EyeTV exports out of sync video to iTunes/Apple TV

Got the mpeg2 plugin for QT, but I'm unable to open .eyetv files with QT or any other software except for eyetv for that matter.

Will try one more time here, Winston. (Storm just came through and killed a 4 hour 40 minute conversion in-progress, as well as, my answer to your post. In any case... Strange! folder sent to me and purported to be EyeTV capture files folder (3 executable, 1 MPEG-2/M2P/AC3 muxed file with MPG extension, and 1 TIFF file) allowed me to open (but not play) the MPG in QT Player and StreamClip. However, now that you mention it, I do see some inconsistencies.

QT Player indicated the video was MPEG-2, 720 x 540, 15 fps, 1806.19 bps (audio also at 1806.19 Kbps) and 56.24 seconds long. On the other hand, Streamclip says it is an MPEG-2, 720 x 576, 4:3, 25 fps, 15.00 Mbps (MP2 audio 192 Kbps + AC3 audio 448 Kbps) and 31 seconds long. In fact, the only thing these applications seem to agree on is that the file is 12.11 MBs in size.

In any case, the folder ("Sample Clip EyeTV.eyetv") is still available in my DotMac public area (jrwalker4) if you are interested in comparing it with your typical folder. Would appreciate knowing if this is more or less the "standard" for capture. Also wondering if there are user settings for capture or if the settings are more or less fixed? In any case, based on the actual file size, it does appear the video data rate is much lower than stated in MPEG Streamclip's "stream info" window. Also, Winston, have you had any "out of sync" problems. Arnd and I switched to Streamclip conversions in order to crop/scale output during the conversion rather than having to go back later and mask out EyeTV's "black" areas using QT Pro.

Export the EyeTV files manually (without using the preset to export automatically after recording).
I had the same problem and sent it back to EyeTV.
Waiting for Miglia's TVMini HD+ to come out, they actually engineer their own hardware and it's very high quality, not a knockoff of another manufacturer.
Good Luck!

Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Jon I feel silly, I'm absolutely certain (well clearly not) that I have been unable to open the .eyetv folder before now. Anyway:

The contents are the same as my recordings with a couple of exceptions which I'll come to. Firstly I opened the mpeg2 in Streamclip OK but it crashed QT, wondering if I moved my mpeg2 plugin to my new mac or not, can't think right now, how do I find out if it's installed (feeling silly again).

Opened your clip in eye tv and it tells me the video is mpeg2 720 x 576 50/25 fps and audio is mpeg1 48 Khz, it also gives the video bitrate which hovers around 2000 kbps (it's clearly constant quality) and the audio bitrate which is 192 kbps.

On this side of the pond our digital channels vary quite wildly in resolution, don't know if it's the same over there. I only have 1 recording in .eyetv format at this time and it reports to be: Video-mpeg2 704 x 576 50/25 fps, and hovers around 3000 kbps. Audio same as.

So on this basis the movies are identical other than resolution (explained) and bitrate. There are settings for deinterlacing which include an option for progressive scan which I had thought applied to the display only but would explain the difference in bitrate if they also applied to the recordings (herein could lie the answer to the posters issue of A/V syncing).

There were however two anomolies between your file and mine. Firstlty. black banding doesn't happen with eyetv. The movie window adapts to the movie resolution regardless of source and also adjust for anamorphic flags, so in basic terms it displays and records at the correct ratio in the correct size window. Secondly, although the resolutions are different they are close and yet the display windows are very much different, same height mine is much longer.

I'm guessing your file is broadcast with a 4:3 flag whereas mine has a 16:9 flag, I'm also guessing the broadcasters have added the black bands to a WS movie to make it fit thier broadcast standard rather than them being a result of a 16:9 flag in a fixed sized window, which (forgive me if I'm wrong) I feel you might have been assuming.

I'm guessing your file is broadcast with a 4:3 flag whereas mine has a 16:9 flag, I'm also guessing the broadcasters have added the black bands to a WS movie to make it fit thier broadcast standard rather than them being a result of a 16:9 flag in a fixed sized window, which (forgive me if I'm wrong) I feel you might have been assuming.

Thanks for the input. Tend to agree with you regarding the recoding. Not sure where Arnd is located -- somewhere on "the Continent" I assume. As indicated, I am not an EyeTV user and this was my first contact with such files. Was surprised that you came up with another variation on audio content also. I take it you have no sync problems?

wondering if I moved my mpeg2 plugin to my new mac or not, can't think right now, how do I find out if it's installed

The "QuickTimeMPEG2.component" normally installs in the root "System > Library > QuickTime" folder of your start-up drive.

