# Software to change tivo files to mpeg.



## caddyroger (Mar 15, 2005)

I need software that will change tivo files to mpeg files.


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## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

See here:
http://tivodecode.sourceforge.net/

If you want a tool that helps automate things for you, I suggest you check out kmttg:
http://code.google.com/p/kmttg/


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

It's not free, but VideoReDo is worth the price of admission for converting .TiVo to plain MPEG-2, editing out commercials, and even creating DVDs.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

Triple the VideoReDo TVSuite recommendations...there is no better application for converting, editing and saving TiVo recordings, period. (And I've tried them all!) You can download a trial version for free, but fair warning, you'll be hooked. :up: (Unfortunately it's Windows only right now, but the good folks there say they are working on a Mac version...right guys?  )


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

Kmttg will download and decode recordings into MPG in one step.


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## seplant (Aug 2, 2009)

richsadams said:


> Triple the VideoReDo TVSuite recommendations...there is no better application for converting, editing and saving TiVo recordings, period. (And I've tried them all!) You can download a trial version for free, but fair warning, you'll be hooked. :up: (Unfortunately it's Windows only right now, but the good folks there say they are working on a Mac version...right guys?  )


I have tried editing commercials out of MPEG files using AVIDEMUX, and have had pretty good results, but some files, especially ones recorded on USAhd, have had problems with the audio being out of sync with the video after the commercials are edited out. I have tried correcting by delaying the audio using this feature in AVIDEMUX, but the audio seems to get more out of sync further into the recording, and becomes impossible to correct.

Does VideoReDo TVSuite do a better job of keeping the audio in sync with the video? If so, I might just try it.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

seplant said:


> Does VideoReDo TVSuite do a better job of keeping the audio in sync with the video? If so, I might just try it.


It does a great job. In fact, VRD even has a ''Quickstream Fix'' tool that takes care of minor encoding glitches.

I say go ahead and try it. Only you can determine if it is the right software for your needs. 
You can use it for free for 15 days (trial basis), just be sure to request a trial key for full functionality.
I suspect once you try VRD, you won't want to use anything else.

BTW, if you already have software to burn DVD's, just get VideoReDo Plus. The plus version does (almost) everything TV Suite does, except burn DVDs, and costs less.
http://www.videoredo.com/en/Compare.htm


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

seplant said:


> Does VideoReDo TVSuite do a better job of keeping the audio in sync with the video? If so, I might just try it.


Unless there's a problem with the actual source video I've never experienced a sync issue with VideoReDo TVSuite. It even has a "clean up" feature that can rectify some source code issues.


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

steve614 said:


> It does a great job. In fact, VRD even has a ''Quickstream Fix'' tool that takes care of minor encoding glitches.


With a series 2, you might be fine with VRD, but if you have anything better, you'lre going to get way too many "Video Dimensions Changed" problems, and their hack (QSF fix) doesn't work with the series 3 devices any more. Dunno about s2, didn't try it.

Just stay FAR away from VRD, they're a hack, if nothing else.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

twhiting9275 said:


> With a series 2, you might be fine with VRD, but if you have anything better, you'lre going to get way too many "Video Dimensions Changed" problems, and their hack (QSF fix) doesn't work with the series 3 devices any more. Dunno about s2, didn't try it.
> 
> Just stay FAR away from VRD, they're a hack, if nothing else.


 VideoReDo TVSuite works perfectly fine with our Series3 and TiVo HD videos. SD, HD, everything is good.


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

Well, then you're lucky. Not even a "Video Dimensions Changed" error? 
This has been reported by countless people, especially with HD dvrs over various markets. Most likely this is a market based thing, but that still doesn't excuse them for not fixing the bug in over a year.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

twhiting9275 said:


> Well, then you're lucky. Not even a "Video Dimensions Changed" error?
> This has been reported by countless people, especially with HD dvrs over various markets. Most likely this is a market based thing, but that still doesn't excuse them for not fixing the bug in over a year.


No errors so far. I just cut out the commercials and burn shows to a DVD and they're good to go.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Actually this problem effects a very small percentage of our customers. In fact I believe that twhiting9275 is the first US customer to ever report running into it. (previously this only effected a couple of DSS providers in Europe) twhiting9275 is also the only person to ever complain that our workaround, QSF, "corrupted" his files. So suggesting that this is some sort of wide spread problem that is going to effect everyone who uses VRD is nothing more then FUD.

That being said we are aware that the problem is becoming more prevalent and we are currently working on a fix. However this limitation is pretty deeply embedded in the core of the product and it is going to take some time to get it worked out.

For anyone worried that you will be effected by this problem I encourage you to take full advantage of our free 15 day trial before purchasing. That way you can be sure that you are not effected by the problem. Or if you are you can decide for yourself if our workaround is too inconvenient for you.

