HDPVR Support on the Mac (HDPVRCapture) - Page 28

I have downloaded the demo of HDPVRCAPTURE and recorded the 2 minute movie, also, postprocessed to mp4.

I need to cut out commercials (not from the 2 minute of course, but it's just a demo).

So, I tried MPEG STREAMCLIP on the M2TS, and, it does not see any picture, but does see the ac3 audio.

So, I tried it on the MP4, and, it sees the video, but, not the audio (does not recognize AC3).

Quicktime could of course edit, but, you can't keep ac3 audio after editing very easily.

So, how are people editing out commercials! I also can't find a tool that will even demux the audio and video on Mac. Do settings like the GOP mode affect the compatibility perhaps?

Anyone succeeeding, and if so, how?

I use Avidemux for editing files from HDPVRcapture. It reads the native .m2ts format, preserves the ac3 and outputs in all the formats you could want. I do always find though that I have to add a 110ms delay to the audio to preserve lipsync.

GeoffT.

Using avidemux, do I have the ability to, well, demux so I have ac3 audio separate from video, edit it as I do for other types of content to remove things I do not want (but keeping same length, mostly, silencing things), and, then combine back with video?

Hi Steve thanks for the answer on MP4 pb on PS3 Ill wait for the next version then

Hello all, I'm new here but I've had my HDPVR for a few weeks and have it working well except for one gigantic PITA. I bought it primarily to record gameplay from an XBox 360, but I have done some recording of some HD movies and TV shows as well, the problem is universal whether input from XBox or STB.

Quicktime is Colorsync aware and VLC and other programs are not. When I view the m2ts file in VLC it appears fine, a little flat but all the information is there. The same file post processed into mp4 through HDPVRC looks identical to the m2ts when viewed in VLC and when streamed to my XBox 360 it looks visually almost identical to the broadcast in color and contrast. The mp4 viewed in the Quicktime player, Final Cut or iMovie though gains a ton of density and appears visually way to dark.

I've done some poking around and it seems to be a problem with the h.264 codec and Quicktime and is exacerbated by using custom monitor profiles. I found this at thedvshow.com:

"Quicktime has a feature, mostly hidden from users, which is designed to adjust the display gamma of quicktime movies on different machines to compensate for display difference.
Deep within the file, there is sometimes a little tag called 'gama' lurking which tells the Quicktime player what gamma correction the file was encoded with. While this is well-intentioned, motivated by the difference in display gamma between PCs and Macs, the Quicktime player offers no way to view this tag and change it. To work around this issue, we have created a small tool that strips the 'gama' tag out of offending quicktimes. It's a very simple tool which operates on all the file names and folders given to it."

I downloaded this app but its a terminal app with no instructions that I understand. If somebody could let me know how to use it I'd be willing to test it out.

So here is where I'm at:
Final Cut can't import the m2ts file and the mp4 files get the bad gamma added so I need to transcode the m2ts into the AIC codec using Voltaic which seems to be gamma free.
Viewing movies and TV shows in VLC and not QT would be ok but only on the computer and I want to add them to my iTunes library in order to stream to my XBox for viewing on the TV, the XBox can only play the mp4's.

Therefore I really need and want to use the mp4's but I can't overcome the gamma issue without transcoding which causes a loss in quality, disk space and time.
_____

Steve I sort of addressed this with you a few weeks ago and as the trascoding for editing seemed to be ok but now that I'm playing with some TV/Movie programming its bugging me again.

If this gamma stripping app works would there be a way to include it into your post processing feature? As it appears to only affect the people with custom profiles and the results seem to vary and be bad then I would think that not having gamma info tied to the file would be beneficial for all.


A few links to help explain the issue. Sorry, apparently I don't have enough posting history to provide hotlinks yet.

Some info on this issue in a After Effects group:
//aeportal.blogspot.com/search/label/gamma

The gamma atom program.
fuelvfx.com/
Its kinda weird to navigate to. But it is there under software.

Screen caps comparing the same file viewed in VLC on the Top QT on the bottom.
//farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/3532323413_4c79bcec32_b.jpg

GeoffT
Thanks for the tip on Avidemux. This fixes some audio resync issues that I posted earlier in this thread. All aspects from video transfer to editing are now running problem free in my setup.

I've seen some comments that some of you are editing in Streamclip. When I try to import a m2ts it says something about needing the mpeg2 decoder for Quicktime. I know I bought this a few years ago but with a few computer and Quicktime upgrades maybe I don't have it anymore. If I buy it from Apple (again) will I be able to import the m2ts files or are you guys editing the post processed QT mp4's?

I tried Avidemux and it worked for a couple of short tests and then froze when I tried a full one hour program so I haven't tried again.

Not sure why you would need the MPEG2 add on since these files are not MPEG2.

I can't edit any M2TS in mpeg streamclip, no matter what I do, they simply do not work. Video shows up blank, sound does not play.

Streamclip works fine with post-processed .mp4 files, but be sure to save the edited version as a .mov. If you save as an .mp4, sound goes away for some reason.

I'm not aware of an editor on the Mac side that works with the raw .m2ts files.

