MCEBuddy

Hi all,

I use MCEBuddy to simply convert from  dvr-ms to H.264 compressed AVI.  I have tried commercial skipping but it seems rather eratic, and anyway, I'd prefer to do cutting manually ;)

Does anyone know of a program that will load H.264 encoded files, allow me to cut them up, and save in exactly the same format the file was originally.  I have tried a lot of programs but they all seem either a) import with no audio and/or b) export with more compression (reducing quality) or no extra compression (huge files).

The closest I have come is using Nero Vision 5, and exporting in Nero Digital AVC format (great quality and only slightly larger file), but then Media Center does not see this .mp4 format.

Any ideas appreciated!  Chances are I am just using the available tools incorrectly ;)

Cheers

Andy
 

AndyH:

Hi all,

I use MCEBuddy to simply convert from  dvr-ms to H.264 compressed AVI.  I have tried commercial skipping but it seems rather eratic, and anyway, I'd prefer to do cutting manually ;)

Does anyone know of a program that will load H.264 encoded files, allow me to cut them up, and save in exactly the same format the file was originally.  I have tried a lot of programs but they all seem either a) import with no audio and/or b) export with more compression (reducing quality) or no extra compression (huge files).

The closest I have come is using Nero Vision 5, and exporting in Nero Digital AVC format (great quality and only slightly larger file), but then Media Center does not see this .mp4 format.

Any ideas appreciated!  Chances are I am just using the available tools incorrectly ;)

Cheers

Andy
 

Have you tried SolveigMM AVI Trimmer? 

As for commercial skipping, we are currently beta testing local specific comskip profiles.  If you are a comskip gun your input would be valued.

Derek 

 Hi Derek,

Many thanks for your rapid response :)

I had tried that one, and it did look the most promising first glance.  I just tried again, both AVI Trimmer (1.5) and Video Splitter (2.0b).  I can import H.264 converted files no problem but on trimming the application crashes.  What I noticed is that the audio is imported (to both trimmer and splitter) as 'unknown'.  If I uncheck the audio export in the SolveigMM apps then the AVI is trimmed fine - but with no sound ;(  This was in fact a problem I had with a few of the AVI cutters I tried.

I don't want to hijack your forums, I did look at the SolveigMM forums but did not spot anything related to my issue. But any ideas are, again, appreciated - I feel I am so close ;)

Regarding comskip - I am no expert but have messed with the ini files for a few weeks so know my way around the application a bit.  I'd be pleased to do some testing for you and provide feedback - just tel me what I need to do :)  BTW, I record in MCE Vista Premium, receiving Sky Digital in the UK, a good variety of channels are recorded and converted with MCEBuddy.

Cheers,

Andy
 

Hi - I've been having the same problem. AVI Trimmer worked fine with 1.0.5 conversions, but crashes when trying to edit 1.0.6 h264 files. As Andy says, it can't any longer detect the audio format in AVI trimmer, whereas it could in 1.0.5. Real shame, and it would make me go back to 1.0.5 but for the fact that it used to keep reverting to 'WMV' when I wanted Xvid....which eventually drove me potty

-Pete  

murfz:

 

Hi - I've been having the same problem. AVI Trimmer worked fine with 1.0.5 conversions, but crashes when trying to edit 1.0.6 h264 files. As Andy says, it can't any longer detect the audio format in AVI trimmer, whereas it could in 1.0.5. Real shame, and it would make me go back to 1.0.5 but for the fact that it used to keep reverting to 'WMV' when I wanted Xvid....which eventually drove me potty

-Pete  

The probable reason is that in 1.0.5 I used MP3 instead of AAC for audio, which to be honest wasn't the best idea and I corrected this in 1.0.6.  While it works this is not a commonly supported combination.  If you want it you can try the following profile:

[x264-MP3]
profile-desc="H.264    MP3 Audio         (No Resize)"
vf=pullup,softskip,pp=fd,scale=:-2,hqdn3d,harddup
lavdopts=threads=2
ovc=x264=yes
x264encopts=threads=auto:subq=5:frameref=4:me=umh:partitions=all:b-pyramid=yes:qcomp=0.8:trellis=1:8x8dct=yes:bframes=3:weightb=yes:bitrate=1200
oac=mp3lame=yes
lameopts=abr=yes:br=192
af=volnorm=2
#FileExtension=avi

 
Derek 

AndyH:

 Hi Derek,

Many thanks for your rapid response :)

I had tried that one, and it did look the most promising first glance.  I just tried again, both AVI Trimmer (1.5) and Video Splitter (2.0b).  I can import H.264 converted files no problem but on trimming the application crashes.  What I noticed is that the audio is imported (to both trimmer and splitter) as 'unknown'.  If I uncheck the audio export in the SolveigMM apps then the AVI is trimmed fine - but with no sound ;(  This was in fact a problem I had with a few of the AVI cutters I tried.

