A decent player
 

Looking at a player for video media files, mostly captured digital TV files.

Its not as if I want something that is that unusual, just something with a
decent user interface that
does some VERY basic stuff that any decent VCR can do as easily as falling off a
log. The DVD
player isnt ideal, but much better than I have seen in any of the media players
I've tried so far.

The main lack with the few I have tried is a decent way of skipping over the ads
on commercial TV.

WMP doesnt even allow you to fast forward in dvr-ms files and even when it does
allow fast
forward, it has little control over the fast forward speed and the max is 5X,
much too slow.

Nero Showtime 2 is much better there, you do have a decent set of speeds to fast
forward
at, but the max is only 32X which is too slow for zapping over the ads and you
have to select
the speed every time you use it, much too crude. I cant get the fast reverse to
show up, tho
its listed in the config. And it wont play dvr-ms files, you have to convert
them to mpeg first,
tho that can be done fast enough so thats not a huge deal.

MPEG-VCR has a rather elegant user interface where you have a button that sets
the Fast forward and Fast Reverse speed to one of 3 alts, but you really need a
few
more steps and its no real use as a viewer since it doesnt have a fullscreen
mode.

That I'd much prefer is something like the usual slider that you can click on to
jump down the file, but with an expanded section because on a file that has an
hour or two of program in it, the ads are only a small part of the total bar.

It would be even better if there were a few buttons for a timed jump of say 3
mins,
4 mins etc so you could hit the one thats appropriate for the time of day that
the
program was broadcast for the ad break time used at that time, and then just
quickly step back and forward using FF and FR to get to the program material
start.

Must work with either dvr-ms or mpeg files because anything else is much too
slow to convert into what it can use. ts files at pinch but they are much
bigger.

Surely I cant be the only one who wants a decent user interface ?

Has the industry really concentrated on stupid skins instead ?

I'll stop howling now |-(

Re: A decent player
 

"Rod Speed" <rod_speed@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3d36c9F6nfc51U1@individual.net...
> Looking at a player for video media files, mostly captured digital TV
> files.
>
> Its not as if I want something that is that unusual, just something with a
> decent user interface that
> does some VERY basic stuff that any decent VCR can do as easily as falling
> off a log. The DVD
> player isnt ideal, but much better than I have seen in any of the media
> players I've tried so far.
>
> The main lack with the few I have tried is a decent way of skipping over
> the ads on commercial TV.
>


Use VideoRedo to edit the ads out of the files before you play them. Quick
and easy and preserves audio sync as well.

This is also perfect for cleaning up recorded material before burning to
DVD.

Re: A decent player
 

JustMe <á@á> wrote in message
news:426c8172$0$5180$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au ...
> Rod Speed <rod_speed@yahoo.com> wrote

>> Looking at a player for video media files, mostly captured digital TV files.

>> Its not as if I want something that is that unusual, just something with a
>> decent user interface that does some VERY basic stuff that any decent VCR can
>> do as easily as falling off a log. The DVD player isnt ideal, but much better
>> than I have seen in any of the media players I've tried so far.

>> The main lack with the few I have tried is a decent way of skipping over the
>> ads on commercial TV.

> Use VideoRedo to edit the ads out of the files before you play them.

Too much work, I just want to play them like I would on a VCR.

> Quick and easy and preserves audio sync as well.

> This is also perfect for cleaning up recorded material before burning to DVD.

I do also burn to DVD and watch it from there, but its just to watch
it at a better quality than you get with TV out and dont keep the DVDs.

The most I do is trim the start and end crap off the commercial
recordings which I record about 10 mins extra at the start and
often an hour or so extra at the end because the commercials
hardly ever manage to stick to the program guide times.

Thats slower than it should be tho, even with fast tools.
What with the conversion of the dvr-ms files to mpeg,
trimming with mpeg-vcr and burning to DVD, it takes
something like 30 mins or so for a 1 hour program segment
and isnt completely automatic. Damned irritating time.

Re: A decent player
 

> The most I do is trim the start and end crap off the commercial
> recordings which I record about 10 mins extra at the start and
> often an hour or so extra at the end because the commercials
> hardly ever manage to stick to the program guide times.
>
> Thats slower than it should be tho, even with fast tools.
> What with the conversion of the dvr-ms files to mpeg,
> trimming with mpeg-vcr and burning to DVD, it takes
> something like 30 mins or so for a 1 hour program segment
> and isnt completely automatic. Damned irritating time.

You can save a step if you save on disk as .mpg files. With a little
practise I can now strip the ads out of a movie length file in 15 minutes or
less with VideoRedo.

With ads gone, many programmes that were previously irritating to watch, are
now much improved. A case in point would be the Inspector Lyndley mysteries.
Much easier to follow the plot and dialogue.

You can save another step with a small investment as below.

