Microsoft developed the WTV file type for Windows 7 and included a built-in conversion feature. In your file manager right click a WTV file for an option to convert it to DVR-MS.

DVR-MS files can't be imported directly into Movie Maker 2, but they work fine in Vista's Movie Maker 6 (Home Premium and Ultimate versions). They don't work in Movie Maker 6 in other versions of Vista, or in other versions of Movie Maker.

In XP and Vista versions that don't support the file type, you need to do one or more conversion steps, but the steps are easy. Here's a 15 second sample (4.8 MB file) that shows the results you can expect from the process:

Recorded TV Sample

Newsletter #59 was an update about converting DVR-MS files to get them into Movie Maker. Click on the image to read it.

If you found this page by looking at the WindowsMediaEdition FAQ, and you're interested in more about Movie Maker, visit my website devoted to it. This page is accessed from the menu > Importing Source Files > Video > Recorded TV

PapaJohn - www.papajohn.org

Converting DVR-MS Files

As with most computer tasks, there are many ways to achieve something. Although I started testing the capture of live TV footage, the method ended up providing another way to capture footage from my 8mm and Hi8 camcorder tapes, using my Hi8 camcorder to play the tapes as the Media Center MyTV did the recording.

Comments Utilities to do file conversions are always under development.. I visit the subject periodically to update the info. My goal isn't just to convert the DVR-MS file to another one that plays on a computer... it's to make one that will import into Movie Maker and work well in a project. 2/13/09 - Method 5 is my newest option... a general purpose conversion app that did a good job with my HD1080 sized test file. 8/1/06 - Method 3 works great on my HP laptop... from DVR-MS file to MPG using AutoDVRconvert, then from MPG to AVI using VirtualDubMod and compressing with the Panasonic DV codec. Noteworthy is how well the audio stays in sync with the visual all the way into Movie Maker. 12/2/05... Method 1 worked on my previous Toshiba laptop, and works intermittently on my new HP Pavilion zd8000. If it doesn't work the first time, try again. If it doesn't work after a few tries, use one of the other methods.

This capture method for 8mm and Hi8 tapes has a few positive points to note, versus capturing via playback in a digital8 camcorder using firewire. Instead of watching the video being captured on the small monitor in MM2, with no sound on the computer, you can watch it full screen with audio.

When importing the file, you can opt to have auto clip creation using the optical method, something that MM2 doesn't do when you capture from a digital camcorder. And maybe the recording buffer of the TV capture process (the viewing on the computer is offset by a number of seconds versus the playback on the camcorder) means that your hard drive speed and condition is of less concern and you won't get dropped frames.

Here are some methods. Yours might be variations of these, depending on your hardware and software.

Method 1 - DVR2WMV

DVR2WMV is a developing app available from the green button. The download v1.0 package is a 1.3 MB zip file with a full installation. It doesn't come with any instuctions or help file, so I'm including my notes.

Extract the contents and run the DVR 2 WMV.msi package (double-click it). It'll install to the C:\Program Files\Griffin Composites\DVR 2 WMV folder and create two menu options, two different user interfaces... the DVR 2 WMV one is a full screen one that looks and acts similar to the Media Center software itself. The other, my preferred one (it's the place to go to set your defaults), is titled 'Standalone' and looks like a utility. And for geeks there's also a command line choice.

Checklist for conversion using the DVR2WMVStandalone.exe (if you get an error message when you press the Conversion button, open the app and go through these items again, doing them in sequence):

The developing MSR2WMV app was the easiest of the 3 methods, but it was also the one that can get you to an error message which you don't understand either why or what to do about it. I list it here as the first choice somewhat based on it's potential... but also because it works on my laptop.

Here's my checklist for using it

1 - Add the files to convert... by default it'll look in the Recorded TV folder.

2 - Options > Encoding Quality > Choose PRX File > select the profile

I use a custom profile and store it in the folder with the Recorded TV files... that's the default location that DVR2WMV looks. Use the same profile editor used for Movie Maker 2 custom profiles to edit the Saved TV file profile(s). My custom profile uses settings comparable to a high quality MPEG-2 file for a DVD.

