Last updated: October 2006
DCT64xx Firewire capture and HD/SD to DVD guide
These are compact
instructions on how to capture recordings from DCT64xx (DCT6412, DCT6416 and
similar Motorola DVRs) from a PC/laptop running WinXP. This is all courtesy of
the original AVS forum thread you can find here:
How
to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP See further down
for instructions on how to downcovert HD captures to a great looking anamorphic
widescreen DVD-compatible mpeg (uses full screen on a 16:9 display and
letterboxed with black bars on top and bottom on a 4:3 display to preserve 16:9
aspect ratio).
Table of Contents
Setting
up for drivers for DCT64XX Firewire capture using Windows XP SP2DCT64XX
Firewire mpeg2 capture using Windows XPMaking
a DVD titleset the easy way (from both HD and SD captures)
Setting up for drivers for
DCT64xx Firewire capture using Windows XP SP2
NOTE: You only need to
follow this step to install drivers the first time you connect DCT64xx to
Windows XP.1. Obtain the software and drivers needed. I have
packaged up everything into 1 zip file which you can obtain here:
motorola6412_firewire.zip
2. Unzip
motorola6412_firewire.zip to a fresh folder.
3.
You will obviously need a firewire cable. The DCT64xx has 2 6-pin firewire
ports. My laptop has a 4-pin firewire port so I use a 6-pin to 4-pin cable. With
the DCT64xx turned on connect up the cable.
IMPORTANT: The DCT64xx has
2 6-pin firewire ports. When facing the back of the DCT64xx make sure you use
the firewire port on the right hand side (left side if looking from the front).
I had problems using the other firewire port and many others reported problems
trying to use that one.4. The first time you do this the
Found
new hardware wizard will come up. Select
Cancel on the first device
found.
5. Next you should see
Tuner AV/C Device as the hardware
that was found. Select
No, not this time in the Found New Hardware Wizard
dialog and then click on
Next. Then choose
Install from a list or
specific location (Advanced) and click
Next.
6. Choose
Don't Search. I will choose the driver to install and then click on
Next.
7. Click on
Have Disk... and find the directory where
you unzipped
motorola6412_firewire.zip folder to and select the
drivers\meistb.inf file and click on
OK. You should see
Tuner
AV/C Device show up in the
Model list. Then uncheck
Show
compatible hardware. Under
Manufacturer choose
Motorola. Under
model choose
Motorola Tuner AV/C Device (DCT-6412) and
click
Next. Click on
Yes if
Update Driver Warning appears.
Choose
Continue Anyway to ignore warning about untested driver and
finally click on
Finish.
8. Click
Cancel on any other
devices that are automatically detected and ignore the balloon message about
errors in new hardware installation.
9. Open
Device Manager by
running
Start->Run... and
typing
devmgmt.msc and then
OK.
10. In Device Manager select
View->Devices by
connection. Look for
AV/C Panel and
Unknown device under
IEEE 1394 Host Controller and right click on each and select
Disable. This will prevent you from having to cancel prompts for
installing new devices in the future when you connect the firewire cable. The
only needed driver that needs to be enabled is
Motorola Tuner AV/C Device
(DCT-6412). Close the Device Manager and now the driver installation is
complete.
DCT64xx Firewire mpeg2
capture using Windows XP
Now that the software and drivers are installed you
are ready for some firewire captures. Note that you will capture whatever the
DCT64xx is currently outputing - either the current tuner of any channel or
playback of a previously recorded show. To capture the stream we can use
CAPDVHS.
NOTE: You will only be able to capture
channels/recordings without 5C protection enabled. To check for 5C protection on
channels that you are interested in capturing from (or have recorded from), do
the following:
- Start with DCT64xx turned on and connect the firewire
cable between the DCT64xx and your PC.
- Tune to a channel you are interested in recording
from.
- Enter DIAGNOSTICS page on the DCT64xx as follows
with remote: Press Cable, Power off, Select,
Select.
- Scroll down to: d11 INTERFACE STATUS and then
click right arrow to enter that module.
- In 1394 I/O DEVICE section you should see
ACTIVE PORTS=1 (indicating the Firewire connection is active) and look
at 5C IMPLEMENTATION value. If it is something other than 0 this
means 5C protection is enabled and you won't be able to capture that
channel.
- To get out of the Status Page click left arrow
with remote and scroll down to EXIT and click Select.
1. First step is obviously to connect the firewire cable from the
DCT64xx to your PC/laptop if it's not already. As noted above, when facing the
back of the DCT64xx choose the firewire port on the right side (left side if
facing the front). If prompted to find/install drivers just click on
cancel.
2. Run
CapDVHS.exe and make sure the
Motorola
device is selected in the
capture device list. Make sure you have the
following settings:
Convert 188 bytes Check PTS
Delete to SyncByte Use
.ts for all file extensions.
NOTE: If you get an error that capture device cannot be found when
starting CapDVHS then exit CapDVHS, unplug the firewire cable, wait a few
moments and then plug the firewire cable back in again. Sometimes it takes 2-3
times for the handshaking to go through properly and for CapDVHS to start
without error. Once CapDVHS starts succesfully make sure to pick the
Motorola device in the capture device list.
