Frame Accurate .TS editor? (free?)

[ZooMigo]

Been a long lurker here, but this one has finally got me stumped.

Is there a GOOD, free, frame accurate editor for .ts files? I was using my tivo as a source for mpegs, and tytools to edit and it worked great. Recently I dumped my tivo and am now using a Happaugue (whatever) HD-2250 OTA card, capturing to .ts format. Problem is, most of the audio is 3/2LFE and if I recode to .mpg my audio goes out of sync, so that cuts out tytools.

I have tried (among others): ProjectX, TSDoctor, Iframes, HDTV2MPEG, Cuttermaran, vdubmod and VideoReDo. Of those, only videoredo worked properly (frame accurate without editing files by hand and guessing at the timecode), but I just dont have the $40 right now.

Any suggestions?

[Ghitulescu]

what exactly do you reencode to MPG?

[ZooMigo]

I use my 2250 to record OTA tv shows (saved as .ts files, if I save as .mpg the audio goes out of sync), then cut out the commercials, recode them to mp4 and stream to media boxes throughout the house. This way, if I want to watch "fringe" while my wife watches "CSI" we can each do it at our leisure. Kind of a roll-my-own TiVo without monthly fees and multi-room viewing.

I convert to mp4/AAC because the media boxes in the house consist of computers running windows software, a PS3, an xbox 360 and an ION based media pc (xbmc live) in the home-theater room. Its not a major deal if I have to wait until I can afford VideoReDo, but its annoying to be watching something and get the last 1/2 second of some annoying commercial inserted into the middle of the program because it happens to be inside the same GOP the program (re)starts in.

The other reason to recode is file size. The raw .ts files run about 6GB for an hour show and after editing and recoding I can drop them down to about 1G if I keep them 720p or about 400 meg if I dump to SD (624x352). I know 624 is technically less than SD, but I use a good bit rate, AAC audio at 96k and H264. On the other end, the HTPC uses lanzcos resizing to upsample back to 720p and the picture quality is *nearly* as good as a DVD.

[poisondeathray]

Since you are re-encoding anyway, why not do your edits in avisynth?

[ZooMigo]

Because I have 99% of the workflow automated at this point. I have everything set up so I just drop a file ready to recode into my software and it spits out a finished file on the other end. The only part I really have to futz with is the initial prepare (commercial removal) of the file.

Here is my workflow - I go into my "recordings" folder and open the show recorded the night before, edit out the commercials, drop it on the "convert to SDMP4" folder and wait about 15 minutes, then move it from the "finished" folder to the "\\server\fringe" folder (or wait for the top of the hour for my cron script to run and it will be moved automagically). My total involvement in the workflow is about 5-8 minutes per show.

If I can use avisynth to edit the file just like I was using tytools, then its a win. edit: nope, still not a good choice, the idea here is to do it mostly automated and easy. avisynth doesnt fit into either of those categories.

[Ghitulescu]

Accurate frame cutting is easier to be done for MPEG-2 (SDTV) than for H.264 (HDTV). It also depends if you intend to work multiple audio and/or subtitles.

DVR Studio Pro is an integrated solution from DVB to DVD in few clicks, but the SDTV version can use only 1 audio and 1 video. It also runs as trialware for 30 days I think.

Now, it's clear for you the next question? :rolleyes:

[stax76]

StaxRip supports MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 with frame accurate cutting.