No sound on Tivo HD recordings

[PaulN]

When I display a Tivo standard recording as part of the Disk Copier process, the audio and video are fine, and they burn to a DVD correctly. When I display a Tivo HD recording, the video is OK but there is no audio. If I display this same recording using Microsoft Media Player, there IS sound, so it isn't that the recording is bad.

 

I then converted the HD recording to a MPEG file and then displayed this using the Disk Copier -- there IS audio. I don't know (yet) if the audio is transferred to a DVD (it is writing one now and this takes many hours to complete).

 

Is there a setting, a missing or invalid codec or something else that is preventing the audio portion of a Tivo HD recording from working?

 

Note: I searched the Tivo site for informaton on this problem and found no applicable reference.

[ggrussell]

I then converted the HD recording to a MPEG file and then displayed this using the Disk Copier -- there IS audio.

Most likely the conversion also transcoded the audio to a different codec.

When I display a Tivo HD recording, the video is OK but there is no audio.

You didn't say on What. The PC (what software) or the TV? When you say recording, do you mean the file or a burned DVD?

[PaulN]

Most likely the conversion also transcoded the audio to a different codec.

You didn't say on What. The PC (what software) or the TV? When you say recording, do you mean the file or a burned DVD?

 

When I do a preview of the HD file (.tivo) using the Disk Copier, I get video but no audio. If I use a different program (VideoReDo) to convert it to a MPEG file, I get both audio and video in the Disc Copier viewer. I then tried burning the MPEG file to a DVD, but it hung after hitting the 95% mark (after 12 hours or so!). Any ideas? Any recommendations where I can get a different codec (I believe the codec was loaded when I installed PowerDVD).

 

I tried viewing the DVD on both my Sony DVD player, and on my PC (Win XP Professional), all with video and no audio. If I do this same process from a non-HD .tivo file, all works fine.

[gi7omy]

Check this thread - it seems that the tivo HD has incorporated DRM to prevent copying

[ggrussell]

If I use a different program (VideoReDo) to convert it to a MPEG file, I get both audio and video in the Disc Copier viewer.

Can VideoReDo also convert to standard def MPEG2 at the same time? That might help.

[PaulN]

Check this thread - it seems that the tivo HD has incorporated DRM to prevent copying

 

I don't this this is the same problem because I can burn the HD recording just fine, just that the audio is missing. Again, the audio is fine with the Windows Media Player (or other DVD/file players). Any other ideas???

[RentMusic]

I am having exactly the same problems with .tivo files I transfered from my TiVo Series 3. The recordings are standard definition.

 

I'm on Windows Vista Home Premium and using Easy Media Creator 9 that came bundled with my HP laptop.

 

The .tivo files play just fine (both video AND AUDIO) in Windows Media Player.

TiVoToGo Plus 2.5.1 has no problem converting the the .tivo files so they have both video AND AUDIO.

I can burn a DVD with Windows DVD Maker and I get both video AND AUDIO. (Although I have a completely different problem that the Windows Media Player (WMP) says the 30 minute videos are only 9 minutes in length, although all 30 minutes of video are there.

 

So, clearly my system has sufficient codecs to play the video AND AUDIO of the .tivo files.

 

So, why doesn't MyDVD 9 in Easy Media Creator 9 recognize that there is audio in the .tivo files?

Why when I preview the videos in MyDVD 9 is there no audio?

 

Here are the details of the video according to WMP in Windows Vista:

 

Length: 09:14 -- actually it's 30 minutes?!

Bit rate: -

Media type: Video

Video size: 640 x 480

Aspect Ratio: Unknown

Audio codec: MainConcept Audio Decoder

Video codec: MainConcept MPEG-2 Video Decoder

 

Media Usage Rights: "This file is missing media usage rights".

 

These files are not copy protected that I can tell. TiVoToGo 2.5.1 won't let me copy "copy protected" files such as those I download using Amazon Unbox. So given that audio works in many other situations, I think the DRM issue mentioned previously is speculation and a red herring.

 

I am hoping that this is sufficient information that someone from Roxio can diagnose the problem and help us understand why we are getting no audio in these situations and we can get a knowledgable response on how to resolve this problem.

 

Thanks.

[gi7omy]

Your answer is right here in your post "Media Usage Rights: "This file is missing media usage rights"."

 

Even though you are using v2.5.1 of Tivo - there are a lot of interesting discussions online about Tivo and what they are doing - this bit is from Wikipedia:

 

"TiVo, Inc. has always provided updates of the software that runs TiVo units, usually downloaded along with programming data. These updates have been seen as improvements, offering additional functionality and fixing bugs. Sometimes updates have introduced new bugs or removed features available in the previous versions, which has resulted in criticism from affected TiVo users. TiVo is unable (or unwilling) to roll back software versions and rather prefers to make customers go without the features until a new software revision is provided (often months after the faults are reported).

 

Tivo also will 'upgrade' itself even if you aren't there to tell it not to, so it's possible that the software was changed but it seems they could be in trouible for breaching the terms of the GNU license

 

"In 2006, Free Software Foundation (FSF) decided to combat TiVo's technical system of blocking users from running modified software. This behaviour, which FSF dubs "tivoization", was to be tackled by a change in the GNU General Public License (GPL) prohibiting this activity. Most of the software included in the TiVo is distributed under the terms of the GPL, and the GPL's goal is to ensure that all recipients of GPL'd software are free to modify the software, to help themselves. This new license provision was acknowledged by TiVo in its April 2007 SEC filing: "we may be unable to incorporate future enhancements to the GNU/Linux operating system into our software, which could adversely affect our business"."

 

In effect this would mean that the whole software would have to be re-written to remove any GNU licensed parts and the knock-on effect - well, who knows what they may do?

[RentMusic]

Your answer is right here in your post "Media Usage Rights: "This file is missing media usage rights"."

 

This may be a red herring and not material to the problem. I successfully transfered an HD TV Show (1280x720) to my computer and burned a DVD using Windows DVD Maker and the "Media Usage Rights" said "This file is missing media usage rights". This HD file did not problems with the reported length like I've had with other files. BTW, the DVD turned out quite nicely, thank you very much. Full length. High Quality. Nice animated video menu.

 

So, this is very puzzling that that one file "missing media usage rights" can be burned successfully and another cannot. The Microsoft knowledge bases say this may be DRM. But then their own own software burns the video successfully.

 

I really believe that this has more to do with the codecs involved and not DRM.

 

My guess is there is come incompatibility in the codecs that Roxio is trying to use and the video. And the other problem with "short times" that I am experiencing with Windows DVD Maker and Windows Media Player have more to do with a problem with the codecs.

[adrianh]

I have the same problem, just different repro.

I have a HighDef Panasonic HDC-SD5 camera which I used to record a few videos of my daughter. I exported the videos to MPEG2 format and they play just fine in Windows Media Player 10 (audio is present). I tried to create a DVD using MyDVD Premier 9. On the DVD I included the MPEG2 movies I created and a slideshow created from some JPEG pictures and an MP3 file. When I preview the DVD project in MyDVD Premier 9, the MPEG2 files are played without sound where the slideshow and DVD menu is played with sound. I did not tried to actually burn the DVD to see if the sound will be played or not. This seems to be a problem with the MyDVD Premier 9 app, could somebody try to repro this and maybe fix it?