EDIT: According to a comment from vain below, this is no longer available in the retail version of Windows 7. I have been able to confirm that it does, in fact, still work with Windows 7 Ultimate RTM. Not sure if it works with Home Premium but I would assume that it does.
Wow…if only I would have realized this earlier on. Apparently Microsoft decided to implement a VERY easy way to convert those nasty .wtv files to .dvr-ms files so you can edit and do all the things you used to be able to do prior to TV Pack and Windows 7. I’ve been wanting an easy way to convert some of those .wtv files because I like to edit some shows that I want to keep. So I subscribed to a few threads on The Green Button and received an email yesterday for one of them and user x219c on The Green Button discovered an easy way to do just that. All you have to do is right-click on a .wtv file and you should see a “Convert to .dvr-ms Format” option. Once you click on it, it just make a copy in your Recorded TV folder so you will have both the .wtv file and the .dvr-ms file.
I was also pleasantly surprised that you can run multiple conversions at once without much strain on your PC. In the image below, you can see that I am running three conversions at once and the CPU usage is staying fairly low.
If you’re hoping to convert those copy protected files (such as those recorded via CableCARD tuners), you’ll be out of luck with this utility. I tried to convert a movie that I recorded on Starz and got rejected.
I’m currently using the Windows 7 Release Candidate on all my PCs so I’m not sure if this utility works on any beta version prior to the RC. I hope this helps some others out…I know it’s going to help me to finally be able to edit some of those shows I’ve been saving for a while. Thanks again to x219c on TGB for discovering this simple solution and posting it up.
33 Comments until now.
Cool!
I wish I’d have seen this before…
Nice trick!
BUT how do you U edit the DVR-MS files??? I cant find any windows movie maker in windows 7 and the movie maker 2.6 you can download doesnt support dvr-ms… HELP
@KWood
Check out the link to download the DVR-MS sample code in this article. http://www.mcesoft.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=2
This is the program I’ve used for a few years now and it’s really simple and works wonderfully!
So after converting to DVR-MS you convert to Wmv and then edit the video?
and that converting is from win7 mediacenter?? why not just go from win 7 to wmv then?
@KWood
I have been using this DVR-MS editor ever since Media Center 2005 and I’ve always loved it for it’s simplicity. Once I discovered you could easily convert .wtv to .dvrms there was no need for me personally to look for another app to convert to .wmv.
Hi
but As far as I can see the ” DVR-MS sample code” is a converter to convert from dvr-ms to wmv and not a editing tool???
Found It!!
it’s booth
thanks will play a little around with it
It just installs some folders to a directory on your PC (likely in My Documents). There is a folder titled “Applications” that contains a bunch of different programs. Look for “DvrmsEditor.exe” in that folder and that will allow you to edit your DVR-MS files.
Just wanted to know what you are using to display that CPU usage meter.
It is the All CPU Meter V1.0 by Addgadget.com
I have the full version (legit) of windows 7 Pro and this feature does not exist. There is no built-in shell extention of any kind like that. Appearently it was removed from the retail version.
@vain
That’s unfortunate. It was a nice little feature but I’m guessing they had it in there during the beta for people who decided to go back to Vista. Maybe someone will figure out a way to replicate this to develop a similar simple way of converting .wtv to .dvrms.
well, i copied wtv2dvrms.dll and WTVConverter.exe from C:\Windows\ehome. hopefully i will be able to just paste into retail 7 in the same folder? If the right click option will not be available, the cmd line route should work… then we could .bat for multiples, even as soon as they’re recorded and enter the Recorded TV folder.
I have a Windows 7 Ultimate legit copy from MSDN and that context menu option is available.
Also the WTVConverter.exe works great. I’ve just written a proof of concept C# program to automatically convert all my WTV to DVR-MS using this, followed by a call to HandbrakeCLI to convert the DVR-MS to MP4 which is playable on my iPod. So I’ll just refine that a bit and have an automatic service to convert all the bloated WTV content into the much leaner and more portable MP4 that is playable almost everywhere. I will put the converted files to a folder called “Recorded TV” that is added to the media library and watch the videos under the video library menu instead of the recorded TV menu, since Media Center plays MP4’s just fine and takes up about 1/4 of the space.
The converter that MSFT includes in Windows 7 doesn’t handle multiple audio streams correctly: it keeps only one of the audio streams, and there have been many cases where it kept the alternate visually-impaired audio stream or Spanish stream instead of the main English stream. It’s incredible that they’d go RTM with something as broken as this!
I don’t know if this will help you, but I ran into the same problems. I wrote a utility to automate the built-in wtvconverter.exe program. You can check it out at:
http://wtvwatcher.codeplex.com/
I’m running the retail version of Windows 7 now and just converted it using your method, thank you! I can approve that it DOES work.
Have you guys seen MCEBuddy? It runs as a service, automatically converts (divx, wmv, or h.264) and even incorporates commercial removal… http://mcebuddy.com/
I recently purchased a new HP pavilion w/ Windows 7 home premium and I do not have the option to convert from WTV
Since the Windows 7 conversion tool takes no time at all to convert an hour long show, my guess is that there is no actual video conversion that takes place. I think the only real difference is the encapsulation and (better?) copy protection options.
thanks for the easy way to convert- i spent hours and luckily no money to find a way to convert
I have a full, legal version of Windows 7 Ultimate. I can confirm that the rigt-click convert to dvr-ms is available. Maybe that’s one of the lesser-known differences between Pro and Ultimate versions.
FYI, I am running Windows 7 Professional and I’ve got the right-click “Convert to .dvr-ms Format” option. Just used it. Works perfectly.
Running Windows 7 Home Premium, and I DO have the option “Convert to .dvr-ms format.”
I am running Windows 7 Ultimate Professional and I’ve got the right-click “Convert to .dvr-ms Format” option. Just used it. Works perfectly
I think you need to have Windows Media Center set as the default program in order for this option to be present. I have Windows 7 Ultimate and did not have the option until I set the default program for wtv files back to windows media center.
works fine on my win 7 home 64bit,
but with all mpeg4 recordings I get the error on converting.
Only mpeg2 recording works
[...] I decided to see if I could easily convert one of the .wtv files to .dvrms so that I could use DVRMSEditor to easily edit commercials and such. Sure enough, it worked [...]
I Use VideoRedo TV Suite. You can easily edit/convert/trim files. V3 only works with MS-DVR files, but the new v4 works with WTV now as well! It’s expensive, but you can find v3 out there for “cheaper”
Hopefully v4 turns up soon. Cyberlink PowerDirector 8 works as well
The right click ‘convert to .dvr-ms format’ (in Windows 7) is only available if the video is associated with windows media center.
If another program hijacks the association the right click option disappears.
This works and many programs can edit .dvr-ms, only problem I have is that the converted all files converted this way have an audio sync problem and this has led me to ask if it’s work the hassle of having to stretch or resync the audio in the edited file, Video Redo TV pack can edit .wtv , but that program is expensive and when I was experimenting with converting to H.264 it crashed and after 2 days trialing how to get the program to launch again I gave up and rolled back my system to before the problem (trial version, 14 days only before I decide to pay or look elsewhere).. this is frustrating!
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