Dan


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

I'll bet when there's a Mac version it'll be absolutely perfect!  Can't wait Dan!


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

richsadams said:


> No errors so far. I just cut out the commercials and burn shows to a DVD and they're good to go.


You are incredibly lucky



Dan203 said:


> suggesting that this is some sort of wide spread problem that is going to effect everyone who uses VRD is nothing more then FUD.


Based on the number of reports in your forum, I'm *not* the "first person" to see this issue, though I would expect nothing less than a brushoff from your company that can't even manage to resolve an issue in a timely fashion



Dan203 said:


> That being said we are aware that the problem is becoming more prevalent and we are currently working on a fix. However this limitation is pretty deeply embedded in the core of the product and it is going to take some time to get it worked out.


Yadda yadda yadda. Typical speak for "we'll get to it when we feel like it". You've known about the issue for 5 years, at one time it was supposedly fixed, but you've pretty much ignored it (and your product) for over a year. Small shop or not, not excusable.

I can't explain the QSF problems, all I know is exactly what Tivo tells me, which is pretty much nothing. The show starts transferring, then just immediately afterwards stops. The full show transfers just fine, but the QSF created show does not. Go fig.

Support from these guys is attrocious to say the least. I understand you have a company to run, but ignoring your clients complaints for a year or better is just wrong. Your last (stable) release was over a year ago, and even your betas have shown no progress on this problem.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

I've never had any issues with VRD and files from my THD/S3 boxes either.


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## jbernardis (Oct 22, 2003)

bkdtv said:


> Kmttg will download and decode recordings into MPG in one step.


Although I use kmttg for downloading, I no longer use it for decoding. It gives me poor video quality - I can see the horizontal scan lines. I use VRD and have not had an issue with it.


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## ajayabb (Jan 12, 2007)

Twhiting9275, Maybe the rest of this thread could be taken up through PM's with Dan rather than blasting a product which is clearly well liked and supported on this forum


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## noseph (Oct 13, 2003)

I have processed ~600 DVDs that I own thru VRD and have not had any problems with the resultant files on my S3.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

jbernardis said:


> Although I use kmttg for downloading, I no longer use it for decoding. It gives me poor video quality - I can see the horizontal scan lines. I use VRD and have not had an issue with it.


 FYI, decrypting the TiVo file to unencrypted mpeg file does absolutely nothing to affect quality of the video. If you see a difference in playback on your PC it's only because your PC is using different codecs for each. What you are talking about is likely interlacing and several players including the free VideoLAN VLC have tons of different de-interlace filters upon playback that will get rid of those "scan lines".


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## jbcheshire (Jun 6, 2006)

Does VRD offer free upgrades? How do they handle software updates to the version you have purchased?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Dan, FYI I do occasionally run into the "Video Dimensions Changed" bug when using VideoRedo for editing videos originating from my S3 Tivos. Admittedly I haven't reported the problem since I just use Womble instead for editing those files and it has worked every time thus far. If you need another testcase I can probably get one to you.

Unlike twhiting9275 however I still very much appreciate the VideoRedo and especially the Quick Stream Fix utility above anything else.


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## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

noseph said:


> I have processed ~600 DVDs that I own thru VRD and have not had any problems with the resultant files on my S3.


The "video dimensions changed" issue doesn't affect content that comes from DVD, since DVD material has a constant resolution. Where you will see the problem is in HD content that is recorded by a Tivo S3/HD. Sometimes commercials, EAS warnings, etc. are inserted into the stream at at a different resolution than the main program, for example they may be SD while the main program is HD. This change of resolution is what trips up VRD. If I recall correctly, the QSF filter workaround simply allows you to choose the resolution of the material that you want to keep, and filters out everything else. In my (limited) experience, the workaround is effective.

Sorry for continuing this somewhat off topic discussion, I just wanted to clarify the issue that has been brought up.


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

ajayabb said:


> Twhiting9275, Maybe the rest of this thread could be taken up through PM's with Dan rather than blasting a product which is clearly well liked and supported on this forum


Been there, done that. Emails ignored, PM's ignored. If it was possible to get support for this product 'privately', I wouldn't have to criticize it so harshly publicly.

I started out thinking the same thing as everyone else, that VRD was great, sans for a few issues. Then, I got a *real* Tivo and saw more and more of these issues. It's to the point now where I just can't do a damn thing with VRD, and the devs are absolutely *no help*, what with taking years to fix their product.

I understand this doesn't affect everyone, and for many, the QSF fix is the answer, but that doesn't exclude the fact that

A> The QSF fix takes more time, adding 2 processing rounds into what is supposed to be a quick fix.
B> The QSF fix does NOT always work.
C> This shouldn't be here 1-2 years from initial report (going on just current reports), but it is. There is no excuse for this pathetically slow development.

