How to convert .wtv files

My first step into this forum ...

I am pretty late to the party but with out looking or asking I went after this question trying to edit a recorded automobile race. First I found that by right clicking on the "wtv" file that Media Center had recorded, I got an option to convert it to good old "dvr-ms"- which went pretty quickly but the file size increased some (??) - I was really trying to get to "avi" in as few steps as possible to minimize video quality loss - with out buying a converter, I got to "wmv" by just opening and saving in the new Windows Live Movie Maker and then after Adobe (PRE 7) totally would not touch this very large file I went in to -are you ready - Roxio Creator 2010 and got it done - out put to 2 "mpg" files and burned to 2 DVDs. This is not really a satisfactory process as the recompression x4 really reduced the video quality. Guess I will give in and try downloading something - really want to get from "WTV" to "avi" in one step to control the recompressing ... you can prevent additional recompression when editing with "avi" in PRE...

W7 convert from wtv to dvr-ms is identical file size.
I convert to dvr-ms and use Video redo to cut, and AGK to scale when necessary, but these days, I rarely scale anything as HDD are so cheap.

After a few hours trying to solve this problem, i just gave up and decided to rename the file extension, firstly i tried .avi, .mpg .vob however windows media player had issues with all of them, so i tried vista's alternative .dvr-ms and what do you know windows media plays it, as does windows media center so, what i can figure mcebuddy will convert it too, so go on give it a try.

I noticed MCEBuddy have released version 1.1 in both i386 and x64 as well as version 2.0beta(no gui) which claims to support wtv, i haven't had time to try this yet maybe you can?

FYI - Down loaded trial versions of both "Movari" and "AVS" video converter software and neither will take "wtv" to 'avi" -actually they will not even open "wtv" - Tech support at Movari are working the question and promise a reply...
Movari had me go thru the renaming of the "wtv" file to and an "avi" file that did nothing.........
Movari also had me down load a pack of Codecs which did not help but did seem to effect recording/playback of an "avi" file - playback would freeze until "fast forward" was hit followed by "play" -file would then play for about 15 secs before freezing again... Uninstalled the new Codecs and recorded again and all is well.... ?
K

Can confirm now that neither AVS or Movavi caill not covert ... their tech support confirmed. Will try above next -here's hoping

Need to correct my last. Movari will not do the convertion but apparently AVS will if you down load the specific "wtv to avi" converter. I down loaded the entire AVS coverter program and it would not open wtv -but the indivigual converter did work. The trial version has file size restrictions that apparently go away if you buy it ..

If in Windows 7, right click the file and click "Convert to DVR-MS format".

Then, you can use Handbrake to convert them to just about any format known to man. And best of all, Handbrake is free.

Worked for me!

mikecito said:

If in Windows 7, right click the file and click "Convert to DVR-MS format".

Then, you can use Handbrake to convert them to just about any format known to man. And best of all, Handbrake is free.

Worked for me!

Yep, but WMC must be set as your default media player.....u can also use video redo.