Re-muxing - format conversion

• MPEG-TS to AVI : I have recorded .TS file on my Digital satelite receiver how can i convert this recorded file to AVI ?
  You should first check which Audio and Video codecs are used ussually DVB-S or DVB-S2 are using MPEG2 or new MPEG4 codecs in MPEG-TS (Transport stream)
  conversion is very simply and very fast but its not required becouse WDTV is able play MPEG-TS files but if you want also convert this movie to more common file format/container you can use free and opensource tools for example ffmpeg/mencoder both are using same library and both will do same job for you.
  
  TS2AVI.bat: Simplest example
  

   mencoder <yourfile.ts> -ovc copy -oac copy -forceidx -o mynew.avi 

  This command will only change container/format to AVI mencoder is creating by default AVI output format
  
  TS2MP4.bat: Basic example
  

   mencoder <yourfile.ts> -ovc copy -oac copy -of lavf -o mynew.mp4 

  This command will create MP4/ISOM format you can (dont change AV codec we are changing only format)
  
  TS2AVI-copy_mp3.bat: Basic reencoding audio track example
  

   mencoder <yourfile.ts> -ovc copy -oac mp3lame -forceidx -o mynew.avi 

  This command is changinh audio codec to MPEG1Layer3/MP3 this is required only if previous examples producing Video without sound/Silent Movie/ Video codec stay untouched this conversion is little bit slower then examples with -ovc copy and -oac copy options.

• I have WDTV and many movies how can I add artwork to MP4 without iTunes
  

you need AtomicParsley CLI tool for MP4 files tagging and FFmpeg or MEncoder.

 mencoder <yourfile.ts> -ovc copy -oac copy -forceidx -of lavf -o mynewmp4file.mp4 

This command will only change container/format to MP4

 AtomicParsley mynewmp4file.mp4 --artwork cover.jpg -o mynewmp4file-tagged.mp4 

you can create 2 lines short batch script for this task

ffmpeg"  -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec copy %1.mp4
AtomicParsley.exe %1.mp4 --artwork %2 -o %1-tagged.mp4

when you have this script in PATH you can always call toMP4tag.bat script this way

 toMP4tag.bat batman.avi batman.jpg 

Script will remux AVI to MP4 container and add externalcover image into MP4 result will single file (batman.avi.-tagged.mp4) with thumbnail in WDTV file browser. finally you need only rename file batman.avi.-tagged.mp4 to batman-tagged.mp4 or to whatever.

• Exist any GUI frontends for FFmpeg or MEncoder tools ?
  Hi, yes exist many High level GUI frontends for both programs. For MEncoder is very popular MeGUI and for FFmpeg exist WinFF.
• Why you are using command lines tools ?
  Becouse I have option schedule over night all tasks without human activity and CLI tools are real swissknife for batch conversion for example Handbrake exist also like CLI tools and have GUI frontend but in GUI you are not able select all features like in CLI version.
• Why you are using FFmpeg or MEncoder always
  Both tools are multiplatform and using same result on all platforms (Windows or Linux or MacOS) a I don't need to use any commercial nice and slow tools. Mencoder and FFmpeg are based on same library and this library is producing very good results many players or MediaCenters like XBMC or others MC using Mplayer which is also using this library also many Linux based players using parts of this code.