transferring from the box pvr to pc

[GAZ5872]

i am able to download the file to my pc but due to the file extension i am unable to use it to burn it to dvd etc

any help would be appreciated

[GAZ5872]

can anybody help on this subject?

[GAZ5872]

i take that as a no?

[Fangio99]

what extension do they get?

They would most likely require some kind of conversion to be used in a DVD player.

Fangio.

[GAZ5872]

if i remember rightly .pvr is the extension

[Fangio99]

you could try something like gspot to find out what form of video they are. It is part of the K-lite codec pack but may be available elsewhere. It will tell you what video and audio types are in the recording. Then you can use some sort of video reencoding tool to convert to DVD compliant video.

It might be simpler just to use a dvd recorder to record from the pvr box instead.

the videohelp dot com website may be of assistance to you.

Fangio.

[whohas]

VideoReDo (http://www.videoredo.com/en/Download.htm) supports editing and exporting these .pvr files to normal mpeg format.

This is the file into it gives you on the box pvr recorded files:

File Type: TS Stream
Encoding: MPEG2
Aspect Ratio: 16/9
Dimensions (and Display Size) 720x576
VBV_Buffer 224kb
Chroma: 4.2.0
Bitrate: 7.980 Mbps
Progressive: Prog or Int

Alas, I like most people who have ever played a DVD in the computer already have the mpeg2 codecs installed and yet no player (not vlc or mplayer classic) will play these files so there must be something other than just MPEG 2 stream in these files, or a codec unknown...

If somebody knows what codec is required to play on PC with normal media players without converting the entire file please let us know

[whohas]

Short Answer:
Playing .PVR files - This program "mplayer" plays .pvr files http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html (download the windows gui program)
Edit/convert .PVR files - download VideoReDo software, it can convert the files to standard MPEG2 http://www.videoredo.com/en/Download.htm


Long Answer:

I am surprised that this is not a more hot topic given that its a major feature of DVB recording boxes.

I have done extensive research over the net based on what little information about "The Box PVR" there is available mixed in with my own research, and from what I gather, nobody quite understands why even with the claimed "MPEG 2" codec thats required, these files don't play in any standard media player or video editing software.

As far as the codec question goes, VideoReDo says the files are "TS Stream" file type and uses "MPEG 2" encoding. (see attached file for screenshot w/ more info)
No standard media player/editor supports these files on the PC because they contain multiple media streams. Since the DVB channels are broadcast as Transport Stream's (TS) (kind of like groups of channels) in each signal stream "The Box" records that whole "group" of channels and just ads the ID tag of the channel within that group that you have selected to record.

VideoReDo is the only one program I have found that can edit and convert these files.
This is probably because the program is designed to be used mainly with DVB file formats and has vast support for many different DBV file formats.
It has all the usual features of any video editor and outputs to "MPEG 2" format, that is of course playable on any media player or editing software on the PC. The quality is perfect.
The program is not not free however, but you can download a trial with full functions but 15mins limited per encode until purchased.

Just remember, the more times you re-encode video the more picture quality you will lose. If you want to save tv programs to PC or burn to DVD the method of HDD extraction from a DVB recorder should provide the best quality possible.

Well thats my theory anyway, without knowing the detailed tech specs of how The Box PVR records its programs.

If anybody has further information or more info on these type of files that might be useful please let us know

[free30]

Great, thanks for that, there is no infor about.
You can't search the forums for three letter words either which makes The Box Pvr hard to find.

Thanks again

[whohas]

For those who are sick of using Mplayer (I am) the latest version of "Media Player Classic HomeCinema" appears to now support TS files (such as the .PVR ones created by TheBox PVR).

You will probably need the right codecs installed first, I just use the Combined Community Codec Pack and it works fine for me