MPEG TS

[fioreg]

Hi,

I have an interest in Sony microMV format (apparently a MPEG TS stream!) and would like to know if there is any workaround in having any software in Mac OS X that would be able to capture the video files from microMV camcorders. I understand videolan can playback the MPEG TS files so i wonder if there is a plan to tweak it to do the trick!
thank you!

[The DJ]

video capture support on Mac OS X isn't really that hard to implement, problem is that i'm the only OS X developer, and I don't have a webcam or the time to do so.

[IMO]

well, it will be great if OSX can handle the importing micromv MPEG TS, this has been discussed in Japanese community for a while, but so far no solution is found.
I cannot afford to buy a one for The DJ, but please help us!!

http://kino.schirmacher.de/article/view/54/1/11/

this is a linux program, which let you to capture the micromv camcorder MPEG stream. As long as this can be done on linux, why not on OSX?

Please some one, help, please!!!!

[Fioreg]

Hi DJ,

Thank you for your reply. I understand fully your position, there are only 24h in a day and 7 days in a week. Should you never the less hear about something good in this direction I would appreciate if you could send me a line at fioreg2002@yahoo.com. By the way Imo is right about the linux code, I downloaded and tried to compile the code on my G4 but I guess I am not good at doing command line tricks for now!
Truly,

Stefano

[The DJ]

The problem is not playing the format. VLC does that. It's capturing the movie from the device. This is very system dependant. That's also the reason why you can't compile the linux program. Because MacOSX is completly different in how it handles devices than Linux.

Even if I develop Camera capture support, i will do it for the normal standard OSX video input. When your camera producer doesn't have drivers for OS X, you are simply at a loss. Try contacting them.

[IMO]

Hi

DJ, you are right, I just have to ask the Sony, to develop the OSX driver or importing software, but Sony seems not positive for OSX support for most of their products.
That's why there is a third party software called, Missing Sync, to connect Clie, Sony's palm, which connects Clie to OSX version of palm desktop.

There are many Mac stupid owners, like me, who buy Sony products even they know that the device is not Mac compatible.

The DJ, what do you think, if you develop the driver as a shareware? I am sure that this won't be a bad business, as I already know so many Japanese people, who are willing the same thing like me....

[IMO]

Hi all,

Eventually I succeeded to capture from the micromv camera to OSX!

1. Download the Firewire SDK from Apple's developer's site
2. Launch the DVHSCap app, which can be found at /Developer/Applications/Firewire
3. Click 'Capture from D-VHS', then it capture the MPEG-TS file into harddrive, with the extension ".m2t". The great thing is you can control the camera by this app as well(I used DCR-IP1K).
4. You can use vlc to view the file, or use some other app, such as DiVA to convert to iMovie compatible format, so that you can burn with iDVD at the end!

I don't think my way is the best, so if you know better way, then please let me know.....

[fioreg]

Dear DJ and Imo,

I guess beside any outcome to start talking about an issue is always positive. It looks like Imo may have found a workaround to make us a little happier. But as he was mentioning earlier this does not mean that a good shareware would not be embraced by those (I guess 'gullable' buyers willing to pay some extra beside the premium for the fashionable Sony branded gadgets) who enjoy using their sony microMV devices up to the point they need to burn their DVDs.
Hope me and Imo scored some points with you DJ and convince you to undertake the endeavour!
CU


Stefano P.S. Dear Imo I will try to follow your instructions verbatim and post back here my outcome using the DCR-IP5! ThanK you for your help!

[Fioreg]

Hi all,

I am happy to report that the solution suggested by IMO seems to be working also with my DCR-IP5. To be helpful let me advice to download the firewire SDK 18 package not the 2.8.1 version!
Truly,

Stefano

[Fioreg]

