I am looking to convert a library of existing TV recordings into the “correct” format so that I can import them into HDHD DVR service.
Background on the source files:
These files were previously converted by MCEBuddy. TV here is broadcast in either Mpeg2 or Mpeg4. I had two different conversion jobs previously - if it was an Mpeg2 source it was converted to Mpeg4, if Mpeg4 I used the MP4 Transcode option. Comskip (donator) was used to detect ads and MCE buddy was told to add chapters, not to cut files.
So I am attempting to simply transcode them and write the correct metadata for HDHR.
I have used the HDHomeRun Unprocessed profile. I have selected no Metadata downloads, copy existing chapters, and that’s about it.
The resulting files are unplayable in VLC. I noticed that the order of the streams seems to have changed (Stream 1 says it’s audio, stream 2 video, the opposite of the source files).
I’ve uploaded a log and 50MB chunk into the folder “Griffo”.
I checked the file and it’s playing just fine here in VLC and WMP. I think you may have a codec issue on your machine. We only recommend using LAVFilters or the stock MS codecs.
Apologies for the slow response, I’ve been moving house etc so haven’t had access to check the files again.
You are correct, they do in fact play. I have no idea why VLC would not play any of the files, I never install Codec packs and they now play perfectly on the same PC. Weird.
So… that’s was not actually my real issue but was a bit of a red herring. What my real issue is that HDHR refuses to import the converted video’s. It doesn’t produce any error messages, it just ignores them.
I’ve run the community Python metadata scripts against the output files and it says the metadata isn’t valid. Not sure what else to do.
I’ll try an older version of MCEBuddy and report back.
OK so i’m an idiot, was totally a PEBKAC issue where I didn’t tick the little “Add Information” checkbox in Expert settings.
I am having another issue though. I was trying to avoid having to run comskip across all the files again. I have all the ad’s marked as chapters as comskip isn’t 100% reliable locally. I was hoping to copy the existing chapter markers and simply transfer them over to the new mpg file. This seems to be supportable, but it doesn’t seem to write the marker into the target file.
I see the below in the log file for instance, do MPG files not support chapters?
Chapter No -> 10
Start time (ms) -> 7998760
End time (ms) -> 8400643
Chapter name -> Chapter 11
–> IsPlaylaterAdMarkers: No Advertisement entries found, chapters are not ad makers
INFORMATION> 2019-10-08T19:48:57 MCEBuddy.CommercialScan.EDL --> Writing chapters to C:\Program Files\MCEBuddy2x\working0\Mary The Making Of A Princess - SE - - Ten Digital - 2015_11_15.chap
INFORMATION> 2019-10-08T19:48:57 MCEBuddy.CommercialScan.EDL --> Writing XML chapters to C:\Program Files\MCEBuddy2x\working0\Mary The Making Of A Princess - SE - - Ten Digital - 2015_11_15.ttxt
INFORMATION> 2019-10-08T19:48:57 MCEBuddy.Engine.ConversionJob --> Adding subtitles and chapters to file
–>
Chapter File : C:\Program Files\MCEBuddy2x\working0\Mary The Making Of A Princess - SE - - Ten Digital - 2015_11_15.chap
Target File : C:\Program Files\MCEBuddy2x\working0\Mary The Making Of A Princess - SE - - Ten Digital - 2015_11_15.ts
ERROR> --> Invalid file type
Maybe start a new topic and attach the conversion log. MPG and TS containers don’t support chapter makers metadata. Only MP4 and MKV containers support that.
Thanks. I was under the mistaken belief that MPG did support chapters, so that really answers my questions. Back to the drawing board as HDHR only supports MPG and I need chapters. Thanks for your assistance as always.