T3 Playback of DP-P1/P2 Files

[mister_bimbo]

Hi Folks,

I have a couple of much loved P1/P2 recorders and have built up quite a library of shows that I like to (re)watch that are in the default format stored by the P1/P2. At the time the T3 was released, I read that it was unable to play these files ... I had a go at trying to use OpenWiz to start the process of converting these files, but alas I'm not sufficiently skilled anymore to be able to do this (prl bravely tried his very best to help me ).

This put me off considering the T3 until it got to a point where it could play these files - I've had a look through the board and I've been unable to find whether or not this feature has been added to the T3: I tried doing a search, but the search engine blocked the search terms ... so I've spend an hour or so going through each thread that looks like it might have the information ...

Unfortunately, I've not been able to find confirmation one way or the other. So, my question is whether or not it is supported, and if not, is it something that BW are planning to add as a future feature? Once the feature is available, I'm ready to consider acquiring one (or two) of the units ...

Cheers,
David

[MrQuade]

If you copy the files off the P1/P2 in .ts format, then the T3 can play them just fine.

What you can't do is play recordings that are stored on the P1/P2 directly on the T3 over the network. (ie. there is no WizPnP for the T3)

You need to use WizFX or YARDWiz to copy the files off the old recorders in .ts format.

Then you can leave them as-is, or you can convert them if you like.

I did just that, and I converted mine using Handbrake. It roughly halved the size of the files and put them in mkv h.264 format. I then copied all of the files over the the T3. (and still haven't watched any of them!!!!)

So I guess the answer is, no. Nothing has changed since you last spoke with prl. You still have to use a program to copy the files off the P1/P2.

[peteru]

It would be doable if getWizPnP was ported to Python. Sounds like a good project for someone who knows how getWizPnP works and maybe has some Python skills.

Perl is a write only language, so I doubt that a Python programmer would have much luck porting getWizPnP.

[prl]

I can't really see much of a case for re-implementing getWIzPnP for the T3, if you were generously volunteering me to do it.

Until someone does implement a WizPnP streaming interface for the T3, what MrQuade says is how it is.

[peteru]

Very good at reading between the lines. Subtlety is not my forte.

I was not so much thinking about streaming from the DP-Series to the T3, more along the lines of providing a transfer utility for those who want to migrate their content from their old DP-Series to a T3, without needing a PC in the middle.

[simoncasey]

If you copy the files off the P1/P2 in .ts format, then the T3 can play them just fine.

What you can't do is play recordings that are stored on the P1/P2 directly on the T3 over the network. (ie. there is no WizPnP for the T3)

You need to use WizFX or YARDWiz to copy the files off the old recorders in .ts format.

Then you can leave them as-is, or you can convert them if you like.

I did just that, and I converted mine using Handbrake. It roughly halved the size of the files and put them in mkv h.264 format. I then copied all of the files over the the T3. (and still haven't watched any of them!!!!)

So I guess the answer is, no. Nothing has changed since you last spoke with prl. You still have to use a program to copy the files off the P1/P2.

One thing that I found useful when I copied ts files from my humax was to rename them to match the T3 format, and the T3 then treats them like original recordings and gives them the original recording date rather than the date of the file. Ie rename a file to be YYYYMMDD HHMM - Channel - Program name.ts and the T3 will just display the Program name in the media list and the date will come from the date in the file name rather than the date of the file. It's a bit of an effort and best done on a PC but looks good when you have done it as your series recordings still get sorted by their broadcast date.

[prl]

Very good at reading between the lines. Subtlety is not my forte.

I was not so much thinking about streaming from the DP-Series to the T3, more along the lines of providing a transfer utility for those who want to migrate their content from their old DP-Series to a T3, without needing a PC in the middle.

I may try installing the perl package on the T3 and see if I can get getWizPnP to run as-is on the T3. Provided none of the CPAN packages I need require compilation, it may work, provided CPAN itself works.

[prl]

CPAN needs make & there's no make package in the package lists. But anyway, when I try to run CPAN to download the URI package, CPAN dies when it tries to untar the package, with tar giving a "Cannot allocate memory" error.

[prl]

... I was not so much thinking about streaming from the DP-Series to the T3, more along the lines of providing a transfer utility for those who want to migrate their content from their old DP-Series to a T3, without needing a PC in the middle.

It's possible to do the transfer without having to store the recordings on a PC, though a PC (or Mac or Linux box) is still needed. Mount the T3's HDD as a share on a PC, run YARDWiz on the PC, but set the target directory for the transfer to be the T3's movies folder (or a subfolder in the movies folder), and convert to .ts format on the way through.

[peteru]

Good thinking 99

[BikeMike]

I wrote a script to automate the process and move all my recordings from DP-P1 to T3 with appropriate file naming.