You could buy a DVD player like the LG DF8900P ($170) which will play your
..mpg files straight off a DVD-R or DVD-RW. Then you need only convert to
regular DVD format those files which are of special interest or that you
need to be portable. Note that TMPGenc DVD Author 1.6 will take no more than
15 to 18 mins to generate a regular DVD file set from .mpg source using a 2
gig CPU.
One proviso is that if the .mpg is larger than about 4.2 gig you will need
extra editing first. For this I use TMPGenc DVD Source Creator 2.1.3.8 and
just leave it to do its thing overnight. Note that TMPGenc software is,
IMHO, very tolerant of other software and does not hog the CPU. This is
important if you are multi-tasking.

Excuse me rambling on. There may be others who can use this sort of info.
Cheers.

Re: A decent player
 

it may sound weird, but i use a modded xbox and xbox media centre to watch
most stuff i capture onto my pc, its attached to my tv, so i can just watch
it from there, it can stream across the network, so i dont need to burn
anything, only problem is updating xbmc itself when new codecs are
released. i do like how it has an audio offset button though for files
where the audio has decided to go out of sync.., also you can use the xbox
remote control to navigate, as well as create playlists and the like. I
have my xbox going to the computers in the other side of the house via a
wireless adapter, where all my cds sit in mp3 (or whatever the hell WMC
copys them as) and i can just queue them all from there...

anyway, sorry to ramble, just my setup that i'm happy with :)

Re: A decent player
 

"SmakDaddy" <archangel@engineer.com> wrote in message
news:426cfaf2@funnel.arach.net.au...
> it may sound weird, but i use a modded xbox and xbox media centre to watch
> most stuff i capture onto my pc, its attached to my tv, so i can just
> watch it from there, it can stream across the network, so i dont need to
> burn anything, only problem is updating xbmc itself when new codecs are
> released. i do like how it has an audio offset button though for files
> where the audio has decided to go out of sync.., also you can use the xbox
> remote control to navigate, as well as create playlists and the like. I
> have my xbox going to the computers in the other side of the house via a
> wireless adapter, where all my cds sit in mp3 (or whatever the hell WMC
> copys them as) and i can just queue them all from there...

damn fine idea, use it myself.
One step up tho. I have a sd capture card. Capture and edit out the ads with
ulead, convert to xvid/divx, then send it to the 160gig hdd in the xbox, and
wirelessly like you. Xbox is two rooms away plugged into the widescreen
telly.
All is good, crystal clear and cheaper than a pvr setup. I can retrieve the
movies and convert them to dvd for burning if I want. And I'm my nephews
favourite uncle when they visit "you may be 40 but you're kinda cool coz
you have an xbox and games for us to play"

Re: A decent player
 

JustMe <á@á> wrote in message
news:426cee8e$0$10307$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...

>> The most I do is trim the start and end crap off the commercial
>> recordings which I record about 10 mins extra at the start and
>> often an hour or so extra at the end because the commercials
>> hardly ever manage to stick to the program guide times.

>> Thats slower than it should be tho, even with fast tools.
>> What with the conversion of the dvr-ms files to mpeg,
>> trimming with mpeg-vcr and burning to DVD, it takes
>> something like 30 mins or so for a 1 hour program segment
>> and isnt completely automatic. Damned irritating time.

> You can save a step if you save on disk as .mpg files.

That isnt viable, its 4:3 format.

> With a little practise I can now strip the ads out of a movie length file in
> 15 minutes or less with VideoRedo.

Not interested in spending 15 mins of my time doing that.

At least with the dvr-ms to mpg conversion and the
burning to DVD its happening with me just initiating
it and I can do something else while it happens.

> With ads gone, many programmes that were previously irritating to watch, are
> now much improved. A case in point would be the Inspector Lyndley mysteries.
> Much easier to follow the plot and dialogue.

Yeah, no argument there. I've been watching The Wire and The
Shield without ads, downloaded off the net. Much more salubrious.

> You can save another step with a small investment as below.

Nope.

> You could buy a DVD player like the LG DF8900P ($170) which will play your
> .mpg files straight off a DVD-R or DVD-RW.

That's what I'm doing already.

> Then you need only convert to regular DVD format those files which are of
> special interest or that you need to be portable.

Yep, and I dont in fact bother doing that at all. Someone else
I know wants The Wire and The Shield too and since they are
on dialup still, it makes sense to post them DVDs, and since
their current Panasonic DVD/VCR combo wont play those
DVDs which have an entire season of mpgs on each one,
I suggested they get a DVD player that will play those
DVDs rather than fart around putting them all into DVD
format. Its only $80 for the one that Aldi flogs.

> Note that TMPGenc DVD Author 1.6 will take no more than 15 to 18 mins to
> generate a regular DVD file set from .mpg source using a 2 gig CPU.

Sure, but the total time is now getting up to about the
same time as the running time of the TV program, no thanks.

