[mythtv-users] DVB and DVD-backup

[Nick Craig-Wood]

On Wed, May 12, 2004 at 12:54:34PM +0000, Daniel g wrote:
> I have seen it discussed here that MPEG2->MPEG2 re-coding (for
> commercials-cleaning) is basically complete and working (in CVS I
> presume).

Interesting!

> Using myth0.14 with DVB-t (nova-t) I obviously end up with large
> MPEG2-coded .nuv files.

Which are just MPEG2 files with a funny extension...

> Question:
> Is there any existing capability or technique (either
> within Myth code or external) that allows one to
> export the MPEG2 data from the .nuv files *without
> transcoding* in such a way as to allow relatively
> quick VideoDVD authoring?
> This would seem to be the obvious, portable choice for
> DVB users.

Here is the mail I posted to the dvdauthor mailing list which
describes how I do it.  Works very well!

...

Here is how to make perfect DVDs from DVB video.  My DVB was captured
in the UK - yours may differ...

First download the excellent ProjectX utility.  This demultiplexes DVB
video.  It takes extreme care with the video audio sync and adds back
in any corrupted audio packets, drops any useless B frames etc.  Make
sure the "fill gaps with prev frame" is set in the audio tab,
otherwise the defaults should do.

  http://www.lucike.info/page_projectx.htm

ProjectX can also edit video.  The cut window uses ->, SHIFT ->, CTRL
-> and ALT -> for skipping 1 frame, few seconds, ~ 15s, ~1 m - exactly
what you need for cutting commercials! (I had to read the source code
to discover this though ;-)

You will now have an .mpv and a .mp2.  The reason these wouldn't play
in my Pioneer DVD player is that the .mpv has whats called "user data"
in it (thanks to the author of ProjectX for working this out for me!).
I've no real idea what this is, but you can use the ReStream tool to
get rid of it.  Load the tool and select "Remove user data" - leave
everything else at the default.  Note this is a windows tool, but it
works fine under Wine.  The author of ProjectX has expressed an
interest in adding "Remove user data" to ProjectX.

  http://shh.dvdboard.de (site appears to be down at the moment - I
  found the program on a download mirror easily enough though)

You'll now have a .0.mpv and a .mp2.  Mux these together with mplex

  mplex -S0 -f8 -o prog.vob prog.0.mpv prog.mp2

Then feed into dvdauthor as normal

  dvdauthor -o DVD prog.vob
  dvdauthor -o DVD -T

Note that both ReStream and ProjectX were written by German authors
and hence the websites are in German.  The user interface for both
programs is in English though.

Note also that you don't need ReStream if
a) you haven't got a fussy DVD player like me
b) on the BBC channels!

-- 
Nick Craig-Wood
ncw1 at axis.demon.co.uk