What is a .tp file?

[radioouman]

I have an ATI TV Wonder 650, and the Catalyst Media Center records .mpg files, but Beyond TV captures .tp files. What are .tp files? Is there any way to convert them to .mpg easily for DVD burning? The DVD burning plugin does not support burning .tp files.

Thanks

[groucho111]

.tp files are the shows recorded in digital format. (OTA HD) I have been working with converting them myself and have not had the greatest luck. after i convert them to mpg's they dont seem to work very well in video editing programs.

to convert i have tried HDTV2MPG and direct show dump. You should be able to do searches for both.

[radioouman]

OK..... then how is the DVD burning plugin supposed to work? I bought it, and I can't burn anything with it.

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by radioouman

OK..... then how is the DVD burning plugin supposed to work? I bought it, and I can't burn anything with it.

From the DVD Burning FAQ on .ts files:

Burning to video DVD is supported, but it's a two-step process. You first have to ShowSqueeze to WMV or DivX and then you can burn to video DVD.

http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/faq-dvd.asp

[radioouman]

By the way, it looks like Directshow Dump works to make an MPG, but BeyondTV still won't burn it and neither will TMPEGEnc.

[radioouman]

Originally Posted by nanook105

From the DVD Burning FAQ on .ts files:

Burning to video DVD is supported, but it's a two-step process. You first have to ShowSqueeze to WMV or DivX and then you can burn to video DVD.

http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/faq-dvd.asp

Hmmm... I see. But that will decrease the video quality substantially. If I am capturing an MPEG-2, I don't want to convert to WMV or AVI and then back to MPEG-2 for a DVD.

Is there any way to make Beyond TV capture directly to an .mpg file just like the Catalyst Media Center that came with my card?

[bits]

Originally Posted by radioouman

By the way, it looks like Directshow Dump works to make an MPG, but BeyondTV still won't burn it and neither will TMPEGEnc.

Give HDTV2DVD a shot, it is freeware and will automatically create one mpeg and the video_ts folder. All you need is burning software like Imgburn or Nero Express and you can point them at the video_ts folder and they will create the ISO and burn the DVD. You do not need an authoring software like TDA.

I have been using HDTV2DVD to convert tp files to compliant DVD for a few months now it has never messed up. It does a great job and it keeps the aspect ratio correct. When you pop the completed DVD into a DVD player hooked to a wide screen TV it will play full screen just like the tp file would have. The quality is quite good as well.

I agree with you on converting to WMV(an extremely long slow process) or DivX(Long but not as long a process as WMV) and then converting back to mpeg2, an absolute waste of time and PQ.

I thought the ATI 650 had mpeg2 hardware encoding, if it does there should a way for BTV to select that instead of tp.

HDTVTOMPEG2 should work, what settings are you using? Keep in mind that the max bitrate for compliant DVD is 9.8MB which includes the audio. The resolution has to be 720x480, 640x480 ect... If the mpeg file is not DVD compliant TDA will not accept it.

[mlomker]

I use VideoRedo to convert my files to mpg. BTV won't play the output file but WMP will. I usually covert the file to mpg (by running a 'quick stream fix'), strip out the commercials using VideoRedo and export the mpg, and then convert to Divx or burn to a DVD (if I'm giving a copy to someone).

ConvertXtoDVD will turn just about any file into a DVD, including the mpg created by VideoRedo. It's easy to use, but obviously using all of these products outside of BTV defeats the point of using their burning plugin. I just find this combination of tools to be a lot more flexible.

[bits]

Originally Posted by mlomker

I use VideoRedo to convert my files to mpg. BTV won't play the output file but WMP will. I usually covert the file to mpg (by running a 'quick stream fix'), strip out the commercials using VideoRedo and export the mpg, and then convert to Divx or burn to a DVD (if I'm giving a copy to someone).

ConvertXtoDVD will turn just about any file into a DVD, including the mpg created by VideoRedo. It's easy to use.

The mpeg that VRD creates is NOT a compliant mpeg for DVD burning. All VRD does is change the information in the header and the file extension. It does not re-encode the file to the correct bitrate and resolution for creating a compliant DVD.

VRD is a must piece of software, especially for cleaning up tp/ts files and for cutting commercials but it does not create compliant mpeg2 files from non-compliant tp or ts files.

[radioouman]

Originally Posted by bits

Give HDTV2DVD a shot, it is freeware and will automatically create one mpeg and the video_ts folder. All you need is burning software like Imgburn or Nero Express and you can point them at the video_ts folder and they will create the ISO and burn the DVD. You do not need an authoring software like TDA.

