TiVo to SVCD: The quickest and dirtiest way

[Tictoc]

Hi guys,

Since many of you already introduce your method on how to convert to SVCD, I guess it's my turn now This procedure might not produce the best quality, but I believe that this is the fastest way. I use Philips SA TiVo with sofware version 2.0.1. So using other software, YMMV. (update: this method also works with software version 2.5.1 and the latest TivoWeb v1.9.3)

Basically the idea was to eliminate video re-encoding time because this is the most time consuming part of SVCD creation. As you may know, Tivo High Quality recording will produce SVCD resolution of 480x480 but with out of spec bitrates of 3500kbps. So re-encoding was required to bring down the bitrates to less than 2600kbps. So my method is to make TiVo record a show with SVCD resolution AND any chosen bitrates less than 2600kbps.

Suppose I want to record a show from cableTV using 480x480 resolution with bitrates less than 2600kbps:

1. Run TivoWeb.
2. Select “Resource Editor”, then “Bitrates”.
3. Change “CATVBasicResolution” value to 2 (0=352x480, 1=352x480, 2=480x480, 4=544x480, CMIIW). Press enter to confirm the change.
4. Go back to “Bitrates” menu and modified “CATVBasicBitrate” to less than 2760000. Press enter again to confirm the change.
5. There are also the same “CATVBasicResolution” and “CATVBasicBitrate” settings in “AltBitrates” menu. I change their values also, just to make sure.
6. Go to “Resouce Editor” menu and select “Update Resources”.
6. Reboot.

This procedures only has to be done once and the settings will stick until it’s being changed again.

Now every time Tivo record a show using Basic Quality, it will record it within SVCD spec of 480x480 resolution with bitrates less than 2600kps. No re-encoding needed.

Then, just extract the show, and burn it with Nero. Done!
(update: some DVD players, like my Raite 715, didn't like out-of-spec audio bitrates and "choke" a lot. In this case, upsampling sound to 44khz might be needed)

I hope you find it useful. Any comments welcomed.

Cheers :P

btw, I found that Womble MPEG2VCR is a perfect tool to do MPEG2 editing and 32khz->44khz sound conversion in only one step. Even Nero thought that the edited file was SVCD compliance.

[Wes]

When I Select “Resource Editor”, then “Bitrates”, I got these:


Bitrates


INTERNAL SERVER ERROR
action_resources '/19' ''
no such object:


Resource Name Resource Value

[Tictoc]

To Wes: I use Philips SA TiVo with sofware version 2.0.1. They probably change the setting in version 2.5? I am not a Tivoweb expert, only a user. The only suggestion I can give is to check if TivoWeb already installed properly and try to reinstall.

Good luck!

[modistru]

Very slick Tictoc. Very slick indeed. It must take no time to get that stream off of the TiVo too.

Has anyone found out where these values are stored in 2.5.1 yet?

[Wes]

I have 2.5.1. No wonder it doesn't work.

[Tictoc]

Wes. I am sorry that it didn't work for you.

You could always go back to 2.0.1 and prevent 2.5 update.

[Wes]

I have a backup from 1.3 but I don't have one for 2.01. As soon as I restore my 1.3 and do a dialin, it immediately received 2.5.1 upgrade. Therefore, my choice is either 1.3 or 2.5.1.

[Tictoc]

pm me if you need it.

[pick-a-name]

Originally posted by Tictoc
Hi guys,


Then, just extract the show, and burn it with Nero. Done!
(update: some DVD players, like my Raite 715, didn't like out-of-spec audio bitrates and "choke" a lot. In this case, upsampling sound to 44khz might be needed)

Too cool!

Have you found any ways to change the audio sample rate?
I do not have a tivo to play with (yet) but I did find a dis-assembler for the ADSP-2105. Has anybody found the code that gets loaded into the 2105?

Actually I think there is a way to change it without messing with the program. The DSP has control lines that go to the master clock rate select pins and if the audio rate were truly fixed at 32kHz, they would have just hard wired them. There must be a variable set somewhere to change this. It seems really unlikely tivo would have hard-coded this.

[Tictoc]

To pick-a-name,

That's WAY beyond my capabilities

If someone can figure out how to do this, it would be really great. True SVCD compliance straight from TiVo!

[Tictoc]

Digging around the other forum's archieve, I found this.

So at least now we know that decoding audio MPEG1 layer 2 @ 44.1 kHz works in TiVo.

[modistru]

FYI-
The new TivoWeb 1.9.3 allows for editing the resources in 2.5.1. I have adjusted the bitrates as laid out for a basic quality stream & indeed it does video bitrate compliant SVCD. Just extract, tyconvert, upconvert the audio (if necessary), and burn.

Personally, I have found that the quality of a stream extracted in this fashion is of rather poor quality. Although it is the 'Quickest & Dirtiest' way, it is a bit too dirty for my tastes. The quality of an extracted 'best' quality stream downconverted through TMPGEnc yields a final product with less artifacts.

This is a great thing to have in the 'bag of tricks' though. If there is anything that I need to grab & burn quick, this is the way to do it. Me thinks I'll leave the basic quality setting at this new bitrate just in case.

[finster869]

How would you add the audio using this "quick and dirty" method?

[alanjudy]

Here is how I get great quality output very quickly from the Tivo. The goal here is high quality without re-encoding.

1. Buy an APEX 5131 or other APEX DVD player, check vcdhelp.com for others. The 5131 plays almost anything you can throw at it. If you are uncertain make one of these XSVCD's and bring it down to your neighborhood electronics store and try before you buy (that is what I did). Because the APEX was $100 and plays these XSVCD's it saves a huge amount of time re-encoding....

2. For Standalone tivo systems change the Tivo Resources. I set my bitrate to 4300K, the 5131 easily handles 5000K, I just want to keep shows on fewer CD's. Set the resolution to 0 = 720x480 on DBSResolution... this is actually a huge improvement (no green bar for one thing).

3. Get TurboNet, Tytool, Tmpgenc and Nero.

4. Use Tytool to extract content from the tivo, because this doesn't yet do multiplexing, you'll need to use Tmpgenc to do this. MPEG Tools-> Simple Multiplex does a decent job. Alternatively you can use BBMpeg which can use the small offset info from tytool/vpsplit. Use Tmpgenc MPEG Tools->Cut and Merge to cut the resulting .mpg file into 2 or 3 pieces to put on CD. You won't be able to cut too close to the comercials, but you won't have any re-encoding.

5. Take the 2 or 3 files and use Nero to burn two or three non-standard SVCDs.

That's it. It works very well.

=alanjudy





adding audio

How would you add the audio using this "quick and dirty" method?

Buy an $64 Apex DVD player instead of re-encoding to fix this. This being the "quick and dirty" answer to this question. There are lots of slower more elegant ways to make this work on your DVD player.

[finster869]

Alanjudy,

approximately how many minutes does each cd hold using the resolutions and settings set forth in your post?