The only obvious difference I can see is that the main audio track is 5.1 surround sound. My sample was stereo only. Try importing an HD test clip recorded from an HD channel that was broadcasting in stereo at the time. (which means most of the time). If that works then you know where the problem lies.
HDR Fox T2 File ts Editing
- Thread starter oijonesey
- Start date
Wile E Coyote
New Member
I haven't had the chance to try an HD recording yet (we aren't being done 'till August) but I've edited SD by demuxing with ProjectX then importing the streams into Cuttermaran. Various sites have requests for Cuttermaran to handle H264/MPEG 4.
AVS4YOU have a deal on their AVS Video Editor at the moment and as above, I haven't had the chance to try Lightworks or H264TS Cutter yet.
AVS4YOU have a deal on their AVS Video Editor at the moment and as above, I haven't had the chance to try Lightworks or H264TS Cutter yet.
OP
oijonesey
Hummy.tv SEO Guru
Wile E Coyote - Watch out for H264 cutter ref my original post - it could be your road runner! For me it stopped windows vista working and I had to system restore.
fenlander
Active Member
Here's one free solution...
Download and install Freemake Video Converter. It is free and unrestricted. Note that this will require the .NET Framework 4 and the installer will handle this if required.
Freemake incorporates a - rather rudimentary - editor a bit like VideoReDo but with fewer bells and whistles. The converter program will open Hummy .ts files, both SD and HD, but (on my non-accelerated system, at least) the editor can't handle the HD files. However, this is not the end of the world: the key is to convert first, then edit.
Open a decrypted Hummy HD .ts file in Freemake and convert it to .avi or .mkv. I downsize it at this stage to 720HD as 1080 is of no benefit on my system and just takes up more room. The converted file (at 720p) will be little more than 25% the size of the original and IMHO the quality is indistinguishable. Of course, either file type will run on a PC, but if you want to transfer the file back to the Hummy or use it via DNLA, pick the .avi option. The time taken for the conversion will depend on your system: with a modern accelerated graphics card it will be much quicker than my creaky PC!
When the conversion is finished, open the new file in Freemake and enter the editor, where you can remove the leader, trailer and adverts. Then convert the file again, using the 'same as original' setting which quickly resaves the edited file without re-encoding it.
Job done. Together with all the business of getting the file off the Hummy in the first place, it's not exactly quick. Nevertheless, Freemake is an impressively simple converter that will handle all sorts of formats with no need to understand the abstruse details of file formats and it's the only free one I've found with a simple editing option.
Download and install Freemake Video Converter. It is free and unrestricted. Note that this will require the .NET Framework 4 and the installer will handle this if required.
Freemake incorporates a - rather rudimentary - editor a bit like VideoReDo but with fewer bells and whistles. The converter program will open Hummy .ts files, both SD and HD, but (on my non-accelerated system, at least) the editor can't handle the HD files. However, this is not the end of the world: the key is to convert first, then edit.
Open a decrypted Hummy HD .ts file in Freemake and convert it to .avi or .mkv. I downsize it at this stage to 720HD as 1080 is of no benefit on my system and just takes up more room. The converted file (at 720p) will be little more than 25% the size of the original and IMHO the quality is indistinguishable. Of course, either file type will run on a PC, but if you want to transfer the file back to the Hummy or use it via DNLA, pick the .avi option. The time taken for the conversion will depend on your system: with a modern accelerated graphics card it will be much quicker than my creaky PC!
When the conversion is finished, open the new file in Freemake and enter the editor, where you can remove the leader, trailer and adverts. Then convert the file again, using the 'same as original' setting which quickly resaves the edited file without re-encoding it.
Job done. Together with all the business of getting the file off the Hummy in the first place, it's not exactly quick. Nevertheless, Freemake is an impressively simple converter that will handle all sorts of formats with no need to understand the abstruse details of file formats and it's the only free one I've found with a simple editing option.
OP
oijonesey
Hummy.tv SEO Guru
Thanks for everyone's input - I got great help from VRD support although in the end they confirmed my sample file worked fine at their end so on that info I uninstalled all of the various programs I'd been trialling (including VRD) and re-installed their TVSuite H264 version - and then it worked fine.
I haven't tried FreeMake yet as suggested by fenlander but I would have to say that so far in terms of ease of use, intuitive functionality, speed of processing (inc saving the edited file) then Video Redo is by a good margin the best option I've seen so far and it is the one I'll be paying money for, mainly because of the time it will save me by working so well and so quickly with the Hummy .ts files straight off the boxm without the need to do any conversions to other formats.
I haven't tried FreeMake yet as suggested by fenlander but I would have to say that so far in terms of ease of use, intuitive functionality, speed of processing (inc saving the edited file) then Video Redo is by a good margin the best option I've seen so far and it is the one I'll be paying money for, mainly because of the time it will save me by working so well and so quickly with the Hummy .ts files straight off the boxm without the need to do any conversions to other formats.
fenlander
Active Member
I feel I should retract the recommendation for Freemake - its editor really isn't up to the job when it comes to HD files. VRD remains pretty much the only game in town. I downloaded it a week or so back and spent an afternoon testing it (make sure you have the latest build - the trial download lacks a number of features, in particular h264 output formats). So far I have succeeded only with the .ts output - both .mp4 and .mkv failed when writing files from the Hummy. That said, I must take my own advice and go back to check if there is a later build than the one I am using.
[EDIT] Just checked out the latest VRD build. As before. The only h264 save options that work for me are .ts and .m2ts. The .mkv and .mp4 options still do not complete fully. The .ts files play perfectly well with VLC or Splash, so for home consumption they're fine.
