can't remember...sorry...

[aweber1nj]

Isn't there an add-on that someone built to auto-recode recordings to a more standardized format (i.e. MP4/H.264)?

Especially due to the question marks around the future of STV, I'd like to recode some of my recordings so they can be played both via STV and other, more general media client/server setups.

Thanks in advance,
AJ

[will]

What formats you are recording in now that you find aren't standardized?

[aweber1nj]

Well, it's a good question, of course.

I haven't changed anything that I know about for recording (I can't set the "quality" as it's digital). I know that I tried to just change the extension on one of the recorded shows from "ts" to mp4 or something and it couldn't be played by anything I tried.

To be clear, I'm just referring to recordings scheduled directly from the program guide.

Is there someplace specific in my setup/settings you'd like me to check to answer your question better? Or was my test of just changing the file extension off because I didn't choose the right extension to change it to?

Thanks for the reply,
AJ

[will]

Originally Posted by aweber1nj

Or was my test of just changing the file extension off because I didn't choose the right extension to change it to?

You typically can't change file extensions and expect programs to support the file. For example, if I change a Word document from .docx to .xlsx that doesn't mean the Word doc is now a spreadsheet that can be opened by Excel.

Of course this varies based on the program. You can change a .txt file to a .log file (or any extension) and it will still open in most text editors.

I suggest keeping the ts (MPEG transport stream) files as is because they are the standard.

If you want a program that can play them then I suggest using VLC.

[aweber1nj]

That's not the point.

If it's a ms word file and you email it to me with an extension of zzz, it is still the same file, and I can open it with my copy of Word, whether I use the explorer file manager or from the open dialog.

We're getting off topic. I would like to transform the ts-file to something that can be played across a variety of clients, whether it's a roku, a google tv box or anything else I choose.

Someone had a package to do that in a batch manner (I remember handbrake being in the mix). But I couldn't even get handbrake to open a ts file when I tried. Maybe, like your example, there is an industry standard extension I should change it to so handbrake recognizes it?

[Fonceur]

You can rename the .ts to .mpg if you want, as that is what the format within the container is... If you want to re-encode to a different format, than that's a different issue...

[phelme]

Don't mess with the extension, as others mentioned it won't get you anywhere.

ts or transport streams, are an accepted standardized container for MPEG. They can be played on Roku or Google TV boxes. So there is no harm in leaving them as is.

Most people only transcode transport stream containers to say Matroska (mkv) or mp4 when they want to reduce the file size by using a compressed format. If that's what you're trying to accomplish, Handbrake will work just fine for that (try dragging the .ts file onto Handbrake's open window). You can even batch them up with Handbrake too.

[aweber1nj]

I'm actually trying to do exactly that (convert to MP4). But everytime I try and get Handbrake (latest ver, AFAIK) to open up one of these files it either hangs or throws some other error.

I have yet to be able to get Handbrake to open/parse a .ts file (even after renaming it to .mpg in a temp directory for testing). Something's strange.

BTW: I finally found the original utility I was looking for: MediaShrink. It failed too, which surprised me...though it uses HandbrakeCLI under-the-covers.

[nyplayer]

Why not try and use the built in SageTvTranscoder and see if that works. In options you can convert or setup favorites to convert.

[Fuzzy]

Yeah, sagetv 7 includes an auto convert feature for each favorite. You can have it automatically convert the recordings when they are done recording.

[aweber1nj]

Is there someplace I can set the desired output format and/or other settings for that? I tried google, but didn't find any useful info on the tool.

Thanks,
AJ

[Fuzzy]

There are settings for iPad, iPod, PS3, etc to choose from when you are setting up the conversion job in sage.

[aweber1nj]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

You can rename the .ts to .mpg if you want, as that is what the format within the container is... If you want to re-encode to a different format, than that's a different issue...

This may just be all I need. The general push was that my media player(s) should be able to play the MPEG-1/2 files as-is, and that may be true.

Is there some way to tell Sage to use .mpg as the default extension, or is there some trick to renaming the files after they are recorded so that they are still recognized by Sage (I assume I can't just rename them in the directory without updating something within Sage or a properties file or something)?

Thanks again,
AJ

[scoful]

Is there anywhere to set this globally - at least as a favorite default like the default number of recordings?