Actually, you can play the dvd stored .tivo or mpg. from your Tivo. Just put a shortcut to the show in your Tivo directory.

oodie · 08-25-2005, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

How fast is that? If it is real fast like 10 minutes then this "no shrink option is a simple remux. Since it is in a GUI, it is no doubt much simpler and would be my prefered method.

So- how fast is the step to combine the audio back with the video?

It is very fast, so you are correct that there is no re-encoding of the video. If the DVD files are on the hard drive already, it took less than 4 minutes from start to finish. Otherwise, it is as fast as your drive can supply the data. It has worked perfectly on the five DVD's I have tried so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

Also- does it deal with out of sync audio issue? Ideally you wouldn't even be aware of the setting and the sofware would do it for you since the data is on the dvd. Chances are that if it is a blockbuster type movie that it would be out of sync unless it had this support.

Not sure about this one, I havn't tried any blockbuster-type movies

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

VOB's are good for me, though others have noted that rename of .vobs to mpgs have problems. If it works 80% of the time, then it looks like this method would save a bunch of time.

I believe the problems occur only when multiple audio tracks or subpicture are present?

Justin Thyme · 08-25-2005, 02:40 PM

Okeydokey, good enough for me. It is free so I'll give it a whirl. Looks like the latest version is 3.2 and is at http://www.doom9.org/?/mpg/dvdshrink31-main.htm. If you have norton make an exception for Doom9 or turn it off for a second or it will balk on the download.

We have a pretty extensive library of Dvds from amazon but the only stuff that I am interested in moving over is some of the children's shows. All of the ones I have tried simple xfer techniques don't work because they have these delays in them.

The girls are young and freak out when they see scenes like the wicked witch so I have to do some sort of transfer to edit out those sorts of scenes.

They like Bunnies and saw Watership Down in the children's section. Ok, so I knew it has some really horrifying scenes of bunny torture, mutilation and genocide in it. Wouldn't have bought it if I didn't know that I couldn't edit out the scenes.

This one was certainly not a blockbuster, but it had an 83ms delay in it. It would probably be much more convenient if your method worked on everything I am doing.

MikeMar · 08-25-2005, 03:30 PM

Says it can take up to an hour or longer, how long does the update take??

MikeMar · 08-25-2005, 03:59 PM

Restart only took like 10 min, love it, pointed desktop to external hd and now my 40 hour tivo has like 140 hours of shows on it! woo

Re-Hash · 08-25-2005, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

How fast is that?
Also- does it deal with out of sync audio issue?

If you are not "shrink"-ing the DVD, then it's basically as fast as your DVD can rip. Looks like you want to be sure to only leave one audio stream (and maybe omit the subtitles?).

There are no sync problems with the audio at all.

You can also do some crude editing, but you'll end up with multiple VOBS. You can simply pick start/stop points and repeat the process. Nobody wants to see bunnies get tortured.