While this seems to be a provider issue, that, again, doesn't justify ignoring the problem for 1-2 years just because you don't feel like addressing it.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

twhiting9275 said:


> Yyou've pretty much ignored it (and your product) for over a year.


Actually we haven't ignored our product for over a year. For the last year and a half we've been hard at work on a new version of VideoReDo that supports editing of H.264 video (no small feat) and an all new transcoding engine that allows output to portable media players like iPods, PSPs, etc... We're in the final stages of testing on that right now. We've also released 15 new beta versions of TVSuite in that time frame. While none of them fixed the problem you're ranting about, all of them have fixed outstanding bugs elsewhere in the product.

Seriously do you have any idea how much time and effort it takes to make a product like VideoReDo? If it were easy there'd be a dozen other products just like it on the market. But there arn't because it's not easy. We do it because we're passionate about the product and what it does.

I'm sorry that this problem effects you so much. But honestly, insulting me and my work ethic on every forum post you can find is not going to get it fixed any faster.

That's all I have to say on the subject, so rant on if you wish but that's the last you're going to hear from me on this until it's actually fixed.

Dan


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

Dan203 said:


> Actually we haven't ignored our product for over a year.


Right... Last stable update? Well, don't take my word for it, here you go, over a year ago, just look @ the image.

You've *publicly ignored* your product for over a year, you've *ignored* repeated complaints about this issue and done *nothing* to fix them.

Instead of focusing on adding new features, you need to focus on *fixing existing bugs*. This should be top priority, instead of brushed under the carpet, worked on whenever you feel like it, trying to milk more money out of your subscribers.


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## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

twhiting9275, I think your accusations and insults toward VRD and your hijacking of this thread are inappropriate. I suggest you cool it before you get yourself banned. Since you are so unhappy with VRD, perhaps you should try nicely asking for a refund. Enough said in this thread!


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

*Dan203*,

If a customer complains, within the warranty period, that this problem makes the product worthless to them will VRD give a complete refund?


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

spocko said:


> twhiting9275, I think your accusations and insults toward VRD and your hijacking of this thread are inappropriate. I suggest you cool it before you get yourself banned. Since you are so unhappy with VRD, perhaps you should try nicely asking for a refund. Enough said in this thread!


Just because you don't agree with something doesn't make it inappropriate. Stating the *truth* is always appropriate.

As far as hijacking, this thread did recommend VRD, no? Yes, it did. So, posting a *truthful*, *honest* experience with the company is _*not*_ hijacking the thread. Just because it's not the party line, and doesn't favor VRD doesn't make it hijacking.

As far as the refund? Again, ignored, just like my requests for support. All ignored, no responses. Trying to get their attention "privately" does not work.


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## jbcheshire (Jun 6, 2006)

No one has answered my question due to the rants of the other guy.

Are free upgrades included in the purchase of the product? Or do I have to pay a fee when they come out with patches or upgrades???


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

jbcheshire said:


> No one has answered my question due to the rants of the other guy.
> 
> Are free upgrades included in the purchase of the product? Or do I have to pay a fee when they come out with patches or upgrades???


*Dan203* could give you a more authoritative answer on this although he may have blocked this thread by now (so you would have to start a new thread with this question for him to see it).

You get free updates (e.g. bug fixes and minor improvements). Upgrades depends on your definition. VRD Plus is $50. VRD TVSuite is $75 and it will author and burn DVD's. There was no free "upgrade" from Plus to TVS but that should not have been expected -- a major new capability was added. I think a special offer (i.e., less than the $25 price difference) was made to VRD Plus owners to upgrade to TVS when it first came out.

When the mpeg4-capable version comes out I would not expect a free upgrade to that either.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

jbcheshire said:


> No one has answered my question due to the rants of the other guy.
> 
> Are free upgrades included in the purchase of the product? Or do I have to pay a fee when they come out with patches or upgrades???


IIRC I've received free upgrades for at least a year...possibly longer. Every now and then there's a "newer version" pop-up asking if I want it. I don't remember ever paying for a newer version now that I think of it. If it doesn't say anything on the VRD web site you might want to do a search on the VRD Forum and if you still can't get an answer post there or drop Dan a PM to be sure or ask on their forum.


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

twhiting9275 said:


> Instead of focusing on adding new features, you need to focus on *fixing existing bugs*. This should be top priority, instead of brushed under the carpet, worked on whenever you feel like it, trying to milk more money out of your subscribers.


I'm often frustrated by software bugs. I rant and rant about how TiVo should be fixing their bugs. However, *all software has bugs.* It's not possible to eliminate *all* bugs from a complex product. It's unreasonable to expect a company to only fix bugs to the exclusion of all other activity. Once a product is "good enough", it's also unreasonable to expect bug fixing to be the top priority. A company can't survive long term unless they also continue to develop new products.

