TyEditor - README

TyEditor can be used to edit both local TyStreams and TyStreams still present on your tivo. (provided of course that you have the tyserver package installed on your tivo)

Getting started

To load a local TyStream, either click on "Click here to load a local TY file", or choose "File | Open ty file". This will bring up a file open dialog, where you can point and click to choose your TyStream.

When you click ok, the tystream will be indexed. This can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on the size of your TyStream. When the indexing process is completed, you will see the first frame of the TyStream in the video window.

You either can start editing your TyStream now, or if you want, you can process it to MPEG directly without editing (see below how to process to MPEG).

Editing

Directly under the video window you have a slider. If you drag the slider, you will move instantly either forward or backwards in the video stream. When you release the slider, the video window will show the frame you selected with the slider.

If "Frame Mode" is checked: When you click on the "<", you will move exactly one frame (gop) forward. When you click "<", you will move one frame (gop) backwards. When you click on the ">>", you will move exactly ten frames (gops) forward. Likewise, you will move ten frames backwards when you click "<<".

If "Frame Mode" is unchecked: The editor will act as a TySteam "player". To play forward click ">", and to play backwards click "<". To fast forward, click ">>", and likewise, to fast backwards click "<<". Click "||" to stop.

No matter what frame mode you are in, if you click on the ">|", you will move to the end of the video stream, and if you click on the "|<", you will move to the beginning.

Use the "Play Speed" slider to control the speed of the playback. If you have the slider to the far right at the same time as ">" is clicked, the TyStream will be played back at normal speed. If you slide the slider to the far left, the playback will be slowed down. However, since the slider is also affecting fast forward and fast backward, you have to adjust this to your liking. NOTE: When "Frame Mode" is checked, this slider has no effect.

If you look between the video window and the cut list window, you will see two buttons: "cut start", and "cut end". We will use them to make a cut. Locate a frame where you want to start your cut, and click on "cut start". You will now see an entry for it in the cut list. Now we need to close this cut, so locate the frame where you want your cut to end, and click "cut stop". You have now made a cut. If the cut is invalid (e.g. it stops before it ends), you will see that your cutpoints in the list are red, and you will need to correct this.

To do this, click on the red cut entry in the list, then click "Remove Selected". This will remove your cut from the list. If you want to start over, you can simply click "Remove All", and all of your cut entries will be removed.

If you have a done lot of editing, it can come in handy to locate where in the recording your cuts start or stop. You can do that by selecting a cut item, and click on "Locate". The video window will now display this frame, and the slider will move accordingly.

It can at times be handy to save the cut list (i.e. the cut items in your cut window) if you do a lot of editing. You can do that by choosing "File | Save Markers (As)". Likewise, you can load a cut file by using "File | Open Markers". Furthermore, after saving, you can do a "File | New Marker File". This will clear all items from the cut window.

While editing, it can be useful to see the frame (chunk) number of the frame, instead of the default time counter in the video window. To switch to see the frame number, choose "View | Frame Counter". You can switch back by using "View | Time Counter".

Processing

We are now finished with our editing tasks, and we will now process and convert the TyStream into either two MPEG elementary streams (raw video/audio) or to an MPEG program stream, which is a stream that you can play in any MPEG player.

Depending on what type of Tivo you have, and what your final purpose is, you will need to make the appropriate settings in "Video To" and "Audio To" drop down lists.

Video to:
Audio to:

After making your settings in "Video to" and "Audio to", click on "Process". This will bring up a file dialog where you will choose the name of the file you want to save the converted TyStream as. If you have set "Video out" to Elementary Stream, the file dialog will open a second time, asking you for the name of the audio output file.

Editing/Processing of remote TyStreams:

NOTE: YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE THE TYSERVER PACKAGE INSTALLED ON THE TIVO TO DO THIS!!!!

If you click on "Click here to load from Now Showing", or "File | Open Now Showing", you will be presented with a list of available recordings on your Tivo. NOTE: If the hostname of your Tivo isn't "tivo", you will need to type either the IP address, or the hostname in the "Tivo Hostname...." field, and click "refresh".

!!!VERY IMPORTANT!!! - in the far left of the Now Showing list, you will see a column for Index. If index is set to "No" for the stream you want to edit, then DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING REMOTE EDITING - instead, check the "Copy to PC First", and then click okay.

Now, select a recording that you want to edit. NOTE: IF YOU WANT TO EDIT THE RECORDING, IT MUST HAVE INDEXED SET TO YES. Next, click ok. The tivo will now transfer the index records and other TyStream statistics (not the whole stream) to TyEditor. After about 15 seconds or so, you will see the first frame appear, just as it does when you edit local files.

You can now edit the file as usual - it's a tad slower to get the pictures, so you may need to be a bit more patient. (this could be fixed eventually)

If you don't want to edit the file remotely, please check "Copy to PC first". This will download the file to your PC, and you can either save it for future use, or edit it as usual.

Known bugs and limitations in TyEditor/TyStudio 0.5.0 beta 2:

The Cut Stop will not also cut the frame you chose as stop frame, the frame that is the actual stop frame is the frame after the cut stop!

:: M a n u a l s