Thread: Video Conversion and Burn for AZBox

Just a note for AZBox owners.

If you are looking for a program to convert your recorded files from an AZBox and be able to burn them to a DVD, here is one program that works.



This is FREE and does most of everything all in one step.

DVDVideosoft

h++p://www.dvdvideosoft.com

I cannot tell you if it is perfect, but I tested it on one recorded program and it worked well except that when I placed the disk in my DVD player, I found that the skip function did not work so evidently there are no chapter marks (the whole record file is one chapter). Otherwise it played fine.

If anyone has a better program now or finds one in the future, please let me know, I am open to that!

RADAR

AcWxRadar

Commercial Analyzers like
Comskip

can look through a .TS file saved by AZBox on an USB HD, and create a Cut list or Chapter file specific to your player that contains time marks of all found commercials. Then you author and burn the DVD with DVD authoring soft. Comclean can remove detected by Comskip commercials permanently. You can use
DVRMSToolbox

for similar purposes, as well as other soft. In order to use a Chapter file created by AZBox, your DVD Authoring soft needs to understand this file format and being able to convert it to a format your DVD player understands. Do you know, what format is used by AZBox for a Chapter file, or how it muxes the Chapter markers into a .TS file it gradually creates? That would be the 1-st step toward finding a suitable extractor & converter.

On a DVD, "the chapter info is in the .ifo files, but each chapter needs a special 'break' in the .vob files. In a transport stream added by the recorder chapter / cut markers info is muxed." A few useful links on DVD Authoring:


DVB to DVD-R guide

DVB-T (.TS) to DVD conversion




How to convert .TS file to a format recognisable by an ordinary DVD Player?




Blue-Ray / HD-DVD / TS / DVD / AVI --> H.264 using MeGUI




DigitalTV/DVB/HDTV Conversion Tools

ConvertXtoDVD

claims "automatic chapter creation" while converting a ts stream file to DVD. It was apparently given some awards, but I'd trust VideoHelp and Doom9 forums suggested soft more.

I am satisfied with
ConvertXtoDVD

, so even if there are other or cheaper products, that's no longer something I have to think about.
The "automatic chapter" feature puts them at timed intervals.
More than adequate for my needs; no reason to worry about them falling on scene boundaries.

I also use DVD Labs Pro to make proper DVDs, but it requires correctly formatted source material to make the discs.
It does not re-encode as does ConvertX, above.
Been using DLP for years, to make fancy menus, and multiple shows per disc.
It's got a feature to put chapters on scene boundaries, if you like.
I have it insert chapter marks wherever I cut out commercials.

DLP is pretty spendy for casual DVD authoring.
ConvertX costs less, and is way less professional, but probably adequate.


VideoReDo is what I use for editing mpeg and transport stream files.
It's currently in alpha test for H.264.
Their forum has discussions on handling the output of many satellite PVRs.
They do frame-accurate editing, not as common as you might think.
However, if you can do without editing, there's another savings.
The latest version has DVD authoring built in, and it's fine for simple one-show DVDs.
(actually, it'll do much more, but for the complex discs, I fall back on DVD Labs)

How commercial skip works in AZBox, if any?

Is it skipping 15 to 60 sec forward in the recording you are currently playing? Is it done automatically or manually for each commercial - using what AZBox feature? Is this auto repeatable next time one plays the same recording? I wonder if these skip marks are left in the recorded stream at all? Even less probable, the skip marks in the stream being recorded are auto defined using some heuristic commercial analysis algorithm.

DVDLabs and VideoRedo are many's favs when making regular DVDs. Current trend however has shifted towards HD storage, but there's always a limit to movie server capacity for some devoted video fans. Its still easier to simply cut commercials and move converted to MPEG4 files to DVDs to play them later via a MPEG4 stand alone DVD Player or PC.

