HDR Fox T2 File ts Editing

[oijonesey]

Anyone got any reasons not to list this one on the first post?

Hmmph - yes maybe I do. I put through my Transformers movie again (saved the project so very quicky to load up the source with the edits nicely saved) and sent it through (in 12 minutes!!!). Then I checked the resulting file with MediaInfo and it said this:

Audio
ID : 302 (0x12E)
Menu ID : 17664 (0x4500)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 1
Mode : Dual mono
Mode extension : Intensity Stereo
Emphasis : Reserved
Codec ID : 4
Duration : 2h 19mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 4ms
Stream size : 445 MiB (5%)
Language : English
Language, more info : Clean effects

I'm no expert but even I can see that's not great audio!! DualMono? Intensity stereo, 2 channels, lossy? Not good words to see methinks. Back to the options menu again!

 

[grahamlthompson]

I'm no expert but even I can see that's not great audio!! DualMono? Intensity stereo, 2 channels, lossy? Not good words to see methinks. Back to the options menu again!

Don't worry about lossy, Mpeg 1 layer 1, Mpeg 1 layer 2, Mpeg 1 layer 3, AAC, AC3 and DTS are all lossy.

 

[fenlander]

I HATE messing with codecs!
Still, I zapped my previous codecs and installed K-Lite mega. I now get sound in the editor, but the output is mostly silent with an occasional 'squelch' - as if all the missing audio is playing in a quarter of a second. On loading the file, I get a warning about the LAV Splitter, but none of the other installed splitters works at all.
I notice that this program is flagged as 'incomplete'....

I have to say, for me this software gets a 'working towards' rather than a 'recommended'.

 

[johnb]

Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 1
Mode : Dual mono
Mode extension : Intensity Stereo
.......
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
.......

I'm no expert but even I can see that's not great audio!! DualMono? Intensity stereo, 2 channels, lossy? Not good words to see methinks. Back to the options menu again!

I caught sight of this so thought I would mention that it looks like MPEG-1 Layer I (mp1) audio, which is *really* old. As far as I know, the Standard Def channels use mp2 (MPEG-1 Layer II) with the BBC channels having a bit rate of 256kbps for the mp2, the other channels usually have lower audio bitrates. Also the sampling rate of SD Freeview audio is 48kHz, not 44.1.

 

[oijonesey]

UPDATE : TSSniper is now giving me an error when loading SD or HD files - I get the progress bar whe adding the file but then it gets to "Initialising Video Preview" and I get the error "Access Violation at address 00000000. Read of address 00000000" It was all looking so promising yesterday! Never mind onto the next one on my list...

 

[oijonesey]

My search continues now with Free Editors that will work with HD files (I'm now using Freemake for anything SD unless I stumble upon anything faster) - I have a new candidate I've been trying and had some success with. It's called VideoPad available from the link below.

http://www.nchsoftware.com/software/video.html

It says it's free software but there is also some sort of upgrade option but I haven't worked out what upgrading gives you (there might be a time limit trial perhaps but I've not seen any nag screens either).

Editing process seems OK - you select the start end end point that you want from the source and drop into the output timeline. So for ad removal you'd be selecting each segment you want and dropping it down to end up with a string of segments to output in one file. You get quite accurate frame movement to select your cut points - didn't take me too long to navigate around and select what I wanted (although it was on a small file) It then took about 20 mins to output a 10 minute SD file

Media Info reported the output file as follows (note the audio is AAC after my last hope TSSniper failed on the audio format limitation)

General
Format  : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 114 MiB
Duration  : 9mn 59s
Overall bit rate : 1 593 Kbps
Writing application : Lavf52.105.0
Video
ID  : 1
Format  : AVC
Format/Info  : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [EMAIL='High@L3.1'][U][COLOR=#0066cc]High@L3.1[/COLOR][/U][/EMAIL]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration  : 9mn 58s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 462 Kbps
Width  : 1 024 pixels
Height  : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)  : 0.099
Stream size : 104 MiB (92%)
Writing library : x264 core 115
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=23.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Audio
ID  : 2
Format  : AAC
Format/Info  : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration  : 9mn 59s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)  : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 9.14 MiB (8%)

So I then had a go with an HD file (VideoPad only seemed to want to look for/open mp4 files but I could rename a ts file to mp4 and it opened and allowed editing!!