Hi all,

I have an update on previously discussed procedure to capture and process mpeg TS files in Mac OS X.
AS Imo (and separately people from squared5) suggested Firewire SDK and the application contained in it (DCHSCap) do an excellent job at capturing from your microMV camcorder. You can immediately view the .m2t file with VLC. Problems are still present if you wish to make a DVD of your video because none of the usual set of programs (FCP, DVDpro, iMovie etc.) handles m2t format. Imo has again suggested the use of DiVA to recode the m2t capture into a .mov file, but in my hands I cannot get the audio track out of any conversion tried with DiVA.
So the friends at squared5 have suggested to use a free utility for demultyplexing: 'mpgtxwrap" that can be downloaded at:

http://www.biermann.org/philipp/mpegcut/

Using mpgtxwrap I have been able to demux the m2t file into a m2v video track and a mp3 audio track. Finally I could open the mp3 file in iTunes and burn it on CD as AIFF. I am now at the stage of combining the DiVA mov video file with the AIFF audio file in FCP and finally I should be able to get to burn it on DVD. Of course as you can guess you generate a lot of large files by needing so many intermediate steps and be exposed to some loss of quality but for now this is the only way I found to do it.
By the way people at squared5 mentioned that since mpeg TS is the format for digital TV they and other developers are going to address these issues and hopefully the fallout will allow microMV camcorders to be used in the usual plug and play fashion!
Good luck to everyone owning a microMV camcorder and if you have other suggestions please do not hesitate to post them here so that we can all learn how to better deal with this video format.
Truly,

Stefano

[Fioreg]

Hi again,

I just got across a very interesting article by Steve Mullen describing the issue concerning HDV camcorders (the specific one is a JVC model) apparently the video capture from this equipment has an option for MPEG2 export. Interestingly he talks about the need of demuxing (generating m2v and mp2 etc) and then recomposing the tracks for a feed directly into FCP. He has developed software for the MAC OS X to do so (see article at http://videosystems.com/ar/video_edit_hdv/). I wonder if his software would work with microMV camcorders as well. I did not find a direct email to contact him but I'll try to contact him by regular mail and check out if he ever tried his software with microMV (unfortunately the price for his HDVbridge Pro is a bit high at $320 to just give it a try!).
I'll post back here if I came across some interesting news!.
Take care,


Stefano

[Fioreg]

Hi all,

Coming back on the issue of importin and processing the MPEG TS from microMV devices I wanteed to add the following considerations:
After contacting Mr. Mullen I was adviced to consider acquiring the MPEG2 component for QT to see if it could help with coding directly the m2v file obtained demuxing the m2t file generated by capture with DVHSCap.
After installation of the QT add on I still could not open the m2v file obtained with mpgtxwrap (I have contacted the developer in this regard and hope to hera back from him soon).
If the m2t could be tranferred directly in a workable m2v then things would be ideal because the demuxing leaves unaltered the quality of the video!. But as I said no luck in so far and the best second approach is to use DiVA and recode the file in .mov format for furhter wrk with other editing software (this also has the drawback of generating a file whose size is almost 2 times that of the original m2t (I actually tried the mpgtxwrap generated 2mv and DiVA also works well with this file)).
So if anyone out there has any other idea about moving the m2t file into an audio and video format that would keep quality intact but allow editing with FCP and DVDpro I would really appreciate your imputs!
By the way I also downloaded or contacted a lot of people such as DVD2one, cleaning 6, etc. none of them worked with the m2t or m2v files (a.k.a. the m2t generated using DVHSCap or the m2v generated with mpgtxwrap).
So long for now, and.. please do not be shy to post whatevere info you may have in regards to MPEG TS and such!
Truly,


Stefano

[Fioreg]

Hi,

I guess this post is in DJ competence. Since we seem to have found a solution to the capture from microMV devices I wanted to ask if either vlc or vls are customizeable to save the output. I was just looking in vlc preferences and noted that video and audio decoders have all the codecs necessary to handle mpeg ts. In fact I can beautifully see the m2t files I captured using DVHSCap with vlc but unfortunately I cannot use vlc to "export/save" into files that I can retrieve for further editing (the only option at present is the lenghty process described in previous postings). Is there a way of setting vlc to 'save' or is that something that requires vls instead (or there is no way at all!). I would really like to know. This could be a very friendly way to deal with this all issue of microMV m2t (MPEG TS) file handling. Should anyone need a sample m2t to test please just let me know!
truly,

Stefano

[BigBen]

Have a look at the stream output box in the open file menu : you can remux a file in ps (among others) or transcode it...