1. You will need to install http://www.autohotkey.com to run it.
2. strings.exe (attached) must be in the same folder
3. disconnect HDD from the DP series and attach to your PC (eg. with IDE/USB adaptor). You can leave it mounted in the DP and powered by it.
4. edit the script as required for input and output locations
5. run and wait... maybe leave it going overnight

Code: Select all

input = K:\Recordings
output = \\192.168.1.211\Harddisk\movie\P1

loop,%input%\*.tvwiz,2,0
{
    dirname = %A_LoopFileFullPath%

    ; extract show info from header
    runwait %comspec% /c strings.exe -n 2 -f 1023 -b 400 -q %A_LoopFileFullPath%\header.tvwiz > header.txt
    FileReadLine,network,header.txt,1
    FileReadLine,title,header.txt,2

    ; get date and time (may be wrong if file has been edited?)
    FileGetTime,t,%A_LoopFileFullPath%
    date := SubStr(t,1,8) . " " . SubStr(t,9,4)

    ; build filename to suit T3
    tsfile = %date% %time% - %network% - %title%.ts

    ; join all the bits to make one .ts file (limit 999 parts?)
    Loop,%dirname%\0???,0,0
    {
        if (A_Index = 1)
            copycmd = copy %A_LoopFileFullPath% /b
        else
            copycmd = %copycmd% + %A_LoopFileFullPath% /b
    }
    copycmd = %copycmd% %output%\%tsfile% /b /y
    runwait %comspec% /c %copycmd%
}

[prl]

Should work fine provided the recordings have not been edited, or at least not more than topped and tailed.

[mister_bimbo]

Hi Folks,

Apologies for taking so long to come back to this thread - my place flooded and we've been out in temporary accommodation for the last six months ... so I've had to press the pause button on this, but hank you all for the useful suggestions

If you copy the files off the P1/P2 in .ts format, then the T3 can play them just fine.

What you can't do is play recordings that are stored on the P1/P2 directly on the T3 over the network. (ie. there is no WizPnP for the T3)

You need to use WizFX or YARDWiz to copy the files off the old recorders in .ts format.

Then you can leave them as-is, or you can convert them if you like.

I've actually copied all the recordings onto my NAS (and copied them from the BW directly to the NAS, so the files are in native format and I don't believe that they are in .ts format.

I did just that, and I converted mine using Handbrake. It roughly halved the size of the files and put them in mkv h.264 format. I then copied all of the files over the the T3. (and still haven't watched any of them!!!!)

So I guess the answer is, no. Nothing has changed since you last spoke with prl. You still have to use a program to copy the files off the P1/P2.

I was wondering whether there was a utility/application that could do the conversion with the files in native format...? I've seen Mike's suggested application (thank you very much Mike), but this isn't going help much as most of my recordings have had ads chopped from the middle of the recordings. Some are topped/tailed (e.g. ABC recordings), but the considerable majority have had the ads removed. And I have the added challenge of running a Mac, so I would need to borrow a PC for this

I have Handbrake, but I'll admit that its complicated interface has defeated me from being able to ever get any use out of it. It is frustrating for me as I regularly see folks recommend using it ... so I get inspired to try again, and do a bit of YouTubing to help ... and then fail again.

Any suggestions for how I could move forward would be welcome - I have held back on upgrading my DP's to the T3 until there is a solution for this as more than half of my viewing is programs that fall into the pre-recorded/edited category.

By way of reminder: I have a P1 & P2, connected over Ethernet cable to a QNAP TS412 NAS (with 16TB of storage). Both DP's are running the .350 firmware, and the NAS is running the latest available version of its software and my iMac is running 10.10.3.

Cheers,
David

[MrQuade]

If you still have the recordings on the DP-P2, then my recommendation is to transfer the files off it again using YARDWiz. I know it takes a while, but it will be the cleanest and easiest way of making .ts files that the T3 can read.

.ts files are far easier to work with as well, since there is only one per recording. As you no doubt noticed, the native DP format consists of hundreds of smaller files which are truly a pain.

If you no longer have those files on the DP-P2, then I am not sure what the best option is since I am not aware of any "offline" conversion tool that will work on files that have been edited. (see previous comments)
Perhaps you could try copying the files back onto the DP-P2 (might be able to do that with a directly connected harddisk rather than over the network), and then transfer them back off with YARDWiz. Very time intensive, but at least it can be left to run overnight.

Edit: Ahh, see PeterU's post. Seems I haven't been paying attention to all of YARDWiz's features! (to be fair, I only used it the one time when I needed to copy the recordings off for the T3 )

[peteru]

I am not aware of any "offline" conversion tool that will work on files that have been edited.

getWizPnP can do it in batch mode. Yardwiz can also do it, but only manually one file at a time.

[singlefished]

Old post raised from the dead!!!!

TLDR: In essence, all this batch file does is join all the small bits together into one big bit that the T series can play and deletes the odds and sods


So, having recently just got into the T series I was also looking for a solution to the same problem.... All my 10 years worth of DP recordings are saved on my WHS2011 home server - copied up there direct from the DP itself so still in native format.