Once that was output this was media info's view of the output

General
ID  : 16515 (0x4083)
Complete name : C:\Users\Brian\Desktop\ToyStory3\Treasures of Heaven_20110621_2102.mp4
Format  : BDAV
Format/Info  : Blu-ray Video
File size : 59.6 MiB
Duration  : 47s 545ms
Overall bit rate : 10.5 Mbps
Video
ID  : 101 (0x65)
Menu ID : 17472 (0x4440)
Format  : AVC
Format/Info  : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [EMAIL='High@L4.0'][U][COLOR=#0066cc]High@L4.0[/COLOR][/U][/EMAIL]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=4, N=24
Codec ID : 27
Duration  : 47s 0ms
Width  : 1 920 pixels
Height  : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : MBAFF
Color primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC [URL='http://www.hummy.tv/forum/tel:61966-2-4%20709'][U][COLOR=#0066cc]61966-2-4 709[/COLOR][/U][/URL], SMPTE RP177
Audio #1
ID  : 102 (0x66)
Menu ID : 17472 (0x4440)
Format  : AAC
Format/Info  : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Muxing mode : LATM
Codec ID : 17
Duration  : 47s 530ms
Channel(s)  : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -813ms
Language : English
Audio #2
ID  : 106 (0x6A)
Menu ID : 17472 (0x4440)
Format  : AAC
Format/Info  : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : HE-AAC / LC
Muxing mode : LATM
Codec ID : 17
Duration  : 47s 104ms
Channel(s)  : 1 channel
Channel positions : Front: C
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz / 24.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -426ms
Language  : English
Language, more info : Visual impaired commentary
Text
ID  : 105 (0x69)
Menu ID : 17472 (0x4440)
Format  : DVB Subtitle
Codec ID : 6
Language : English
Menu
ID  : 100 (0x64)
Menu ID : 17472 (0x4440)
Duration  : 47s 545ms
List  : 101 (0x65) (AVC) / 102 (0x66) (AAC, English) / 105 (0x69) (DVB Subtitle, English) / 106 (0x6A) (AAC, English)
Language : / English / English / English

So I think it is at least keeping Stereo but perhaps not 5.1 and all that flash stuff? I've got to do some more testing on the Audio sync as the HD file reports a 426ms delay according to MediaInfo so I've got some news at 10 footage to check the delays with. I also need to bash it with the Transformers movie file to see how it works with huge files. However as nothing seems to have exploded on my laptop (yet) I just wanted to put this up before the weekend in case anyone fancies a play?

 

[fenlander]

I'm very wary of NCH software. They have a similar audio app called Wavepad which is very good, claims to be free, and is much easier to use than Audacity. However, you keep encountering functions that don't work unless you download an additional component. These components then turn out to be time-limited and start demanding payment. Eventually, the whole application stopped working.

Still, it looks promising. I'll take a look.

EDIT: actually, perhaps I won't. This from their website re. the free version: "The basic version of VideoPad has all the features of VideoPad Pro but after 14 days trial the range of export formats will be limited to .avi, .wmv, .asf and DVD." The paid Pro version is almost as expensive as VideoRedo. Just as I remember: vital bits stop working after a couple of weeks. It's misleading calling this "free" - it's actually a time-limited evaluation version.

 

[oijonesey]

Oh man these bloody websites must see me coming!! Never mind - will still keep trying but I must try to be more suspicious of "free" software...

 

[fenlander]

Another product.
First off it's not free, so stop reading now if free's your must-have feature.

I'd be interested to know some opinions on AVS software. They have a large suite of video and audio programs, including one that doesn't exactly jump out of their website. It's called Video Remaker and it does some interesting things:
1) It has a good, very responsive editor allowing Hummy .ts files to be edited - topped, tailed and relieved of their ads.
2) It saves to .mp4 very quickly, because it doesn't transcode and the .mp4 files run happily on the Hummy with full ff/rwd/skip. Not so the .mkv output.
3) If you have one of those .mkv files obtained from unmentionable sources on t'internet, it will remux it equally quickly to .mp4, again apparently with full transport control (needs more testing to verify).
What it doesn't do is recode to different resolutions - that's taken care of by another part of the suite called Video Converter. So far, I'm less impressed with this - it seems slow and unintuitive and it doesn't seem to want to play with files output by the Remaker software, which is odd.

The whole suite - website - is licensed as a single entity at £44.48: less than VideoRedo, but much more than free. At least they're upfront about charges. In evaluation mode Remaker will only output the first 5 minutes of a file, and Converter uses a watermark, so it's not fully-functioning until you pay your cash. Still, if anyone's interested in trying it, I'd be glad to get some feedback here. At the moment I'm feeling quite tempted, but I'd like to know what problems I haven't yet noticed.