[Fioreg]

Hi BigBen,

And thank you very much for your advice. I am using vlc version 0.6.2 and I noticed that to access the stream output settings I have to use the 'open DVD' and then select file from that window (and then activate the advanced options) since with 'open file' command I do not get any option. Therefore I wanted to ask if you were detailing the procedure for a different version of vlc. in addition I wanted to kindly ask if you had any additional suggestion. I am trying to transcode but the only file I am generating is a .ts file. you mentioned that the transcode should work in generating a .ps file could you describe how to set up vlc for such transcode.
I really appreciate any help you can offer on this topic.
Truly,


Stefano

[Fioreg]

Hi again everyone,

Foolowing Big Ben advice I tried play a bit with the m2t file obtained with DVHSCap. While vlc (vs. 0.6.2) can do a decent screen playback of this file the program gets stuck displaying the following message when I attempt to transcode:

main debug: CPU has capabilities AltiVec FPU
main debug: looking for memcpy module
main debug: probing 2 candidates
main debug: using memcpy module "memcpyaltivec"
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 33562112 (playlist) created at priority -47 (src/playlist/playlist.c:80)
main debug: looking for interface module
main debug: probing 2 candidates
main debug: using interface module "macosx"
main debug: interface initialized
main debug: thread 34099200 (manager) created at priority -47 (src/interface/interface.c:118)
main debug: adding playlist item ´ file:///Volumes/Mercury Elite/DCR-IP Editing/Take1.m2t ª ( file:///Volumes/Mercury Elite/DCR-IP Editing/Take1.m2t )
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: set input option: sout to #transcode{vcodec="mpgv",vb="",acodec="mpga",ab=""}:std{access=file,mux=ts,url=""}
main: playlist item `file:///Volumes/Mercury Elite/DCR-IP Editing/Take1.m2t'
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 34620416 (input) created at priority 37 (src/input/input.c:180)
main debug: access `file', demux `', name `/Volumes/Mercury Elite/DCR-IP Editing/Take1.m2t'
main debug: looking for access module
main debug: probing 7 candidates
access_file debug: opening file `/Volumes/Mercury Elite/DCR-IP Editing/Take1.m2t'
main debug: using access module "access_file"
main debug: looking for demux module
main debug: probing 16 candidates
mp4 warning: MP4 plugin discarded (not a valid file)
avi warning: avi module discarded (invalid header)
asf warning: ASF v1.0 plugin discarded (not a valid file)
main debug: looking for mpeg-system module
main debug: probing 1 candidate
main debug: using mpeg-system module "mpeg_system"
main debug: using demux module "ts_dvbpsi"
main debug: stream=`transcode'
main debug: looking for sout stream module
main debug: probing 1 candidate
main debug: stream=`std'
main debug: looking for sout stream module
main debug: probing 1 candidate
stream_out_standard debug: creating `file/ts://(null)'
main debug: looking for sout access module
main debug: probing 1 candidate
access_output_file error: cannot open `'
main warning: no sout access module matching "file,none" could be loaded
stream_out_standard error: no suitable sout access module for `file/ts://(null)'
main warning: no sout stream module matching "std,none" could be loaded
main debug: destroying chain... (name=std)
main debug: destroying chain done
stream_out_transcode debug: codec audio=mpga 0Hz 0 channels 0Kb/s
stream_out_transcode debug: codec video=mpgv 0x0 0kb/s
stream_out_transcode error: cannot create chain
main warning: no sout stream module matching "transcode,none" could be loaded
main debug: destroying chain... (name=transcode)
main debug: destroying chain done
main error: stream chained failed for `transcode{vcodec="mpgv",vb="",acodec="mpga",ab=""}:std{access=file,mux=ts,url=""}'
main error: cannot start stream output instance, aborting
access_file: closing `file/:///Volumes/Mercury Elite/DCR-IP Editing/Take1.m2t'
main debug: unlocking module "access_file"
main debug: unlocking module "mpeg_system"
main debug: unlocking module "ts_dvbpsi"
main debug: thread 34620416 joined (src/input/input.c:214)