3 - Options > Encoding Quality > 2 Pass File > No if the profile is using CBR... yes if it's using VBR.

4 - Options > Choose Preferred Decoder > Video > the InterVideo Video Decoder is the only one of the choices on my laptop that works. If you have an nVidea one in your list, try it. If you don't have an nVidea or InterVideo one, try each of those you have.

5 - Options > Choose Preferred Decoder > Audio > I havn't needed to select one

6 - Options > Compatability Mode > try it if it's not working without it... I hadn't needed to on my Toshiba laptop, but am now using it on the HP.

7 - Options > Choose Output Directory (the old fashioned name for folder)... when I forget to choose the folder, I sometimes can't find the new file. I'm using the same folder with the recorded TV files and the custom profiles...

Method 2 - DVR-Ripper and VDubMod

Convert the DVR-MS file to an MPG file, and then convert the MPG to an AVI file.

1 - Use DVR-Ripper (don't have a current link)... (Xmuxer is a prerequisite) to convert the MSR-DV file to an MPG.

2 - Use VDubMod to convert the MPG file to a DV-AVI file, using the Panasonic DV codec for compression. See the Setup > Other Software page for links.

Method 3 - AutoDVRconvert and TMPGEnc

Convert the MSR-DV file to an MPG file, and then convert the MPG to an AVI file.

1 - Use AutoDVRconvert to convert the MSR-DV file to an MPG.

Place the contents of the zip file in the recorded TV folder, and run the Register Filters.bat file to register the two filters. Open AutoDVRconvert.exe and use it to convert DVR-MS files.

Method 4 - DVD Software on an MCE Computer

For those with an MCE version of XP, use MyDVD (or other DVD software bundled with the operating system), to make a standard MPG file, and then convert it to an AVI file using a compression codec that works well with Movie Maker.

1 - Record the DVR-MS Video Files

Use the MyTV feature of the Media Center software. The saved files have DVR-MS extensions and are a variation of MPEG2. They are automatically saved in the c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Recorded TV folder. I'll illustrate the process with a 10 minute recording from my Hi8 camcorder.

To record from a TV, DVD, VCR or camcorder connected to a VCR, connect the coax cable VCR output (that usually goes to your TV) to the Media Center computer's TV card input.

To be more portable, as my computer is a laptop, and get the extra quality benefit of the S-video output of my Hi8 camcorder, I purchased a DVD Video Component Adapter RF Modulator - model 15-1214 - at Radio Shack ($30). It converts the separate audio and video signals of the camcorder into a single VHF TV signal, channel 3 (or 4), outputting it to a standard TV coax cable. Note that the stereo audio signals are converted to mono.

During recording, the Media Center software says it's recording the show on channel 3, but it's actually recording from the tape in my camcorder. I did my first tests using a 10 minute segment of camcorder tape. The file created was a 640x480 pixel DVR-MS file of 432 MB (2-1/2 GB per hour).

2 - Convert the DVR-MS files to Other MPEG2 Files

Windows Media Player plays the DVR-MS files fine. However, Movie Maker 2 can't import them. So we need another conversion.

Sonic's MyDVD (I'm using version 4.5) can import such files into a DVD project. It's a very quick process and, after importing the files, I simply have MyDVD save the project to my hard drive. As part of the saving process, MyDVD creates two new MPEG2 files from each of the DVR-MS files, one an MPG file with the video track and the other an MPA file with the audio track. They are in the MyDVD Project\Sources\Video folder.

For my 10 minute test file, the new MPG file was 374 MB and the MPA file was 17 MB. The combined 391 MB size was only slightly smaller than the 432 MB DVR-MS file, and the saving process happens pretty quickly, both good clues that the rendering process hasn't degraded the quality very much. Both files play fine in the Windows Media Player, and the MPG video file is 560x480 pixels.

I tried importing these into Movie Maker 2. The MPA file works fine as an audio file, but I get an error message on the MPG file '...the mpg is an empty file'. I'd rather have a single file with both video and audio together, so I need to do another conversion.