In your case, it seems like the developers decided that your bug was rare enough that they wouldn't prioritize the fix. Too bad for you, but it's only a $50 or $75 product. I've seen bugs unfixed for years in $100,000 products. C'est la vie.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

dlfl said:


> You get free updates (e.g. bug fixes and minor improvements). Upgrades depends on your definition. VRD Plus is $50. VRD TVSuite is $75 and it will author and burn DVD's. There was no free "upgrade" from Plus to TVS but that should not have been expected -- a major new capability was added. I think a special offer (i.e., less than the $25 price difference) was made to VRD Plus owners to upgrade to TVS when it first came out.


I think you got it right. I even expect the new H.264 version will require a fee to upgrade to that.

ETA: And +1 to Phantom Gremlin's post. :up:

ETA #2: I just remembered a while back, I edited a program that switched from HD to SD (weather alert crawl), and then back to HD and VRD didn't choke on that. Why not? Wouldn't that involve a "video dimension change"?


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

jbcheshire said:


> Are free upgrades included in the purchase of the product? Or do I have to pay a fee when they come out with patches or upgrades???


They haven't answered this question in their own forums as well, and it's been open for over 2 years. I'd expect, judging by that you won't get an answer to it.



Phantom Gremlin said:


> However, *all software has bugs.* /


Admittedly, yes, *but*, does *all software have bugs that cause it to not function*? That is the key point. No, not all software has bugs that cause it to not function, period. This software "bug" does.



Phantom Gremlin said:


> It's unreasonable to expect a company to only fix bugs to the exclusion of all other activity. Once a product is "good enough", it's also unreasonable to expect bug fixing to be the top priority.


Actually, yes it is reasonable to expect a company to fix bugs first, *especially* bugs that cause the product to stop working properly (or at all).

A product is never 'good enough' if it has bugs, of any kind. Sloppy, shoddy workmanship is not acceptable, ever, in any reality.



Phantom Gremlin said:


> In your case, it seems like the developers decided that your bug was rare enough that they wouldn't prioritize the fix. Too bad for you, but it's only a $50 or $75 product.


I don't care if it's "only" a $50 or $75 product, if they don't do their jobs, they don't get paid.

Can you go into work, work a half day, decide you've done enough, walk out and bill the company for a full day? Nope. Yet, that's what these guys have done. They were *paid* for a product, a functioning product, no? I've been patient, incredibly so . I originally purchased in January, on the assumption tha they were working on this "fix". I , then waited until July to get told the same old, same old lie (We're working on it, we're working on it, blah blah blah), and here it is September, television season is starting, and these individuals have put in 1/2 day's worth of work, but demand full pay.

I understand this doesn't affect everyone (yet). If it doesn't affect you yet, be grateful, because this *is* a huge, huge mess, and a huge waste of time and money any more.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

*twhiting9275*,

I sympathize with your problem. If you have cooperated with VRD, e.g., by ftp'ing a video sample demonstrating your problem, and they have not solved it in a reasonable time, you should request a refund (but not just in a forum post).

Beyond that I can't see what you expect to accomplish by spreading rant posts on this forum and on the VRD forum. Have you received a response that makes you feel you are getting somewhere for all this effort? (You could have had the Womble suggestion without all this.)


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

Another happy customer. It would be easier not having to use QSF but it's really not the end of the world.

They offer a free trial. Don't buy the program if it doesn't meet your needs.

twhiting9275--It might help others if you tell us what cable system you're using, what model tivo and what channels. HD or SD? Broadcast, extended cable or premium cable? That might help others decide if they're in the same category as you (program doesn't work) or in the same category as the vast majority of us (program works great).

The question regarding free vs paid upgrades was answered the the forum via a link to the section of their website that explains their upgrade policy
http://www.videoredo.com/en/ProductUpgradePolicy.htm

You're probably frustrated but you come accross as being rude and mean spirited. The upgrade policy has been in their website for a long time. It's not a secret.


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

In an effort to determine what was causing the QSF problems, I completely wiped and reinstalled w7. Once done, the QSF issues went away, so, at least *that's* back. It's still an ugly solution, and an ugly workaround, though.

Right now, I'm not seeing this on standard cable. ABC/Fox/CBS/NBC/CW all work without a hitch. Even WGN works fine. When you get up there in channels though, the odds of this problem get higher and higher. FX is a 100% chance. Syfy, probably 50-75% chance. TNT/TBS? It's over 50%. A&E? Same thing.