It would be great if anyone out there could have useful tips to address this problem.
truly,


Stefano

[Fioreg]

Hi everyone,

I just got acroos a post in an another forum where the author claims that Project X (at http://www.lucike.info/index.htm) can be used to produce a demuxed file (starting witrh DVHSCap m2t) with audio and video suitable for import in FCP. Apparently the program is available as source code and needs to be compiled. I would really be thankful to the good samaritan that could put it on a GUI for the rest of us (I'll try myself but I doubt I have the knowledge necessary at present).
Also, in the same post an alternative solution is offered by use of command line operation using Fmppeg and mpeg2enc. the info was found at "camcorderinfo.com" and the post was from 'pstDenis"
Instruction on how to compile and use the project X softare follow:

...."Downloading the zip file to the Desktop
Double clicking on the file to unzip it using stuffit expander
You should have a folder called ProjectX_Source open that folder and
go into the src folder and edit the folliowng line in X.java (using TextEdit)
Object[] fonts = (Object[])GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().getAvailableFontFamilyNames();

change it to:


//Object[] fonts = (Object[])GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().getAvailableFontFamilyNames();
String[] fonts = new String[1];
fonts[0] = "SansSerif";

This will affect a portion of the program that allows for conversion of captioning, which I am not using anyway.

Open a Terminal window (located in Applications/Utilities)
type
cd Desktop
cd ProjectX_Source
cd src
javac [-O] *.java
jar cfvm X.jar MANIFEST.MF *.class

if all goes well you will have a file called X.jar in the src folder, double clicking on it will launch the application
There will be a bunch of tabs, click on the files tab and drag the m2t file created form DVHSCap into the window.
Click on the audio tab and Check "decode MPEG Layer to PCM" and "add RIFF(RIFX) header to PCM (.wav)"
click on "main" and the use the "Go!" button.
The application is fast, faster than realtime on a G5. (even faster if you don't convert the audio to wav)
it will produce a mpv file and a .wav file both which FCP understand.
I have needed to match the duration of the two files some times to fix synch issues

I hope this works for all who try it, let me know if anyone tries to convert mpv's back to a transport stream

Thanks go to Arick Chang who discovered Project_X on the web and showed me how to use it. "..

Oh, and you shouldn't have to download the SDK. javac and jar come with OSX (I have not tried any of this on OS9)

I am a little tight with time but I will let you know what results I get as soon as I attempt to use this software.
truly,


Stefano

[Fioreg]

Hi everyone!,

I tried the compile of Project X and following the directions given by pstedit (at comcorderinfo.com) I was able to obtain the x.jar to execute the java applet. It genreates a mpv video file and a mp2.wav audio file. After some tweaking I have been able to demux a m2t file obtained with DVHSCap and generate video an audio inputs for FCP. One problem I encountered is that the app easily finds problems (in the standard config) with 'GOP' and drop them basically not coding the video so my 1GB m2t file resulted in a 48MB video encode. After the first tweaking of video and audio settings I was able to obtain a 370MB video encode before encountering again problems with "faulty "GOPs. I am still trying out to adjust settings to see if I can get the whole 1GB processed without errors. I am also going to test if the problem is related to the size of the m2t files by taking shorter scenes out of the microMV tape.
I will report the results when I am done with the troubleshooting, meantime I hope BigBen, DJ and/or others may give further suggestion in setting vlc to do the job!
Truly,


Stefano

[Fioreg]

Hi again,

Here finally with a final account on how to convert the m2t file generated using DVHSCap to capture video from Sony microMV camcorders.
Remeber to download and install Project X as detailed in previous posts.

-Once the compile is done (remember that apparently there are problems with G5) laubch the java applet by clicking on X.jar in the src folder.

-After few seconds (I use a 400MHtz G4) a window will open. Follow the few initial steps required by the instructions in dialog box.

At this point you need to customize the settings for the demux:

Click on each tab:
-Out tab, the only setting I changed here is the quick demux size (default is 5MB). Iset it at 25MB.

