[mythtv-users] Playing nice with plex/what to transcode to?

[Mike Perkins]

On 27/12/16 23:37, Gary Buhrmaster wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 27, 2016 at 11:09 PM, Monkey Pet <monkeypet at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I have mythtv with the HDhomerun ATSC tuners. the default save file is *.ts.
>> Unfortunately, plex doesn't recognize them as valid, so I plan to transcode
>> the files to something else.
>
> Plex likely just does not understand the .ts suffix.  You can likely
> copy them to your Plex system and rename them to .mpg (even
> though that is really the wrong suffix, presumably Plex can handle
> it).  Plex should then transcode them for its clients as needed.
> Or perhaps just symlink the files with a .mpg suffix (from whatever
> directory Plex is watching).
>
> When one picks an codec one then chooses a level and profile
> that makes trade-offs between quality, resolution, bitrate, and device
> capability.  Some people will gladly give up quality for a low
> bitrate.  Others will only accept the highest quality, the bitrate
> be damned.  Only you know what trade-offs will be acceptable
> for you.  Choose wisely.
>
.ts is just a wrapper around the content stream. It stands for "transport stream" and is basically 
just a chunk of what arrives at your antenna/ cable port. The contents may be of a number of 
different formats including mpeg and H264 plus perhaps alternative audio streams, MHEG info, EPG, 
control streams, etc.

Plex likely can't play it because it doesn't know what is inside. A .mpg suffix tricks the recipient 
into believing that is what the file is and for OTA ATSC that is likely correct. The actual 
differences lie in the timing of individual frames and most software can compensate for that.

The "clean" way to deal with this is with a transparent decode, which will take in the .ts file and 
retime it to be kosher .mpg. If you set up the transcode elements to be just "copy" then it 
shouldn't touch the content or degrade it in any way. You are basically doing a file copy with a 
little cleanup along the way.

-- 

Mike Perkins