Doing some research and playing around this morning the easiest solution I found was to set up a DOS batch file, drop it in the folder where the DP recording is stored, change the pathname (and new filename if required) then run it ~ bingo

I don't plan on doing this to every single recording on the server.... only the ones that somebody wants to watch and when they want to watch them.

The resultant file plays nicely on the T2 and can actually have cuts added from the cutlist editor! Executing the cuts doesn't work but no big deal ~ minimum fuss was my vision and cutlist was tried as an afterthought

Here's the batch file contents on the verrrry slim chance somebody else finds themselves in exactly the same boat:

pushd \\WHS2011\Recorded TV\General Viewing\Vikings\Season 3\Vikings 01_Mar.19.2015_20.25.tvwiz
del header.tvwiz
del stat
del trunc
copy /b *. Merged_File.ts
del 0*
del 1*
popd

Copy your files first to a safe location if you're not sure what's going on with the above..... the batch file deletes everything from the folder it gets dropped into except the batch file itself and the resultant merged TS file.

[IanSav]

Hi Singlefished,

While the script you propose will work it won't take into account edits from the Classic Beyonwiz model editing. I suggest you look at using getWizPnp to assemble your .TS files before removing any parts of the Classic Beyonwiz recordings.

Regards,
Ian.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

YARDWiz will also do the same, and preserve the edits.
Tools->Convert TVWIZ to TS format...

If you want to edit the resultant file on the T-series then run the plugin "Reconstructapsc" on it.
The executable matching that plugin is a part of the standard install (/usr/lib/enigma2/python/Components/createapscfiles) so you can run it using telnet/ssh (granted, not as easy as from a media list menu option).

[singlefished]

Thanks Ian/Geoff,

Yup, understand that but if there's a few bits and pieces in there no biggie as sometimes I was lazy and just topped/tailed before copy to the network to free up limited DP HDD space.... that means a few mins of before and after and obviously the untrimmed and unbookmarked adverts.

My main goal was to find a quick and dirty so the old recordings could still be viewed via the T2 on our TV once I finally unplug the 2 remaining DP's for good..... Only a few files left on the living room DP to watch before it loses power for the last time - it will be a sad day indeed

My son will be happy though, he'll get the PS3 HDMI connection back as I pulled rank and unplugged it when the T2 arrived.... The poor little bugger has only had the Xbox360 and XboxONE to play on over the last few weeks.......

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Perhaps I didn't explain myself properly and you may have missed what I meant. Instead of your batch file, fire up YARDWIZ, select Tools->Convert TVWIZ to TS format... and feed the directory "\\WHS2011\Recorded TV\General Viewing\Vikings\Season 3\Vikings 01_Mar.19.2015_20.25.tvwiz" to the resulting "Browse for Folder" window. The converted YARDWiz result will be a "Vikings 01_Mar.19.2015_20.25.ts" file in that "Season 3" directory with DP-series edits preserved.

If you want to further cut/edit on the T-series, you'll likely need *.ap and *.sc files, which the Reconstructapsc plugin / createapscfiles binary can create for you.

YARDWIZ can of course copy your remaining DP-series recordings (as a single *.ts file) to your home server.

[IanSav]

Hi Grumpy_Geoff,

Yardwiz uses getWizPnP to do its work. getWizPnP can be used directly in Singlefished's script. It replaces the "copy" command and should come before the "del"s.

Regards,
Ian.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Hi Grumpy_Geoff,

Yardwiz uses getWizPnP to do its work. getWizPnP can be used directly in Singlefished's script. It replaces the "copy" command and should come before the "del"s.

Regards,
Ian.

I know that. I was offering up a GUI alternative.

[singlefished]

Thanks guys,

So when you talk about "keeping the edits" I'm guessing getwizpnp/yardwiz solution physically removes the trimmed parts of the 32mb chunks as it combines them into a single TS file?

The DP series "skipped" over these trimmed obsolete parts of the 32mb chunks if I remember correctly....

[Gully]

Thanks guys,

So when you talk about "keeping the edits" I'm guessing getwizpnp/yardwiz solution physically removes the trimmed parts of the 32mb chunks as it combines them into a single TS file?

The DP series "skipped" over these trimmed obsolete parts of the 32mb chunks if I remember correctly....

Exactly. The software recognises the editing that you have already done on the DP and follows that when it creates a .TS file for you.

[singlefished]

Excellent, thanks for the help everybody, it's working

Just tried it and yes - a nicely trimmed TS file is created.

It's easy enough that I might even be able to get the kids doing it for me..... they can earn some pocket money by trimming files on the server and freeing up a bit of space during school holidays

[prl]

...
The DP series "skipped" over these trimmed obsolete parts of the 32mb chunks if I remember correctly....

Yes, and getWizPnP (and YARDWix which uses getWizPnP for WizPnP operations) follow the instructions in the metadata file that contains the edit information, in the same way that the DP series would.

It's the only clean way to do edits that are internal to the file, and the only way to get top/tail edits to have the same effect as originally intended.