I have been using HDTV2DVD to convert tp files to compliant DVD for a few months now it has never messed up. It does a great job and it keeps the aspect ratio correct. When you pop the completed DVD into a DVD player hooked to a wide screen TV it will play full screen just like the tp file would have. The quality is quite good as well.

I agree with you on converting to WMV(an extremely long slow process) or DivX(Long but not as long a process as WMV) and then converting back to mpeg2, an absolute waste of time and PQ.

I thought the ATI 650 had mpeg2 hardware encoding, if it does there should a way for BTV to select that instead of tp.

HDTVTOMPEG2 should work, what settings are you using? Keep in mind that the max bitrate for compliant DVD is 9.8MB which includes the audio. The resolution has to be 720x480, 640x480 ect... If the mpeg file is not DVD compliant TDA will not accept it.

I have tried HDTV2DVD, and I thought that it wasn't working correctly because the MPG that I get only shows a black screen when I play it in Windows Media Player. However, TMPEGENC picks it up as a valid video. But it doesn't seem to be able to grab an audio stream. Are there any tricks to getting audio output from HDTV2DVD?

I haven't tried burning anything with Nero yet. I can give that a shot.

[bits]

Originally Posted by radioouman

I have tried HDTV2DVD, and I thought that it wasn't working correctly because the MPG that I get only shows a black screen when I play it in Windows Media Player. However, TMPEGENC picks it up as a valid video. But it doesn't seem to be able to grab an audio stream. Are there any tricks to getting audio output from HDTV2DVD?

I haven't tried burning anything with Nero yet. I can give that a shot.

I am at a bit of loss with your problem. Myself and several of my local fellow videoholics use HDTV2DVD on our ts and tp files and have never had an issue of any kind. The only complaint I/we have is that there are no user selectable settings but for some users that is ideal...

Our tp/ts files are HD OTA recordings that usually contain several video streams. We use VRD to select the stream and associated audio and then we remove commericals and do a quickstream fix. I tell VRD to output a ts file.

Have you looked at your tp file/files to see what is in them? Have you tried VRD's QSF? Or TSReader Lite(Freeware)? mpeg2repair(freeware)? How many tp recordings have you tried and how many have failed. I am beginning to suspect that there is something different or not quite right with some or all of your recordings. I have on occassion put tp files directly into HDTV2DVD and had it work, in fact these were files that VRD could not even open, however they only had one video/audio stream.

tp/ts files are notoriously messy and usually require 'fixing'. IMO it is worth the effort if the end goal is PQ. Direct recording to mpeg2(using hardware encoding) of HD video is simpler, produces good to fair PQ but usually has black bars on all sides.

My suggestion for Nero is for Nero Express not for Nero Vision Express. IMO Nero is bloatware and the only part of it that is useful is the burning...Nero Express or Nero Burning ROM

[Tappen]

As an aside, if you use VideoRedo to convert BTV .tp (mpeg transport stream) files to .mpg (mpeg PS, program stream) files, and you want BTV to be able to play them, you need to convert the audio from AAC to mpeg audio in the VideoRedo Save options.

[radioouman]

Tappen,

Thanks for the suggestion.
I've been working at this most of the afternoon, and I'm still somewhat confused.

I was able to burn a DVD by using VideoRedo to open it and save it. However, the original file was over 8 gig while the one that it saved was 1.2 gig. I burned that file to a DVD using the burning plugin in BeyondTV, and the video was tiny on the screen!! I checked the format of the VideoReDo file, and it was a 1920x1080 MPEG, so apparently BeyondTV decided to make it smaller for me.

I am still confused about why the ATI Catalyst Media Center can capture directly to an MPEG while BeyondTV can't do that. Since the ATI software isn't supported, I wanted to move to some software that was, and BeyondTV is certainly a better program. I'm just wondering if it doesn't know how to handle the output from the ATI TV Wonder 650.

[radioouman]

OK, I finally got this to work.
.TP file from BeyondTV -> VideoReDo with the option to change the audio to MPEG audio -> TMPEGEnc to make a DVD quality video (m2v and wav files, 720x480, 8000 kbps data rate), to TMPEGEng DVD Author

Can VideoReDo make the m2v and wav files?

[jebbbz]

VideoReDo offers the option of saving as de-muxed elementary streams and generates an ".mpv" video file and an ".mpa" audio file. Videohelp.com tells me an "mpv" is the same as an "m2v" and the "mpa" is an "mp2" file. Does TMPGEnc need audio in WAV format?

(VideoReDo has a 15-day trial version available -- give it a try. Cheap as I am, I actually bought a copy and use it a lot.)