Export PlayTV recorded video from PlayStation 3
Export PlayTV recorded video from PlayStation 3
DVB-T DVD Freeview MPEG-2 MythTV PlayStation 3 PlayTV Project-X PVR

I am just about to clean up and convert another batch of programmes I have recorded from Freeview (DVB-T in the UK) so that I can add them to my DLNA Server. I thought I’d share the method I use on Ubuntu.

By clean up, I mean edit out any adverts and trim crap from the start and the end of the recordings. It just so happens that the result of this process is a DVD compliant MPEG-2 which is suitable for DVD authoring, or in my case, streaming around the house. This method of conversion should work for any DVB PVR which allows you to export recordings via USB and, of course, MythTV or similar.

DVB Ripping

I have a PlayTV add-on for the PlayStation 3 which enables me to record Freeview (DVB-T) broadcasts to the PS3 internal hard disk. I mostly use PlayTV to record films. To prevent the PlayStation 3 hard disk filling up with films I wanted to export, edit out any adverts and then serve the edited file from my DLNA server or author it to DVD.

This process does not re-encode the audio or video therefore it is fairly quick and the output is the same quality as the input.

Although I am using a PlayStation 3 as PVR and MPEG-2 TS (Transport Stream) file can be converted to a MPEG-2 PS (Program Stream) file using this process.

Export from PlayStation 3

PlayTV to Home Menu

First we need to move the recording from the PlayTV Library to the PS3 Home Menu. Start PlayTV, open the Library, select the recording and choose the Move to Home Menu option.

Copy from Home Menu to External USB

  • Quit PlayTV
  • Plug in an external (FAT32 formatted) USB drive to the PS3.
  • Go to Video on the PS3 Home Menu and select the recording you moved there earlier.
  • Select Copy from the Options screen and choose the external USB drive as the target.

Clean MPEG-2 TS and convert to MPEG-2 PS

Plug the USB drive into your Ubuntu workstation and copy the .m2ts file to your hard disk.

You will need to Project X to clean the MPEG-2 TS and convert it to MPEG-2 PS.

apt-get install project-x

Edit out the adverts

Start the Project X GUI and load your .m2ts file.

  • File -> Add and select your .m2ts file.

Now use Project X to add cut points to edit out any adverts.

De-multiplex the audio and video

When you have completed your edits you need to ‘demux’ the .m2ts file into two streams, one holding the audio (.mp2) and one holding the video (.m2v).

  • Click the Prepare >> button.
  • From the Process Window select the Action type to M2P
  • Click the start button and wait for the processing to finish.
  • Clock the ‘‘Process Windows’’ and quit Project X.

Re-multiplex the audio and video

The reason for the de-mux and then re-musing it to ensure the timecodes are correct, other the video will not playback correctly.

Install MJPEG tools.

apt-get install mjpegtools

Now we need to re-multiplex the audio and video to create a DVD compliant MPEG-2 PS file.

mplex -f 8 -o muxed-%d.mpg audio.mp2 video.m2v

The -f 8 option specifies a dvd-compliant stream that is compatible with dvdauthor. The -o option specifies the outfile, you can substitute muxed-%d.mpg with a more descriptive name if you like. %d is expanded to a number if mplex decides to split the output to several files, this usually happens when the recording contains commercials and is nothing to worry about.

Author DVD

The MPEG-2 PS file that has been created should be suitable for DVD authoring using DeVeDe. When adding MPEG-2 PS files created using the method above open the DeVeDe Advanced options and select This file is already a DVD/xCD-suitable MPEG-PS file in the Misc menu.

References

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