Topfield .rec files on Samsung TV with subtitles

Hi,

I'm wondering how to edit the profiles.xml file to view and play Topfield 5100 .rec files on my Samsung TV (UE46F6400). As it is, I can't even see these files, which are stored on my computers, when browsing Serviio on the TV, although regular mp3 and mp4 files are visible and playable. Moreover, most of the files include several embedded DVB subtitle streams and I would also like to be able to access at least the Finnish subtitles.

I can locate the TV profile in the profiles file (Profile id="sam_ef"), but I have no idea how to edit this. I've been looking at a code provided for another TV model for some pointers (http://www.forum.serviio.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5685#p45315), but I don't have enough knowledge to make it work with the Samsung profile and it's probably for an older version of Serviio as well. I just checked out the 'Editing renderer profiles' section on the Support site, but I'm afraid that I don't understand enough of the principles involved to edit the profile. I may give it a go, but I would be very grateful if someone could help me out.

Please find attached an example file with four subtitle streams. I'm currently on a 64-bit Windows 8.1 Pro laptop, but if I can get a working profile, I'm planning to install Serviio on my desktop running 64-bit Windows 7 Pro (which I'm planning to upgrade to Win10 Pro eventually), because that's where most of my media files are located and it's basically always on anyway.

Thanks,
Katja

[DenyAll]

Can you play the video on your PC?
If you rename the file to Borgen-10.mp4, are you then able to see and/or play the file via Serviio (or on your PC for that matter)?

Yes, I can play .rec files using VLC for desktop, which is so far the only program I know to be able to show these types of subtitles as well. Even Windows Media Player can play the video, but it doesn't recognise the subtitles at all. VLC is also available as a Wndows app, but it doesn't seem to be able to play these files properly, so I can't use it to play them directly to my TV.

If I change the extension to .mp4, I can also view them on my TV via Serviio, but I can't see any subtitles.

[DenyAll]

My guess would be that the topfield is not creating quite standard files. Hopefully it's just in the container and can be fixed by remuxing. To test, try remuxing the file using the command:

ffmpeg -i "Borgen-10.rec" -c copy -map 0 "Borgen-10.mp4"

this will remux the file and in doing so may fix any container issues (if that's what it is). Test in vlc, wmp and Mediabrowser and then your TV.

Thanks very much, but there seems to be something wrong with the file, as you suggested. The created mp4 file is reported as corrupt by VLC, Windows Media Player and Windows Video app, so it won't play at all.

Please find attached a copy of the remux process output. There were some error messages:
[mp4 @ 03D29340] Could not find tag for codec dvb_subtitle in stream #2, codec not currently supported in container
and
Could not write header for output file #0 (incorrect codec parameters ?): Error number -22 occurred

This is definitely beyond me. Any ideas would be very welcome. Thanks again!

[DenyAll]

Would it be possible to put a (small) sample video to Dropbox or similar. I will have a look at it, but even then it may not be possible. A lot of pvr's store to proprietary formats.

Sorry, I really thought it would have been easier, considering that it's been done before with a Panasonic TV, as I mentioned in my original post (http://www.forum.serviio.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5685#p45315). I tried to edit the Samsung E/F series profile based on the code provided in that post, but I clearly don't know enough about the code to make it work.

I assume that this really boils down to the way in which the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE adds multiple subtitle streams to its programmes. Unfortunately, this particular TV series is in Danish and I can't follow spoken Danish without subtitles. Most of my TV recordings are in English, which wouldn't be a problem for me, but my partner would like to have Finnish subtitles. I really just started to look into Serviio, because I was no longer able to connect my laptop to the TV using the Screen Mirroring function, which seems to have stopped working at some point, probably due to a firmware update and I couldn't find any fix for that. I guess I could just transfer the rec files from my desktop computer (which is in another room) to my laptop and connect it with an HDMI cable, but transferring several GBs of files would take quite a lot of time. My Topfield is so old that I have to use a USB cable to transfer files from its hard drive whenever it's getting full, so it would take much more time to first clear some space on the hard drive by transferring files to the laptop and then transferring these files back from desktop to laptop and from laptop to Topfield.