See suggestion above from gtwibell, avidemux DOES work. And it keeps the AC3 in sync as well.

I would think saving as mov from streamclip would remove the ac3?

Just wanted to chime in and say thank you for such a wonderful app, Steve. I received my 1212 yesterday after having convinced myself that recording on XP via bootcamp wouldn't be *THAT* bad with the bundled software. Then for whatever reason, I happened to wander into your thread last night. Ten minutes later, HDPVRCapture was up and running on my mini. Thanks again for your continued work on this outstanding tool.

A-fricken'-men to that!

If only more developers could be so responsive/proactive and put out such a good product. I'm glad I helped encouraged Steve to do this, it's been repaid back with dividends

Nope, AC3 remains as-is. MOV can handle an AC3 track just fine, as long as you have Perian installed. Saving as MP4 in Streamclip DOES delete the audio track, though.

Not really a software-question but more of a general beginner's hardware- or usage-thing:

I bought a HD PVR to record material from Xbox360, PS3 and Wii.
Xbox360 works great. I wasn't able to test PS3 yet due to a missing component-cable (it's connected using HDMI at the moment).

But I have some problems recording video from the Nintendo Wii.
It's connected to the HD PVR (or to my TV-set) with the original Nintendo-component-cable you can buy as an option.
I've set the Wii to display a 480p-Signal - but the signal from the component video loop out isn't displayed correctly on the TV (wrong colors, "wobbly" screen). I did not test if it's just the display and the recording may be OK.

In the FAQs/Feature-List of HDPVRCapture it reads "Records SD video resolutions 480i/480p via the front svideo or composite inputs."... so does this mean it's not possible at all to record 480p via the rear component inputs?
And (as I have not tested it yet) will the signal from the front input will be looped out to a TV-set connected via the rear outputs so I still can view what I am playing? I'm running this on a MacBook Pro.

Thanks for your help... even it's all beginner's stuff.

Hello,

Is there anyway to capture high quality screen caps/screen shots using this program? Or is there any work around for it?

Thanks..

I find that it usually takes about 172800 high quality screen caps in about two hours.


In all seriousness, this might work for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SnapZ_Pro_X

Hi Steve,
Hope you don't mind but took the freedom to post a small article on mac4ever.com, this may bring you some more french customers hopefully .
Thought it is the least I could do considering the great support.
Thanks !

I just purchased HDPVRCapture and while I am waiting for the license key I thought I would poke around the forums a bit. Forgive me if this question has already been asked but is there a way to change the channel on the STB via Firewire instead of the IRBlaster? I downloaded the AVCNoodle demo and channel changing worked perfectly with my Motorola DCT3200 STB. Is this a feature that is already available and I just overlooked it?

Thanks!

Hello everyone, my first post after buying Steve's app. I bought the Hauppauge in haste even before I received my Sky+ HD STB here in the UK. Now, I see that Sky in the UK (and I presume everyone will now do this) has stopped providing STBs which have component output. So, its HDCP-encrypted HDMI alone no other form of HD. And, this is intentional to stop all this copying business. I have quickly ordered one of the only available HDCP decrypting' HDMI to Component adapters on the internet. It cost a solid $140 or so, spoiling half the fun of using the decently-priced Hauppauge. Anyway, thought I'd give a heads up as to what the lay of the land is likely to be, going forward.

Secondly, a support issue. Can someone tell me how to stretch out 4:3 material at source to 16:9. The STB sends a squished' 4:3 signal for widescreen material by standard definition analog outputs. So, when I watch this on widescreen TV, I have to tell the TV to use full' or 16:9' mode. Then the picture stretches out and is fine. But, when using the composite inputs of the Hauppauge, the monitoring VLC picture remains squished and Steves app captures squished 4:3. How can I override this to 16:9 at capture? Sorry, if this is a simple issue and I missed it. Search didn't turn up much.

Many thanks for a great community and support,

Tatha

Steve, did you ever make an official 2.5 release? I haven't checked the thread in a while, but I didn't see it on your site.

Couple of bug-ish reports: HDPVRC (2.5b2) crashes after starting to write the final .mp4 files when trying to convert more than one file at a time. Single files, no problem.

Second, I'm getting weird Quicktime behavior after I do a recording and conversion on my Mini. Choppy playback, very choppy sound. This is for all files, not just the one I had just recorded and converted. Reboot and everything is fine again. I don't know if this is HDPVRC related, or just a symptom of my HTPC Mini really needing a good maintenance cleanup, but I thought I'd pass it along in case anybody else was seeing the same thing...

Yeah, all the files were in the same directory when it's happened to me, nothing special going on at all.


Nope, none of the above as far as I can tell. I will try to do a "solo" conversion, not immediately following a capture, and see if I get this behavior, though.

I do see occasional weirdness that's fixed by quitting the app and power cycling the capture box, but that's been for hiccups in actual captures (usually right after a capture begins), far as I can tell it's not related to the Quicktime stuttering.

Again--this may just be my weird box. If you can't repro it, let me know, I need an excuse to wipe that Mini and rebuild the drive anyway. Too much junk has piled up on it over the last few years.