TM5402 HD Continuous recording in split files

[sweetrihard]

Hi all,

I've read various posts regarding recording issues with TM5402 HD, but I could not find an answer to my specific question. Can someone please help, or point me in the right direction? Many thanks in advance.

The other night I recorded a 2.5 hour programme whilst watching it, by using the instant recording feature. It all seemed fine, except when I transferred the folder 'Records' from the USB stick (64GB) to my computer [formatted fat32 and completely empty) the .ts file only contained the first 10 minutes or so. I noticed that the folder contained several other files, so I changed the extensions of the biggest ones in size (e.g. .001, .002) to .ts and I could watch them with GOM player (they didn't work with VLC). So, it looks like that despite recording continuously the recording was split into various files, of which only one in .ts.


So, my questions are:

1) Is this normal?
2) Has anybody else experienced the same issue?
3) How can I avoid it happening again, and simply have one .ts file for each recording?
4) What are the other .mda, .ifo, .idx, .prv, .prv2 for?

 

[Tiernan]

yes its normal, i find that its much better to do a timer record then you just get the 1 ts file.it would be good if phantom could maybe do a patch where the stb record into a more usable file like avi or mp4, would make things alot easier for transferring

Hi all,

I've read various posts regarding recording issues with TM5402 HD, but I could not find an answer to my specific question. Can someone please help, or point me in the right direction? Many thanks in advance.

The other night I recorded a 2.5 hour programme whilst watching it, by using the instant recording feature. It all seemed fine, except when I transferred the folder 'Records' from the USB stick (64GB) to my computer [formatted fat32 and completely empty) the .ts file only contained the first 10 minutes or so. I noticed that the folder contained several other files, so I changed the extensions of the biggest ones in size (e.g. .001, .002) to .ts and I could watch them with GOM player (they didn't work with VLC). So, it looks like that despite recording continuously the recording was split into various files, of which only one in .ts.


So, my questions are:

1) Is this normal?
2) Has anybody else experienced the same issue?
3) How can I avoid it happening again, and simply have one .ts file for each recording?
4) What are the other .mda, .ifo, .idx, .prv, .prv2 for?

 

[sweetrihard]

yes its normal, i find that its much better to do a timer record then you just get the 1 ts file.it would be good if phantom could maybe do a patch where the stb record into a more usable file like avi or mp4, would make things alot easier for transferring

Thank you Tiernan. If that's the case, then the instant recording is completely and utterly useless for a PVR enabled box (unless, it seems, one records a programme that fits in the .ts file i.e. c.10 minutes).

Personally, I don't think the issue is the .ts format, but the fact that the box creates one .ts file for part of the programme and then splits the rest into several odd files (e.g. .001, 002, 003). However, I agree with you that .mp4 would be a bit easier, especially if you want to watch the recorded programme on a tablet or another device).

The more I use this box, and find that it handles basic features (i.e. recording a programme) so poorly, the less attractive it has become to me.

 

[rogers]

No matter how I record (timed or instant) my TM6900 splits files up into about 1GB chunks but I assumed it was doing this to avoid the file size limitations of FAT32.

 

[wolftje]

.ts is a very good medium as it contains everything like subs, extra audio & epg info and good compression.
(not possible with avi and mp4)
It would be great to have an .mkv option and make recording act as a dvd envelopped recording and easy transfert towards pc...
But of course poor TM receiver can not handle that. You need a whole other type of hardware for that.
Anyway it is easy to incorporate .ts into a .mkv fil wth yr pc.. getting offtopic ...

Maybe tm should ditch Fat32 and start using ext3 or something similar and a Utility that can read ext3 USB

 

[sweetrihard]

Thank you all for your comments. Well, I'm not an expert on fat32 or other technical limitations. However, I find it hard to understand how's possible that I can transfer recordings (in one piece) very easily from my (very cheap and basic) Freeview box and yet the same cannot be achieved with TM5402 without going through the painstaking, imperfect, and time consuming job of joining and recoding the files.