Need help with Hauppauge HD-PVR

[slicknick610]

I bought the Hauppauge HD PVR and it uses a Built-in hardware H.264 high definition encoder. It is able to record in .ts, .m2ts, and .mp4. I will explain my current process and I wanted to see if I could improve it.


I record in 12mbps .ts (either 720p 60fps or 1080i 30fps)
edit out commercials with Sony Vegas Pro 9
convert the video to Sony AVC .mp4 4mbps (either 1280x720 60fps or 1280x720 30fps)

I cannot find out how to convert using Sony Vegas to .mkv.
I want to improve my process because the final .mp4 file is not as good as the initial .ts file.

If someone could tell me..

What would be good to record in (.ts, .m2ts or .mp4)?
What would be good to convert to (.mp4, .mkv, .m2ts or something else)?
What would be the good program to edit out commercials and be able to convert the video?

[audyovydeo]

I bought the Hauppauge HD PVR and it uses a Built-in hardware H.264 high definition encoder. It is able to record in .ts, .m2ts, and .mp4. I will explain my current process and I wanted to see if I could improve it.


I record in 12mbps .ts (either 720p 60fps or 1080i 30fps)
edit out commercials with Sony Vegas Pro 9
convert the video to Sony AVC .mp4 4mbps (either 1280x720 60fps or 1280x720 30fps)

I see that all HD 720p tv shows online are using x264 .mkv. I cannot find out how to convert using Sony Vegas to .mkv.
I want to improve my process because the final .mp4 file is not as good as the initial .ts file.

If someone could tell me..

What would be best to record in (.ts, .m2ts or .mp4)?
What would be best to convert to (.mp4, .mkv, .m2ts or something else)?
What would be the best program to edit out commercials and be able to convert the video?


All you're talking about here is containers.
The quality of your final video is a function of :
1. the codec
2. the compression settings

that you choose. What container you dump that video into is irrelevant.
My personal choice would be to capture in MJPEG format, edit then compress to H.264 in whatever container you prefer.

cheers
audyovydeo

[poisondeathray]

To answer your other question, you can either export a lossless intermediate out of vegas (e.g. lagarith, huffyuv, ut etc...) or use debugmode frameserver , then use that as the input into x264 or use a front end GUI for x264 (e.g. megui, ripbot264, staxrip etc...)

PS. There is no "best"

[slicknick610]

To answer your other question, you can either export a lossless intermediate out of vegas (e.g. lagarith, huffyuv, ut etc...) or use debugmode frameserver , then use that as the input into x264 or use a front end GUI for x264 (e.g. megui, ripbot264, staxrip etc...)

PS. There is no "best" Wow I should have mentioned I am rather inexperienced at HD video editing. I couldn't find the "export a lossless intermediate" option in Vegas. Is Sony Vegas a good program or should I use another one?

I kind of need step by step instructions. I need to know if it makes a difference if I capture in .mp4, m2ts or ts. Then I need to know what to use to edit and then what are good options for compression. I am capturing dirt bike racing which has a lot of motion so I need to keep the end result around 4mbps. Thanks in advance

[Guest]

@slicknick610

Stop asking for "Best"! It's a violation of forum rule 12.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Vegas is a fine NLE, but it's probably a lot more than you need :) Unfortunately, its output options are pretty terrible. Therefore, I suggest sidestepping this, and "frame serving" the project file into another encoder.

Take a look at Debugmode frame server:

http://www.debugmode.com/frameserver/

If you choose this as the output option in Vegas, it will basically create a "signpost" fake AVI file, which actually directly references your project in Vegas. You can then use this as a source for any encoding system, like x264! You can use a GUI like MeGUI, Ripbot264, or StaxRip to convert this fake AVI file into an MKV containing video encoded by x264.

Let us know if you need more clarification.

~MiSfit

[slicknick610]

Vegas is a fine NLE, but it's probably a lot more than you need :) Unfortunately, its output options are pretty terrible. Therefore, I suggest sidestepping this, and "frame serving" the project file into another encoder.