Originally Posted by Anole

VideoReDo is what I use for editing mpeg and transport stream files.
It's currently in alpha test for H.264.
Their forum has discussions on handling the output of many satellite PVRs.
They do frame-accurate editing, not as common as you might think.
However, if you can do without editing, there's another savings.
The latest version has DVD authoring built in, and it's fine for simple one-show DVDs.
(actually, it'll do much more, but for the complex discs, I fall back on DVD Labs)

Anole,

I am using VideoReDo to edit my movies and shows recorded on the AZBox.

I FTP the recorded video over to my PC.

Open the video with VideoReDo and edit out the commercials or unwanted segments, add titles and what nots. Then save the file.

Then I open this edited file with DVDVideoSoft. This converts the *.ts file to DVD *.vob file and automatically burns it to the DVD.

I like the VideoReDo TV Suite as it edits very nicely to the precise frame. It also has an automatic commercial (ad) detection and cut mode.

I am not certain yet, but it seems that VideoReDo might have some limitations with the auto ad detect mode when editing a *.ts file. If I convert the *.ts file first, and run the VideoReDo, it finds all the commercials and removes them nicely. But, if I run the automatic ad detection on a *.ts file, and in fast mode, it seems to get a little lost and doesn't pick up the beginning or the end of an ad. I will need to experiment with this more to know for certain as it was only my first time experimenting with this software.

In any regards, I am quite happy that I am able to record a show with my AZBox and author a DVD that will work in all of my DVD players.

Now that I understand how to accomplish this, I can experiment with other software to perfect it to suit my needs and tastes. I often like to author DVDs with multiple titles of short series, so some of the software that you are using might be good for me.

RADAR

Originally Posted by zamar23

How commercial skip works in AZBox, if any?

Is it skipping 15 to 60 sec forward in the recording you are currently playing? Is it done automatically or manually for each commercial - using what AZBox feature? Is this auto repeatable next time one plays the same recording? I wonder if these skip marks are left in the recorded stream at all? Even less probable, the skip marks in the stream being recorded are auto defined using some heuristic commercial analysis algorithm.

DVDLabs and VideoRedo are many's favs when making regular DVDs. Current trend however has shifted towards HD storage, but there's always a limit to movie server capacity for some devoted video fans. Its still easier to simply cut commercials and move converted to MPEG4 files to DVDs to play them later via a MPEG4 stand alone DVD Player or PC.

Zamar,

I am not aware of any commercial skipping feature with the AZBox itself. Is there such a thing? I imagine it could be accomplished via a plug-in, but I have not read of any yet.

The plug-in could look for several things to detect commercials and pause the record during the commercial and resume after. Such as station logo, black level and the commercial tone broadcast (or whatever it is referred to).

I swear that I heard some sort of a hidden tone or pulse burst being detected and represented as an audio signal while using VideoReDo. In normal play mode with auto-ad-detect set to ON, there was a noticeable audio "tone" like that of a cellular phone ring just prior to the commercial and just a few frames after the show resumed. Was I imagining this? I am certain that there is an imbedded signal in there so that any local station can use their automated equipment to switch over to local commercial time, but is VideoReDo picking this up and providing me with an audible indication of that signal?

RADAR

Originally Posted by AcWxRadar

I found that the skip function did not work so evidently there are no chapter marks

I initially assumed the markers were left by AZBox while manually skipping commercials. Did you make these chapter marks while authoring the DVD with DVDvideosoft?

As to broadcast embedded commercial prompts, its quite possible they're there, but not always. Otherwise, why would commercial analysis packages need to employee sophisticated heuristics when the prompts are easily detectable, and also can be taught to recognize?

Originally Posted by zamar23

I initially assumed the markers were left by AZBox while manually skipping commercials. Did you make these chapter marks while authoring the DVD with DVDvideosoft?

Actually, Zamar, I don't have any chapter marks at all (except the entire recording as it is one chapter alone.) I haven't yet figured out how to do this.

Originally Posted by zamar23

As to broadcast embedded commercial prompts, its quite possible they're there, but not always. Otherwise, why would commercial analysis packages need to employee sophisticated heuristics when the prompts are easily detectable, and also can be taught to recognize?

I know that they are present as WSTV described them. But, I don't have the full gist of them yet.

RADAR