-Spec tab, here I have the following settings in ON position: Don't message packets out of se....; don't message 'missing startcode'; generate PCR/SCR (65000); generate PMT stream dependent; concatenate different recordings; rename all MPEG videos to *mpv; ignore videoerrors after 1st PTS/. While most of the setting are already on by default this last one need to be set if you are downloading several videoclips from the camcorder in a single m2t file (this I found was the reason I got back only ~ 300MB demuxed file from my 1GB m2t file when I first tried, it was getting the first clip all right and then the app would discard the rest of the file because of PTS being smaller than previous ones!).

-Video tab, here I set the bitrate rate values per sequence at 12Mbps (that is the bitrate spec for the DCR-IP camcorders I know of); Bitrate value for first seuence is set to maximum <=9.8..

-Video2 tab, leave the default settings here.

-Audio tab, as in previous posts select 'Decode MPEG layer 1,2 to PCM; select Add RIFF(RIFX) header to PCM.

you can ingore the other tabs.

OK a this point you drag and drop your file after selecting the files tab.
Once your file is loaded select the Main tab and press GO.

The program took about 1.5 hours to execute my 1.16GB m2t file.
Beware the app finishes encoding the m2t files but then still need to recode the temporary files. the first time I thought that the program had hung up but was just running the recode leg!
The mpv and wav files work well in FCP (and also iMovie, see note below!).
Good luck to everyone, I know it is a little intimidating at first but until we can get instruction for vlc this reamin the only effective way I found to work with the Sony microMV camcorders on the Mac.
Truly,


Stefano


P.S. the mpv and wav file are also good for iMovie (that needs to import/decode the files and takes the usual long time to do so. For everyone needing little extra help my email is written down in one of the earlier posts!

[pstdenis]

Hello,
Glad to see another person using Project X with some success.
The people over at dvinfo.net have found a tool DIVA which will convert a transport stream directly into a Quicktime movie http://diva.3ivx.com/features.html
Sorry if this post is off topic (VLC). I have been trying to use VLC to convert back to a transport stream from Quicktime to for export to the camera (JY-HD10u in my case).

[Fioreg]

Hi everyone,

In the previous post about Project X settings I had advised to set a value of 12MBPS for video. I actually found out that is too high for use with DVDpro, iMovie etc. since the upper limit on these programs is 8Mbps.
Project X will still have 9.6Mbps for the initial sequence but I did not found a way to set that variable otherwise.
On my 17" flat panel iMac i was able to inport directly the .mpv files (but at times the audio part of the demux with Project X did not work properly and I has to run mpgtxwrap as well). Unfortunately there is a lot of inconsistency with the whole operation of importing the mpv files. During the weekend I was able to import them directly in iMovie but today there was a problem even trying with the same files used during the weekend (quicktime could not parse them etc....). So I guess there is still a lot of troubleshooting to do. I'll report back when I have the iMac side of the story addressed (today I am going to work ut the setting for the G4 high end software (FCP and DVDpro). One last comment make sure you get the QT mpeg2 decoder, I have a feeling that is the key to have everything work in the flow from DVHSCap m2t files to the final DVD creation!
Good luck and let me know if you are having success with different strategies.
Truly,

Stefano

[IMO]

Hi

It seems Fioreg is working hard to find some solution to use sony micrommv camera capture for a while.

I have succeeded to convert the m2t file with DiVA(sorry, it's nothing to do with vlc, maybe this is not the right place to discuss..), but the problem is that DiVA doesn't convert the sound, just the movie stream. So I used mpgtxwrap, which Fioreg mentioned to get mp3 converted sound file. I could play this file with Quicktime player and iTunes, but it cannot be imported to iMovie. Then finally I used Soundconverter to convert the mp3 to wav. After these long steps, I mixed the movie(DV format) and sound WAV, but the sound is delayed, cannot be played properly.

If vlc engine can transfer the m2t file to DV or other easy-to-use quicktime file, this will be great. In another forum, one was teling that the future quicktime would include codec for mpeg-ts, which is implied in some source codes(sorry, I have no idea about these difficult things...).


Well, this is it for now. If any one knows about better way, please share the ideas!