3 - Convert the pair of MPEG2 files to an AVI File

I use TMPGEnc version 2.5. Open it and and don't opt to use the Project Wizard. Drag the MPG and MPA files and drop them into the Video and Audio source entries. From the pull down menu select File > Output to file > AVI > Select video and audio Settings.

I get 11 choices for Video compression. One is no compression and another, the Microsoft MPEG4 Video Codec V3, gave me an error message. So I tested each of the 9 codecs that worked, using whatever default settings there were for each.

For audio I get as many or more choices. But I'll focus on the video (at least for now). I left whatever was the default for audio.

4 - Import the AVI File into Movie Maker 2

They all imported fine, ready for use in projects.

5 - Assessment - Which Video Codec to Use?

For regular use of this process, I'd like fast rendering, small file sizes, high quality video and audio, and no video/audio sync issues.

For my first round testing, here's a table showing how they stacked up. Remember that the video clip is 10 minutes in duration. Not listed is the video/audio sync results... all of the files were pretty good and none were better or worse than the others.

Video Codec	Time	Size	Quality Ranking
Intel Indeo 4.5	3 hr 12 min	807 MB	1
Indeo 5.10	1 hr	703 MB	2
Panasonic DV	14-1/2 min	2.3 GB	3
WMV9 - Quality Setting 80 (default)	1 hr 20 min	361 MB	4
WMV9 - Quality Setting 90	1 hr 27 min	618 MB	*
Microsoft MPEG4 Video Codec V2	13 min	348 MB	5
Microsoft MPEG4 Video Codec V1	12 min	348 MB	6
Cinepak	4 hr 3 min	1.8 GB	7
Divx 4.12	13-3/4 min	229 MB	8
Microsoft Video 1 (couldn't create BMPs with IrfanView)	18-1/2 min	2.1 GB

For this first round testing, I turned to my wife, whose specialties include color and computer images (she's as heavily into Photshop as I'm into Movie Maker).

I used IrfanView's mulitmedia player to extract the 105th frame of each AVI file, saving it as a BMP (720x480), and asked her to rank them in quality. She looked at them from a distance and used Photoshop to zoom into each and study them closely. The ranking is her subjective assessment and based on the single frame BMP, not by viewing the videos.

* The WMV9, quality setting of 90, file was produced after the initial test, so it wasn't ranked. But the quality of the video is better than the quality 80 file that was included in the ranking. It may be the best choice.

If you think the quality assessment was easy, here's what frame 105 looked like from each of the 9 test files. It wasn't easy to choose.

Method 5 - Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate

See the Setup Movie Maker > Conversion Utilities page for more info.

I used it to successfully convert a HD1080 DVR-MS test file from a Canon MV10 digital camera.

Selected Posts - Converting DVR-MS Files

8/16/05 - there's a registry hack referenced in a post titled 'dvr-ms' on the windowsxp Movie Maker newsgroup...

7/10/05 - ... another method - and perhaps one of the easiest - of getting DVR-MS files from Media Center into Movie Maker. Use TMPGEnc Xpress (now up to version 3.1) to read the DVR-MS file (& it does support multiple, i.e., batch, conversions) and to save it as an AVI file, which MM can import. It costs $58, but seems to do the job - the advantage, of course, being that the DVR-MS --> MPEG and then MPEG --> AVI conversions are all done "under one roof" - very convenient.

7/20/04 email - ... figured out a way to convert dvr-ms into a form that can be used by MM2.... I am using a Sony PVC-RZ54G. These instructions might be useful for your readers.

1. Capture analog video using Media Center, which saves the file in dvr-ms format.

2. Open DV Gate Plus, import the dvr-ms file, which will be converted to MPEG2.

3. In DV Gate Plus, save the imported file as an AVI file (there are several save format options available).

4. Open MM2 and import the AVI file saved by DV Gate.

11/19/03 - There is also a freeware alternative to using MyDVD to extract the MPEG streams from the DVR-MS file. It's called DVR-Ripper and you can download it at www.thegreenbutton.com/downloads.asp - I use it all the time and it works great for me, but others have had problems getting it to work. But since it's free, it's probably worth giving it a try, IMO...