How to store TV programs.

Diamond7

Hi... I would like to keep some tv programs I have recorded with Windows MC. Problem is the .WTV files are huge. Can anyone recomend a user frendly file converter? What should I use to store and playback on my HTPC- Mp4, Avi or Mkv? What quality/size ratio should I be aiming for on a 37" HDTV like what size is practical for a full length film or a 1 hour program?

Thanks,,,

maclek

Replying better late than never.

Get yourself a 3TB drive, €140. If your computer is on the older side get a 2TB one for €65.

http://www.dabs.ie/products/samsung-2tb-spinpoint-ecogreen-f4eg-sata3-32mb-hard-drive-74TD.html?refs=441610000
http://www.dabs.ie/products/western-digital-caviar-green-3tb-7200prm-sata-6gb-s-7DJ1.html?refs=54060000

Life's too short to bother with re-compression.

Diamond7

maclek wrote: »

Life's too short to bother with re-compression.

I couldnt agree with you more maclek and the 3TB HDD is on the list with the other 200 things I would love to buy but alas cannot do right now. Instead I am waiding through a jungle of codecs, containers and editing software of which I know nothing about.

Anyone know of a straight forward solution?

maclek

I haven't attempted it in a few years but there's a program here http://www.autogk.me.uk/ that worked well enough. It doesn't do wtv directly so you need a intermediate program. This assumes you're dealing with mpeg2. If you have Irish digital tv then all bets are off.

The divx stuff is good but isn't free. there is a trial though so that might help.

seanmack

I am currently transfering some recordings from .WTV to .AVI or .WMV. I am using 2 programmes depending on the source of the material. If the recording was made from RTE2 then I use Windows Movie Maker and when saving to .WMV I use "For Computer" which just recorded a 1 GB file to 215MB. Otherwise I use a programme called "MC-TVConverter" which does a reasonable job. http://mctvconverter.vivolum.net/
Hope this is of some help.

Diamond7

maclek wrote: »

I haven't attempted it in a few years but there's a program here http://www.autogk.me.uk/ that worked well enough. It doesn't do wtv directly so you need a intermediate program. This assumes you're dealing with mpeg2. If you have Irish digital tv then all bets are off.

Thanks again maclek. I am recording on Irish digital tv.

Idealy I would like one format to convert to which would also cover HDTV or at least one app that will convert to whatever I need.

Gonna give the MC-TVConverter a go and see how we get on. I might just put the time into it and try a few things and see which is best.

Carter P Fly

also note that in 7mc the default recording file quality is "best". If you have storage space issues reduce this setting so your recordings dont start off so huge.

Diamond7

Carter P Fly wrote: »

also note that in 7mc the default recording file quality is "best". If you have storage space issues reduce this setting so your recordings dont start off so huge.

How do you do this? I couldn't find it anywhere in settings.

oisin

Settings->Recorder->Recording Defaults->Quality use + and- to change.

Diamond7

Turns out Win7 MCE does not have quality settings in recorder defaults for a digital source. they only offer it for analogue as it has to be encoded anyway. Digital is recorded as is, without conversion. Nice idea though, thanks guys.

I still have not found an easy solution. MC-TVConverter is the closest I have found, doing a good job to Mpeg2 but won't support HD. Handbrake looks like class software but won't support the audio on my DVR-MS files for some reason. Microsoft live movie maker was not helpfull, on one attempt turning a 2.3gb file to over 5gbs, when set correctly quality was poor compaired to MC-TVConverter.

Looks like theres no one stop shop. At the moment i'm using VideoRedo trial version to edit out the ads and storing as is. This wont last forever.