Cinelerra, high def MPEG from TiVo, slicing out a clip, creating DVD and portable versions

[Ben Scott]

SCENARIO

  I have a one hour, high-definition news program, recorded on my TiVo
Series 3.  It is roughly 8 GB in size.  I want to extract a short
segment from that file -- maybe 5 minutes.  Ideally, I'd do this part
with no loss of quality from re-encoding the compressed stream, but
I'm willing to take a hit if I have to.  I then want to do two things
with the clip: (1) Produce a DVD-Video disc which will play in most
typical DVD players.  (2) Produce a "portable version" which is of
more suitable file size, and which will play "out of the box" on most
MS Windows systems (and ideally other systems).  Obviously I'll take a
quality hit downscaling and re-encoding for these two things.

  I have never this before.  I've never even used video editor
software before, nor have I made a DVD, nor have I successfully
re-encoded a video file.

ENVIRONMENT

Tivo Series 3
Comcast digital cable TV w/ CableCARDs
Dell Precision 380
  1 GB main RAM
  2.8 GHz Pentium D
  320 GB SATA disk
  nVidia GeForce 8600 GT 256 MB PCI-Express 16X
Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex"
  Linux kernel 2.6.27-11-generic
  glibc 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu9
  avidemux 1:2.4.3-0.0ubuntu1
  mplayer 2:1.0~rc2-0ubuntu17
  totem 2.24.3-0ubuntu1
  xine-ui 0.99.5+cvs20070914-2
  X.org 1.5.2
    NVidia driver 177.82 (Ubuntu package)
Cinelerra Community Version, cinelerracv-smp 2.1.1-git20090201akirad3

PROGRESS

  I have been able to copy the encrypted TiVo file to my PC via HTTP.
I have used "tivodecode" to decrypt.

  The file(1) command calls it "MPEG sequence, v2, program multiplex".

 It plays in mplayer, Totem, and Xine.  VLC seems to load it, but then
doesn't actually play anything.  It plays it on the Windows side of my
computer, though, so I think this might be my configuration in Ubuntu
or something.

mplayer's text output includes the remarks:

	MPEG-PS file format detected.
	VIDEO: MPEG2  1920x1080  (aspect 3)  29.970 fps  19000.0 kbps (2375.0 kbyte/s)
	AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 384.0 kbit/25.00% (ratio: 48000->192000)

PROBLEMS

>> avidemux <<

  avidemux will attempt to load it, if I let it create an index when
prompted.  Takes about 3 minutes.  If I attempt to play it, I get a
GUI message "Trouble initializing audio device", and xterm message
"Error setting format" (twice).  If I click OK, it will play without
audio.  Appears slightly "jerky".  If I go into prefs and change from
ALSA to OSS, I can get audio that is very choppy and broken up, and
appears to cause additional video "jerkyness".  Same if I start
PulseAudio and try that.

  I can select start and end points, and "Save" them to a new file.
New file will play as before, with audio, even.  However, it seems to
loose the ability to move forward/backwards in the video -- players
either refuse the option, or crash.  mplayer output includes:

	Badly interleaved AVI file detected - switching to -ni mode...
	AVI: Missing video stream!? Contact the author, it may be a bug :(

>> Cinelerra <<

  Cinelerra will load it.  Takes several minutes.  Almost immediately
at load start, the message "/pub/foo.mpeg: Value too large for defined
data type" appears in my xterm.  Eventually, an icon appears in the
"Resources" window.  Looks like a faintly yellow piece of paper with a
cyan blue speaker on it.  Asking for "Info" on the file shows me a
bitrate of 8,042,758,476 bit/sec, which is also the file size in
bytes.  That seems wrong.  :)  It also says that it has six audio
channels of "Unknown" bits and "0" (zero) header length.

  If I double-click the icon, the file name appears in the viewer
window, but nothing else happens.  The counter doesn't advance, and I
get no audio or video.

  Based on a remark in the Cinelerra docs, I tried running "mpeg3toc".
 Created a ".toc" output file of about 3 MB.  Takes about ten minutes.
 Tried loading that in the Cinelerra GUI.  Almost the same results.
Differences: No "value too large" message, file bitrate is 6350
bit/sec.

  I haven't even got to creating DVD or portable versions yet.

  Help, please.  :)

  advTHANKSance