Best program to edit HD-PVR files?

[mkelly4ca]

Try Smart Cutter. It's frame accurate (it re-encodes just the frames around the cut).

[timg11]

mkelly, I tried Smart Cutter a few months ago, and it crashed so often that I could never get anything done. I just downloaded the latest version of Smart Cutter Portable to see if had improved any. I tried it on a 1 hour HD-PVR file at 1080i. The file is about 2.3Gbytes.

I can open the file and see video in the preview window. When I move the main slider to locate a cut point, the preview window is very slow to update. It takes 15-20 seconds for the preview window to change after any movement of the slider. After a few moves of the slider, the program crashed. I never found the first commercial break.

I was testing on an even faster system than my Sage HTPC - it is a 3.2GHz dual core system with 4G RAM.

Do you find Smart Cutter to be responsive enough to actually edit full-length 1080i programs from the HD-PVR? I would be delighted if the program could be made to work.

[SundanceTV]

I have managed to get my HD-PVR to record from my cable box and just assumed I would be able to edit them with VideoReDo ....WRONG.It does not support H264. Not surprising as it's pretty much dead as far as development goes. There hasn't been a feature upgrade in several years now.

Is there anything out there to edit the recordings made with the HD-PVR?

Thanks

* merged *

[gplasky]

You need to read up a little. VideoRedo has a beta out that supports h.264 and is pretty close to release. It has worked great for me.

Gerry

[hufnagel]

OK I have to jump in on this topic even though my issue isn't 100% on topic but I can't find any other threads so...

Background:
For years (literally!) I've been using Womble's MPEG-VCR to chop out commercials from recordings I've saved. Mainly I used it because I wrote a simple script (in BATCH of all things!) that processes the .wme files that ComSkip can create and process them into .rec files and a .edl file list for MPEG-VCR to work with. This has served me VERY well to the point where in an hour I can easily prep over 30 1-hour recordings for trimming then set MPEG-VCR off on its merry way to do so.

Problem:
MPEG-VCR no longer edits files correctly that have been recorded from my HDHR tuners, such that they "beat/pause/skip" on about a 1 second period. why it's doing it doesn't matter, all that does is it's now broken. So I need a (preferably non-transcoding) editor that I can write scripts for that will work with HDHR output files.

[razrsharpe]

the hdhr outputs mpeg files (by default i think too) so you should be able to configure comskip to make an edl, fire up the file with video redo (it should read the .edl file), make any adjustments to the .edl, and save the output. It does not reencode the whole file.

Alternatively mediashrink make the vprj (videoredo project) file from the edl if present, and cut the commercials. then you could even have sjq execute the jobs for a 100% hands off approach...

if it were me i would manually create the vprj file (because com skipping is never 100%... ) and then use SJQ to fire off mediashrink to do the actual cutting.

[hufnagel]

you pretty got my project flow there...
record, batch run comskip every night, manually "clean up" comskips using ComskipGUI interface (which also writes a comskip.wme format), convert wme's to womble.rec's and make womble.edl batch/list file, launch MPEG-VCR and run womble.edl.

I have Video ReDo on this other machine but it doesn't understand the womble.rec or comskip.edl files for some reason. (note, womble.rec is the editor file with the comskip info for each recording, womble.edl is nothing more than a listing of the various womble.rec's that are to be run. it's different from the comskip.edl that comskip makes. I know, 2 different formats with the same extension.) I need to see if comskip can make .vprj files or if I can't build them from either the comskip.edl or comskip.txt files.

just pisses me off that the Womble program is broken now.

[JerryB]

Originally Posted by hufnagel

I need to see if comskip can make .vprj files or if I can't build them from either the comskip.edl or comskip.txt files.

just pisses me off that the Womble program is broken now.

I'm an ex-Womble user who converted to VideoRedo a while back because Womble didn't seem to be keeping up. In any event, I also use comskip and can verify that comskip can be set to output a .vprj file that the current version of VideoRedo, which handles HDHR files just fine, can read and use.

[hufnagel]

JerryB... nice! thanks!

looks like I have some hack'n'slashing to do again. maybe this time I'll do it in PERL instead of BATCH though.

edit:
update... so far ReDo is looking good. it test edited this one PITA file (that REALLY showed the skipping problem) perfectly fine, now I have it doing a full edit. ComSkip did indeed output a perfectly acceptable Vprj file as well. now i just need to learn the batch file structure for ReDo so I can build it via script. Oh and of course buy a license key for ReDo.

edit2:
I like. making the kickoff script is STUPID simple too. silver lining I guess to all this is it made the process simpler.

[jgourd]

So I have these great .ts files in Sage that I want to edit, recompress etc. They are concerts I recorded off cable and i only want a few tunes from each in h.264 format.

I have tried virtual dub and MPEG stream clip but nothing opens these .ts files other than a player. What should I use to edit / recompress these files?

* merged *

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jgourd

So I have these great .ts files in Sage that I want to edit, recompress etc. They are concerts I recorded off cable and i only want a few tunes from each in h.264 format.