> The question regarding free vs paid upgrades was answered the the forum via a link to the section of their website that explains their upgrade policy


Yeah, now look at the original question date, and the answer date. It took 2 years to get that simple (non) answer from them.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

I don't understand your first paragraph. Are you saying you reinstalled windows 7 and QSF now works? Windows 7 is still beta, I certainly hope I'm misinterpreting your post. *It sounds like the problem was with your computer.*

The upgrade policy is easy to find in their website. I assume the person who first posted the question found the answer, or was given the answer via an email.



twhiting9275 said:


> In an effort to determine what was causing the QSF problems, I completely wiped and reinstalled w7. Once done, the QSF issues went away, so, at least *that's* back. It's still an ugly solution, and an ugly workaround, though.
> 
> Right now, I'm not seeing this on standard cable. ABC/Fox/CBS/NBC/CW all work without a hitch. Even WGN works fine. When you get up there in channels though, the odds of this problem get higher and higher. FX is a 100% chance. Syfy, probably 50-75% chance. TNT/TBS? It's over 50%. A&E? Same thing.
> 
> Yeah, now look at the original question date, and the answer date. It took 2 years to get that simple (non) answer from them.


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## Pawthorne (Sep 10, 2009)

I came here looking for help with the exact same question as the original poster



caddyroger said:


> I need software that will change tivo files to mpeg files.


I'm looking for software that changes .tivo files into mpeg because I want to then burn [using Nero] some DVD's of my kids' favorite shows from our TIVO to take with us on a road trip.

. . .NOT to read flaming rant after rant by twhiting9275. The OP didn't ask what your personal beef with a certain software was, he wanted some recommendations on software to use. And so far, you haven't even recommended a single one. Please stfu and let the rest of us get back to the topic of this thread.

So far I've seen VideoReDo, Kmttg, and Tivodecode mentioned in this thread. Have I missed any? I have also read about DirectShow Dump and TVHarmony Autopilot from various google searches but not sure if those are outdated programs. Are there any others?

Thanks


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

> he (or she) wanted some recommendations on software to use


And I am well within my rights to inform individuals of the flaming PROBLEMS with that software, and their support.


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## Pawthorne (Sep 10, 2009)

twhiting9275 said:


> And I am well within my rights to inform individuals of the flaming PROBLEMS with that software, and their support.


Yup.. you've done that.. over and over.. and over..

and over..

and over..

Oh.. and did I mention and OVER. I think we ALL know how you feel. Now go get your blankie and a bottle and watch Teletubbies as you have nothing more to add.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

Get the VRD TV Suite. It'll also author/burn the DVD.



Pawthorne said:


> I came here looking for help with the exact same question as the original poster
> 
> I'm looking for software that changes .tivo files into mpeg because I want to then burn [using Nero] some DVD's of my kids' favorite shows from our TIVO to take with us on a road trip.
> 
> ...


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

lew said:


> I don't understand your first paragraph. Are you saying you reinstalled windows 7 and QSF now works? Windows 7 is still beta, I certainly hope I'm misinterpreting your post. *It sounds like the problem was with your computer.*........l.


Since the OP doesn't seem to be answering, I think what happened is that he can now run QSF with a dimension filter set and get an output file that will transfer back and play on his TiVo (??). I don't think he's saying the problem with VRD QSF crashing if you don't have a filter set is fixed. (??)


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

twhiting9275 said:


> In an effort to determine what was causing the QSF problems, I completely wiped and reinstalled w7. Once done, the QSF issues went away, so, at least *that's* back. It's still an ugly solution, and an ugly workaround, though.





twhiting9275 said:


> And I am well within my rights to inform individuals of the flaming PROBLEMS with that software, and their support.


*Not when the problem was solved with a re-install of your OS.* The problem was caused by you. You're within your rights to be rude. You're not within your rights to engage in slander.



dlfl said:


> Since the OP doesn't seem to be answering, I think what happened is that he can now run QSF with a dimension filter set and get an output file that will transfer back and play on his TiVo (??). I don't think he's saying the problem with VRD QSF crashing if you don't have a filter set is fixed. (??)


There is a big difference between saying QSF produces output that can't be transferred back to tivo and saying having to use QSF is an extra step. A PITA. The first point reflects on the actual usability of the product. The second is nothing more then a comment on ease of use/ interface.


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## perilousp69 (Nov 18, 2003)

Not necessarily trying to add fuel to the fire, but the problem TW refers to is growing. It's now an issue in Desktop 2.7, causing freezes wherever the offending commercial is inserted by the cable company (in my case, FIOS). 

As more and more channels move to digital the problem with changing streams will get bigger and bigger. I started having it this month. Tried and tried with VRD and kept having the dimensions error. Thankfully, I tried before I bought. 

Still, I'm essentially stuck. My favorite shows (Stewart/Colbert) will not convert properly (freezes, audio sync problems). And no, I'm not recording the HD channel. But it is digital tier.