I don't want to hijack your forums, I did look at the SolveigMM forums but did not spot anything related to my issue. But any ideas are, again, appreciated - I feel I am so close ;)

Regarding comskip - I am no expert but have messed with the ini files for a few weeks so know my way around the application a bit.  I'd be pleased to do some testing for you and provide feedback - just tel me what I need to do :)  BTW, I record in MCE Vista Premium, receiving Sky Digital in the UK, a good variety of channels are recorded and converted with MCEBuddy.

Cheers,

Andy
 

Andy.  See my above message regarding trimming and the audio codec. I've added you to the beta and the comskip profiles within the beta encode update might be of interest.  A good UK comskip profile seems to be in high demand as a disproportionate number of MCEBuddy users seem to be from the UK, don't really know why.  So any assistance in the area would be appreciated.  A starter profile is located in the encode update.

Cheers

Derek 

Cheers Derek, will give that a try. I guess that means stereo only though, and no surround sound?

I'm also a brit who's had a crack at ad skipping (using show analyzer), but frankly didn't have a clue how to tune it properly, and decided to manually remove ads instead. But looks like there's some progress being made with comskip, so I'll have another go using that. Also, I'll try to upload you a show as well (the ITV channel seems to be the most difficult to remove ads from).

Thanks again

Pete

I've been playing around with this simply because the dvr-ms files that are generated by the free version of WebScheduler is kind of broken and causes issues with mencoder and some other tools.  A classic symptom is not being able to fast forward or rewind the recording in MCE either.

 So what I use is VideoRedo.

I had DVRMStoolbox installed for ages and it's only function now is to run comskip on the recorded dvrms files from webscheduler.  I use MCEBuddy's comskip profile on it and adjusted the "output_videoredo" to '1' within the comskip.ini.  Once the Vprj file is created I then manually edit the file in VideoRedo confirm the comskip cuts - which is actually very good on long movies, save the project file as an MPG into the folder that MCEBuddy's watching, which then converts h264 and mp4.

 It's a bit convuluted I know, but it works so I haven't bothered changing it.

The profiles are great btw Derek :)

Hi all

 I am having a similar problem.  Not sure if it's 100% MCEBuddy or related to other software I use.

When I use MCEBuddy to convert to H.264 I then need to trim out leading and ending unneccessary video.  I use VirtualDub MP3Freeze edition to do so and simply cut out the part I want to keep.  The video is not converted and is saved in the same format however the audio cuts out exactly half way into the file.  For example if it's a 3 hour video I get the first 90 mins audio then silence, if its 45 min video I get 22.5 mins audio then silence.

I have also tried using the  profile suggested above but this gives the same result.  I can only assume this is to do with the audio output through MCEBuddy as I don't get this problem with other avi's I process in this way.  Any ideas or assistance would be much appreciated.

 Keep up the great work on what is one of the most convenient pieces of software I have ever used.
 

jilted:

Hi all

 I am having a similar problem.  Not sure if it's 100% MCEBuddy or related to other software I use.

When I use MCEBuddy to convert to H.264 I then need to trim out leading and ending unneccessary video.  I use VirtualDub MP3Freeze edition to do so and simply cut out the part I want to keep.  The video is not converted and is saved in the same format however the audio cuts out exactly half way into the file.  For example if it's a 3 hour video I get the first 90 mins audio then silence, if its 45 min video I get 22.5 mins audio then silence.

I have also tried using the  profile suggested above but this gives the same result.  I can only assume this is to do with the audio output through MCEBuddy as I don't get this problem with other avi's I process in this way.  Any ideas or assistance would be much appreciated.

 Keep up the great work on what is one of the most convenient pieces of software I have ever used.

Don't really know a lot about VirtualDub.  However H.264 in an AVI is not ideal as a lot of dodgy things have to be done within the AVI wrapper to make it work, so in MCEBuddy 2.0 we're moving to H.264/MP4 as standard.  So I suggest you do the same and try that if you need an immediate answer.  Just choose H.264 Apple Compatible instead.

Derek

I've had good sucess with avidemux. It also doesn't detect the audio correctly (so a copy of the audio into the edited file doesn't work), but selecting to reencode the audio has worked (obvious with some quality loss).

The editing hasn't been frame accurate (within a second or so however) which is due to the I frames. (I think - I'm no expert).

- Graham