How to convert .wtv files

[Token]

Okay.... I like to rip my DVDs to MP4 and watch them on my Blackberry during my idle moments away from home.. An earlier message here recommended the WTV To MP4 converter, available at this site:

Free WTV to MP4 Converter Download

The bad news is that it's shareware and costs US$29.50. The good news is that it does a beautiful job of converting WTV to a 480 pixel wide display that plays perfectly on my 9700 Blackberry. I haven't yet experimented with editing out commercials, but so far, so good. This may not be the exact application the originator of this thread was considering, but I would guess that the authors of this software might have an answer for him.

 

[ashj258]

NEW FFMPEG GUI With WTV Support

Hi there everyone, I am the developer of a program called ffmpeg gui (but it has wtv support). my website: www.cabridetrainsim.zoomshare.com

I would just like to let people that you can download my FREE ffmpeg gui with wtv support from my website, I am up to Version 2.64 now - so most bugs are gone.

There is also free tech support via my site, I also have a program called wtv2dvr-ms - which again is free to download and use. however the ffmpeg gui is the one I would reccomend more.

It works on xp/vista/w7 but you must use windows 7 to convert wtv files.

 

[Videomonkey]

Converting .wtv files

Hi guys, newbie online here, just purchased new pc, Acer Aspire AX3300, 1tb hard drive, quad core amd processor, 4gb ram, hdmi output. Have noticed many people concerned about converting video files. I can only quote from personal experience, but I do the following:

Record to the native .wtv format using Windows Media Centre
Right click the resulting file to convert to dvr-ms
Use Tmpgenc Xpress 4, to edit the file to almost ANY desired format such as xvid, divx, dvd compatible mpeg, whatever. This prog rocks, in that, with a little learning curve, it will remove unwanted protions i.e. commercials, deinterlace where necessary, change frame sizes (user defined), and specify files sizes, again user defined. Then specify output location, click output, then go and have a cuppa or whatever.

May be a bit long winded but, it works and I have had NO failures using this procedure yet.

Hope this helps anyone out there

 

[BashirSabeel]

You can import .wtv files into Windows Movie Maker, I have the Vista Movie maker on Windows 7 64 bit and I do this all the time if I want to keep a movie.

 

[gigapig]

This may be easily overlooked, as I've spent over an hour searching for software to convert .WTF to Divx or whatever, but I had the software/hardware already.
Owners of modern ATI GPU's can use the Avivo software which after downloading it can be accessed from the catalyst control centre.
Loads of outputs are available including 1080p H.264, ipod, VCD, DVD etc.
I've just converted a 1 hour program to Divx to play on my LG BD player.

Hope this helps.

By the way, I have a Sapphire 4850x2 GPU.

 

[pdog1]

win 7 ultimate wtv convert

If you have win 7 ultimate all you have to do is right click the wtv file and click 'convert to dvrms'. Microsoft built it in. i was surprised. then you can use any free converter on it.

 

[Mute]

AutoMate

small batch file 4 .wtv conversion 2 dvrms

PATH C:\WINDOWS\EHOME
E:
CD RECORDED TV
MOVE *.* E:\RECORD
WTVCONVERTER E:\RECORD\*.WTV /SHOWUI
DEL E:\RECORD\*.WTV /F/Q

naturally you will have to change to were your files are located.
no more right clicking, and is much faster.
I then add to task scheduler to run automated.
after I run Lifextender to remove commercials automated.
Then I turn to HandBrake to down size files, I use .m4v, but there are many option
and WIN 7 Media Center will play this files.

 

[limodune]

Why not just right click the wtv file and then 'convert to dv-rms'

 

[Mute]

You can

I just find it easier running through a batch file for conversion .wtv > .dvrms
I add the batch file to my Task Scheduling, to run once a day.
This converts all .wtv files to .dvrms in My TV Recording folder, with no interaction from me. Then I have Lifextenter set up to scan My TV Recording folder for .dvrms files, which removes all commercials. Then I watch commercial free TV at my leisure, using MS Media Center. Then there's the right click factor, I do not have to right click every file I want converted, it just does it, and somewhat faster.

 

[princechort]

ok guys. I've just finished converting. First convert .wtv to .dvrms with right click and then use free FormatFactory. Hope it will help.

 

[tophy]

have you spotted the right-click context menu entry to perform this?

Windows 7 is using the .wtv file format for recorded TV.
Does anybody know (preferably free) tools to convert these files to for example .avi ?
In the past I used the dvr-ms converter, however this is not a free tool... and I hate to have to pay again for a new tool

So I know this because since changing from Vista to Windows 7 I noticed that native wmc capture changed from DVRMS to .wtv . I had already had all the trouble of finding a DVRMS converter (i convert to WAV only for audio stuff) and searched as you are doing but one day I just happend to right click on a .wtv file in Windows 7 and there is a context menu entry just for the purpose of converting .wtv to DVRMS - no external programs needed.

Rather late a solution for you I suspect but I hope it helps someone else.
So to recap: right-click on your .wtv file in Windows 7 and you'll see just under "Add to Windows Media Player list" an entry labelled "Convert to .dvr-ms Format".

 

[WonkyGibbon]

Bat files for converting wtv to dvr-ms and mpeg

Hi There,

Personally I agree with Mute. I like the idea of just having a scheduled batch job that kicks off over night and transforms the wtv files to dvr-ms. Not least beacuse they're that much smaller and my hard drive goes that much further but also cos the process is then pretty lightweight.

