[vdr] Convert recording

[Marx]

Hello
It's probably common use but I didn't find good info how to do that:
I record movie. It needs to be cutted (advertisment etc) and than
compressed from mpeg2 to divx (because this format is smaller and
playable on almost everything). Then movie is moved to library which
scans IMDB or similair services to download meta information.

The goal is how to do that as most automatically as possible.
For now it's rather long way: I convert .ts stream into mpeg2 (I forgot
the name but it's software which allows cut file altogether, hovewer
it's not user friendly becauses of small preview window), then convert
it with some software (VirtualDub, Handbrake or ffmpeg), then rename and
load into XBMC library.

I know it's rather lously connected with VDR, hovewer I have idea of
using VDR as main tool in this toolchain. First it knows from EPG
metadata the name of movie, so it can find it in IMDB (in fact both web
interfaces can do that now). Next it allows to cut recordings (hovewer I
prefer doing it with keyboard) and sometimes automate ads removing. The
last piece is converting which also is available via some external scripts.

The problem is I would prefer doing it via web interface, because
keyboard & mouse is more productive than remote. I hoverwer didn't find
possibility to start converting via web interface.

What do you think about it?

Marx

[Dominic Evans]

Hello
I record movie. It needs to be cutted (advertisment etc) and than compressed
from mpeg2 to divx (because this format is smaller and playable on almost
everything). Then movie is moved to library which scans IMDB or similair
services to download meta information.
The goal is how to do that as most automatically as possible.
For now it's rather long way: I convert .ts stream into mpeg2 (I forgot the
name but it's software which allows cut file altogether, hovewer it's not
user friendly becauses of small preview window), then convert it with some
software (VirtualDub, Handbrake or ffmpeg), then rename and load into XBMC
library.

I recommend looking at http://projects.vdr-developer.org/projects/vdrnfofs

This fuse-based tool allows you to make your VDR library easily
understandable by XBMC by providing a suitable filename and .nfo pair:

e.g.,

$ ls -1 /srv/vdr/Green_Card*
Green_Card_2011-09-07.23.28.1-0.rec.mpg
Green_Card_2011-09-07.23.28.1-0.rec.nfo
$ cat /srv/vdr/Green_Card*.nfo
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<movie>
<title>Green Card</title>
<plot>Gérard Depardieu's much-anticipated English language debut
was, to some extent, lost in the fuss created by the revelations about
his wild youth that appeared around the time of its release. Despite
being unoriginal, full of narrative improbabilities and not as funny
as it should be, this easy-going comedy from director Peter Weir has
undeniable charm and features two engaging performances, with Andie
MacDowell winning you over to her initially cold, calculating
Manhattanite. Weir is a little heavy-handed with the comic set pieces,
but he develops the romance with some care and turns the immigration
inquiry into a nail-biting tear-jerker. It's slight and trite, but so
what?||Director Peter Weir|Actor Gérard Depardieu|Actor Andie
MacDowell|Actor Bebe Neuwirth|Actor Gregg Edelman|Actor Robert
Prosky|Actor Jessie Keosian|Actor Ethan Phillips|Actor Mary Louise
Wilson|Actor Lois Smith|Actor Conrad McLaren|</plot>
</movie>

[VDR User]

For now it's rather long way: I convert .ts stream into mpeg2 (I forgot the
name but it's software which allows cut file altogether, hovewer it's not
user friendly becauses of small preview window), then convert it with some
software (VirtualDub, Handbrake or ffmpeg), then rename and load into XBMC
library.
I know it's rather lously connected with VDR, hovewer I have idea of using
VDR as main tool in this toolchain. First it knows from EPG metadata the
name of movie, so it can find it in IMDB (in fact both web interfaces can do
that now). Next it allows to cut recordings (hovewer I prefer doing it with
keyboard) and sometimes automate ads removing. The last piece is converting
which also is available via some external scripts.
The problem is I would prefer doing it via web interface, because keyboard &
mouse is more productive than remote. I hoverwer didn't find possibility to
start converting via web interface.

You should look into VDR's "commands.conf". Next, don't do any
unnecessary encoding. Cut the ads from the VDR recording either within
VDR or using an external app, then transcode the editing recording
directly to xvid. IMDB probably has an api to fetch data but if not,
you still have the info from the VDR recording and can just parse IMDB
webpages using a script.

One note about encoding... Do yourself a favor and use a target
quantizer rather than target bitrate or filesize. Every video is
different and has different requirements to maintain quality. There is
no 'magic encoding settings' where one-size-fits-all, but using a
target quantizer will get you closer than anything else. With xvid I'd
recommend 3-5, and do a 2-pass encode. You may want to consider
transcoding to x264 (in an mkv container) instead. In most cases it
will give you better quality at smaller sizes. The mkv container is
far more capable that avi.

These days the only reason to both with xvid is if you use some old &
outdated standalone player that only supports xvid.

[Midas]

Hi there,

i have two satellite devices in an lnb-sharing setup. As said in the
topic since update to vdr 1.7.27 recordings do not put data on the disk
anymore and AV liveview with the vdr-sxfe frontend freezes if bonding
sets the Twinhan Card to master.

The setup is Technisat Skystar HD and KWorld DVBS Satellite Card (clone
of Twinhan VP1020), so it is DVBS2 and DVBS mixed. VDR is 1.7.27.

I have been using vdr 1.7.21 before with lnb-sharing applied. In the old
setup there was a similar problem in that switching to vertical didn't
work reliably or at all respectively. I managed to overcome this
behaviour by patching the Twinhan driver to eliminate _any_ voltage
output on the card. Once i found a working patch vdr has been running
for months without any problems anymore.

Note that the 'new' issue occurs with the vanilla Twinhan driver and my
patched version as well.

Is it maybe possible to force the use of one card as Master bonding
device or does anyone have other ideas to overcome the problems?


Greets,

Michael