Editing recordings on Humax HDR7500T

[Getafix]

I'm looking at buying one of the Humax PVRs but read somewhere that it doesn't have the ability to edit recordings. It's not a feature i would use a lot, but could be handy sometimes, and i was wondering if a viable alternative would be to put the recording on an external hard drive or USB, and then edit it using iMovie, and then move that file back to the PVR. Would that work or would the new file be unreadable by the PVR?

Also, does anyone know which of the other IceTV PVRs include editing?

[prl]

I've never been able to convince either iDVD 09 or iMovie 09 to import MPEG2. I have QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component for Mac OS X installed, but that doesn't seem to help. I use MPEG Streamclip (freeware) for editing MPEG2. It handles both MPEG2 TS and PS, and can convert TS to PS.

[JPP]

Also, does anyone know which of the other IceTV PVRs include editing?

Both the BeyonWiz and Topfield PVRs are ICETV enabled and allow you to edit files on the PVR itself. But, as more and more people are finding, it's rarely a necessity these days with the large HDDs they come with.

[prl]

Also, does anyone know which of the other IceTV PVRs include editing?

Both the BeyonWiz and Topfield PVRs are ICETV enabled and allow you to edit files on the PVR itself. But, as more and more people are finding, it's rarely a necessity these days with the large HDDs they come with.

Because the Beyonwiz has quite slow file transfer, a quick top/tail of a recording to cut off the padding can be useful to reduce transfer time.

[Getafix]

Thanks!

It occured to me that if i've transferred any video files to my Mac and edited them there, there wouldn't really be any need to transfer them back to the PVR. I should be able to access them from my Mac via the network. Is that right? How fiddly is it to do that?

[Dave at IceTV]

It occured to me that if i've transferred any video files to my Mac and edited them there, there wouldn't really be any need to transfer them back to the PVR. I should be able to access them from my Mac via the network. Is that right? How fiddly is it to do that?

Correct.

The Humax will be able to stream the recordings from the Mac, as long as you have a DLNA Media Server app running on the Mac. One of the best (shareware) DLNA servers is Twonky and some of the better free ones include XBMC and tvmobli. All three come in Windows, Mac and Linux versions.

There is a DLNA Media Server comparison chart here, but it was written in 2007 and it doesn't include XBMC or tvmobli or Windows Media Center. Even so, most of the listed servers still exist today.

[littlebird]

I recently purchased the HDR-7500T and have almost comes to grips with it. It is working fine, and my only gripes are the poor ergonomics of the remote control and the lack of built-in editing facilities for recordings. Because there seems to have been a lot of discussion about editing I thought that I would offer my experiences.

Firstly, I have the latest firmware update, and my computer is a Mac running OS X 10.7. I have not encountered encountered any problems in uploading recorded programs to the computer by either USB drive or an external HD (Seagate). The recordings are primarily sporing events that I want to edit down to the highlights and then burn to DVD for archiving. Coincidentally, the recent High Court decision seems to have cleared up the legality of doing this.

In the past MPEG Streamclip has been my favourite editing tool, but I found that is not interested in the encrypted Humax .ts format. I found two alternatives - File Converter in Roxio Toast Titanium 9, and Aunsoft Video Converter. Toast also has an editing facility, but I couldn't get it to work (this is an Elgato product which has been replaced in Toast 10), but it at least gave me an MP4 file which I could then edit in Streamclip. Aunsoft (free to try, but it leaves a watermark) has a good selection of HD formats for conversion, and it allows simultaneous cropping of unwanted lead-in and lead-out padding. In Streamclip I was then able to cut out other unwanted content.

Fortunately I have kept my old Panasonic RAM disc recorder, and by connecting the Humax to this via component cable I can also copy  the recordings from the Humax direct to DVD and do basic editing as well. The quality is not the same, but still quite acceptable.

Finally I use iSedora as the DLNA server on the Mac for streaming back to the TV or PVR. It works well.