[Fioreg]

Hi all,

I share the concern of others that we are taking a path outside the interests of vlc so I will try to contact DJ or other qualified developers to see if we should stop posting here the microMV and MPEG TS topics.
However I would like to thank Pstdenis and Imo for their partecipation and address concerns by the latter about audio files.
Both Project X and mpgtxwrap are able to generate audiofiles. You must import them in iTune and from the advanced command select the 'convert to mp3' command. The recoded file can be imported in iMovies without problems.
Good luck!!

Stefano


btw I produced the first DVD with DVHSCap, Project X, FCP and DVDpro.
All fine!! The last standing issue is the finalization using iMovie and iDVD in place of FCP and DVDpro. As mentioned in a very odd turn of events I was able to import mpv files directly in iMovie on my iMac last Sunday but the program refused to do so the following day when I resumed the project (reporting the familiar error -2004, quictime could not parse the file!).
And once more let me invite anyone very familiar with vlc to propose ways to use its file advanced output options to take care of re-encoding the TS file into m2v or similar!

[Fioreg]

Hi,

I finally got to work out the problems I got stuck with trying to use mpv files with iMovie. Apparently the culprit of the sudden inability to import additional mpv files in iMovie was due to the security/system or QT upgrade that apple released in the last 10 days. My MPEG2 player component was unable to play even the m2v sample files posted at Apple web site. I consulted with the support people at Apple this past Friday and they verified the 'bug'. In a very fast fashion they have addressed the issue and have now and updated MPEG2 player component. After installing the update I am now able to play the sample m2v file and I am importing again the mpv files (That I generated using Project X with the m2t source captured with DVHSCap) in iMovie. So at this point anyone in need to capture from Sony microMV devices has a pretty inexpensive solution.
Download DVHSCap from Apple SDK (free) download the mpeg2player component ($19.99) from the Apple Store, download Project X (free) and for extra get a copy of mpgtxwrap (free, because with Project X sometime the audio file in the demux is truncated and I generate always good audio with mpgtxwrap instead). By mean of this software you simply capture the video from your camcorder using DVHSCap and then demux the m2t file with Project X. At this point you should have a mpv video file that you can add to iMovie and an aif file. Typically for the audio file I have had problems to import it in iMovie unless I converted it in mp3 using the advanced menu in iTune. Once you are done with the conversion to mp3 in iTune you can open the 'audio' selection in iMovie and select your audio file.
That's all. You can now select iDVD to add markers (chapters etc..) and burn your DVD! As I also discussed previouly you can also use the mpv file in FCP and DVDpro. I think both methods are substantially of good quality because the 2 passages involved in the preparation of the camcorder mpeg TS files do not alter the quality of the video at all!
Good luck to everyone and feel free to contact me at fioreg2002@yahoo.com if you need extra help on setting up this procedure!
Truly,



Stefano


P.S. I still have hope some good guy will also work out a way of using vlc to do all of the above!

[markl]

To bring this discussion back to vlc, surely what we need is an improved module to convert ts to ps that can cope with mmv and m2t files from mmv cameras. At present conversion of these files does not work well. Is this because they are not "standard" ts or is there a fault with the conversion module in vlc?

Those out ther that use windows or dos might have heard of this:

"mmv2mpg 1.00 - by Jim Rowe (jrowe88@yahoo.com).
Adapted from bcdmux by Ben Cooley.

Purpose: Converts MicroMV MPEG2 TS files (.mmv) into standard MPEG2 PS files (.mpg)
Version History
1.0.0 - Converted Ben Cooley's code to work with mmv audio and video PIDs. Hard coded the PIDs and removed the code for AC3 packets. Did a little testing and it seems to work!
Notes
I thought a command-line utility would be useful so that it can be paired with scripts to convert files in batch. I used xmuxer and liked it, but was kind of cumbersome for converting numerous .mmv files that I pulled off in batch using MovieShaker. I have done a little testing and it seems to work for files up to 1 Gb. Please let me know if you find problems.
Example
I use the unix/linux version of "find.exe" because it makes a nice one-line script (I have included it in the zip, you can find it at http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/ or elsewhere). I have renamed the find.exe to find_unix.exe so that Windows doesn't get confused."