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QUICK WAY OF BURNING A DVD FROM HUMAX HDR-FOX T2

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Patsmac

New Member
I have a Mac. So far, the way I have done this is to copy the programme to a USB pendrive, then on to my computer. Then I use Handbrake to convert it to a format that suits iMovie, then import it to iMovie, edit out the frames I don't want, share it and finally use iDVD to burn it to a disk. This is all a long way round and very time-c0nsuming. Is there a quicker way?

Patsmac
 
Patsmac said:
I have a Mac. So far, the way I have done this is to copy the programme to a USB pendrive, then on to my computer. Then I use Handbrake to convert it to a format that suits iMovie, then import it to iMovie, edit out the frames I don't want, share it and finally use iDVD to burn it to a disk. This is all a long way round and very time-c0nsuming. Is there a quicker way?

Patsmac
Click to expand...

Yes - get a PC instead of a Mac! Sorry low blow couldn't resist it :) Seriously though - I don't know Mac stuff too well but looking at what you've described it seems that that you're a victim of "Macness" in that you have to do it their way or not at all (that's why I'm not a fan). Hopefully there might be another Mac Savvy person on here that can advise. All I can say is that on Windows I have been using a package called VideoRedo TV Suite - it can edit the decrypted files off the Hummy without having to convert them first, and according to the feature list it claims to be able to output them to formats suitable for Apples. Unfortunately it is a Windows program so this probably isn't going to be much help but I thought I'd say just in case it adds anything (or you can get your hands on a PC somehow?).
 
I've tried using the PC version of Handbrake to convert the TS files copied off of the Humax and have been unsuccessful. If the audio format changes part way through the recording you just end up with no audio. I don't think Handbrake copes very well under these circumstances which is a shame as it is otherwise a really solid tool.

There are threads on this forum that suggest editing the file first to clip off the intros (where the audio is sometimes different to the main feature) and output a file with a single audio stream. VideoRedo is again mentioned there as being a good tool to do this but it is expensive.

If you, or anyone else for that matter, have managed to configure handbrake to convert multi format audio TS files then I'd be interested to know how.
 
I've encountered just the same problems. I've tried a variety of encoders and editors in endless combinations, but none has been able to produce a media file suitable for archiving in anything like a realistic time frame. It's just not worth spending hours on a programme you will probably only watch once anyway, especially when there are people out there (cough) who are only too happy to compete to see how quickly they can do the job for you and post the results in nice accessible places.

Freemake usually (but not always) manages to recode the Hummy's .ts files to mkv without suffering the audio problems you've met with Handbrake. It also has a built-in editor, not unlike a crude version on VideoRedo. The editor doesn't work for me, but you may have better luck if your PC can use its graphics card for decoding - mine's too old. The mkv file can however be trimmed with SolveigMM AVI Trimmer+MKV. Both of these are free and usually work, but they are long, tedious procedures.

Last time I looked, VideoRedo TV Suite H264 could edit the unwanted junk out of a Hummy ts file, but the only reliable save option was back to ts - all other 'save to' options would lock up or crash. The edited ts file is, however, recodable with Handbrake or Freemake, provided you've taken all the odd audio elements out - channel ident, ads, etc. As you say VRD is an option that comes at a price - one I'm not prepared to pay for a not-very-reliable beta version.
 
I've mentioned it before: re-recording the SCART output to an analogue PVR / DVD recorder is much less hassle, and you can leave it cooking to get on with someting else.
 
I'm not interested in SD - I have other ways of dealing with that that work perfectly. Anyway, there's a mouse nesting in my DVD recorder.
 
I use avidemux2 a fair bit on OsX (also available for windows + linux) - Its free, and pretty powerful (if occasionally a little crashy), and reads in the .ts files no problem. For making a DVD it allows trimming etc without having to re-encode (with the resultant loss of quality). Just set Video and Audio streams to "copy", and the output format to "MPEG-PS (A+V)" You should then be able to burn the resultant mpeg using iDVD.

Note if you're using Lion you need to follow the instructions here to get it to run.

I think Roxio toast is a good "all in one" solution (but costs money).

I'm sure there are plenty of other solutions out there. If you want to run windows programs on the Mac you can of course always just use Wine / Virtualbox / bootcamp etc, though I don't think VideoRedo is a cheap option.

Steve
 
Also just happened to load a .ts directly into Quicktime and to my surprise it played fine (latest version in Lion - I'm fairly sure it didn't used to in Snow Leopard). Latest Quicktime also has trimming / editing powers, and can export the file to various other formats. Hurrah for Apple :p
[Edit] - Though it doesn't look like mpeg / DVD is among them, so re-encodes the video so no good for speeding up the DVD authoring process...

Avidemux2 looks like the best bet for that as no time-consuming re-encoding should be needed (unless you're trying to record an HD broadcast in which case it needs converting to mpeg2)
 
Drutt said:
I think Roxio toast is a good "all in one" solution (but costs money).
Click to expand...
I use Toast (currently on version 10) and it is much easier - and more flexible - than coaxing stuff through the various iLife video applications. You can usually find a genuine, sealed, boxed copy on eBay for less than Roxio want to charge you through their web site.

Be aware that some channels eg Film4 use long Group-of-Picture (GOP) in their DVB-T broadcasts, presumably to try to improve picture quality. These recordings have to be re-encoded within Toast to comply with the DVD GOP specification, otherwise they can not be guaranteed to play on all DVD players. Recordings which are already meet the GOP criteria for DVD (which covers all the "mainstream SD" channels, including all the BBC channels) can be burnt direct to disc without re-encoding, which is much quicker.

I've not tried Toast with DVB-T2 recordings yet.

I use mpegstreamclip (older Humax users may be familiar with this application) to edit down mpeg transport streams - and VOB files from DVDs, in fact pretty much any MPEG source - before I burn them to disc.
 
I've not tried Toast with DVB-T2 recordings yet.
Click to expand...

Please try and report back,

I've got Toast 9 and have managed to re-encode a HD recording but the sound track distorted (everyone sounded like they were breathing helium) funny for about 10 seconds then frustating.

I'm thinking about upgrading to Toast 11, but only if it can handle humax HD files.
 
I had a demand to burn an iPlayer download to DVD today, so I pulled the MP4 across to the PC (by the way, I don't think it's been mentioned before that the streaming buffer file isn't encrypted).

Neither Windows DVD Maker nor Cyberlink Power2Go were prepared to import it, even if I changed the file type to .mpg. In the end I used Serif MoviePlus to import it, and then exporting to DVD required a lengthy rendering operation which I presume was a transcoding stage. Is that what I should expect?
 
Black Hole said:
exporting to DVD required a lengthy rendering operation which I presume was a transcoding stage. Is that what I should expect?
Click to expand...
Afraid so. The iplayer stream consists of H.264 video and AAC audio. A DVD Video requires MPEG-2 video and MP2 audio. Both the video and audio have to be re-encoded before they can be used in a standards-compliant DVD Video disc.
 
Thanks for that explanation. I love it when somebody knows what they're talking about and can express it concisely.
 
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