[Uncle Skeleton]

1. download ffmpegX from here: http://homepage.mac.com/major4/
2. right/control click on the app, choose Show Package Contents
3. go into Contents/Resources and find ffmpeg. Copy it to the directory your m2t file is in.
4. open Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal). type cd followed by a space, and drag the folder with your files into the terminal window. type return
5. type this (replace "input.m2t" with your file's name):
./ffmpeg -i input.m2t -vcodec copy -format mpeg1video output.mpeg
(hit return afterwards)
then for the audio, this:
./ffmpeg -i input.m2t output.wav

[MikeD]

Just with the video part, I got this error:
~/Desktop/HDTV TESTING mike$ ./ffmpeg -i test.m2t -vcodec copy -format mpeg1video output.mpeg
ffmpeg version 0.4.9-pre1, build 4731, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
configuration: --enable-mp3lame --enable-gpl --disable-vhook --enable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-a52 --enable-xvid --enable-faac --enable-faad --enable-amr_nb --enable-pthreads
built on Nov 21 2004 19:41:49, gcc: 3.3 20030304 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 1666)
Input #0, mpegts, from 'test.m2t':
Duration: 00:38:45.4, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 384 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x664]: Video: mpeg2video, 1920x1080, 29.97 fps
Stream #0.1[0x663]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5:1, 384 kb/s
./ffmpeg: unrecognized option '-format'

I hope I enetered it in correctly.

The audio though, WORKED!!! I have a full minute of audio and it sounds fine when played in quicktime player. So now, it's just getting the video to work...

Thanks for helping though! Lets hope we get this working!

[bmedina]

Try -f instead of -format. Then Diva will be able to re-encode the resulting mpg file.

[Mafia]

is there a way to simply playback the hdtv w/o recording it?

[bmedina]

Not for now. You have to record the stream and simultaneously play it back with VLC.

[Mafia]

Originally posted by bmedina:
Not for now. You have to record the stream and simultaneously play it back with VLC.

whats the delay with this.. is there any video or audio skipping. i mean i basically just want to watch hdtv but iw ouldn't mind deleting and stopping every 30 minutes or so to delete and restart.

[jasong]

I just got my 6412 from Comcast (Boston) with the DVR and I am loving the picture. I am coming from ReplayTV and I find the picture quality better (even on my standard TV) and am happy to finally have surround sound. The only thing I miss is how easy it was to archive shows off the replay using DVArchive. I guess my question is similar to the person above, is there anyway to download the program off the 6412, or does it too have to be recorded? Also do I have to be actively watching the program, or can it be on the second tuner?

-- Jason

[bmedina]

Originally posted by Mafia:
whats the delay with this.. is there any video or audio skipping. i mean i basically just want to watch hdtv but iw ouldn't mind deleting and stopping every 30 minutes or so to delete and restart.

The delay is determined by how fast you can open the file in VLC after you've started the recording. The video will skip if your Mac isn't fast enough, but the audio should be fine. For example, my DP867 can play back 720p ok, but the video drops frame on 1080i material. You won't have to delete and restart as long as you have enough room on your hard drive.

Overall, I think Comcast's DVR solution is better for most people. The only question is getting the files off the DVR's hard drive and onto your Mac....

[Joe's iMac G4]

Originally posted by jasong:
I just got my 6412 from Comcast (Boston) with the DVR and I am loving the picture. I am coming from ReplayTV and I find the picture quality better (even on my standard TV) and am happy to finally have surround sound. The only thing I miss is how easy it was to archive shows off the replay using DVArchive. I guess my question is similar to the person above, is there anyway to download the program off the 6412, or does it too have to be recorded? Also do I have to be actively watching the program, or can it be on the second tuner?

-- Jason

Hello,

Use iRecord from http://macpvr.home.comcast.net to offload programs from the DVR. The programs do need to be played back on the DVR to facilitate the capture. iRecord captures whatever is active on your display; so, switching between the tuners on the 6412 is not recommended.