I have tried virtual dub and MPEG stream clip but nothing opens these .ts files other than a player. What should I use to edit / recompress these files?

* merged *

I just downloaded the Videoredo trial (version 564), and it can't edit HD-PVR .TS H-264 files. At least that's what the requester says when I try to open one of my HD PVR files.

any ideas?

**note change - just found an updated version 596 - which handles h.264. Strange that it's not the download trial version

[timg11]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

I just downloaded the Videoredo trial (version 564), and it can't edit HD-PVR .TS H-264 files. At least that's what the requester says when I try to open one of my HD PVR files.

any ideas?

Did you download the VideoRedo version using the link posted in this thread? This says the latest build is 596.

I tried it and it appears to support HD-PVR files.
VideoRedo is selling two versions, with and without the H.264 support, so you have to be sure to get the right one.

[davephan]

You have to use VideoReDo Suite to edit TS files. I've been using it since the beta. It's a bit harder to edit the TS files than the MPEG files because moving around in the frames is not quite as smooth. However, it works to edit TS and MPEG files.

I bought the VideoReDo Plus product before the Suite. The Plus version does not edit TS files, but might in future versions.

Here's a link to the VideoReDo Suite software:

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


Dave

[timg11]

Originally Posted by timg11

Did you download the VideoRedo version using the link posted in this thread? This says the latest build is 596.

I tried it and it appears to support HD-PVR files.
VideoRedo is selling two versions, with and without the H.264 support, so you have to be sure to get the right one.

Note - as of February 24th, the thread above was linked to the wrong program on the VideoRedo site (it downloaded the non-H.264 version 3, which confusingly has the same 596 build number). The link is fixed now.
If you previously downloaded the file, check to be sure the file name you downloaded is "VRDTVSH264-4-20-3-596.exe"

[crobs808]

My workflow for putting U-Verse DVR recordings onto Blu-Ray discs (BD-5 which is technically burned to DVD-Rs, but play in HD/1080 on a set-top Blu-Ray player or a computer)...

1. Rename SageTV recorded files from 'filename.ts' to 'filename.m2v'
2. Import into Premiere Pro CS4 (naively recognizes video and audio perfectly)
3. Do all the editing, removing of commercials, and whatever else you want
4. Save your project
5. Close Premiere Pro, then open Adobe Encore CS4
6. Import your Premiere Pro project then right-click on it to make it a timeline
7. Click "Build" to make your Blu-Ray disc
8. (Optional Step): Use BD Rebuilder to shrink it down to fit on a DVD-R (will still be Blu-Ray HD files though) - or at this point you can just burn it to a BD-R/RW disc if you want without shrinking it.

-The whole process takes about 30 minutes to get onto a 1080i BD disc (or Encore can make it into 1080p if you want)
-With optional STEP 8, it takes about 45-60 minutes to get 1080p DVD-R disc (this is called a BD5, and BD Rebuilder creates 1080p discs automatically from 1080i source material).

I should probably make a guide, lol, but it is SO easy. You can do this without ever having used Adobe software. I just did this with the movie Tron (1982) when it was recolored and re-released in HD last week...got it on Blu-Ray disc right now sitting on my desk At any rate, this is how I get movies or multiple shows/episodes I record onto Blu-Ray disc. They play fine in my Samsung Blu-Ray player in their full 1080 glory. The final discs also play on my friend's PS3 too

-C

[davephan]

Using Adobe Premiere Pro is a pretty expensive solution to editing videos since it lists at $800. I suspect it is must perform better than the VideoReDo Suite, but it would be tough to justify the high price.

Dave

[crobs808]

Originally Posted by davephan

Using Adobe Premiere Pro is a pretty expensive solution to editing videos since it lists at $800. I suspect it is must perform better than the VideoReDo Suite, but it would be tough to justify the high price.

Dave

Well, I am a video editor first, then a TV recording enthusiast second. Editing TV recordings is the least of what I do with Premiere Pro. I shoot and edit events professionally, so I already had it for work, which makes it SO easy.

Also..."$800'? Haha, that is about half the price, but you get what you pay for.

[davephan]

That's why you use a high end editing program! There must be deep discounts available for that software since the Adobe website list price is $799 and the upgrade, if you had a previous version is $299.

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/

Maybe I'll have to demo it some time to see if it is worth ten times the price of VideoReDo Suite.

Dave

[Fuzzy]

VideoReDo suite is much more suited to this type of task. Premiere has to completely decode and re-encode the edited files, while videoredo, since it works within the original encode, and just cut and paste at apporpriate points in the file. Two differnet programs for two completely different tasks.

[crobs808]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

VideoReDo suite is much more suited to this type of task. Premiere has to completely decode and re-encode the edited files, while videoredo, since it works within the original encode, and just cut and paste at apporpriate points in the file. Two differnet programs for two completely different tasks.

Encore takes about 15 minutes to turn a two hour SageTV recording into BD compliant files. encore does not reencode files that are already Blu-Ray complaint, which is why those steps only take 30-45 minutes max; otherwise yeah, it would take hours if it had to reencode, lol.