This seems like something that's been coming for a while, and like some companies have been caught with their pants down.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

As stated before, Womble Mpeg Wizard does not have a problem with such streams, so there is a solution to the problem. Personally I have both VRD and Womble and each have their advantages, but Womble is the better/faster manual editor while VRD strengths are QuickStream Fix & Batch processing capabilities.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

moyekj said:


> As stated before, Womble Mpeg Wizard does not have a problem with such streams, so there is a solution to the problem. Personally I have both VRD and Womble and each have their advantages, but Womble is the better/faster manual editor while VRD strengths are QuickStream Fix & Batch processing capabilities.


Other VRD strengths:

--- Built in conversion from TiVo to mpeg2 format.

-- Built in ad detection.

I believe you need separate programs for both these functions when using Womble, correct ?


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

I have FiOS. Every problem show was solved by running Quick Stream Fix first. It's an extra step, it takes extra time, but it works. Did your trial expire? Send them a message on their site and ask for an extra week. Try QSF with one of your problem shows. Go to the tools pull down. Select Quick Stream Fix and check the box that "eables filters".

VRD wasn't caught "with their pants down". It would be nice if VRD automatically ran QF as needed.



perilousp69 said:


> Not necessarily trying to add fuel to the fire, but the problem TW refers to is growing. It's now an issue in Desktop 2.7, causing freezes wherever the offending commercial is inserted by the cable company (in my case, FIOS).
> 
> As more and more channels move to digital the problem with changing streams will get bigger and bigger. I started having it this month. Tried and tried with VRD and kept having the dimensions error. Thankfully, I tried before I bought.
> 
> ...


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## Pixel (Jan 10, 2003)

twhiting9275 said:


> And I am well within my rights to inform individuals of the flaming PROBLEMS with that software, and their support.


Of course you are. Absolutely.

But doing as much of it as you are will inevitably result in being ignored. The perception people will have of your postings is that all you ever post is negative, that your concerns, while perhaps valid, add nothing to the discussion. You make yourself irrelevant.

I live near an airport. All the neighbors I know withing a mile or so of it, except 1, deal with it. Most people that can take the mitigation solutions offered (new windows, A/C, etc.) But not that one person. They make hundreds of complaints annually about the airport. I think that person means to have the airport closed down. Anyway, when community meetings are held with respect to neighborhood concerns, that person always attempts to hijack the meeting to focus on the airport to the exclusion of anything else. So nowadays, the person is completely ignored and shown the door when comments and questions from the audience are solicited by the speakers. They have become a laughingstock and completely shunned.

The same thing can happen to you.

BTW, I used VRD for editing commercials from OTA recordings made with my TIVO HD of local HD channels. For the past year or so, everythings been working great.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

moyekj said:


> As stated before, Womble Mpeg Wizard does not have a problem with such streams, so there is a solution to the problem. Personally I have both VRD and Womble and each have their advantages, but Womble is the better/faster manual editor while VRD strengths are QuickStream Fix & Batch processing capabilities.


I'm the author of TVAP (link in signature) which is a C# .NET program that automates VRD processing using the VRD COM interface and VB scripts. The COM interface for QSF (at least for TVSuite -- not sure about VRD Plus) has a function to set the dimension filter to be used during the QSF.

Thus with rather simple editing of the QSF.vbs script that TVAP uses, you can trap videos by title-string comparisons and apply the (pre-determined) filter dimensions for your favorite shows. At least one TVAP user has been doing this and here is a link to a post on the VRD forums giving more detail.

TVAP could be modified to read a table of title-match-strings and dimensions from a text file and apply filters accordingly (if there was user interest).

I wonder about the possibility of integrating this into *kmttg* ?

One caveat: Although I've had a THD for several months, I have yet to encounter a TTG file that has multiple dimensions. I can only TTG the network local channels (thanks Time Warner ). Can someone tell me a network program that usually has the dimension changes?


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

dlfl said:


> One caveat: Although I've had a THD for several months, I have yet to encounter a TTG file that has multiple dimensions. I can only TTG the network local channels (thanks Time Warner ). Can someone tell me a network program that usually has the dimension changes?


Usually happens with shows on cable networks (USA, ScFI, TNT..) and regional sports. I don't remember seeing the issue with primetime broadcast shows.

TW found one solution to the issue.


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## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

dlfl said:


> Other VRD strengths:
> 
> --- Built in conversion from TiVo to mpeg2 format.
> 
> ...


True. After playing with Womble a bit, my impression is that editing out commercials is easier and more intuitive in VRD. Womble advertises "Automatic Ad detection and removal" on their web site, but I don't see anything automatic about it. The manual suggests a manual process for finding and cutting commercials. They do have a tool that automatically scans for blanks and puts bookmarks, but then you have to manually assemble the scenes that you want in the timeline. VRD's approach to just finding and marking commercials on the timeline is easier.

