Andy over at DVRMS toolbox just released to early access members a new todvrms profile that will take H264 files with AC3 and remux it into WTV. 

 

Which means Full fast foward\ rewind!

Full support on 360 extenders

The end to 30 seconds skips!

No more MPEG4 to MPEG2(DVRMS) for files

H264 content is being remuxed to WTV so it only takes a few minutes per file.

 

I am hoping we can eventually get multiple audio streams and subtitles since WTV supports that to.

 

Thanks Andy you are awesome.

PS I know the famous Ben Drawbaugh is updating his profiles so we can get embedded Meta Data in TV Show files!

 sounds good....  that said is there any mention of the audio side of things (if dd+ is really supported) would be nice to take those dts streams in most mkv files to dd+.

So I have a ton of 20-30gig Bluray MKV rips, would this convert those to WTV files with no quality lose which I could then stream to my extender?

 I don't think anytime soon, check out this thread ---> HERE

 

Basically when MS did HD-DVD (VC-1) on the 360 they off loaded 95% of the codec to the 3 core CPU in the 360 not the GPU (Aka very specialized code).  When you try to play a full bit rate Bluray rip on a 360 it will play but you will get stuttering every 10-15 seconds.  My guess is that when the 360 is in Media Center it is using some generic codec that is not specialized enough to handle extremely high bit rates like in HD-DVD(VC-1) or Bluray rips. 

My hope would be someday that MS would take the specialled HD-DVD(VC-1) found in the dashboard and adapt the codec for Media Center portion of the 360.

I am also assuming the Bluray rip is in AC3 not a loseless format.

Article about HD-DVD software on 360.

 

 

 

alton987:

 I don't think anytime soon, check out this thread ---> HERE

 

Basically when MS did HD-DVD (VC-1) on the 360 they off loaded 95% of the codec to the 3 core CPU in the 360 not the GPU (Aka very specialized code).  When you try to play a full bit rate Bluray rip on a 360 it will play but you will get stuttering every 10-15 seconds.  My guess is that when the 360 is in Media Center it is using some generic codec that is not specialized enough to handle extremely high bit rates like in HD-DVD(VC-1) or Bluray rips. 

My hope would be someday that MS would take the specialled HD-DVD(VC-1) found in the dashboard and adapt the codec for Media Center portion of the 360.

I am also assuming the Bluray rip is in AC3 not a loseless format.

Article about HD-DVD software on 360.

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone here from MS like to confirm this or tell me I am a idiot?

Microsoft has got to love how excited we are to lock ourselves into a proprietary format rather than them having to support the superior and open one, huh?

jhoff81:

Microsoft has got to love how excited we are to lock ourselves into a proprietary format rather than them having to support the superior and open one, huh?

I could care less about the wtv format itself, I just want what ever format is going to give me and my family the best user experince...

alton987:

jhoff81:

Microsoft has got to love how excited we are to lock ourselves into a proprietary format rather than them having to support the superior and open one, huh?

I could care less about the wtv format itself, I just want what ever format is going to give me and my family the best user experince...

 

well said.

Well, dvr-ms and wtv aren't that bad. It's just a wrapper for other formats, it not like it's completely proprietary. Plus, they have to have something that they can protect TV shows with or there'd be no hope of any premium content/cable cards.

 Pardon my ignorance here... will this allow me to take an .avi and convert it to .wtv in a single step? I sure hope so... sick of not having FF/RW on most of my ripped content. Thanks!

 Example MediaInfo:

Format                           : AVI
Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
File size                        : 701 MiB
Duration                         : 1h 34mn
Overall bit rate                 : 1 042 Kbps
Writing application              : Nandub v1.0rc2
Writing library                  : Nandub build 1853/release

Video
ID                               : 0
Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                   : AdvancedSimple@L5
Format settings, BVOP            : Yes
Format settings, QPel            : No
Format settings, GMC             : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix          : Default (H.263)
Muxing mode                      : Packed bitstream
Codec ID                         : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                    : XviD
Duration                         : 1h 34mn
Bit rate                         : 899 Kbps
Width                            : 624 pixels
Height                           : 352 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.137
Stream size                      : 605 MiB (86%)
Writing library                  : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04)

Audio
ID                               : 1
Format                           : MPEG Audio
Format version                   : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 3
Codec ID                         : 55
Codec ID/Hint                    : MP3
Duration                         : 1h 34mn
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 86.5 MiB (12%)
Alignment                        : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration             : 24 ms (0.72 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration     : 486 ms

 Not bad in and of itself, no.  I'm fine with it for recorded TV too.  But by switching to a Microsoft standard for all other files you might have, you're pretty much locking yourself in to Microsoft for life.  Years down the line if you want to use some Linux based media program that maybe has closed the gap, or something along those lines, then you have to go back and remux all of your files back to a non-Microsoft format, which as your collection builds over the years gets less and less likely.

I realize that it's useful that WTV does what we need now, but for future-proofing it'd be much better if MKV was supported natively or if M2TS support wasn't so horrid.  But, Microsoft probably doesn't want to devote resources to that, and they get the added benefit that I mentioned before of locking you in forever.

Thing is... in several years the content will probably be in another new format. I don't mind locking myself into a format for all the reasons listed. I want ease of use and metadata... Andy gives that.

 I have been waiting for this so so long! It works a treat!

Thanks so much Andy.

 Now that we have

 

MPEG2 (HD+AC3) --> DVRMS via container change

H264 (HD+AC3)--->  WTV via container change

 

Anyone know a easy way to get divx\xvid to H264?  I don't think you can put divx\xvid in a wtv container.

Has anyone tried with with a full HDDVD/blu-ray rip? Or is the bitrate still to high?

I'm just starting to rip my HD movies, and would like to keep them at full quality if possible, although I will compress a little if I have to.