3. Select the
Data Info tab so
that you can see the capture take place.
4. Set the time required for
the live capture (should be at least the length of time of the show you want to
capture) and then select
Rec to start the capture. If this is the first
time you are capturing you should record a short clip only and check the
resulting
.ts file with appropriate playback software such as Media
Player Classic (see link below).
NOTE: On occasion I have had
WindowsXP blue screen and reboot soon after initiating a capture. This is not
very common but happens occasionally. If this happens you need to unplug and
re-connect the firewire cable once WindowsXP has re-booted. To minimize the risk
of this happening make sure your computer is not doing anything else while
capturing and disable networking by unplugging ethernet cable or turning off
wireless card.
NOTE: If you are running WindowsXP SP2 and persistently
get the following error when clicking Rec to start a capture:
Error
800705AA: Cannot start captureYou need to install this Windows
XP SP2 1394/firewire patch.
Making a DVD titleset
the easy way (from both HD and SD captures)
HDTV2DVD is the easiest way I have
found to make DVDs from both HD and SD transport stream captures and preserving
the original Dolby Digital audio stream. The flow is very easy with this tool
since it automates both the re-encoding to DVD as well as DVD VOB file creation.
Note that the tool also generates a DVD-compatible .mpg file in case you like to
use your own DVD authoring tool.
- NOTE: You can optionally first use HDTVtoMPEG2 program to edit out
commercials from your original .ts file. If you do so make sure that you have
HDTVtoMPEG2 output Transport Stream since HDTV2DVD requires transport stream
files as input.
- Start the program
- Drag your transport stream (.ts) file into the bottom Assets pane
- Drag the file from Assets pane to the top left Layout pane
- Click on the Auto Fit icon to make
sure the encoding can fit within a single DVD
- Click on the DVD icon on top left of the window
- HDTV2DVD automatically produces both a DVD compatible mpeg2 program stream
(.mpg) file and a folder with AUDIO_TS/VIDEO_TS folders that can be burned
directly to a DVD.
- If you want to produce a DVD with menus, etc. you can use the .mpg file
created by HDTV2DVD as input and good authoring programs will know not to
re-encode again.
- For $20 you can also get SVCD2DVD which is the full-featured version of
HDTV2DVD which allows multiple titles with menus.
Converting Transport Stream
(.ts) To Program Stream (.mpg)
HDTVtoMPEG2
is a free program you can use to edit out commercials and/or convert Transport
Stream (.ts) files to Program Stream (.mpg) files. Some media players cannot
handle playing Transport Streams directly so you will need to convert to Program
Stream for playback purposes. This program also has editing capabilities (even
an automatic commercial editing mode for HD recordings that relies on the
presence of black bars during commercials) but those features are not covered
here. The steps to convert .ts to .mpg are:
1. Run
HDTVtoMPEG2.exe
(latest version available from AVS Forum thread
here).
· Set:
Type=Mpeg2,
Ext=.mpg, Max Size=5000 ·
Click on
Add button to add the
.ts file you captured from the
6412
· Video PID and
Audio PID fields should be filled out. Enable the check mark right under
Channel (named NONAME 0.1 for example) to select the appropriate Audio and Video
streams to use.
· Disable
Show Progress Image and click on
Process button to convert the
.ts file to a
.mpg file.
· Exit the program.
Setting DVD to skip
menus and play movie automatically
Some DVD authoring tools force you to
create a menu when there is more than 1 title. You can use
ifoedit to
change the DVD titleset to start playing the first title automatically instead
of going to the menu.
· Start
ifoedit and click on
Open and select the VIDEO_TS.IFO file.
· Click on
VMGM_MAT
and then click on
+ to the left of it.
· Click on
First Play PGC.
· In the bottom pane scroll
down to the bottom and find
1.Pre Command and click on it.
· Right click on
1.Pre Command
and select
Edit Command.
· Change command to
(Jump_TT) Jump
to Title and set
Title Nr=1 and OK the form.
· Click on
Save button and
answer Yes when asked to save the
.BUP file as well, then exit the tool.
That's it! Now when you insert the DVD it will jump to start playing first title
right away, skipping the menu.
Setting DVD
auto-letterboxing for 16:9 content on a 4:3 display
For any 16:9
downconverted DVD titleset you have authored you want to make sure that the DVD
will play properly letterboxed if displayed on a non-widescreen 4:3 TV. Most DVD
authoring tools will automatically set the right attributes in the .IFO files
for automatic letterboxing, but just to be sure you should check your .IFO files
before burning. To check or set automatic letterboxing do as follows:
· Start
ifoedit and click on
Open and select the VIDEO_TS.IFO file.
· Under
Title Set double click
on the Video stream (with movie strip on the left side)
· Make sure that
Aspect Ratio is
set to
16:9 and
Automatic Letterboxed is enabled and then OK the
form
· Click on
Save
button and answer Yes when asked to save the
.BUP file as well. Repeat
for all other .IFO files and then exit the tool.