I recommend using EyeTV 1.7 from elgato for playback on the Mac. It is a free download. You can also use it as an editor. The trick is that during playback on EyeTV you have to record it on EyeTV to make it an editable file.

[jasong]

Thanks for the reply. I found that, and I am currently using it. I was looking for something like DVArchive for the ReplayTV, which allows you to simply download the show off the DVR without playing it. The advantage of this is speed, I could download a 30 minute show in about 6 minutes. I record a lot of stuff I want to keep, but may not get a chance to watch for a long time.

-- Jason

[markponcelet]

Originally posted by jasong:
Thanks for the reply. I found that, and I am currently using it. I was looking for something like DVArchive for the ReplayTV, which allows you to simply download the show off the DVR without playing it. The advantage of this is speed, I could download a 30 minute show in about 6 minutes. I record a lot of stuff I want to keep, but may not get a chance to watch for a long time.

See, I'm interested in stuff like this myself. About the only DVRs that I have seen facilitate the copying process were the series 2 TiVo and ReplayTV. Even then, you had to go through a lengthy process to de-encrypt the files. Programs exist to do that, but they're PC only.

I hope that the stellar popularity of the Comcast DVR will push people to develop good tools to get those files off of there, because I can see lots of potential if you can move the files to a powerbook for viewing.

Mark

[the_glassman]

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
No, I would suggest the following for cheaper prices (assume you have a spare PCI slot):

Get Dvico FusionHDTV for ATSC, and then download this digital TV tuner driver for Mac.

How well does this work with on a Mac with the OS X driver?

[veryniceguy2002]

Originally posted by the_glassman:
How well does this work with on a Mac with the OS X driver?

Well, I haven't seen any other offerings for Mac myself, so I cannot give you any comparison to any other products around. The driver works, and the viewing apps do what it does. It's a freebie apps so you cannot expect it's as polish as the commerical packages.

For me, I don't have Macs with USB 2, and Elgato's EyeTV digital TV for Mac cost about 3 times as much as get a PCI card for PC + this driver (in AUstralia, at least). So, I would say this solution works with the constraints of my budget.

My sugguestion is to go to the driver web site, and have a look at the screenshots and have a look at the postings in the forum within that web site.

[f1000]

From the AVS Forum:

Author an HD-DVD VIDEO_TS folder?

Hello,

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to author an HD VIDEO_TS folder? Of course I realise that except for short content, it wouldn't actually fit on a DVD. I'm just trying to take an HD stream, and convert it to something that DVDPlayer can play.

I don't know if DVDPlayer is hard-coded to only work with 720x480 or if it would happily play any resolution that you feed it.

For that matter, I don't even know if it is valid for a VIDEO_TS folder to have content that is any resolution other than 720x480.

This question is motivated by everyone's recognition that DVDPlayer seems to be the only way to leverage hardware mpeg2 decode acceleration, and the fact that nice HD streams capture with VirtualDVHS over Firewire can't be played back with acceptable quality on slower hardware, in particular the Mini or PowerBooks.

As a side note, I am aware from the "Mac Mini as HTPC" thread that Elgato's viewer application purportely plays 1080i streams almost perfectly on ~1GHz G4's. I'm still pursuing the DVDPlayer soltion a) to get that next step from near to actually perfect, b) to get a better interface, and c) to get more support for remote control (salling, keypsan IR, etc).

I'm doing a test with ffmpegX, where I told it to author a DVD as per normal, but then change the resolution after the fact to 1920x1080. The docs imply that authored DVD's *have* to be 720x480, period. But it allows it for input, so we'll see what I get.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...on#post5151215

I've wondered this same thing myself, and have tried in vain to convert a .ts file into a format recognizable by DVD Player. Does anyone know if it's possible to trick DVD Player into playing full resolution .ts files?