andy vt's tools & blog

I seem to be having a couple issues converting a mkv file to dvr-ms. I followed the write-up here and seem to have it working for the most part. The first is pretty minor in that the word "filewatcher" seems to be getting inserted into the filename of the converted file. This obviously isn't a big deal, but my anal retentiveness can't take it. Is there a quick fix to it? Second, when I try to play the dvr-ms file, there is no audio with it. I haven't installed any codecs so I don't know if that's the issue or not. I did notice that the log file (I would attach it but I'm not at home right now) mentioned something about a buffer underflow error. Any ideas on what it could be or do I need to attach the log file?

 I am having problems as well converting .mkv to DVR-MS   Actually any format at I am having trouble with.  I use the GUI to setup a conversion on my own and when I start it, the log always hangs up on "Writing Header" and it will sit there for days???  

 Using Windows 7 and don't know what's wrong.

Update to the most recent version of DTB the profile is updated and it should work better. Also, that guide is for TV shows, there is another one for Movies.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I did install 1.2.1.9. It is a TV show and the metadata comes through fine, I just can't hear anything. Here's my log file if it helps at all.

 

Start Process: 10/22/2009 : 5:58 PM
InputFile=C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264.mkv
Processing actions, this may take some time!!
Current Affinity: 3 System Mask: 3
File is not a dvrms-file
Testing "Convert mkv to dvr-ms"
"Convert mkv to dvr-ms" is a match.
Run Profile = Convert MKV to DVR-MS - mencoder
ProcessId = 2360
DvrmsToolbox Version: 1.2.1.9
Throttle DVRMStoMPEG
FWThrottle: C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264.mkv
WaitTime: 1 PollTime
Waiting to process file
Queue file
Duration = 00:00:01.0200000
Waiting for available worker: 10/22/2009 5:58 PM
Worker allocated: 10/22/2009 5:58 PM
Get the value of Context["OutputFile"] and set the value of Context["OutputFile"]
Context["OutputFile"] = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\Output\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mkv
Context["OutputFile"] = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg
Duration = 00:00:00.0200000
Get the value of Context["InputFile"] and set the value of Context["OutputFolder"]
Context["InputFile"] = C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264.mkv
Context["OutputFolder"] = C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\
Duration = 00:00:00
Run MencoderProper\MencoderProper.exe "C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264.mkv" "C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg"
Run C:\Program Files (x86)\DVRMSToolbox\Applications\MencoderProper\MencoderProper.exe "C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264.mkv" "C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg"
[MencoderProper] Need some help running Mencoder?  Well that's what I'm here for!
[MencoderProper] You entered [C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264.mkv] as the file you would like to convert and [C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg] as the destination file.
[MencoderProper] Initializing........
[MencoderProper] Loading config file located at: C:\Program Files (x86)\DVRMSToolbox\Applications\MencoderProper\MencoderProper.config
[MencoderProper] Config file loaded.
[MencoderProper] Initialization complete.
[MencoderProper] Obtaining input file location from parameter passed in and setting output to parameter passed in.
[MencoderProper] Getting MediaInfo for [C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264.mkv]
[MencoderProper] Video Height: 720
[MencoderProper] Video Width: 1280
[MencoderProper] Number of Audio Streams: 1
[MencoderProper] Audio Aspect Ratio: 1.778
[MencoderProper] Audio Type: AC3
[MencoderProper] Audio Bitrate: 448000
[MencoderProper] Audio Channels: 6
[MencoderProper] Framerate: 23.976
[MencoderProper] Pixels: 921600
[MencoderProper] Using optimal resolution.
[MencoderProper] Audio is AC3 and has a bitrate of 448kbps or less.  Track will just be passed through.
[MencoderProper] Time for Mencoder to get to work with the heavy lifting.
MEncoder Sherpya-SVN-r29355-4.5.0 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
success: format: 0  data: 0x0 - 0x45ebdc70
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_AC3) "English", -aid 0, -alang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1.
Matroska file format detected.
VIDEO:  [avc1]  1280x720  24bpp  23.976 fps    0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:31  fourcc:0x31637661  size:1280x720  fps:23.976  ftime:=0.0417