The batch files themselves were a bit of a chore 'cos they used the DOS 'for' loop command which is something of a pig! DOS scripting is just so esoteric. Anyway you can find them here on my site:
Batch Convert WTV files to DVRMS and MPEG | Wonky Gibbon Ramblings

Thanks,

WG

 

[azaraith]

Hey all,

Not sure if this is helpful, but you can easily convert the .wtv files to another format by using Windows Live Movie Maker, though it may be a little slow and obviously can't do batches... I use it to get rid of commercials and put out a high-quality .wmv file on shows I follow (rather than later spending $50+ to buy the series...)

 

[sawbuck]

Hey all,

Not sure if this is helpful, but you can easily convert the .wtv files to another format by using Windows Live Movie Maker, though it may be a little slow and obviously can't do batches... I use it to get rid of commercials and put out a high-quality .wmv file on shows I follow (rather than later spending $50+ to buy the series...)

Hi,

I've been toying around with W7 recorded .wtv files looking for a quick way to get rid of the commercials too and after reading your post I tried the WLMM app to get rid of the commercials. However, after spending a bit of time editing and deleting commercioals, I lost the edits when I tried to save the file in a "720p HD convert" porcess. The progress bar was still dead after ~20 min and required a reboot to clear the screen. How do you do it, if I may ask?

 

[Orpheous]

You can set up MCEBuddy to convert your .wtv files to a schedule, into various preset formats.
I've just installed it and it seems to do the job fairly well, although it didn't manage to automatically remove the ads (as advertised). Bear in mind that the source files themselves won't be converted.

 

[sawbuck]

You can set up MCEBuddy to convert your .wtv files to a schedule, into various preset formats.
I've just installed it and it seems to do the job fairly well, although it didn't manage to automatically remove the ads (as advertised). Bear in mind that the source files themselves won't be converted.

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out first chance I get. 'Ad' removal is a highly desired feature for archiving shows. Hope a tweak can be found to include.

 

[Orpheous]

You can set up MCEBuddy to convert your .wtv files to a schedule, into various preset formats.
I've just installed it and it seems to do the job fairly well, although it didn't manage to automatically remove the ads (as advertised). Bear in mind that the source files themselves won't be converted.

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out first chance I get. 'Ad' removal is a highly desired feature for archiving shows. Hope a tweak can be found to include.

Ok, I've had a little more time to play with MCEBuddy, and it has varying success rates with different TV shows. I first tested it with ET, and it failed to remove 5 out of 6 ad breaks. However, subsequent testing proved more reliable so perhaps it was more due to ET's editorial style (I never watch it, it was just on at the time lol).

I have MCEBuddy set to run in the background and periodically scan for newly recorded tv shows in the WMC Recorded TV folder. It won't convert the original file, but makes a converted copy of the file in the location of your choice. From my initial trials it does a reasonable job of converting to (the default) .mp4 format.

What I haven't worked out just yet is how to get WMC to regularly (read: immediately) scan the destination folder and include the converted files into the media library. I've added the folder in tasks-settings-media libraries, but the files don't show up. So at the moment I have to browse to the converted files in explorer to play the converted tv shows... Anyone else had any luck with importing/indexing these converted files?

 

[azaraith]

Hey all,

Not sure if this is helpful, but you can easily convert the .wtv files to another format by using Windows Live Movie Maker, though it may be a little slow and obviously can't do batches... I use it to get rid of commercials and put out a high-quality .wmv file on shows I follow (rather than later spending $50+ to buy the series...)

Hi,

I've been toying around with W7 recorded .wtv files looking for a quick way to get rid of the commercials too and after reading your post I tried the WLMM app to get rid of the commercials. However, after spending a bit of time editing and deleting commercioals, I lost the edits when I tried to save the file in a "720p HD convert" porcess. The progress bar was still dead after ~20 min and required a reboot to clear the screen. How do you do it, if I may ask?

I've had the same problem a few times, but it will work. I usually save the project file first before trying to run the final conversion. Unfortunately, even when I've got it to work I discovered another bug - the audio is out of sync. I guess it really doesn't help that you can technically convert and edit with WLMM if it never actually works right...

 

[Jonmor68]

VideoReDo TVSuite V4 allows you to edit wtv files directly and save to mpeg as well as other formats. Unfortunatly it's not free, you can download a trial version at VideoReDo MPEG Video Editing Software

 

[blue skies]

I convert the HD .wtv files to .dvr-ms files and then use Windows Live Movie Maker to remove the commercials and save the TV shows under the 480p widescreen option. The files are more than twice the size of a typical .avi television show at that bitrate, but they do look very nice.

My only issue is that the sound level is much lower after they've been converted to the .wmv files. Is there anyway I can tweak WLMM so that the sound level is significantly higher and closer to the original levels?

The .wtv and .dvr-ms files only play with Windows Media Center, and it's so loud I usually have to lower the volume while I watch it which lowers my system sound levels to around 40%. To get a similar volume when playing the converted .wmv files and my JetAudio volume set to maximum, I have to raise the system volume over 80-85%. Then I have to always be careful to lower the general volume control when I'm done or other files will be blasted over my speakers.

Also, is there a new edition of movie maker in the 2011 release that is a significant improvement and worth replacing Windows Live Movie Maker for what I'm using it for - removing commercials and converting TV recordings?