> One proviso is that if the .mpg is larger than about 4.2 gig you will need
> extra editing first.

Yeah, that's another weirdity. I was using Roxio EMC 7 Creator
Classic and with it you didnt have to bother, just burn say an 8GB
mpg file to DVD and have it auto just tell you to insert the second
DVD when required. Those played fine in my NeuNeo DV380 DVD
player, but now Roxio EMC 7.5 Creator Classic refuses to burn
them with the defaul UDF Joliet Bridge format for the DVD. Its
still happy to burn and split them with the UDF No Bridge format
for the DVD but the DVD player wont play those.

> For this I use TMPGenc DVD Source Creator 2.1.3.8 and just leave it to do its
> thing overnight.

Urk. MPG-VCR will split them much quicker than that and
there are auto splitters around too, havent tried the speed
of those tho. Doesnt require any real horsepower to chop
an mpg into say 4.2GB pieces and it probably wouldnt be
too hard to completely automate the conversion of the dvr-ms
into mpg, auto split, then burn with the user only initiating the
process and it should take say 15 mins per hour of recorded
material, all with no human intervention.

Still more time than watching it on TV out with
something decent for a player to zap over the ads.

I found last night that the Nero ShowTime 2 isnt too bad if you
click on the slider to jump forward 3 mins or so and then fast
forward over the remains of the ad break. Not as elegant as
say a couple of buttons for a 3 min and 4 min jump forward tho.

> Note that TMPGenc software is, IMHO, very tolerant of other software and does
> not hog the CPU. This is important if you are multi-tasking.

I dont, I use a dedicated HTPC.

> Excuse me rambling on. There may be others who can use this sort of info.

Yeah, its surprisingly little discussed. The rambling is welcome.

Re: A decent player
 

SmakDaddy <archangel@engineer.com> wrote in
message news:426cfaf2@funnel.arach.net.au...

> it may sound weird,

Nope, I've been considering this approach.

> but i use a modded xbox and xbox media centre to watch most stuff i capture
> onto my pc, its attached to my tv, so i can just watch it from there, it can
> stream across the network, so i dont need to burn anything,

How do you find the image quality on a big widescreen TV ?

I find that the TV out on the PC is noticeably worse
quality than burnt to DVD. Mostly just fringing colors
on fine detail edges. Thats with a cheap Radeon 7000
chipset card which I havent tried tweaking yet tho.

And what is the story on the player in the xbox on that skipping ads ?

> only problem is updating xbmc itself when new codecs are released. i do like
> how it has an audio offset button though for files where the audio has decided
> to go out of sync.., also you can use the xbox remote control to navigate, as
> well as create playlists and the like. I have my xbox going to the computers
> in the other side of the house via a wireless adapter, where all my cds sit in
> mp3 (or whatever the hell WMC copys them as) and i can just queue them all
> from there...

> anyway, sorry to ramble, just my setup that i'm happy with :)

But you never said what its like for ad zapping |-(

Re: A decent player
 

"Darius" <fallenfromrome@invalidemaildontbother.com> wrote in message
news:426d03be$0$5180$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au ...
>
> "SmakDaddy" <archangel@engineer.com> wrote in message
> news:426cfaf2@funnel.arach.net.au...
>> it may sound weird, but i use a modded xbox and xbox media centre to watch
>> most stuff i capture onto my pc, its attached to my tv, so i can just watch
>> it from there, it can stream across the network, so i dont need to burn
>> anything, only problem is updating xbmc itself when new codecs are released.
>> i do like how it has an audio offset button though for files where the audio
>> has decided to go out of sync.., also you can use the xbox remote control to
>> navigate, as well as create playlists and the like. I have my xbox going to
>> the computers in the other side of the house via a wireless adapter, where
>> all my cds sit in mp3 (or whatever the hell WMC copys them as) and i can just
>> queue them all from there...
>
> damn fine idea, use it myself.
> One step up tho. I have a sd capture card. Capture and edit out the ads with
> ulead, convert to xvid/divx, then send it to the 160gig hdd in the xbox, and
> wirelessly like you. Xbox is two rooms away plugged into the widescreen telly.

> All is good, crystal clear and cheaper than a pvr setup.

Not necessarily cheaper than an older PC tho. I'm currently
using the 900MHz test system for that, works fine.

> I can retrieve the movies and convert them to dvd for burning if I want.

I just got a DVD player that is happy to play what I write unconverted.

> And I'm my nephews favourite uncle when they visit "you may be 40 but you're
> kinda cool coz you have an xbox and games for us to play"

Dont forget they may well be picking your nursing home |-)

Re: A decent player
 

"Rod Speed" <rod_speed@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3d52l7F6mac9nU1@individual.net...
> I just got a DVD player that is happy to play what I write unconverted.

Now that would be nice to have, I was considering buying the same for
another room.
What brand/model? Any problems?