I must add that HD editing is sluggish, though leagues ahead of Freemake. My lappy is nearly 5 years old (that's about 95 in human terms). A more recent machine should be no problem.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Is there any way to convert the HiDef .ts to something more editors would be happy with?
grahamlthompson
Well-Known Member
Lots of ways, but it takes a long time to recode 1920 x 1080 to 720 x 576. Any decent video editing package will do this as will Video Redo TV Suite. Also TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5. There's freeeware stuff around as well. HD camcorders come with software that will do this as well.
fenlander
Active Member
I'm not so sure there actually are any other editors that handle h264 in this way. Just VRD and Freemake, and as I said the latter is not really up to it. We're in a very immature software area here: give it 12 months and there will probably be more viable options.
grahamlthompson
Well-Known Member
Magix Edit Pro 16 does, as does any Video editor designed to work with H264/AVC camcorder footage (Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, Nero recode V10 TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5 are some that spring to mind). HD camcorders aren't that new. There's no problem with 1080i footage, 1080p50/60 is different it needs a really powerfull PC, it's not a blu-ray standard and a new AVCHD standard covering this and 3D has just been announced.
Hi, has anyone else had trouble opening HD .ts files in Video Redo? I downloaded the free trial of h264 TV suite and edited some HD ts files, decrypted by Foxy, with no problems at all. Very impressed I paid for the upgrade to my old version of VRD, but now I cannot open any HD ts files, not even the edited ones saved by the free trial version! They all give "MPEG audio layer 1 is not supported", so I assume I must have lost some setting somewhere?? VRD support have been very helpful, and I have downloaded and installed their latest beta, but still get the same error.
Did you completely uninstall the earlier versions or just install over the top ? If an uninstall/install doesn't work it might be worth trying a System Restore to the point before you installed the first trial copy.
Hi Raydon, thanks for your suggestion, you were quite right. I also had an eMail from VRD support yesterday saying they can open the ts I uploaded so try uninstall/reinstall. I found 3 versions on my PC, so uninstalled all then reinstalled the latest beta. All now works fine 
Very odd, having the free trial working, I'd have thought paying for the upgrade was just like entering a product key, never considered doing an uninstall first. We live and learn.
Very odd, having the free trial working, I'd have thought paying for the upgrade was just like entering a product key, never considered doing an uninstall first. We live and learn.
MattC
Member
So VideoReDo costs about $95 for the h.264 version.. quite pricey to trim some TV eps. I'll try the free trial, but can we confirm the 'workflow' for trimming episodes? It'd be nice to have a concise guide for new users to follow. Here's the kind of thing I'm expecting to do for SD content;
1) Download an unencrypted episode from the box, either by copying off via USB stick, or via the Web Interface (?). Downloading via FTP won't automatically decrypt the episode.
2) Use VideoReDo to trim the episode & save it with the same name, with the original video settings
3) Push the file back to the box using FTP, overwriting the original file.
I'm assuming the video will lose the ability to ffwd/rwnd/skip when played back on the box?
1) Download an unencrypted episode from the box, either by copying off via USB stick, or via the Web Interface (?). Downloading via FTP won't automatically decrypt the episode.
2) Use VideoReDo to trim the episode & save it with the same name, with the original video settings
3) Push the file back to the box using FTP, overwriting the original file.
I'm assuming the video will lose the ability to ffwd/rwnd/skip when played back on the box?
You will also need to remove the .nts, .hmt and .thm sidecar files otherwise it will not be playable. Yes, you will lose skip etc.
MattC
Member
Ah, does that mean you lose episode details as well, e.g. title, date, info?
ChrisDaniels
Well-Known Member
I don't think this is pie in the sky at all, but it would require someone to dedicate some time to it.
We already have a method of decrypting files on the box (thanks to ratx) which I am planning to wrap up into a command line utility at some point. Once decrypted, the hmt utility can be used to update the associated .hmt file to reflect the decryption. Then it is just a matter of removing the frames that are not of interest from the .ts file and the associated index records from the .nts. If desired, then there are other frames in the .ts file that can also be removed as they relate to other programmes which were being broadcast on the Mux at the same time.
Alternatively, ffmpeg can be used to strip out sections of a decrypted .ts file and that will work fine as long as the sidecar files are also removed, or it should be possible to generate a new .nts file afterwards. Raydon's AV2HDR utility can already create .nts files for the Foxsat so it is feasible.
I might have a look at this at some point, but I have enough on my todo list for now!
We already have a method of decrypting files on the box (thanks to ratx) which I am planning to wrap up into a command line utility at some point. Once decrypted, the hmt utility can be used to update the associated .hmt file to reflect the decryption. Then it is just a matter of removing the frames that are not of interest from the .ts file and the associated index records from the .nts. If desired, then there are other frames in the .ts file that can also be removed as they relate to other programmes which were being broadcast on the Mux at the same time.
Alternatively, ffmpeg can be used to strip out sections of a decrypted .ts file and that will work fine as long as the sidecar files are also removed, or it should be possible to generate a new .nts file afterwards. Raydon's AV2HDR utility can already create .nts files for the Foxsat so it is feasible.
I might have a look at this at some point, but I have enough on my todo list for now!
. nts contains offset addresses to each and every frame in the .ts file, as well as a lot of other stuff, so if you do any edits the whole .ts file has to be parsed to create a new nts. I've had a T2 version of AV2HDR on the back burner for a good while now, just not had the spare time to spend on developing it.