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 448.0 kbit/29.17% (ratio: 56000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
==========================================================================
PACKET SIZE: 2048 bytes, deltascr: 43885
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Opening video filter: [harddup]
Opening video filter: [expand w=1280 h=720]
Expand: 1280 x 720, -1 ; -1, osd: 0, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Opening video filter: [scale w=1280 h=724]
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
==========================================================================
audiocodec: framecopy (format=2000 chans=2 rate=48000 bits=16 B/s=56000 sample-1)
VDec: vo config request - 1280 x 720 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
videocodec: libavcodec (1280x724 fourcc=3267706d [mpg2])
Writing header...
INITV: 0.200, 0.158, fps: 23.976
BUFFER UNDEFLOW at stream 0, raising muxrate to 11088 kb/s, delta_scr: 39896
Flushing video frames.
Writing index...
Overhead: 1.940% (32984141 / 1700195251)
Writing header...
Video stream: 4828.123 kbit/s  (603515 B/s)  size: 1555857715 bytes  2577.992 secs  61810 frames
Audio stream:  448.000 kbit/s  (56000 B/s)  size: 144370688 bytes  2578.048 secs
[MencoderProper] Mencoder is finished it's work so I can gom home and get some sleep.
Duration = 00:41:10.8930000
Move the file in Context["InputFile"] to %OutputFolder%
File Operation completed
Duration = 00:00:01
Get the value of Context["OutputFile"] and set the value of Context["InputFile"]
Context["OutputFile"] = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg
Context["InputFile"] = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg
Duration = 00:00:00
Get the value of Context["OutputFile"] and set the value of Context["OutputFile"]
Context["OutputFile"] = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg
Context["OutputFile"] = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.dvr-ms
Duration = 00:00:00.0100000
Get the value of Context["InputFile"] and set the value of Context["TvDBXMLFile"]
Context["InputFile"] = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg
Context["TvDBXMLFile"] = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg.xml
Duration = 00:00:00.0200000
Read metadata from TvDB and build Sage XML file.
Processing TvDBMetaData with 12 arguments.
Using following file as Template Metadata XML file: Template.mpg.xml
Using following file as Series Alias XML file: SeriesAlias.xml
Using following file as the target Metadata XML file: C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg.xml
Using input parameter as regular expression: (?<series>.+)\.[s,S](?<season>\d+)[e,E](?<episodenbr>\d+)\.
Metadata provided by thetvdb.com
Found APIKey.
Found Series Name
Retreived Series Info
Retreived Episode Info
Sage XML file created: C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg.xml
Duration = 00:00:02.2500000
Run todvrms.exe "C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg" "C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.dvr-ms"
Run C:\Program Files (x86)\DVRMSToolbox\Applications\todvrms.exe "C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.mpg" "C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.dvr-ms"
Duration = 00:01:16.5740000
Move file specified in Context("OutputFile") to C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\
Moving C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\DTBTemp\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.dvr-ms to C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\House.S06E05.720p.HDTV.x264-X264fileprocess.dvr-ms
Duration = 00:00:00.2200000
Delete the file in Context["InputFile"]
Duration = 00:00:00.3100000
Delete the file in Context["TvDBXMLFile"]
Duration = 00:00:00.0100000
Total Duration = 00:42:32.3270000

That is very odd. Have you tried to play the file in VLC? What about the original file or the intermediate mpg? I have an updated profile for TV that skips the mencoder proper step and converts directly to wtv, but I haven't published it yet. 

I just downloaded VLC and now I'm even more confused. VLC will play the mkv fine and the temporary mpg plays fine even in media player (before I installed VLC), but the final dvr-ms is really choppy and has no audio.

That actually makes perfect sense. VLC plays videos without any help from windows, which is why it is always a good testing tool. The process of converting the mpg to dvr-ms uses the same directshow components that Media Player uses to playback. I'm not sure how to help you from this point though, maybe if you run todvrms manually with the -v switch and post the output here, Andy can help.

I get the same results with the -v. The video is still choppy and there is no audio. I'm adding the -v log below, but I did notice that the mpg works fine in VLC or WMP but even VLC has issues with the DVR-MS.