Take a look at Debugmode frame server:

http://www.debugmode.com/frameserver/

If you choose this as the output option in Vegas, it will basically create a "signpost" fake AVI file, which actually directly references your project in Vegas. You can then use this as a source for any encoding system, like x264! You can use a GUI like MeGUI, Ripbot264, or StaxRip to convert this fake AVI file into an MKV containing video encoded by x264.

Let us know if you need more clarification.

~MiSfitI was just about to try it when I realized it only supported 32bit. I should have mentioned I am running Windows 7 64-bit. I do have a laptop that is running XP 32-bit but it only has a dual-core processor. I would rather be able to run the program on my more powerful desktop.

[poisondeathray]

Use a lossless export from vegas. e.g. uncompressed AVI , lagarith, huffyuv, ut video codec . The last 3 are 3rd party lossless compression formats and need to be installed separately

[slicknick610]

Use a lossless export from vegas. e.g. uncompressed AVI , lagarith, huffyuv, ut video codec . The last 3 are 3rd party lossless compression formats and need to be installed separately When I try to open the avi file created by lagarith in meGUI it freezes. Is there something I am missing.

[poisondeathray]

what was your .avs script? copy & paste it here

it might be installation issue with win7 x64 and lagarith. Try uncompressed AVI

[slicknick610]

what was your .avs script? copy & paste it here

it might be installation issue with win7 x64 and lagarith. Try uncompressed AVI I didn't know I needed a script. I just tried to open the avi file in meGUI

[poisondeathray]

MeGUI still works through avisynth

You can use the avs creator in the tools menu , but it's very simple 1 or 2 line script

Install avisynth, open a text file in notepad in same directory as your video, write the 1 line down, save it, rename extension to .avs from .txt. (Change filenames to match). Then open that .avs in MeGUI

The lagarith export from vegas will likely be RGB, so you need to convert to YV12 for encoding


AVISource("video.avi")
ConvertToYV12()

[slicknick610]

MeGUI still works through avisynth

You can use the avs creator in the tools menu , but it's very simple 1 or 2 line script

Install avisynth, open a text file in notepad in same directory as your video, write the 1 line down, save it, rename extension to .avs from .txt. (Change filenames to match). Then open that .avs in MeGUI

The lagarith export from vegas will likely be RGB, so you need to convert to YV12 for encoding


AVISource("video.avi")
ConvertToYV12()

I am able to change it to YV12 in Vegas. I installed avisynth and made the avs file. I put the avs file in the same folder as the avi file. But I couldnt get it working. meGui stops responding when I try to open the avs file. I tried to research avisynth before I posted to this forum but I didnt understand it very well. Is there a way to do this without the scripts and avisynth? I fear that if I have to use avisynth I will need step by step instructions. meGUI looks like it has a lot of options too that I don't know what they mean.

[poisondeathray]

does the .avs open in vdub? if not what is the error message

are you using the patched version of megui?


am able to change it to YV12 in Vegas.

you can't convert to yv12 in vegas (unless you mean through lagarith)

that script above only works for progressive, if you had 1080i , you would have to use converttoyv12(interlaced=true) , and do the deinterlace and resize within avisynth

try uncompressed avi instead

you can try something like ripbot264 which will generate the script for you as well

[AJ500]

I just purchased the Hauppauge HD-PVR. My workflow for capturing and editing from DirecTV is:
Capture a .ts stream
Use VideoReDo TVSuite V4 with H.264 support
Use its QuickStream Fix tool to "clean up" the .ts stream
Edit out the commercials
Save as .ts file.

The big advantage of this approach is that the only re-encoding is around the trims/cuts.

[Satviewer2012]

Free Solution to your question (for HD-PVR files only):

1. Use H.264 TS-Cutter to edit TS file.
2. Use tsMuxeR to demux the TS file.
3. Use MKVMerge-GUI to remux as a MKV file (for 720p file choose 60fps as output).

Disclaimer:
1. This solution works for 720p files, but I could not get proper audio sync when I tried processing 1080i files.
2. TS-Cutter works well when you only need to cut the beginning and end of a file, but it doesn't work well if trying to remove commercials (it's just not precise enough).