To be fair, Womble also seems to have some editing features that VRD lacks, so I can understand moyekj's comment about owning both.

Edit:
After playing with Womble more, I agree with what others have said below: manual editing in Womble is pretty fast and easy using the input window and the trim/cut functions. There is no need to deal with the timeline, bookmarks, or breaking the recording into multiple clips. Since manual editing can be done quickly, I don't think the lack of automatic ad detection is a big deal.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Try Womble with an HD title. "Scrubbing" which is the process of quickly moving through the video to identify cut points is MUCH faster using Womble. With VRD there is quite a big lag when trying to quickly scrub through a video. It takes me about 2-3 minutes per hour of video to edit manually using Womble and about double that time using VRD, plus the frustration of not being able to quickly pinpoint cut points. Personally I don't use automatic Ad detection since I can identify the cut points faster and more accurately than any automated method. Starting from automatically identified commercials and correcting the mistakes usually takes longer than just doing it from scratch for me so I don't bother with that. With Womble you have to learn to use the timeline method of cutting out commercials. There are different ways of cutting out commercials and I think even the ones shown in the demos are not the way I do it (the demos use the input and output windows - I don't use the output window at all). Drag the title down to the timeline and do cuts there directly using the "scissors" icon and learn some of the keyboard shortcuts and you will begin to realize the power and speed of Womble. I can see for someone who started out with VRD before Womble the initial impression is that Womble is much harder to use.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

I recently downloaded and installed womble due to the free giveaway recently.
I agree that if you use the ''scrub'' method of editing, it is faster.
But because VRD was slow using the ''scrub'' method, especially when using thumnails, I just use the navigation buttons. Over time, I've learned the patterns used by various stations as to their commercial breaks.
In fact, I prefer to manually edit out commercials rather than have ad detective do it.
Why? Ad detective isn't perfect. I have to manually go through the entire video anyway to make sure ad detective made the right ''choices'' for cuts, I save time avoiding that.
But I feel that I can still edit a show faster with VRD than I can with womble. Even the HD stuff. I guess that's because I'm used to VRD.
As was said elsewhere, there is a steeper learning curve with womble than there is with VRD, however, from casual observation, there seems to be a lot more versatility. The ability to edit in your own subtitles, add in a voice over track and/or a separate music track. :up:


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

dlfl said:


> If a customer complains, within the warranty period, that this problem makes the product worthless to them will VRD give a complete refund?


Too be honest I don't know. I'm just a developer who tries to help out with support when I can. All the business stuff is handled by someone else.

However we do offer a 15 day free trial, which should be more then enough time for someone to try the software and figure out if it's useless to them or not. It sounds to me like twhiting9275 bought the software a while back when he only had a S2 and it worked fine. He then upgraded to an S3 and started to have this issue. So in either case I think he was long past any sort of "warranty period" their might be by the time he ran into the issue.

But again I'm just a developer. If he wants to try to get a refund he'll have to send an e-mail to our support team so they can make that decision.

Dan


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

jbcheshire said:


> No one has answered my question due to the rants of the other guy.
> 
> Are free upgrades included in the purchase of the product? Or do I have to pay a fee when they come out with patches or upgrades???


There are no fees for patches or minor upgrades. However we do usually charge an upgrade fee for new versions with added functionality. For example we do charge an upgrade fee to go from Plus to TVSuite because there are major feature difference between the two versions.

Dan


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## sm482 (Oct 4, 2009)

to dlfl: Two channels I consistently have the dimension change problem with are Comedy Central and USA.

Nothing I've tried seems to work, and I have TVAP - it does the QSF, but it doesn't help me in processing the program through VRD TV Suite. It still hangs up. I'm very frusrated. I'm trying to make videos for my son, who is on deployment. I've even changed computers (from a Sindows Vista to my Windows XP) and then downloaded the TVAP to try to solve the problem when it reared it's ugly head two days later.

Suggestions?


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## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

> The problem was caused by you.


Wrong, the problem is caused by the company itself. This is not *slander*, it is factual. The company has refused to update their product in a timely fashion to address this issue that has been growing on a constant basis. It's been known about for years.

Just because the problem was partially resolved when I reformatted doesn't take away from the fact that the problem still exists. VRD has known about this for years and refused to step up and fix their product accordingly. This is nothing but laziness, pure laziness.



sm482 said:


> to dlfl: Two channels I consistently have the dimension change problem with are Comedy Central and USA.


The higher up channels are going to do this. I don't have problem one with standard (basic) channels (Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, CW, etc), but when you get into the "family cable" area, then the problems start occurring, almost on a 100% basis



sm482 said:


> Nothing I've tried seems to work, and I have TVAP - it does the QSF, but it doesn't help me in processing the program through VRD TV Suite.