 

[jsrobo]

Another product.
First off it's not free, so stop reading now if free's your must-have feature.

I'd be interested to know some opinions on AVS software. They have a large suite of video and audio programs, including one that doesn't exactly jump out of their website. It's called Video Remaker and it does some interesting things:
1) It has a good, very responsive editor allowing Hummy .ts files to be edited - topped, tailed and relieved of their ads.
2) It saves to .mp4 very quickly, because it doesn't transcode and the .mp4 files run happily on the Hummy with full ff/rwd/skip. Not so the .mkv output.
3) If you have one of those .mkv files obtained from unmentionable sources on t'internet, it will remux it equally quickly to .mp4, again apparently with full transport control (needs more testing to verify).
What it doesn't do is recode to different resolutions - that's taken care of by another part of the suite called Video Converter. So far, I'm less impressed with this - it seems slow and unintuitive and it doesn't seem to want to play with files output by the Remaker software, which is odd.

The whole suite - website - is licensed as a single entity at £44.48: less than VideoRedo, but much more than free. At least they're upfront about charges. In evaluation mode Remaker will only output the first 5 minutes of a file, and Converter uses a watermark, so it's not fully-functioning until you pay your cash. Still, if anyone's interested in trying it, I'd be glad to get some feedback here. At the moment I'm feeling quite tempted, but I'd like to know what problems I haven't yet noticed.

Fenlander,
I have AVS Video Editor 5.2 and can confirm it works correctly with both Std Def and Hi Def both editing and saving with full sound etc. I have been testing out a lot of programs most of which work in a fashion, but have found AVS Video Editor does the best job. However in my testing I have found that the way the files are copied to you computer is of critical importance. This is what works for me. The Hummy must have the modified firmware installed and the ntfs software option also, this last bit allows me to copy both Std & Hi Def ts files by usb external drive formatted to ntfs and then copy them across to my computer. This results in video that plays correctly on both Splash Lite & VLC, with full ff etc control of the playback with sound insync etc. Another words its perfect, without this standard of copying don't bother trying to edit or convert espectically Hi Def ts files. If you have any questions please let me know/ ask away.

 

[SiHa]

Fenlander,
I have AVS Video Editor 5.2 and can confirm it works correctly with both Std Def and Hi Def both editing and saving with full sound etc. I have been testing out a lot of programs most of which work in a fashion, but have found AVS Video Editor does the best job. However in my testing I have found that the way the files are copied to you computer is of critical importance. This is what works for me. The Hummy must have the modified firmware installed and the ntfs software option also, this last bit allows me to copy both Std & Hi Def ts files by usb external drive formatted to ntfs and then copy them across to my computer. This results in video that plays correctly on both Splash Lite & VLC, with full ff etc control of the playback with sound insync etc. Another words its perfect, without this standard of copying don't bother trying to edit or convert espectically Hi Def ts files. If you have any questions please let me know/ ask away.

I too have used AVS video editor on both SD & HD (BBC HD from Freesat) recordings and it copes well.

 

[fenlander]

I'm surprised. So far, my experiments with AVS video editor and files from the HDR T2 have all ended in messy crashes within a couple of minutes. AVS Remaker, on the other hand seems quicker and is very reliable - perhaps because it is a much simpler program.

I've barely got to the point of saving anything in video editor. What output option are you using that is compatible with both Splash and the Hummy? One gripe I have with Remaker is that the .mp4 output that works on the Hummy does not preserve the 16:9 format when viewed with Splash - and Splash must be the only media player I know that doesn't let the user override the aspect ratio setting of the file.

 

[oijonesey]

OK this looks promising - even for a price - although I can't work out if I have to buy the whole suite as fenlander reported for £44 or if you can just get Remaker for maybe less? (I don't really want/need any of the other stuff).

However in trying to find out if there were any individual license prices I spotted these in the FAQ's - the first two make it sound like once it's installed and then you need to/decide to get a new computer you have to buy a new license as follows:

I have the UNLIMITED license for your software. I bought a new computer. May I use this license on a new computer or do I have to buy a new one?
As AVS4YOU software is licensed on a per-computer basis, you will need to purchase a separate UNLIMITED or 1-YEAR license for every new computer.

I am planning to purchase a new computer soon. Shall I be able to transfer the license from my old computer to the new one?
One license can be activated only on one computer, so if you change your PC you will need to buy an additional license.

