VLC Media Player Mpeg file issues

Hey,
I'm using a QuickStick DVB-T setup here. It came bundled with some DVB-Tplayer software that lets me capture streams directly into MPG files, but I've hit a wall. I need a way to trim these files and burn them onto a DVD so they actually work in a standalone player. I tried messing around with VirtualDub, but that was a total bust—I just keep getting this error: "Mpeg import filter: invalid pack at position 3: marker bit not set; possibly MPG-2 stream"
Anyone got a solution?

I usually prefer just figuring things out on my own, but if anyone else is stuck on this, I stumbled upon MPEG2Cut-1.15 and it’s actually a pretty decent, straightforward little tool.

Now, I was going to ask what else I’d need to burn that MPEG onto a DVD, but honestly, I’m starting to wonder if there’s even any point in doing that at all.

So, how are you feeling about that QuickStick? I’m actually planning on pulling the trigger and grabbing one tomorrow—at least, that’s what they were hinting at over at Microsoft.

Hardware-wise, I’m absolutely stoked—I managed to pull in all four channels (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) perfectly using just my indoor antenna. Given how much these cards usually run you for, I honestly think this was a total steal.
On the software front, though, I’m not exactly jumping for joy; I still need to dig around a bit more to find the right tools so I can easily record shows, cut out the commercials, and burn everything onto a DVD

Charles Hill78 said:I was actually going to ask what I'd need to burn that MPEG onto a DVD, though I'm not sure if it's even worth the effort.

I usually just use Adobe Premiere for that.
It's straightforward and easy to navigate.
You can grab a trial version to test it out, but you'll have to source the full version on your own if you want to commit.
http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/index.html

Charles Hill78 said:The hardware is solid. I'm picking up all four major networks—ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC—perfectly with just my indoor antenna. Given how pricey these cards usually are, this one feels like a genuine bargain.
On the software side, things are a bit underwhelming. I still need to hunt down some better tools if I want to handle basic tasks like recording shows, trimming out commercials, and burning them to a DVD.

I’m using a standard TV tuner card and rely on Windows Media Player for my recordings. It works great for me; it captures directly into MPEG DVD format. To cut out the ads, I just use mpeg-vcr.
For the final authoring, I use Adobe Premiere.
My only question is regarding satellite streams—specifically that transport MPEG format—whether I can follow the exact same workflow.
Once I pick up a satellite card, I'll give it a shot.

Joseph Peterson5 said:So, how are you liking that stick? I’m planning on picking one up the day after tomorrow—at least that’s what they’re claiming over at Microsoft.

Joseph Peterson5, did you end up grabbing it yet?
Has anyone actually tracked down some better software?

So, I picked up the Quickstick and honestly, I’m pretty stoked with it. As far as the software goes, I’ve just been sticking to the stuff that came bundled with the stick itself; for now, I don't really see what the big deal is. It gets the job done better than I expected—I just hit the R key and it starts recording.
I did try messing around with some other programs to see if I could switch things up, but none of them would even recognize the thing as a capture device. At this point, I'm kind of at a loss on how to force it to play nice with anything else.

If you just need to do some cutting, Video Redo is honestly the way to go—it’s a killer program.🙏🙏 You’ve also got Adobe Premiere, which is really solid.

As for authoring, you can't beat DVD Studio Pro—it's easily the most powerful tool out there.🙏🙏🙏

It seems you're still hanging around, Jose Chase2. Tell me, do you happen to know why TMPGEnc DVD Author keeps stripping out the subtitles when I try to compile two or more movies processed through DVD Studio Pro? It’s as if the elementary stream just vanishes into thin air during the process.

I guess I’d ask what it actually takes to burn that MPEG onto a DVD.

I use Quickstick too, so here’s my take on it:

To make a DVD from a recorded MPG file, I usually just use DVD Maker Free (there's a pro version too), which gets the job done well enough since it doesn't cost anything.

The software that comes with the stick is fine, though I find I have to set the DVB-T player priority to "above normal" or "high" in Task Manager just to prevent the video from stuttering—it eats up a fair amount of CPU.

That little antenna it comes with is pretty much useless, honestly. It has a magnet on the base, so it works slightly better if you stick it to a big piece of metal like a PC case, but for decent reception, you probably need a standard outdoor antenna or at least a decent indoor one. Then everything works okay, I suppose.

Brian Kim86 said:The software bundled with the stick is decent enough, though I usually jump into Task Manager and crank the DVB-T player's priority up to "above normal" or even "high" just to stop the video from stuttering—it eats up a hell of a lot of CPU cycles.

Man, thanks for the heads-up on this forum about tweaking those priorities. I was getting all sorts of annoying frame drops and laggy playback before, but once I set the process to high, everything’s been running smooth as silk.

Joseph Peterson5 said:You really nailed it with those tips about changing priorities on this forum, because my image was stuttering all over the place, but now everything runs smooth as silk since I set the process to high.

Which processor are we talking about here? I’m running an Athlon XP 2600 and I don't have any stuttering issues, though I did run into some digital artifacts a handful of times.
Brian Kim86, thanks, I'll take a look at DVD Maker Free.

I'm running an AMD Athlon XP with 512MB of RAM, though I’ve got a bit of a bottleneck situation on my end—the video stick is plugged into a dedicated USB 2.0 card because the motherboard itself is stuck on the ancient USB 1.1 standard (it's an old Soltek 75DRV4 setup).
But honestly, once I figured out the little trick of bumping up the process priority in Task Manager, everything started running smooth as silk.

Brian Kim86 said:The software that comes bundled with the stick is decent enough, though I usually jump into Task Manager and set the DVB-T player priority to "above normal" or "high" just to stop the picture from stuttering—it definitely eats up some CPU cycles.

Yeah, I have to do the same thing because whenever I try scrolling with my mouse, everything starts lagging... not really sure why, honestly. You can actually make a shortcut for this:
%windir%\system32\cmd.exe "C:\Program Files\DTV\DVB-T USB 2.0" /c START "runhigh" /HIGH "C:\Program Files\DTV\DVB-T USB 2.0\DVB-Tplayer.exe"

And then it should just launch on high automatically.

It works great, just don't go clicking all over the place with the remote control while it's running!🙂

Anyway, the stick is 👍 , and I'm running it through a rooftop antenna without any amplifiers (amplifiers actually tend to mess with the signal for me), and the picture looks awesome. The signal could be a bit stronger, though; mine shows:
RF POWER: -69.00
RF QUALITY: 23.00

Oh, and there's no Electronic Program Guide included.

The Electronic Program Guide isn't an option because I'm pretty sure our local US stations don't even support that kind of data yet.

You could give Phazer a shot—it works okay enough around here, I guess.

Just a quick heads-up for anyone watching digital TV over in the coastal areas near San Diego or up towards the North Bay:
NIT just flipped the switch to digital broadcasting a couple of days ago, making them the first local station in the US to make the jump. Now you can catch them just as easily as those other four channels that already went digital.

I don't want to clutter things up with a new thread, so I'll just jump in here.

So, I recently picked up a Yakumo Quickstick DVB-T tuner, and honestly, it’s a pretty sweet little device! But I’ve run into one annoying snag. It picked up all the local channels perfectly fine—you know, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX—but the PBS station is driving me crazy. The picture and audio both stutter constantly, and then after about 30 seconds, the video just freezes completely while the audio keeps playing normally...
Everything else works flawlessly. As for my setup, I’m hooked up to the building's main outdoor antenna. Do you think I’d have better luck grabbing a small indoor antenna just to test things out?
Or am I looking at a hardware glitch somewhere else?

The broadcast tower is definitely within line-of-sight.