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Chopping .dvr-ms files

  • 05-02-2007 09:42PM
    #1
    franksm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,487 ✭✭✭


    Hi guys

    Have MCE2005 creating .dvr-ms recordings, and a DVD-writer but no writer software.

    Also have a a laptop with Vista Enterprise and a built-in DVD-writer, not sure what software it has as standard (vanilla Vista, nothing else).

    What software is recommended to help me chop 7gb .dvr-ms files down to size, and save them to writeable DVD discs ?

    Cheers

    Frank


Comments

  • #2
    RuggieBear
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,958 ✭✭✭✭RuggieBear


    check out thegreenbutton.com. there are a few tools there for dealing with those files


  • #3
    franksm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,487 ✭✭✭franksm


    Took a look at the downloads section of GreenButton... but all of the software there is getting poor feedback (crashes, bugs, errors, etc).

    Good news: Windows Movie Maker comes with Vista, and it looks like it handles the .dvr-ms files okay. Nice interface too ! Will give that a go.

    What about writing the file to DVD, though, as a playable video rather than just a data disc ?


  • #4
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    What you want is DVR-MS Toolbox which you can download here, the DVR-MS Toolbox development thread on the TGB forums will just redirect you to that link anyway.

    Note the 1.2.0.2 version is specifically for Windows Vista.

    Just run the GUI version and you can select a bunch of options like strip commercials, convert to MPEG-2, WMV etc.

    The file input & output is a pain as well just copy and paste the exact location of the file.

    Be sure to specify an output folder and file name like C:\Temp\Ugly Betty.dvr-ms otherwise it will crash the program if you left it as C:\Temp thinking the program will dump a tvshow.dvr-ms into that folder.

    To convert into DVD from within MCE if you install Nero the latest version it will give you this capability, outside of that convert to MPEG-2 but most good converters support DVR-MS as it is MPEG-2 anyway e.g ConvertXToDVD, Nero & more.


  • #5
    Ghost Train
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 31,465 ✭✭✭✭Ghost Train


    8T8 wrote:
    ...The file input & output is a pain as well just copy and paste the exact location of the file.

    Be sure to specify an output folder and file name like C:\Temp\Ugly Betty.dvr-ms otherwise it will crash the program if you left it as C:\Temp thinking the program will dump a tvshow.dvr-ms into that folder.
    ..

    if you double click on the white area where you paste the filename a file open box opens and you can select your input file. shouldn't have to pastes the file name


  • #6
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    eolhc wrote:
    if you double click on the white area where you paste the filename a file open box opens and you can select your input file. shouldn't have to pastes the file name

    Thanks for the tip didn't know that, it was a pain filling in those fields.


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  • #7
    franksm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,487 ✭✭✭franksm


    Very cool - the Vista version of the DVR MS Toolbox produced a really good quality .MPG conversion; better quality that the .WMV output from MovieMaker. However, the .WMV is 2.4gb, the .MPG is 6.5 gb (original .DVR-MS is 7.2gb). I probably just need to suss out which output options in MovieMaker would work better.

    I haven't figured out the editing and ad-removal process in the Toolbox yet... in MovieMaker it's a manual process but really easy.


  • #8
    Ghost Train
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 31,465 ✭✭✭✭Ghost Train


    heres what seems to be a decent free mpeg2 splitter
    http://www.digital-digest.com/software/download.php?sid=364&ssid=0&did=1


  • #9
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    DVR-MS is just MPEG-2 + MCE metadata which is why the file was 6.5GB as all DVR-MS Toolbox does is strip out the commercials and metadata.

    Haven't really played around the new the new version of Movie maker myself but the absolute best compression tech is H.264 encoded video. MeGII is the best tool & free but slightly complicated to initially get to grips with, AutoMKV is an auto conversion program that is worth checking out & Nero AVC is also the easiest but not quite as good as the above two in quality.

    MS does have a good codec for compression called VC-1 which is what the HD encodes are done in but I do not know if it is used in Windows Movie Maker.

    The default selection in WMM for WMV encoding is variable bit rate mode it might be worth trying a fixed file size so the bit rate is constant or the DVD profile which uses a fix bit rate & compare the results.


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