Just got my Plex DVR setup yesterday and started recording shows. Unfortunately, the shows that are recorded are not really watchable through my Apple TV because the computer can’t transcode them fast enough. I’m trying to figure out what the best solution is. Maybe somebody here can lead me in the right direction. Here’s some info:
- The TV card is the Hauppauge quadHD
- Files are stored in the ts format (I thought I read it was supposed to be mkv, but I don’t think that really matters for my problem)
- They are recorded as mpeg2
- I would like to keep the full 1080p quality that they are recorded at. Storage space is not a concern.
- I currently have all of my movies ripped using MakeMKV, without any transcoding, and don’t have any problems streaming them. Plex says the format for them is H.264.
What I would like to do, obviously, is convert the format of the videos to H.264 without downgrading the quality or resolution. I played around with Handbrake a bit tonight but it was taking way too long to transcode just a single 30 minutes TV show (close to 90 minutes, I think).
It could be due to my 3 year old computer (Intel Core i5-4460), but I’m not sure. It’s probably just me not understanding the different settings and what I need to do to accomplish my goals.
I also looked at MCEBuddy today but since there’s no longer a free version I’d like to look at just using a post processing script to with Handbrake and Comskip by myself without paying for MCEBuddy. I did try the old free version but it wouldn’t let me save any configurations. It kept giving me an error, so I abandoned that idea.
Can anybody help me out or help me find a link with any answers?
…or tell me I’m totally looking in the wrong direction?
The HDHomeRun Extend will transcode to H.264 before it gets to Plex. Cuts out a lot of work. I’m using an i5 2014 MacMini as my Plex server. Haven’t had any problems with watching on iPad, Web Client or Roku Ultra. Downside is that it’s only got two tuners.
I started with mcebuddy 2.3.13 which is still free. Set it up to monitor a folder and it should find your files to convert and start conversions. I use a profile of MP4 Unprocessed within mcebuddy. That gives me a transcoded version from the incoming ts file to an mp4 file that the Apple TV should be able to handle. I have since upgraded to the paid version. There are other threads on the forum discussing setting up post processing scripts. Since you mentioned mcebuddy and are running Windows there is also one where a user is setting up a PowerShell script to handle it all.
Edit: forgot to ad link to download site for mcebuddy 2.3.13 if you needed it: https://mcebuddy2x.codeplex.com/releases/view/105099
I tried installing mcebuddy again and it actually worked this time. Not sure what the problem was last time, but it’s working now.
I don’t see a profile for “MP4 Unprocessed”. I only see “TS Unprocessed” or “WTV Unprocessed”. Pretty sure I don’t want either of those. I did run it through with “MKV Normal Quality” but it took over an hour to process a 30 minute tv show. There’s gotta be a faster way to do it. Or, like I said, maybe it is my slow computer. Maybe MP4 Unprocessed is only on the pay version?
My other concern was that it shrunk the size from 2GB to 340MB. Obviously a loss of quality. I’m hoping to figure out how to do this with no loss of quality.
The unprocessed should give you a file much closer to the original quality. The MP4 Unprocessed may only be in the paid version, in the version I am running it is right below the MKV Unprocessed and TS Unprocessed options. If your Apple TV is playing DVD’s ripped with MakeMKV I would think you should be able to play TV Shows using the MKV Unprocessed. The Normal, Fast, and High Quality do alter the files and take a longer time to process than the Unprocessed options. I was using MP4 Normal initially and was seeing times about like you were seeing. Now using MP4 Unprocessed I am seeing 2-18 minutes from the time the recording finishes to mcebuddy done removing commercials and converting to MP4 and putting file in my library.
Typical times based on quality and length:
30 minute SD show might take 2-3 minutes
60 minute SD 4-6 minutes
30 minute HD 6-9 minutes
HD 60 minutes typically 9-11, have seen some 1080 HD shows taking up to 18 minutes to process.
That sounds like exactly what I want. I did just do some quick search on running ffmpeg from command line (since that’s what mcebddy is essentially doing) and I think I should be able to do it that way. I just need to figure out the right command line settings, but at least now I know what I’m looking for.
If it comes down to it I’ll probably have to spend the money on mcebuddy. At least that way I won’t have to maintain my own conversion scripts.
That’s the kind of help I was looking for. Thank you so much!
You’re welcome. There are others on the forum that are running the free version of mcebuddy as well I’m sure. Play with it a while before paying. If you do decide to pay for it you probably will want to pay for Comskip as well.
@johnm_ColaSC said:
You’re welcome. There are others on the forum that are running the free version of mcebuddy as well I’m sure. Play with it a while before paying. If you do decide to pay for it you probably will want to pay for Comskip as well.
I’d like to test something and I’m wondering if you could help me out. Since the “MP4 Unprocessed” profile only appears to be available on the donator version of the software I can’t test if it will actually work for me before I pay.
Would you be able to send me your profiles.conf file? That’s where the definitions for each of the profiles is stored. It can be found at C:\Program Files\MCEBuddy2x\config\profiles.conf. There’s no personal information in there, I’m just curious to see what the settings are for the MP4 Unprocessed.
@PilotC150 said:
Would you be able to send me your profiles.conf file? That’s where the definitions for each of the profiles is stored. It can be found at C:\Program Files\MCEBuddy2x\config\profiles.conf. There’s no personal information in there, I’m just curious to see what the settings are for the MP4 Unprocessed.
This is the relevant section from the config file
[MP4 Unprocessed]
Description=Very fast but limited functionality. Use this profile if the original video has H.264/MPEG video and you want to remove the commercials and convert the file format to MP4 (e.g. WTV to MP4) without any additional processing (deinterlace, resizing, volume, cropping etc). It will copy the original video and audio and put it into a MP4 format unaltered in quality.
order=ffmpeg
ffmpeg-general=-threads 0
ffmpeg-video=-ss 3 -vcodec copy -sn
ffmpeg-audio=-acodec copy
ffmpeg-audioac3=-acodec copy
ffmpeg-ext=.mp4
ffmpeg-audiodelay=skip
PreConversionCommercialRemover=true
FixedResolution=true
SkipCropping=true
AutoDeinterlace=false
