Recording in standard MPEG2 format possible?

[The_Doman]

I am new with this Mediaportal stuff and trying to find a more flexible alternative for some unhappy windows MCE users...

To my surprise (Shock!) the latest versions of the Mediaportal seem to record in the same DVR-MS format MCE uses.. :shock:

Very unconvenient because now the recordings can't be easy processed with standard DVD editing/authoring tools.

One of the main reason's we don't want to use the MCE is the DVR-MS format!

Is there a way to avoid this and record in standard MPEG2??

[scoop]

Hi,

No there isn't currently, because MP currently uses the MS Stream Buffer Engine (SBE) which uses the DVR-MS format. For now you can easily convert the recordings to MPEG2 via the TV "Compress" menu. If you convert the recording to MPG, no compression or conversion of the source format is done, so this process is quite fast and you won't loose quality.

Future versions of MP will include a native (non-MS) .TS/.PS TV engine. This format is more common and is easier to pickup by editing/authoring tools. On the other hand, more tools will support the dvr-ms format eventually.

Kind regards,
Michel

[broadband412]

So Mediaportal only records in DVR-MS? If this is so, a tv tuner card with a hardware MPEG1/2 Encoder will not work in Mediaportal since they can only record in the format that the hardware encoder supports? Thanks.

[scoop]

Hi,

Originally Posted by broadband412

So Mediaportal only records in DVR-MS? If this is so, a tv tuner card with a hardware MPEG1/2 Encoder will not work in Mediaportal since they can only record in the format that the hardware encoder supports? Thanks.

Dvr-ms is only a container format from Microsoft, which (eventually) contains MPEG2 audio and video. So yes hardware encoder cards are supported. In fact, currently MP only supports analog TV cards with hardware MPEG2 encoders onboard.

Kind regards,
Michel

[johnofe]

you may not be able to record direct to MPEG2 at this moment in time, but there is a freeware tool that i use to convert my DVR-MS riles into MPEG2.
one of the locations where it can be found is here:
http://mcesoft.nl/index.php?option=c...109&Itemid=161

the name of the freeware is "autodvrconvert"

you can actually set it to automatically convert programs as they appear in the recorded tv folder (you choose path!), but i dont do that cos i dont want all my progs to be converted.
a program which is an hour and ten minutes long will take about 7mins to convert using a pentium 4 3.2GHz.

IMPORTANT NOTE!...
i had ALOT of trouble getting this software working, but with all that tinkering i now know how to set it up. if you have any trouble, EMAIL (dont reply on this post cos i wont be checking it much!) me and i'll attach the nessesary files and documentation.

in the near future i will be making a section on my website containing my trials and errors, this page will assist anyone who is having trouble with something that i have already figured out; such as the DVR converter.
there will be lots on that page about lots of different things.
however i am an extremely busy man and have very little spare time, so it wont appear very fast; but i will soon enough :-)

it would actually be good if this utility was part of MP, like a feature which would do all the work for you :-) PLUGIN!
i am notcomputer software programmer, i have no idea :-)

be well.

[Marcusb]

it would actually be good if this utility was part of MP, like a feature which would do all the work for you PLUGIN!

Take a look at the "MyBurner" plugin. Even if you don't have a burner, it can still automatically convert a DVR-MS file to MPEG at the end of a recording. It's very fast too, as all it has to do is remove the wrapping.

I'm pretty sure it's built into MP.