# No audio after converting .tivo to .mpg



## Drunken Cowboy (Oct 9, 2011)

I am trying to convert a .tivo file to an mpg so I can burn to a DVD. I have tried with kmttg and DirectShow Dump. Both have converted the video fine, but there is no sound. Any ideas on how to fix this?


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

What playback application are you using that has "no sound"?

Go to videolan.org and get VLC and see if it can play back your converted file. I don't use DirectShow Dump, but I do use kmttg to download the file. However, I then manually run tivodecode to strip encryption. So YMMV.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

If it's from a Series 3 or later, the audio is probably Dolby. Download and install the AC3Filter codec and you should be fine.


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## Drunken Cowboy (Oct 9, 2011)

Phantom Gremlin said:


> What playback application are you using that has "no sound"?
> 
> Go to videolan.org and get VLC and see if it can play back your converted file. I don't use DirectShow Dump, but I do use kmttg to download the file. However, I then manually run tivodecode to strip encryption. So YMMV.


I was using WMP. It is a playback issue. When I loaded it into my video editing software, the audio is there.


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## Drunken Cowboy (Oct 9, 2011)

ggieseke said:


> If it's from a Series 3 or later, the audio is probably Dolby. Download and install the AC3Filter codec and you should be fine.


A bit of an aside.

I have this. When I use your app to set this codec for playing .tivo files, I don't get sound on their playback.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Try installing the K-lite codec pack.

http://download.cnet.com/K-Lite-Mega-Codec-Pack/3000-13632_4-10794603.html


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

Phantom Gremlin said:


> I don't use DirectShow Dump, but I do use kmttg to download the file. However, I then manually run tivodecode to strip encryption. So YMMV.


Why manually? Kmttg can run tivodecode automatically.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Drunken Cowboy said:


> A bit of an aside.
> 
> I have this. When I use your app to set this codec for playing .tivo files, I don't get sound on their playback.


If you don't set any preferred codecs at all, what does it show? You can also right-click the demuxer to the the properties of the individual streams.


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

lrhorer said:


> Why manually? Kmttg can run tivodecode automatically.


I run tivodecode manually because I often just transfer a file back to a TiVo to view the program. So there's no need to decode, and that's just one other thing that won't potentially go wrong!


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## hershey4 (May 31, 2006)

I know this thread is old, but I am running into the same problem. I have Tivo Series 2 and I first converted a show with VideoRedo to mpg. WMP could playback fine. DivX player could not -- no audio. (aside: I also tried playback through Tivo player to see if it could play an MPG -- rather than .tivo -- and surprised that it did).

I further converted that .mpg with AnyVideoConverter-free to 5 various flavors of .mp4 to view on my Android smartphone. AVC did not have my exact device. One played on phone with no audio, 3 loaded and crashed, one had error "can't load". I tried 2 different players on smartphone w/same results for both players.

These same mp4's mostly play on my PC fine with WMP or Divx - except 1 in Divx or WMP has no audio (that's the one that loads and plays on smartphone but also no audio).

So how do I figure out who/what to blame? Is it the initial conversion? The 2nd conversions? the players? My PC? My phone? 

Does the type of broadcast even matter? (local broadcast via cable SDTV)

I don't want to willy nilly install a bunch of codecs (or anything) on my PC without understanding the problem first, but I'm not sure how to investigate. I could try different players and converters and gather more info, but my spreadsheet is getting crowded already and making my head spin. Hopefully I have gathered enough datapoints for someone knowledgeable to guide me.

I'm not a fan of opensource software, so VideoRedo -- although pricey -- is probably going to be my first level decoder. In trial now. I prefer finished, mainstream products with standard windows style install and interface geared to simple user. Maybe this discussion should be in the VideoRedo forums (assuming they have some, haven't looked), but TivoCommunity is my goto forum first!!

p.s. divx 3 suggested I might need a directshow Ac3filter codec, but when I went looking around I saw reports of AVG detecting malware in it, so I stopped that pursuit.


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## hershey4 (May 31, 2006)

hershey4 said:


> These same mp4's mostly play on my PC fine with WMP or Divx - except 1 in Divx or WMP has no audio (that's the one that loads and plays on smartphone but also no audio).


oops... new datapoint... I just re-reviewed my notes and the no-audio mp4 is the one I made with Divx Converter (trial). That makes sense because DivX Player had no audio from the original MPG. gigo


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Hard to give simple advice here.

What output formats are important to you? (You mention both .mp4 and .mpg).

What display devices/software are important to you. For the PC, just get VideoLan's VLC player and you should be covered without worrying about audio codecs or any other pesky details.