... unable to open .eyetv files with QT or any
other software except for eyetv for that matter

FWIW, the example file (000000000bedda24.mpg) opens & plays in the VLC player just fine; however, it indicates a duration of "-:--:--" in the playlist & the current time indicator never moves from "0:00:00" while playing. VLC indicates that there are two audio streams, "Stream 1" with a "mpga" codec & "Stream 3" with an "a52" codec.

... folder sent to me and purported to be EyeTV
capture files folder (3 executable, 1 MPEG-2/M2P/AC3
muxed file with MPG extension, and 1 TIFF file) ...

At least two of the "executable" files are in fact some sort of property lists. There really isn't anything helpful in them except one has a "bitrate" property with a value of "2300." Most properties seem to have to do with scheduled recording or source metadata.

I believe part of the confusion here is that different eye TV models output content in different formats -- some just pass "raw" encoded data to the Mac for decoding, other (more expensive) ones contain hardware decoders & pass decoded video to it. I don't know if that makes a difference in this context, though.

Jon,

sorry I never answered your main question. No I have no problems with a/v sync, in fact the exported AVC's are remarkably good considering the source, but then I suppose they should be, my source (my eyetv files) seems to float about 3000 kbps (mpeg2) and the export is 4000 kbps (AVC) and seems rather wasteful. (exported audio bitrate is 128.

RC-R

Thanx for another slant on what's in the file, it's strange how different players report different formats, I'm assuming better judgement would go with what eyetv says is in there. As far as I know a52 won't play on intel macs.

At first I assumed the reference to 2300 kbps in the executable files was the maximum bitrate for a file of constant quality. This seemed to fit quite well with Jons file as the datarate varied between around 1400 to 2100 while playing in eyetv. This now seems like a wrong assumption as my files which also have a reference to 2300 in the executable files have a datarate between around 2800 to 3800 while playing.

Anyhow, now we have completely hijacked the poor guy's post with the original problem, I wondered if either of you had any thoughts on elgatos external h264 encoder. After parting with a large sum for a new mac which would hasten my encoding times, I'm left feeling this usb stick would have been a much cheaper alternative and that even if I were to get one now, I wouldn't likely see any improvement in encoding times over what I have now.

Really the fix would be Apple tv recognizing and playing raw eyetv files without a necessary conversion in my opinion.

I think you have this a little out of perspective. If there is anything to fix it is the eyetv software, nothing to do with apple or the tv, this is further supported by the fact that you are having problems when converting it to any format. However since eyetv converts fine for me and lots of others this has to be a problem with your set up.

If you wish to email me a short export from eyetv, I will have a look at it for you.

For apple to support the eyetv format, there would need to be some sort of license or partnership between apple and elgato and there isn't.

The mp4 format is for the purpose of controlling content. If anything, it would have been nice if Apple iTunes supported mpeg2, but that wouldn't fly with their content providers that own the copyrights.
Getting back to your problem where the audio does not sync with the video, I have one last quesiton or comment...the problem may be caused if you are exporting to iTunes on a remote drive or other slow medium other than to your computers hard drive that you are running EyeTV from.
After I returned the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid I tried the PX-TV402U-NA/MAC because it has a hardware converter to MPEG-4. I figured great, no long waiting for the MAC to convert it...wrong...I still took SOOOOO long. When I asked Plextor customer support they said it still needed convertion to "full mpeg4" for iTunes. Thanks but, no thanks...sent back the Plextor.
Oh yeh, Elgato says their turbo.264 harware encoder "Convers videos to superior quality" but they don't put on the front page that HD content will be scaled down to 800x448. I wonder how it does on syncing video with audio.
Did you ask Elgato tech support about your problem...pardon if it's in the thread.
Good luck. I know your frustration and agree that you shouldn't have to pay for such a product. I agree, that's why I sent it back.
I'm STILL waiting for the TVMini HD+.

Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

The mp4 format is for the purpose of controlling
content. If anything, it would have been nice if
Apple iTunes supported mpeg2, but that wouldn't fly
with their content providers that own the
copyrights.

You are a bit confused. MP4, formally known as MPEG-4 Part 14, is a container format. The MPEG-2 equivalent would be something like VOB, the container format used in DVD-Video. Either container can include protected or unprotected content.

Apple TV most likely doesn't support MPEG-2 because it is much less efficient than the more modern MPEG-4 standards, meaning file sizes for a constant quality level would double or more. Syncing would take proportionally longer & streaming would require proportionally more bandwidth, possibly making it unsuitable for many 802.11g networks.

As you have discovered, inexpensive, consumer grade hardware based MPEG-4 encoders currently have limited capabilities. This may change in the future, but right now chips capable of realtime, high resolution H.264 encoding are rare & pricey (over $100 each), making them impractical for relatively low priced devices like EyeTV.

As I said, if you want to email me a short clip which you have exported from eyetv I will gladly take a look at it for you.