Best program to edit HD-PVR files?

[timg11]

What do people use for editing the H.264 TS files created by the HD-PVR? When I record a movie, I want to edit it before archiving.

I tried the TME "Create Disc" "Cutting Room" editor that was included. I am amazed at what a terrible editor this is! No control over timeline, no precise control over positioning other than clicking Up and Down arrows on minutes or seconds, no keyboard shortcuts for anything, and worst of all, no way to save the cut points while working on a file.

Using this program to edit video is like going back to editing software source code under DOS with EDLIN.

I tried removing commercials from one fairly long movie. Guess what - after spending about an hour marking the in and out points in the most tedious, annoying program ever devised, it crashed and everything I did was lost.

What are people using to edit these files? I own MPEG Video Wizard, but it doesn't support H.264, so I guess I'll have to buy something else.


PS - to add insult to injury, Arcsoft also installs adware on your computer, which pops up spam messages from your system tray. It is called "Arcsoft Connect". I found instructions for disabling it here

[Swagger200]

I use H264TS_Cutter - google it

[davephan]

Can you edit down to the frame with H264TS_Cutter? I tried a couple editing programs for H.264, but they could not edit down to the frame like you can with VideoReDo does for MPEG2 files.

Dave

[willhorner]

There realy is no solution that dosent include recompressing the stream if you want frame accuracy. That being said...if you dont mind recompressing, Megui is what I use, I take the .ts that sage tv generates, run tsmuxer and output a mt2s, then open it in megui, make my cuts and let it go. output is beautiful.

Im with you on the whole "there need to be a frame accurate cutter that dosent recompress the entire stream" bandwagon. but so is every other mildy advanced user of this product.

[timg11]

Bringing this thread to the top again: I'm still looking for an easy and effective solution for editing the H.264 TS files from the HD-PVR.

I tried H.264 TS Cutter, but it gives cryptic errors ("It seems in this TS is no IDR-Frame. It is necessary to set CutIn to I-Frame and Out Frame to B or even All-Frame", and "Could not init. video playback DS-Error. Attempted to read or write protected memory). It hangs before it finishes opening a file from the HD-PVR.

VideoRedo's H.264 capability is still in "alpha", so it could be a long time before availability.

Converting between formats by uncompressing and re-compressing would introduce quality loss, which is not desirable since the purpose of the editing is for archiving.

Are there any commercial programs that have been introduced that can edit the HD-PVR's H.264 TS files?

[Rico66]

Originally Posted by timg11

Bringing this thread to the top again: I'm still looking for an easy and effective solution for editing the H.264 TS files from the HD-PVR.

I tried H.264 TS Cutter, but it gives cryptic errors ("It seems in this TS is no IDR-Frame. It is necessary to set CutIn to I-Frame and Out Frame to B or even All-Frame", and "Could not init. video playback DS-Error. Attempted to read or write protected memory). It hangs before it finishes opening a file from the HD-PVR.

VideoRedo's H.264 capability is still in "alpha", so it could be a long time before availability.

Converting between formats by uncompressing and re-compressing would introduce quality loss, which is not desirable since the purpose of the editing is for archiving.

Are there any commercial programs that have been introduced that can edit the HD-PVR's H.264 TS files?

For H264TS_Cutter you'll probably want to set cut-in and cut-out to all frames. Otherwise I'd end up with lip sync errors. While the result is not 100% frame accurate, it's not that far off. Works quite well for me, and it's free,

The decoders in use also play a role. I typically switch to ffdshow (for audio and video) for this purpose, since I got problems/crashes when using e.g. the MPC video decoder.

[gplasky]

Just found this:

MovieShop Cut, convert. Frame accurate. Cuts without re-encoding. Or transcode to a whole new format. I tried the trial and it appears to work well.

Gerry

[HelenWeathers]

Gerry, I tried this as well. Lots of things to like (the jog, fast cut etc), but the fastcut ts files that started out in AC3 6ch ended up Stereo in the output file.

Did you notice this as well? Maybe it's just that way in the trial version.

The Video did look good but the stereo audio is a no go for me.

EDIT: I sent an email to the company re the stereo output - will post response when it comes.

EDIT AGAIN: My bad. I had my cutin point set at an area where there was no audio present so it was being reported as stereo. Tried again with a different start point and I am indeed getting 6 channel AC3.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

Gerry, I tried this as well. Lots of things to like (the jog, fast cut etc), but the fastcut ts files that started out in AC3 6ch ended up Stereo in the output file.

Did you notice this as well? Maybe it's just that way in the trial version.

The Video did look good but the stereo audio is a no go for me.

EDIT: I sent an email to the company re the stereo output - will post response when it comes.

EDIT AGAIN: My bad. I had my cutin point set at an area where there was no audio present so it was being reported as stereo. Tried again with a different start point and I am indeed getting 6 channel AC3.

Excellent. I was going to say I didn't see the issue. So far this program is pretty impressive seeing it does what most others can't with the h.264 files. I need to work with it more and understand what the full version buys you. I have VideoRedo and I am just waiting for them to make more progress on their bets.

Gerry

[timg11]

Gerry - thanks for discovering Movieshop. There is so much "noise" when searching on the terms "H.264" and "editor" that I didn't see it if it was shown in Google.

I'm not clear about the differences between Movieshop Browser, Movieshop Framer, and Movieshop Suite. Which are you using?

