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Author Topic: Feature Request: Compatibility with Windows Media Center Recordings (WTV/DVR-MS)  (Read 4456 times)

chriswale

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I would like to import my Windows Media Center recordings into JRiver Media Center.

I discovered that WTV files (windows 7 media center recordings) are not compatible with JRiver Media Center.

I decided to import my recordings from Vista Media Center (dvr-ms files, which are compatible).
However, the tags (metadata) for these recordings i.e. channel, series, description, episode, etc... are not showing up in the tag fields in JRiver Media Center.
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chriswale

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WTV not compatible, so what about DVR-MS tags?
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2009, 07:28:05 am »

Does anyone have any idea about this?

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Yaobing

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Re: Windows Media Center Recordings in JRiver Media Center?
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2009, 07:51:47 am »

WTV is not coded into MC because it is new.  I probably can add it next to dvr-ms.  No metadata is imported for these videos for now.
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Yaobing Deng, JRiver Media Center

chriswale

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Feature request: Windows Media Center Recordings Compatibility
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2009, 09:55:14 am »

In which case, I shall request the following features.

Windows Media Center recordings compatibility.

  • 1: Ability to import and play WTV files (the new windows media center recording format)
  • 2: Ability to import and play DVR-MS files (the old windows media center recording format)
  • 3: Ability to read tags from both of these file types (i.e. channel, series, program description, episode, etc...)

These are essential features for someone who is moving from Windows Media Center to JRiver Media Center.
Currently only feature (2) is available in JRiver Media Center.

Thank you!
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Yaobing

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Since I am not running Windows 7, do you mind doing a test for me?

I believe supporting WTV file is as simple as adding the extension to FileAssociations.xml, assuming Windows still uses DirectShow to play the files.

The FileAssociations.xml file is located in [MC installation folder]\Data\Default Resources\ folder.  You can change it at these two places:

<Video>MPEG Video (mp2,mpeg,mpg,m1v,mpv,mpe,m2v); ... Windows Media Video (wmv,wvx,dvr-ms,wtv);...</Video>

and

<DXTypes>snd;mid;rmi;midi;...dvr-ms;wtv;...</DXTypes>

In other words, put wtv next to dvr-ms.

Let me know how it works.

For #3, I will have to explore more about it before I can decide whether/when it will be possible.
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Yaobing Deng, JRiver Media Center

chriswale

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i did your test. Yes, you can then import the WTV files. However, they do not play. You see them in the list, they open to fullscreen when you try to play them, but no sound and no picture.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you want me to do any other tests.
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chriswale

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Just to mention. The WTV files are big (30MB per minute fair quality / 70MB per minute best quality).

I am going to compress and convert these Media Center recordings using (WTV to AVI). However, when converted the metadata tags are lost  :'( and this information needs to be inserted manually.

>:( I cannot find a way in which to compress WTV or DVR-MS files without losing the meta-data tags.
Any help here would be appreciated. Alternatively, I could consider using JRiver to record TV, but I have struggled (a lot) to set this up in the past.  

  • Windows Media Center is perfect for recording TV.
  • JRiver is perfect for cateloging the recordings.
  • It would be perfect if I could find a tool that compresses the WTV files into a format the JRiver is compatible with (AND most importantly, keep the metadata!).

If there is a tool out there which can maintain the original WTV container format for a file (complete with metadata) but strip out MPEG2 and reinsert H264 compressed data - I'd be really interested...
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Yaobing

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i did your test. Yes, you can then import the WTV files. However, they do not play. You see them in the list, they open to fullscreen when you try to play them, but no sound and no picture.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you want me to do any other tests.

Are they imported as Video?

Tools > Options > File Types

Find wtv type and choose "JRiver Video Engine (using DirectShow)" for Playback Method, and select filters (if you know what to choose).
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Yaobing Deng, JRiver Media Center

chriswale

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I changed the file types settings as you requested. The WTV files still do not play.
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