[btokars]

I've seen the threads about working with .TS and/or .m2v files on the Mac. My question may have been answered in the thousands of words I've read through on this and other HTCP threads.


Is there a way, and if there is, how is it done, to play my DVHS tapes through the mac? The mac see's the DVHS deck in VirtualDVHS but I haven't been able to actually watch any of my tapes on my G5. Do I really need one more box to be able to do such a "simple" task?


This all came about because we've given our tiny 65" Mits to our daughter and moved to a NEC HT1100 front projector (8 feet of HD bliss!). I picked up the EyeTV 500 and understand that I need to convert those files into .ts streams but that still leaves the issue of simple playback of DVHS through the mac.


What is the missing element?


I'm just sittiing here on the bleeding edge, wasting time...looking and looking...



Thanks in advance for any light you experts can shine on this old broadscast geezer..

 

[madpoet]

Are you playing DVHS tapes you recorded, or are you trying to play DTheater tapes? You can't play DTheater tapes through a Mac (or PC) because it's not a 5c compliant device.

 

[btokars]

Yes, my tapes, recorded OTA. No DTheater stuff at all.

 

[Squished Squirre]

The one person (short of one of the Apple guru's) who I think could answer your question has a web site you may want to visit. Check out his VLC firewire module and see if it will do the trick, or if he can suggest any other ways to do it.

http://home.comcast.net/~macpvr/

 

[alexm_s]

It is not entirely clear to me what you are trying to do. Are you trying to import a .m2t (or .ts) file onto your mac and then play it back at another time? Or, are you trying to watch the output from the tape as it plays? If it is the former, I think you can just use the application DVHSCap that is included in the Firewire SDK (sometihng I have not done) to get the file onto your mac and then play it back with VLC. If it is the latter, I don't know what to do.


BTW, if you are going to play back content recorded witht he Eyetv 500 on the mac, there is no need to convert the files to .ts. If you are going to use the DVHS deck to decode the files recorded by the Eyetv 500 then it might be a different story. I have had to convert my Eyetv 500 files to .ts (with VLC) before playing them back via VirtualDVHS to a Samsung t-165. But I have read that others need only change the extension.

 

[kaadray]

If I understand your question correctly, it is a two step process.


1) Use VirtualDHVS to capture the streams to disk (on your G5).


2) Play them back with something like VLC or the EyeTV software (the EyeTV software is good for playing back transport streams even if they were not captured by the EyeTV hardware).


It sounds like you are trying to watch the tapes live with VirtualDHVS. This won't happen . You can simulate this by starting the capture to disk with VirtualDHVS, waiting a couple seconds, and then opening the started file with VLC to watch it almost-live (tm).


After you finish the tape, just delete the file that was created (or keep it if you have the space and watch it often).

 

[btokars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaadray If I understand your question correctly, it is a two step process. 1) Use VirtualDHVS to capture the streams to disk (on your G5). 2) Play them back with something like VLC or the EyeTV software (the EyeTV software is good for playing back transport streams even if they were not captured by the EyeTV hardware). It sounds like you are trying to watch the tapes live with VirtualDHVS. This won't happen . You can simulate this by starting the capture to disk with VirtualDHVS, waiting a couple seconds, and then opening the started file with VLC to watch it almost-live (tm). After you finish the tape, just delete the file that was created (or keep it if you have the space and watch it often).

Yes, that's exactly it. I wanted to find a way to play my existing DVHS recordings (in HD, not an S-Video or composite output).


I have no problem dealing with a 2-step process and, thanks to your understanidng of what I'm trying to achieve, I'll give it a try.


I appreciate all of you who have provided feedback on this question. Hopefully, I 'll have a happy outcome to report back to you all in a few days.