Onlydarksets

I finally got around to rebuilding my HTPC (does anyone call them that anymore?) yesterday, so now I need to set my sights on getting file conversions working again.  I’m pretty set on using DTb for file monitoring and processing control.  For transcoding, I was going to use VLC (or possibly Handbrake), but I might [...]

I posted a method for converting SageTV files to iPod/iPhone compliant files a while back, but a number of the files weren’t converting properly.  I also had problems with mencoder cutting commercials out of the files.  So, I retooled the approach, and I am now getting 100% success, using the approach outlined below. NOTE: Several [...]

UPDATE: Andy has already released an update.  Get the binary here.  I have updated the screenshot below. Andy has posted yet another great tool on his site: Commercial Viewer.  This tool loads a video file and its associated EDL commercial file and lets you modify the values to fine-tune the commercial segments.  This isn’t a [...]

I have posted an updated method.  I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU USE IT INSTEAD!  I leave the below for posterity…   NOTE: mencoder is not cutting commercials properly on my system.  Everything else is working fine.  I’ll post an update when I get it working. Here is how I’m converting SageTV recordings to iPhone-compatible (and Touch/iPod-compatible) [...]

I finally got around to rebuilding my HTPC (does anyone call them that anymore?) yesterday, so now I need to set my sights on getting file conversions working again.  I’m pretty set on using DTb for file monitoring and processing control.  For transcoding, I was going to use VLC (or possibly Handbrake), but I might [...]

Way back when, I setup Expression Encoder to convert my DVR-MS files to WMV (for size and portability).  One thing I found was the command-line switch to make the conversion run at close to real-time, even for HD.  While I assume this will work with the new WTV format (and EE 2, for that matter), [...]

Regular expressions are the bain of my existence when it comes to DTb.  This isn’t because of any particular failing in DTb – Andy has made it extremely flexible by allowing regex.  Mostly it’s because I don’t have a lot of experience with using them (beyond the occasional search in TextPad), and I didn’t have [...]

This Action will write certain meta data to the CutDvrmsFile Context. By default, it will create two new meta data fields (and default them to the following values): WM/Toolname = DVRMSToolbox WM/ToolVersion = <currentversion> (e.g., 1.2.1.0) You can also do the following: FixSlider – not sure why you would do this, but it sets the [...]

I came up with a regular expression that should allow full access to the path, filename, and extension when using the ChangeContextValue Action. I’m sure there is a more efficient way to do it, but this works just fine. FindRegex: ^((.*\\)(.*)\.(.*))\z ReplaceRegex: $1 = E:\Recorded TV\subdir\another one\Dirty Sexy Money_WJLA-DT_10_10_2007_22_00_01.dvr-ms $2 = E:\Recorded TV\subdir\another one\ $3 [...]

My video source is NTSC via DVR-MS.  I am converting using DVRMSToolbox, natch, (which uses DVR2WMV), and a custom PRX (found here). Has anyone found a single set of video conversion settings that will allow proper aspect ratios on both the Zune and through Vista Media Center (or an extender)? DVR-MS SD shows are natively [...]