If you run the video through VRD -> QSF and check 'enable filters', this should resolve it so that VRD can process the video. I would strongly suggest staying away from all other products if you're going to use VRD, because that's what ended up causing my own problems. By itself, VRD is fine (aside from the dimensions changed garbage), but it doesn't play well with others.


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## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> Seriously do you have any idea how much time and effort it takes to make a product like VideoReDo? If it were easy there'd be a dozen other products just like it on the market. But there arn't because it's not easy. We do it because we're passionate about the product and what it does.
> Dan


I think most folks would underestimate by a couple of orders of magnitude. Keep up the great work. I use your product every day and am patiently waiting for H.264 support.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

You were using Windows 7. That's still beta software. You might have done something wrong. There could have been an issue with whatever beta build you were using. Some people jump at the chance to try a new operating system. The rest of us wait until we're sure it works with whatever applications we use.

You acknowledge using QSF solves the problem, as long as you enable filters.

Sorry but your first "issue" was an issue with a beta version of Windows. Your second issue is with a "poor interface", having to do the extra step of running QSF.

Do a search Tivo Desktop Plus currently chokes on these files.



twhiting9275 said:


> Just because the problem was partially resolved when I reformatted doesn't take away from the fact that the problem still exists. VRD has known about this for years and refused to step up and fix their product accordingly. This is nothing but laziness, pure laziness.
> 
> The higher up channels are going to do this. I don't have problem one with standard (basic) channels (Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, CW, etc), but when you get into the "family cable" area, then the problems start occurring, almost on a 100% basis
> 
> If you run the video through VRD -> QSF and check 'enable filters', this should resolve it so that VRD can process the video. I would strongly suggest staying away from all other products if you're going to use VRD, because that's what ended up causing my own problems. By itself, VRD is fine (aside from the dimensions changed garbage), but it doesn't play well with others.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

reneg said:


> I think most folks would underestimate by a couple of orders of magnitude. Keep up the great work. I use your product every day and am patiently waiting for H.264 support.


+1 :up: Oh...and waiting for the Mac version.


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## NJ Webel (Dec 8, 2004)

twhiting9275 said:


> A product is never 'good enough' if it has bugs, of any kind. Sloppy, shoddy workmanship is not acceptable, ever, in any reality.


 So, I guess you're also upset with Microsoft;

and Apple;

and TiVo, for that matter.

I don't own, and have NEVER DOWNLOADED OR USED VideoReDo, and it's patently obvious to see you are never going to be satisfied with this software. So, why don't you chalk it up to a 'lesson learned' that things don't always go the way you expect them to and go out and find a different method to change your tivo files to mpeg. Then you'd be able to contribute positively to the thread instead of just continually beating your drum.


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## sm482 (Oct 4, 2009)

If you run the video through VRD -> QSF and check 'enable filters', this should resolve it so that VRD can process the video. I would strongly suggest staying away from all other products if you're going to use VRD, because that's what ended up causing my own problems. By itself, VRD is fine (aside from the dimensions changed garbage), but it doesn't play well with others.[/QUOTE]

I have done that and also indicated to break it into 138 segments (recommended by VRD) and I get this message: "I/O read error: invalid file format from external reader in FileBitInputStream" and then the QSF quits.

Other suggestions? I love my TIVO and I think VRD is a great program, but I've had this problem ever since the final part of Comcast's change to digital transmission, which happened on September 22nd.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

sm482 said:


> If you run the video through VRD -> QSF and check 'enable filters', this should resolve it so that VRD can process the video. I would strongly suggest staying away from all other products if you're going to use VRD, because that's what ended up causing my own problems. By itself, VRD is fine (aside from the dimensions changed garbage), but it doesn't play well with others.
> 
> I have done that and also indicated to break it into 138 segments (recommended by VRD) and I get this message: "I/O read error: invalid file format from external reader in FileBitInputStream" and then the QSF quits.
> 
> Other suggestions? I love my TIVO and I think VRD is a great program, but I've had this problem ever since the final part of Comcast's change to digital transmission, which happened on September 22nd.


 As mentioned in this thread, Womble Mpeg Video Wizard doesn't have any trouble with changing video dimensions, so that's a program you can try (there is a free trial period for that program).
So far QSFIX with filter enabled has fixed it for me in VRD.


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## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

windracer said:


> It's not free, but VideoReDo is worth the price of admission for converting .TiVo to plain MPEG-2, editing out commercials, and even creating DVDs.


I don't think VideoRedo Supports 1080i DD5.1 conversion does it?

TGC


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

TexasGrillChef said:


> I don't think VideoRedo Supports 1080i DD5.1 conversion does it?
> 
> TGC


Yes, works fine.


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