Editing TiVo streams on OS X

[skontel]

I have looked at the sticky about the editors, but they seem to pertain only to Linux editors. While I could get them to build on OS X (Intel, Leopard), the work would require more time than I have on my hands. I have tried some of them in the past, on Linux, and found them unable to handle large-sized streams (one hour TiVo recordings often exceed 2 GB).

It irritates me that I cannot edit SD TiVo (gen 2) streams in something like iMovie (I have the '06 edition that seems to suck less). These are MPEG program streams with MPEG-2 video and MP3 audio. I don't care if I have to transcode the audio, but I'd like to avoid mucking with the video. It simply takes too long, especially given the grainy, poor quality recordings off my analog cable.

Can anyone recommend a *good* program I can use to edit these streams on an Intel Mac? Mostly the type of edits you'd expect: removing ads, and some leading / trailing content from recordings. The software doesn't have to be free, but I've decided not to spend more than the Final Cut Express price. Trial / eval time a huge plus.

If I've missed a thread about this, either in this or another forum, please point me in their direction. I have the absolute worst success with the search engines.

Thanks.

[nm]

Did you already try Avidemux?

[skontel]

I had tried to build it for Linux over a year ago, and had nothing but headaches.

On your recommendation, I downloaded it for OS X. At first I thought it was exactly what I was looking for. Until I realized that it did not really modify the streams -- it seems to write a script with edit points instead. That's not what I'm looking for.

Or am I using it incorrectly?

Thanks.

[Zep]

if you get the quicktime codec you can edit in anything that is quicktime aware which is like 100's of apps. if you do not get the codec then you need a standalone app like nm mentioned above.

Avidemux, virutalhub , ffmpegx and the many others that use ffmpeg libs and the like.

you can also use a tivo converter like
http://inik.net/node/97

the gets rid of the crap tivo adds to the mpeg2 stream then anything can view and edit the stream since it will be a basic mpeg2 again.

[nm]

I had tried to build it for Linux over a year ago, and had nothing but headaches.
Well, the Debian packages have worked very well whenever I've done anything with the program.

On your recommendation, I downloaded it for OS X. At first I thought it was exactly what I was looking for. Until I realized that it did not really modify the streams -- it seems to write a script with edit points instead. That's not what I'm looking for.

Or am I using it incorrectly?
Probably. What kind of a script is it exactly and what button did you press to get it? Output video is written by pressing "Save", not "Save Project". Are you using the 2.4.1 version?

See this page for more instructions on MPEG cutting:
http://avidemux.org/admWiki/index.php?title=Cutting_MPEG_files