Is Dolby 5.1 audio important to you on some playback device(s)? Or is stereo enough?

You seem to prefer "polished" software. I suspect VideoReDo TVSuite 4 (H.264) should do everything you want. The Output Profiles can be set to pass thru 5.1 audio if it exists in the input file, or they will re-encode the audio to stereo AAC for .mp4 files.


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## hershey4 (May 31, 2006)

I ultimately want .mp4 so I can load it on my android HTC Rezound. I don't care too much about the format on my PC -- WMP seems very versatile and successful. Space is not an issue at this point. I am not considering VRD 264. VideoRedoTVSuiteV3 is the maximum I will consider spending (albeit reluctantly). So that's why I mentioned .mpg. MPEG-2 is what VRD-V3 produces to get me to .mp4 using other software, right?

On the phone, I tried two players -- Stock and QuickPic. But I don't suspect its these players. I suspect its some part of the conversion from .Tivo to .mpg to mp4. I am trying to figure out which leg of the trip causes the difficulty in the end piece.

The fact that DivX player on the PC did not have audio on the .mpg is merely a potential clue that the VideoRedo conversion may be suspect. Or maybe not.

In browsing the VR forums (before I saw your answer), I saw that I can specify the audio output type. That got me quite excited that specifying MPEG-2 explicitly would fix everything so that dolby wasn't being requested! Alas, it did not. I doubt I have Dolby sound anywhere. No clue. Don't really need it.

I also saw on the VR forums that I can output the specs. This is the converted clip of the show with MPEG-2 audio setting. I don't know how to interpret any of this. How does this look:


File Name: W:\Videos\_VideoRedo\ChronicleV2.mpg
File Size: 249204736 ( 0.23 GB )
Program Duration: 00:04:38.06
File Type: PS - MPEG2
Encoding: MPEG2
Video stream Id: xE0
Encoding Dimensions: 720 x 480
Display Size: 720 x 480
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Frame Rate: 29.97 FPS
Bit Rate: 9.200 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 224 KB
Profile: [email protected]
Progressive: Prog or Int
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: 2.0
Audio Stream Id: AC3: 0 (x80)
Audio Bit Rate: 256 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz
TS Mux Rate (bps): -1


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Well now the problem is defined as how to encode your .mpg file to a .mp4 file that will play on your Rezound. The next thing you need to know is the video parameters this device will accept. Important specs are the resolution (width and height), bit rate, and audio format(s). There are probably a number of free programs that will do the job. My choice would be HandBrake just because I've used it more than any other and I know it's solid. Your audio is AC3 and a key question is whether the Rezound will take that and, if not, if your conversion software will convert it to AAC, which I'm confident will be acceptable. I don't know if HB does this or not -- haven't used it for a while.

At this point, this isn't a TiVo-related problem although you may get some help here. You might want to check out other forums on video conversion such as the HB forum, Video Help forum and Doom9's forum. For more help here it would be good to post the video specs for the Rezound.


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## hershey4 (May 31, 2006)

this is getting too complicated for me. I just had another idea. I can upload what I want to Youtube (mpg or some flavor of mp4 that my converter software produces) and then download it to my phone.

The need is only occasional so it should suffice. I think. The ex-software engineer in me does want to get to the bottom of it, but the senior semi-retired part of me is weary of all this. Actually, this youtube step would be a good datapoint to verify that my phone _can_ actually play the video after a proper convert by youtube.

I'm still not totally satisfied that the resultant mpg is valid. I found another piece of software I had on my PC (MS Media Expression) which also could not play the audio. So, that is 2 that could and 2 that could not. Input problem or Player(s) problem? I really do want to know. But probably not enough...


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## hershey4 (May 31, 2006)

I did it! I did it!!

I took a look inside AnyVideoConverter options to see if there were some audio or other interesting settings I might try. I modified a few at once, so I'm not exactly sure what did it, but the .mp4's from the tivo .mpg's now play on my smartphone (and I suspect anywhere else they land).

One general setting I found was "Use NVidia CUDA Encoder for X264/H264 video encoding". Sounded like a good thing even though I don't know what the alternative was! 

Then in Audio I selected MPEG-2 for AAC Parameters (whatever the heck they are). MPEG-4 had been selected by default. Then under Video, I checked "Flatten and add faststart to mp4 files" just for good measure. I think those are the only things I modified.

Thanks for your input and hope this may help others with similar. It seems lack of audio after transfer is not all that uncommon.

(And as a bonus I get the memory of the satisfaction of resolving software bugs like in the old days...Although for a real software bug I would invest the time to identify which item(s) was the solution and why)


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