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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lehmden" data-source="post: 1267596" data-attributes="member: 109222">It's not necessary to have this xml file to open a .ts file. The xml only is used inside the "recordings" folder/source to identify a video file as a TV recording and to read a few metadata from. Anywhere else a so called ".nfo" file can deliver all metadata to prevent online lookup during import (excerpt for MP1 series). In MP1 no .nfo  support is implemented for series, only for movies... But under all circumstances the .ts is playable without the xml file...Depends mostly on your hardware. I'm using a Pentium J5005 ( a very low power consuming "Atom- alike" CPU from 2018) and I approximately need about 15 minutes to transcode one hour of SDTV video and 30 minutes for one hour of 720p HDTV. 1080i HDTV needs a lot more power due to the needed de-interlacing while transoding so here I get about 45-50 minutes per hour 1080i HDTV... With more powerful hardware (e.g. a recent Core i5 or a proper Ryzen) you can decrease those times dramatically...There is no visible difference at all, not even on a huge 4K TV... The new codecs are much more efficient than the old ones. Mpeg2 (the codec used for SDTV and DVD) is more than 30 years old so you can imagine how much development has taken place in meantime... Aside this DVB Streams ( = TV recordings) are extremely big, even compared with other files using the same codec. Lots of trash data and overload is included that eats up around 50% of the file size... DVB streams are not primarily meant for storing them on HDD so other things than saving space has priority here. A DVB tuner card generally only is "copying" the DVB- stream that comes over air, cable or sat directly to the recording folder in a computer readable format. Anything that make the usage more comfortable and efficient has to be done later. DVB is transmitted as .ts (ts means TransportStream) and normally all DVB- TV solutions are only copying those .ts directly to the disc. Only Microsoft wanted to add some encryption possibilities for DRM purposes to the .ts streams that's why they have created dvr-ms and wtv file format. Both are barely a .ts with added DRM ability (very bad from a user pov) and the ability to store a few extra data like program descriptions (good from a user pov). And no other tool than WMC ever used those formats. Relaying on wtv and dvr-ms is leading to a dead end in near future as there is no program outside that can create them. In some years you most likely won't be able to play your wtv files any longer due to dropped support even in Windows itself. With .ts or .mkv similar can not happen as both are open formats and not closed stuff owned by a single company. Running time is stored automatically in every video file, no matter if it is a .ts, an .avi or whatever. Without the (correct) running time you won't be able to navigate inside the video at all. Storing (and updating after editing) the running time is an elementary feature of every tool that is dealing with video files... If there is no running time then the video is faulty.Program description on the other side are extra data (aka metadata). Such data is not essential for playback, only an comfort feature of some player (mostly HTPC programs like WMC, MP, Kodi,...) A .ts file is not able to store any metadata inside, so running time: yes, description: no.... That's why the xml files are generated next to the .ts files during recording. MKV is the one of the very little and the only "open source" file format that can be tagged with metadata, exactly as you may know this from music files (mp3 or similar). For music it's very common to have proper ID3 tags so any player knows who's the artist and how the name of the song is and much more... MKV can hold similar info like description, title, year, IMDB (movies) or TVDB (Series) ID number, season and episodes numbers for series episodes and so on... You even can attach the fanart graphics (cover, backdrop, banner, logo, discart,...) to the MKV video file. And MP2 is able to read those tags and extract the attached graphics. MP1 and WMC on the other end are not able to use those tags. MP2 was the first HTPC program ever that was able to use mkv tags but in meantime Kodi (since V18) also can use tags. Some video player like VLC or MPC-HC are also able to read and use mkv tags... MKV is far the best format today as it is the most flexible one and has the most options of all formats. Aside this it's completely free and open to anyone. There only is a single drawback with mkv. You can not play it while it still is downloading or generating. You always need the whole file if you want to play an mkv. That's why MKV is not used for internet streams (Youtube, Netflix and so on) and also not for DVB. Because in both cases you need to be able to start playback while the file still is being downloaded or written.</blockquote>

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