2011-05-08, 21:41
There is no definitive solution. Xbmc doesn't read wtv files period. You have to use a work around.
2011-05-08, 22:07
If I understand correctly ffmpeg does have some experimental support for wtv files, Boxee implemented it and it sorta works (mixed bag of issues).
Have to wait for XBMC to integrate support for it.
Have to wait for XBMC to integrate support for it.
2011-05-09, 23:09
Hi,
There is mention of a patch in this thread...
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=87211
but does anyone know how to install it?
Thanks,
There is mention of a patch in this thread...
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=87211
but does anyone know how to install it?
Thanks,
2011-05-26, 14:31
I just installed the latest nightly and WTV seems to work fine. Had issues with HD recordings but that could be anything. Happy that SD files now play.
2011-05-30, 22:49
Has anyone been able to get HD .wtv files to play? I could care less about SD but still haven't been able to get xbmc to play .wtv even on the latest nightly.
2011-07-25, 22:42
Bumping this thread. So what's the latest word on this? Can the ATV2 play HD .wtv TV show recordings? Also, with the Ceton tuner card and upcoming release of the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime, I'm wondering if encrypted (non-QAM) shows work as well.
2011-07-27, 18:52
I can stream .wtv files from both a NAS and PC running Windows 7 - the only problem is that ATV2 doesn't play the whole file only a part of it. For example an hour long program will only play 16-18 mins then it stops. And it is marked as 'read'. Not having the same problem with mp4, m4v, etc..
2011-09-12, 00:16
davybee Wrote:I can stream .wtv files from both a NAS and PC running Windows 7 - the only problem is that ATV2 doesn't play the whole file only a part of it. For example an hour long program will only play 16-18 mins then it stops. And it is marked as 'read'. Not having the same problem with mp4, m4v, etc..I recorded a couple of test clips using an OTA antenna today on an older Acer Revo running Windows 7. The files showed up and played on my ATV2, but they didn't play well. The video and audio stuttered right off the bat. Anyone else have any success?
2011-09-19, 17:41
Surprised that there isn't more interest in discussing this topic. What I think I've learned since my last post is that WTV is just a container, and the encoding inside it is MPEG-2, which the ATV2's GPU isn't capable of decoding natively, and it's CPU is too underpowered to handle. So the result with HDTV programming in WTV format is that you can't play it satisfactorily.
This then led me to AirVideo (with the idea that I could play it on my iPhone, then use AirPlay to play it on the TV). AirVideo (along with it's transcoding server app that would run on the desktop which runs Windows Media Center) did an admirable job of producing watchable video on my iPhone 4, but when sent to the ATV2 via AirPlay, it was obvious that their on-the-fly transcoding (running on my Intel i7 desktop) couldn't do miracles, as the PQ was simply not acceptable to me.
So it seems like instead I would need to run something like MC-TVConverter2 which can watch the 'Recorded TV' directory and then do a proper conversion to MP4, but that will take a lot more time, so the hope of watching live TV on the ATV2 seems lost, unless anyone else has some ideas.
This then led me to AirVideo (with the idea that I could play it on my iPhone, then use AirPlay to play it on the TV). AirVideo (along with it's transcoding server app that would run on the desktop which runs Windows Media Center) did an admirable job of producing watchable video on my iPhone 4, but when sent to the ATV2 via AirPlay, it was obvious that their on-the-fly transcoding (running on my Intel i7 desktop) couldn't do miracles, as the PQ was simply not acceptable to me.
So it seems like instead I would need to run something like MC-TVConverter2 which can watch the 'Recorded TV' directory and then do a proper conversion to MP4, but that will take a lot more time, so the hope of watching live TV on the ATV2 seems lost, unless anyone else has some ideas.
2011-09-25, 22:12
I too am very interested in being able to play .wtv files (or convert and then play) on the ATV2 with XBMC.
Currently using the 9/24/11 build and it plays but with lengthy buffers and stutters.
Currently using the 9/24/11 build and it plays but with lengthy buffers and stutters.
2011-09-27, 02:27
Scott R Wrote:Surprised that there isn't more interest in discussing this topic. What I think I've learned since my last post is that WTV is just a container, and the encoding inside it is MPEG-2, which the ATV2's GPU isn't capable of decoding natively, and it's CPU is too underpowered to handle. So the result with HDTV programming in WTV format is that you can't play it satisfactorily.
This then led me to AirVideo (with the idea that I could play it on my iPhone, then use AirPlay to play it on the TV). AirVideo (along with it's transcoding server app that would run on the desktop which runs Windows Media Center) did an admirable job of producing watchable video on my iPhone 4, but when sent to the ATV2 via AirPlay, it was obvious that their on-the-fly transcoding (running on my Intel i7 desktop) couldn't do miracles, as the PQ was simply not acceptable to me.
So it seems like instead I would need to run something like MC-TVConverter2 which can watch the 'Recorded TV' directory and then do a proper conversion to MP4, but that will take a lot more time, so the hope of watching live TV on the ATV2 seems lost, unless anyone else has some ideas.
Check out RemotePotato - Airplay to Ipad had very good quality, to iphone is watchable - certainly not HQ but I use this for the reality shows where quality is good enough......
2011-09-28, 03:22
ajerazzor Wrote:Check out RemotePotato - Airplay to Ipad had very good quality, to iphone is watchable - certainly not HQ but I use this for the reality shows where quality is good enough......I did try RemotePotato (bought the fairly pricey - for iPhone app standards - app since there was no free demo). It's a very comprehensive app, handling not just AirVideo-style on-the-fly conversion, but also remote EPG programming (setting up shows to record remotely). Two big caveats/issues:
1) You can't stream live TV (if I'm wrong, let me know).
