[Wylug-help] Re: MPEG Transport Streams

[Dave Fisher]

On Mon, Feb 05, 2007 at 08:14:01PM +0000, Paul Scorer wrote:
> 
> >         <snip> 
> >         how to convert MPEG transport stream files into program stream
> >         formats that can be reliably played via an average player (or
> >         re-recorded as dvd-video).
> 
> 
> I too had a look at this issue.
> 
> I found ts2dvd-0.o.tar.gz

Latest version is available here:
 
 http://dev.jancerny.com/download/?soubor=ts2dvd-0.3o.tar.gz

I haven't tried it yet, but I'll give it a whirl.

> "transcode" also seems to be able to do some jobs (e.g. MPG -> VOB)
> [Needs a bucket-load of other utils]

Yep. As I indicated previously, transcode's command line options (and its
manpage) are so heavily overloaded, it's difficult to isolate any
particular parameter you may have got wrong.

> Also, Kaffeine (which is of course only a front-end to xine-lib :-)

I noticed that.

> seems to change its extensions with the weather: my version (for FC5)
> saves ".m2t" Earlier versions had ".ts". Haven't had time to do anything
> with them.> 

I'm using 0.8.3 (Debian/Ubuntu).

Actually, I only started using Kaffeine, because I (accidentally) found
that it automatically detected my DVDB-T and DVB-S cards, then tuned them
in ...  which was a bit of a (pleasant) surprise.

Of course, once it had done this, I was able to figure out how the
primitive dvdb capture utilities (e.g. tzap and szap) are supposed to be
configured (sometimes 8 line READMEs don't get you very far ;-).

I've not formed a definite opinion yet, but it looks as if running good
old 'cat' directly on a DVB adapter device file actually produces a
cleaner transport stream than I'm getting out of Kaffeine.

> Is one route turn on Master of the Known Universe (in xine) and get max
> debug o/p, at least for the demux phase?

Good idea, I'll look into it.

> Time for a wylug meeting on dvd authoring? (again)

Probably.  For a start off, the two previous talks I can remember dealt
with analogue TV and DV from camcorders.

Although these were by no means easy at the time, they are fairly
well-catered for these days (lots of automatically loaded drivers,
integrated tools, and much better documentation).

The shere variety of captured and downloaded digital formats available
these days, poses some additional problems.

Moreover, Linux is still pretty much behind the curve when it comes to
full-on digital video editing and publishing.  

Many of the basic tools may be there, but it isn't always easy to use
them without a detailed professional knowledge of low-level technical
details (e.g. stream types and ids ;-)

Actually, I've been trying (and failing) to get some time in recent
meetings to describe a FLOSS video production working group that I've
done some initial work to set up.

Hopefully, I'll find the time next monday, but just in case I don't, I'd
like to invite anyone who might be interested in spending about 3 to 6
hours a month learning about and doing FLOSS-only video production to
contact me (*off-list*).

Dave