[gplasky]

It's MovieShop Framer. And Suite is just Framer and Browser.

Gerry

[wayner]

It looks like VRD does have a limited Beta for H.264 editing. According to their forum paid users of VRD can get in on it. It would be nice to be able to just buy an upgrade to VRD rather than a whole new product. See http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/sh...t=7950&page=18

[timg11]

Originally Posted by wayner

It looks like VRD does have a limited Beta for H.264 editing. According to their forum paid users of VRD can get in on it. It would be nice to be able to just buy an upgrade to VRD rather than a whole new product. See http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/sh...t=7950&page=18

Wayner - I asked about this on the VideoRedo forum. Since I already own a good MPEG 2 editor (Womble), I don't need the existing VRD. I said I would be willing to purchase VRD just to test the beta H.264 features, providing they were past the "threshold" when new purchasers are entitled to receive the new version. Apparently they are planning a price increase, so they won't offer any free upgrade, but it is not clear whether the price for the new version after release would exceed the price of the existing version plus the upgrade fee. Sometimes the upgrade is 50% of the new program price.

I'll be testing the MovieShop program when I get a chance - it sounds promising from what Gerry and Helen said.

[wayner]

@timg11 - that makes sense since you don't own a VRD license. Many of us bought one years ago since it was one of the best programs for editing MPEG-2 files, even if they were in DVR-MS format from MCE. Several folks also use VRD to automatically cut commercials by passing it a cuts file from Comskip (or ShowAnalyzer) to reduce filesize.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Just found this:

MovieShop Cut, convert. Frame accurate. Cuts without re-encoding. Or transcode to a whole new format. I tried the trial and it appears to work well.

Gerry

Any idea on how long the trial lasts or if it is missing some capabilities? Clicking on the Trial button simply takes me to the download. I would like to know what the trial is before I download it.

PS - I'd also feel better about the company if they didn't spell "guarantee" wrong (several different ways actually). The only place I saw guaranteed spelled correctly was in the "Your shopping safety is guaranteed" which is probably a link from another provider).

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by timg11

I'll be testing the MovieShop program when I get a chance - it sounds promising from what Gerry and Helen said.

Well, there are some warts with large (movie length) ts files.

The software doesn't seem to have an accurate grip on where it's at in the file's timeline during output processing. Sometimes it is 100% complete but thinks it's only 85% complete so it hangs. I used task manager to close it and played back the resulting file. The file was fine - but the software needs some work.

Originally Posted by sic0048

Any idea on how long the trial lasts or if it is missing some capabilities?

Not a clue on either.

[timg11]

I'm checking out the MovieShop Framer trial. It is not easy to figure out, even with the help file...

I can open the TS file and see it in the preview. I can set the Start Point at the start of first program segment, and the End Point at the end of the first program segment. It is not clear how to add the start/end points to the batch list, so I tried the "Add List" button below the batch list. It opens a dialog that sets the conversion options for various hardware devices (iPhone, PS3, Archos, etc). Is there any option for not changing the format?
I don't want it to re-encode, just edit. Is that possible with this software?

After selecting Output MPEG TS, Video AVC/H.264, and Audio AC3, I see there is now a line in the Batch List, so I must be on the right track. I wasn't sure about the audio setting. The Audio was reported as A52 in MovieShop, although I have Sage configured to record as AC-3.

Assuming I need to add a line for each program segment in the Batch List, I adjust the timeline to the next Start point (after the first commercial break), Clicking the "New Start Point" button doesn't work. The start point remains at 0. What am I missing?

Thanks,
Tim

[timg11]

I noticed NewEgg is having a promotion of SONY Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 Pro Pack for $60 after rebate and coupon code.

Does anybody know if this supports the H.264 flavor used by the HD-PVR?

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by timg11

After selecting Output MPEG TS, Video AVC/H.264, and Audio AC3, I see there is now a line in the Batch List, so I must be on the right track. I wasn't sure about the audio setting. The Audio was reported as A52 in MovieShop, although I have Sage configured to record as AC-3.

For output select FastCut PS/TS (ignore the video and audio buttons) and then click convert to add to the list. A52 is fine for AC3.

Assuming I need to add a line for each program segment in the Batch List, I adjust the timeline to the next Start point (after the first commercial break), Clicking the "New Start Point" button doesn't work. The start point remains at 0. What am I missing?

After you hit convert and add segment to the list the output format choice window should disappear and the main window will become active again for your next segment start/end marking.

Once all segments are converted and in your list click the rectangular "Record List" button. Good luck. I've had issues with hangups while processing the list.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by timg11

I noticed NewEgg is having a promotion of SONY Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 Pro Pack for $60 after rebate and coupon code.

Does anybody know if this supports the H.264 flavor used by the HD-PVR?

From Sony's website:

Supported Formats
Import: AIFF, ATRAC, AVI, BMP, CDA, FLAC, GIF, JPG, LPEC, MMV, MP3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Sony M2TS, OGG, PCA, PNG, PSD, QuickTime®, SFA, SWF, TGA, TIF, W64, WAV, WMA, WMV
Export: AC-3, ATRAC, AVI, FLAC, MP3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, OGG, PCA, QuickTime, RealAudio®, RealVideo®, W64, WAV, WMA, WMV

It says Sony m2ts instead of m2ts. ts can be converted to m2ts with tsMuxer.

There is a free trial download from:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...diope/features