Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Hauppauge HD PVR Encoding

I love my Hauppauge HD PVR, it is great at recording shows. However, I can't seem to re-encode the shows with divx or other formats... until now. Here is a list of applications you will need:


Haali Media Splitter
eac3to (v3.21)

and I use the following for encoding ( I know, it's all very old versions )
Gordian Knot ( v 0.35.0 ) ( NOTE: installing Gordian Knot will install the following 4 components )
Besweet ( packaged with Gordian Knot )
VirtualDubMod ( packaged with Gordian Knot )
AviSynth ( v2.5 )
xvid ( I believe I have Koepi's Xvid Codec, and I believe it is old but not sure how old )

for M2TS playback install the most recent fddshow. Without this you cannot render the M2TS file and the avs script will not display the video. When installing check all components to be installed.

First, when I record on my HD PVR I use the Playstation 3 option which encodes in .M2TS format.  I separate the video from the audio track using Haali Media Splitter program GDSMux:

To add the file to GDSMux, right click on the back ground and select 'Add source...'

Next unselect avc1, and click on the '...' button at the bottom to save the output file

click start to save the ac3 file

Here is the issue with this ac3 file, actually it is a .mka file. However using eac3to you can make the .mka file an actual ac3 file. The trick is you have to keep the .mka file with an .ac3 extension when running eac3to. The command line is:
eac3to.exe "C:\Commercials.ac3" "C:\Commercials2.ac3"

Now we can use besweet to convert the Commercials2.ac3 file to Commercials2.mp3. First I launch the besweet GUI that came packaged with Gordian Knot

Next I select the input file

Then I select the DSPguru_MP3_for_AVI profile. This changes the output file to .mp3

Finally I click on the green button labeled 'AC3 to MP3'

Next the command window displays as it encodes the AC3 file to MP3

Next create an .avs file to render the M2TS file. Just open notepad.exe and paste the text below into the files and save with a .avs extension ( however you will have to change the Source file name to your file name ). Below is an example of a .avs file that renders an HD file that is re sized smaller for encoding.

DirectShowSource("C:\Commercials.M2TS")

assumetff()
separatefields()

SelectEven()

BicubicResize(720,360)

Using virtualdubmod that came packaged with Gordian Knot, open the .avs files to make sure it renders ok

Now open Gordian Knot and click on the encoder tab

click add

under the fame server label click on the select button and select the .avs file

under the audio source click on the select button to select the Commercials2.mp3 file

Next click on the Xvid tab

Here I encode the file as an Xvid using 2 pass. click on the First pass button and then click ok. This action generates the encoding file ( Commercials2_firstpass.settings ) needed for the first pass

Next click on Second pass and adjust your target bit rate kbps to your liking and click ok. This generates the file ( Commercials2_secondpass.settings ) needed for the second and final pass encoding.

Finally click on Add job to encoding queue

Last, click on start encoding and wait for the result.


I advise anyone to look up more info on avs, if you want to preserve the 1080i, place a # in front of the bicubicresize. I'm sure there is a better, faster way to convert but I really like using avs because of it's filters. I can remove the interlace ( jagged lines ) that faster action tv usually has.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Lotus Connections 3.0 released!

I just checked IBM Software access catalog and found Lotus Connections 3.0 was released on Wednesday the 24!