And then further down the FAQ's it says this which implies you can re-install and use the same license key again - I'm not gonna buy a lifetime license that is pretty much certainly going to outlive the machine it's installed on!!

My personal computer crashed and I had to reformat my computer hard disk drive. May I use the old license as I do not want to buy a new one?
Yes, you may. Please download the latest versions of our software from the www.avs4you.com web site, install and activate them using the license that you have. If you lost your registration information, please try our online license retrieval tool first, or fill out our support form to restore your lost registration information. Please do not forget to provide your first and last name and your e-mail.

My personal computer crashed and I had to reformat my computer hard disk drive. How can I restore all your programs and their registration information?

After you reinstall the operating system, please download the latest versions of our software from the www.avs4you.com web site, install and activate them using the license that you have. If you lost your registration information, please try our online license retrieval tool first, or fill out our support form to restore your lost registration information. Please do not forget to provide your first and last name and your e-mail.

Surely I've mis-understood (and no "don't call me Shirley" jokes please!!!)

 

[shevek]

Surely I've mis-understood (and no "don't call me Shirley" jokes please!!!)

This is entirely possibly. There are many ways to "fingerprint" a computer (one common way is to use the MAC address of the default NIC). There are quite a few pieces of software that do this.

If you are buying a new computer then the "fingerprint" will be different and the activation will fail.

If you are reinstalling after a Windows reinstall then the "fingerprint" will be the same, allowing activation.

Most software I have seen this "feature" on allow you to have multiple instances registered up to a limit (e.g. DGDecNV [an awesome bit of software for video decoding/encoding if you have an Nvidia card] and iTunes) and/or allow you to deactivate and activate new ones when you reach the limit (iTunes).

With a restrictive Licence such as that from AVS4YOU, I personally wouldn't go near it - that is an awful restriction and they'll never get my business.

Just my 2p

 

[fenlander]

"One license can be activated only on one computer, so if you change your PC you will need to buy an additional license."

This one seems quite unambiguous - the others are a bit fuzzy. I'm inclined to agree with shevek - unacceptable.

 

[jsrobo]

Just get AVS Video Editor it is a standalone program works on any computer for as long as you want. It's the editor you want all the other bits are a waste of money, and are available from other free sources anyway.

 

[oijonesey]

Just get AVS Video Editor it is a standalone program works on any computer for as long as you want. It's the editor you want all the other bits are a waste of money, and are available from other free sources anyway.

But that was the point - it's not free - as far as I can tell they're offering it for $59 dollars as a 'special offer' which includes all their suite of programs. As fenlander said it's cheaper than VideoRedo so if it does something better/faster than FreeMake (our current leader for freeware) then it might be worth the money.

Unless of course you know somewhere with - lets say - a more favourable pricing model!!!!

 

[fenlander]

It appears that AVS Video Editor's output options are very limited - .avi, .mpeg, .wmv, .mov only. For the specialised requirement of removing unwanted material from Hummy .ts files and remuxing without transcoding, the AVS application of choice must surely be Remaker. However, it rankles to pay the full asking price for the entire suite just to get one of the simpler components, especially in view of the licence restrictions.

If you need to author DVDs or create more complex effects, the balance of the argument changes significantly.

 

[jsrobo]

This is AVS Video Editors limited output options, haha... oh and the advanced options are very extensive also, you can easily preserve 16:9 etc. It won't output to .ts but why would you want to? They are avi mpeg wmv mov each one has advanced settings with any number of types to choose from.

 

[fenlander]

I've never tried: does the Hummy play .wmv? I tried an .avi from Remaker and the Hummy wouldn't have it. Video Editor doesn't do .mp4 or .mkv - two of the most widely used containers. In addition, Video Editor must surely transcode to achieve its output: Remaker will resave an edited file in a matter of minutes because it does not do this - a huge plus.
I should make clear here, my personal requirement is as follows:
1) ability to edit rubbish out of Humax HD .ts files and put them back on the Humax, where they will play with ff/rwd AND be able to play them on the PC, preferably with Splash Player. And to do this quickly!
2) ability to transcode occasionally to 720p .mkv or .mp4 files from the above for archiving.
I'm not interested in any of Video Editor's other whizz bangs - for my purposes they're just bloat. I've also come across posts in other forums commenting on Video Converter's slowness, so while I remain impressed with Remaker, I'm not seeing many reasons to bother with the rest.

(Video Editor usually crashes for me long before I get to the output parameters....)