2) The PQ was pretty horrid in my experience. Yes, you can probably get watchable quality on your iPhone's small screen, but if you AirPlay that to the Apple TV 2, you'll see just how poor the quality is. It might be workable on a very small kitchen TV or something, but on a 32" or bigger TV from a normal viewing distance? Nope. Again, if you're seeing something different, please let me know. But I was running the server transcoding app on my Intel i7-2600 desktop, so I certainly wasn't lacking any CPU horsepower.
Recently I jumped in and bought a HDHomeRun Prime (3-tuner cablecard tuner) and have been using this with Windows 7 Media Center. I already had an XBox 360 lying around, and I can use that as an "extender" to watch live TV in other rooms of the house. The Prime is still buggy right now, but I'm hoping they address most of the issues I've experienced with firmware updates before I have to decide whether to send it back to Amazon for a refund.
The other thing I've played with (which I mentioned previously) is MC-TVConverter2. This app will watch the "Recorded TV" folder on my Windows 7 machine and can convert my shows (via Handbrake or ffmpeg) to an ATV2-compatible MP4 format. With my i7-2600, it can do the conversion faster than realtime, but the way MC-TVConverter2 is currently designed, it can't start the conversion process until Windows Media Center has completed the show recording, and Handbrake is also designed such that you need to wait till the source file has completed before you can start the conversion process.
As a result, if you have a 1/2 hour show that is on from 8:00-8:30pm, MC-TVConverter2 wouldn't start the conversion process until 8:30pm. With my Intel i7-2600 desktop, I might be able to get that file converted in 15 minutes, which means that I can't start watching it until 8:45pm. That's still pretty cool, but it's not live TV.
Now if you don't care about live TV at all, and don't mind waiting a while for your shows to "show up" on your ATV2, you can also set this app to run in the middle of the night (rather than picking up/converting the shows as soon as they're done recording). You'll have to wait till the next day to watch them, but you may tax your CPU less.
2011-09-28, 06:34
Scott R Wrote:I did try RemotePotato (bought the fairly pricey - for iPhone app standards - app since there was no free demo). It's a very comprehensive app, handling not just AirVideo-style on-the-fly conversion, but also remote EPG programming (setting up shows to record remotely). Two big caveats/issues:
1) You can't stream live TV (if I'm wrong, let me know).
2) The PQ was pretty horrid in my experience. Yes, you can probably get watchable quality on your iPhone's small screen, but if you AirPlay that to the Apple TV 2, you'll see just how poor the quality is. It might be workable on a very small kitchen TV or something, but on a 32" or bigger TV from a normal viewing distance? Nope. Again, if you're seeing something different, please let me know. But I was running the server transcoding app on my Intel i7-2600 desktop, so I certainly wasn't lacking any CPU horsepower.
Recently I jumped in and bought a HDHomeRun Prime (3-tuner cablecard tuner) and have been using this with Windows 7 Media Center. I already had an XBox 360 lying around, and I can use that as an "extender" to watch live TV in other rooms of the house. The Prime is still buggy right now, but I'm hoping they address most of the issues I've experienced with firmware updates before I have to decide whether to send it back to Amazon for a refund.
The other thing I've played with (which I mentioned previously) is MC-TVConverter2. This app will watch the "Recorded TV" folder on my Windows 7 machine and can convert my shows (via Handbrake or ffmpeg) to an ATV2-compatible MP4 format. With my i7-2600, it can do the conversion faster than realtime, but the way MC-TVConverter2 is currently designed, it can't start the conversion process until Windows Media Center has completed the show recording, and Handbrake is also designed such that you need to wait till the source file has completed before you can start the conversion process.
As a result, if you have a 1/2 hour show that is on from 8:00-8:30pm, MC-TVConverter2 wouldn't start the conversion process until 8:30pm. With my Intel i7-2600 desktop, I might be able to get that file converted in 15 minutes, which means that I can't start watching it until 8:45pm. That's still pretty cool, but it's not live TV.
Now if you don't care about live TV at all, and don't mind waiting a while for your shows to "show up" on your ATV2, you can also set this app to run in the middle of the night (rather than picking up/converting the shows as soon as they're done recording). You'll have to wait till the next day to watch them, but you may tax your CPU less.
You cant stream "live" tv with remote potato but you can play it once the recording has started - I havent tried FF to the live component but that works with a MC recording so thought it would be the same.
I play the highest qual settings to a 40" samsung and it aint HD but the artifacts arent too bad unless these is a stack of movement - sport would be out of the question but Masterchef is OK - again OK..... maybe you have an iphone 3 you re airplaying from? I beleive there are definate setting differences between devices eg IPad has a higher quality setting in Remote Potato HD than the iphone.
I played with MC tv converter but found that something with the conversion was making the ATV crash not back to lowtide but a full system restart - I never really had any luck with it.
MCE Buddy is another one - the beta of the latest version is quite good, and the conversion quality is also good, but yeah you are gonna have to wait for the recording to finish.
Have you thought about dropping MC and going with something you can do a PVR branch version to actually stream the tv? I havent got enough knowledge on how to do this as I run windows backends not linux and I think there is only 1 option ForTheRecord but I dont think its ready yet....if anyone has some step by steps id love to know.....
2011-09-28, 11:24
I use VideoReDo to open the Windows Media Centre *.wtv SD or HD files. You can then cut adverts and save the output in a number of different formats. My Windows 7 XBMC plays back the output .ts files perfectly.
2011-09-30, 07:27
NiggyG Wrote:I use VideoReDo to open the Windows Media Centre *.wtv SD or HD files. You can then cut adverts and save the output in a number of different formats. My Windows 7 XBMC plays back the output .ts files perfectly.
VideoRedo i not a 10 foot interface - very clunky to do without keyboard and patience (unless im wrong and you can automate it?)
