I have been using dvmrtoolbox to convert wmv into mpeg and then another program such as handbrake to convert to H264 MP4 to save space on my HD. The only problem I ran into is that some tv stations do not broadcast in 27.97 fps 1920x1080i. Some stations broadcast in 59.94fps 1280x720p. I have had problems converting the 59.94 fps MPEGS to H264 with audio being in sync. Any suggestions? I am looking for free or open source software to do this.

You could mess around with RipBot and see what happens. I was messing with it and sync was no an issue. The biggest problem I have is that quality and compression take a long time. I am sticking with WMV-HD and Expression Encoder 4. It's free and I get great compression with 5.1 sound and full compatibility with all my stuff. RipBot and E Encoder are both free.

OK I will give a try. Do you have lots a tweekablity settings with e encoder? 2 pass, bitrate, reference frame etc. I forgot to mention I am recording OTA signals.

There are plenty of options with E Encoder as well as RipBot. I usually don't mess with E Encoder to much. I use the Zune HD profile and the results are great for both the Zune HD and my extenders. I've encoded some blu ray and HD DVD content that I think looks tremendously good at a much lower size than the source. I know there are people who encode MKVs that are equally amazing but compatibility always seems to be an issue. I say, why mess with a 10 hour transcode being screwed up? Q.

It takes me about 40 min to encode an hour show 1 pass with h264.  I just love the way the qualty looks for the file size it makes for h 264.  I can move the bit rate around 600 kbs for SD materal and 2100 kbs and it looks amazing.  I like MP4 much more compatable.

I'm using Handbrake to convert mpeg2 to h.264. Very happy with the results.

 

Yeah I love handbreak.   Have you had any sync issues with the 720p 59.94fps channels?   I usually try to use same as source for frames but i noticed that there is nothing higher then 29.97fps in handbreak.  When viewing the information for the h264 files after handbreak encodes them it says that they are 56 fps.  I wonder if this could be the issue.  Handbreak does look really great, and encodes really fast.

Unless I ditch cable and go with satellite I'm in an SD only world over here I'm afraid. And whilst satellite is way better for TV, cable is light years ahead for broadband and that's more important to me.

 

I use over the air.  Free and HD. :-)  Just out of currosity what are you guys using to make your mpeg files to put into handbreak.  Or what is your workflow. 

 I have been using:

 1.  dvmrtoolbox to remove comericals and convert wtv to mpeg or dtbvideoeditor (I have had issues will dtbvideoeditor exporting occasionaly with alot of edits.

2.  handbreak to convert to H264.

I have been thinking about using windows live movie maker to make a wmv then put the wmv into handbreak.  I wonder how the results will look... wmv looks good at higher bitrates.

thepar

I use over the air.  Free and HD

Not an option over here.

thepar

what are you guys using to make your mpeg files to put into handbreak.  Or what is your workflow

I convert wtv to dvr-ms using the built in converter. Then I use DVR-MS Editor to manually take out the ads and create a trimmed dvr-ms file that gets fed into Handbrake. I use it to convert both for keeping on my Media Centre at decent quality, but also for playback on my crappy mobile phone.

 

  hate to pick you up on this but HD Freeview has been around in the UK for some time now. I would also question the opinion that cable is light years ahead of satellite wrt broadband. its not. Virgin's 50Mb broadband, which is I presume what you are referring to, is still not available in half of the country and still is only twice the speed of the copper wire traditional alternative.

 personally i hated virgin's limp cable tv service so much that I had to forfeit mid year and pay for two systems while the virgin contract ran out. it was that bad. I get 20Mb/s for free, admittedly attached to my huge satellite bill each month, and I have never had any trouble streaming live tv across the net. i achieve 14Mb/s in London and that will do me until there are more interesting things to download.

sorry, i built up quite a hatred of virgin while that pvr was in my house...

Freeview HD has been around for a few months now. But can I get it where I live? No. Even if I could, can I get it into Media Centre? No. Therefore it's not an option.

Sky's TV service is much better than Virgin's, that's quite undeniable. But I stand by saying Virgin's broadband is far superior. With ADSL, regardless of provider, most people struggle to get half the speed they pay for. If you get 14Mb on a 20Mb line then you are way above average. I get 20Mb from my 20Mb cable line. This isn't a Virgin ad, report after report shows this to be the case. ADSL does typically have better upstream speeds though.

I obviously could get Freesat for HD in Media Centre, but it's a lot of cost just to get BBC HD. (ITV doesn't count)

 

 fair enough, maybe my broadband speeds are above average but i was trying to say that beyond 8-10Mb/s i think the returns on an increasing line speed diminish and that was the main point i was making. I don't think the speeds virgin are selling are "necessary" at present and for that reason i'm happy to take a free add-on.

I know I suggested the RipBot.  I am going to back these other guys up on Handbreak.  I've been hearing about it for a long time and I finally tested it out.  It's great!!!  I took an HD program and ran it through and it compressed it very impressively and quickly as well.  Q.

Yeah Handbreak is amazing.  Quick and it looks great.  The only thing was the since issue.  I didn't have problem encoding materal  (OTA) that was 29.97 fps and 1920x1080i.  But when I tried materal (OTA) that was 59.94 fps 1280x720p.  I had sync issues toward the end of the show.  I have been using same as source frames as well.  I have noticed in the settings the highest setting you can go up to 29.97 manually.  For broastcast to get the 59.94 fps progressive certain frames are doubled from the orgional 29.97.  If I could remove the extra frames I think it would fix the issue.