 

MPC-HC MPEG source loaded
File source set
Source filter GUID: 1365be7a-c86a-473c-9a41-c0a6e82c9fa3
Get stream pin
Find Video pin
Add AttributeEnable Filter
Connect source to AE pin
Connect first pin
Add VA Filter
Connect stream/video pin to mpg analyzer
Render Analyzer pin
Grab the connected pin
Grab the connected pin
Got audio pin
Add Audio SG Filter
Connect audio to Sample Grabber Ac3: 0
Render SG Outpin
Write MetaDataItem manualRecord = True
Write MetaDataItem WM/MediaStationName =
Write MetaDataItem Duration = 0
Write MetaDataItem isHDTV = False
Write MetaDataItem WM/MediaOriginalChannel = 0
Write MetaDataItem WM/WMRVEncodeTime = 633915936000000000
Write MetaDataItem duration = 360
Write MetaDataItem originalAirDate = 2009-10-19T00:00:00.00Z
Write MetaDataItem quality = MPEG2 Max Quality
Write MetaDataItem stereo = False
Write MetaDataItem favoriteId = 0
Write MetaDataItem channelId = 0
Write MetaDataItem startTime = 2009-10-20T04:00:00.000Z
Write MetaDataItem Title = House
Write MetaDataItem description = A dying patient insists that he has the same disease affecting his heart that killed his father and grandfather at the age of 40. Meanwhile, House discovers that he has a hearing problem while trying to duck student rounds.
Write MetaDataItem category = Drama
Write MetaDataItem WM/MediaOriginalBroadcastDateTime = 2009-10-19T00:00:00.00Z
Write MetaDataItem channelName = FOX
Write MetaDataItem WM/MediaStationCallSign = FOX
Write MetaDataItem parentalRating = TV-14
Write MetaDataItem WM/SubTitleDescription = A dying patient insists that he has the same disease affecting his heart that killed his father and grandfather at the age of 40. Meanwhile, House discovers that he has a hearing problem while trying to duck student rounds.
Write MetaDataItem WM/Genre = Drama
Write MetaDataItem WM/OriginalReleaseTime = 2009-10-19T00:00:00.00Z
Write MetaDataItem WM/SubTitle = Brave Heart
Write MetaDataItem episode = Brave Heart
Write MetaDataItem channelDescription =
Write MetaDataItem WM/ToolName = todvrms
Write MetaDataItem WM/WMRVEndTime = 633915972000000000
Write MetaDataItem closedCaptioned = False
Write MetaDataItem sageDbId = 0
Write MetaDataItem channelNetwork =
Write MetaDataItem IsSageFile = True
Write MetaDataItem channelNumber = 0
Write Attributes
Start Recording
Run the graph
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:42 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:44 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:44 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:44 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:44 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:48 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:48 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:50 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:51 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:52 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:53 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:53 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:55 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:56 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:57 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:58 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:33:59 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:00 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:01 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:02 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:03 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:04 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:05 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:06 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Last Write: 10/24/2009 1:34:07 PM
Done waiting
Stop recording
Stop the graph

- drop the dvr-ms in GraphStudio and post a screen shot

- do the same in media info

Here are the screen shots. Thanks.

I have the same problem but mine is with avi as the source. My mpg works perfectly but after it goes though todvrms it breaks.

I converted the mpg to a wtv file and it works fine when using todvrms

Andy, have you had a chance to look at the screenshots yet? I tried installing a couple different codecs and it didn't seem to make a difference so I also tried using the mkv to wts profile and that one seemed to work. I get the audio but for some reason, Media Center takes a couple seconds to get the video to catch up when you open the file or fast forward it. I also don't know if it matters or not, but I do have Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. And can anyone tell me what the differences are between wts and dvr-ms? The conversion process to wts was way shorter but I have to put up with the frozen video for a couple seconds.

I downgraded my todvrms file to 1.0.0.9 and that cleared up the pause issue.

phillipah:

I downgraded my todvrms file to 1.0.0.9 and that cleared up the pause issue.

I haven't tried that yet, but the pause doesn't seem to be version dependent (although it could be). And the only reason I say that is because the pause only happens in Media Center, and not Media Player.