I'm afraid that any similar recordings I've got tend to be guite large (1 to 4 GB), but I guess I could try and cut a snippet from one of the files. I'll see whether it can be done with Movie Maker or similar without dropping the subtitle streams, unless you can suggest a better piece of software for this. I must admit that I've never had any need to use Dropbox or similar services, since I basically use my desktop computer and my web hotel server for private syncing, but I can certainly give it a go.

OK, I'll PM you a Dropbox link to a clip cut with VLC.

Please let me know if this is not OK and I'll cut a clip of one of the files currently on Topfield. I'd also appreciate it if you could let me know when you've downloaded it, so I can remove the file.

Thanks very much again!

[DenyAll]

I really must read more carefully - I thought you had already tried the profile modification. To do that, simply add Illico's code:

  Code:

<!-- Topfield .REC files transcoding -->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="ac3" forceVTranscoding="true" >
      <Matches container="mpegts" vCodec="mpeg2video" aCodec="mp2"/>
</Video>

to the sam_ef profile, directly under the line containing <Transcoding>. Save the file and restart your PC (or the Serviio service using services.msc if you know how).

The problem with the above is that even if it works, I don't think the subtitles will, but give it a try.

I have downloaded your file. Wont be able to come back to you for a few days though.

<Edit> Had a quick look and (after renaming to .rec) this plays in Windows Media Player for me (the original doesn't though on your machine, correct?). So I suspect this may be a dead end as far as me playing with the file - I suspect that the very process of cutting the file with VLC is fixing some of the compatibility issues.

However, can you confirm that you can play the cut version on WMP? Also, before making the profile change, does the cut version play via Serviio to your device, with our without subtitles ... hopefully, as this may point to a fix

Thanks very much again! I'll try the code fix in a little while. Yes, I know how to stop and restart services. I've been using computers on a daily basis for about 25 years now, so I know my way around a PC, but I'm not familiar with coding beyond basic HTML, CSS and suchlike and I know next to nothing about remuxing. I actually tried profile modification based on the Panasonic code, but I probably copied too much of the code, or added it to the wrong place, because I was no longer able to start the service until I reverted to the original profiles file.

Windows Media Player can actually play the original rec files, but it doesn't recognise the subtitles. VLC recognises subtitles both in the original rec file and in the clip. I can also play the cut version via Serviio without subtitles, as long as the extension is .ts, but if I rename it to .rec, it isn't even listed when I browse the content on my TV.

If you wish, I can cut another clip from a recording currently on Topfield using Topfield's own functions to make sure that VLC hasn't fixed anything during the cutting process. I've got some work to do over the weekend, but I can probably do it within the next couple of days. This is not at all urgent, so please take your time. I'm really grateful that you are willing to take the time to help.

I tested the code fix, but it didn't help. I couldn't even see any .rec files while browsing media files via Serviio on my TV, let alone play them. Any further ideas would be welcome. Thanks again!

[DenyAll]

You will need to rename the files to .mpeg or .ts for Serviio to see them. I'm pretty sure the file types recognised by Serviio is hard coded, so I don't think there is anyway around that. Rename the file and then try with the modified profile.

I have tried using ffmpeg to remux your files, but nothing I have done allows the subtitles to work in WMP, which I think would be a precursor to getting them to work with your TV.

The problem with many PVR's is that they design them so there files are not readily transported and playable on other devices. The next step to try would be to fully transcode/convert the files using more powerful tools, but I'm not sure this is something you'd want to do across all of your recordings?? If you google "convert topfield rec files" there is lots of discussion on what is non standard in the rec files and tools that can convert them (although in my brief search I couldn't find anything that mentioned sub titles and whether they were also converted).

Thanks again! I've actually managed to burn some of my TV recordings on DVD, including the subtitles, with a little help from a friend and online instructions from a Finnish-language site for downloading and using Yle's subtitles as separate srt files, but I haven't done it in ages. Anyway, it would take a massive amount of time to convert every rec file. I guess I'll just have to connect my laptop to the TV using an HDMI cable to watch the recordings from Yle's channels. The problem doesn't apply to commercial channels, since they use the more conventional method where you can't change languages or switch subtitles on and off.

Changing the extension to .mpeg does the trick, minus the subtitles. So, at least I can use Serviio to watch English-language shows or those recorded from commercial channels by changing the extensions with Bulk Rename Utility. Thanks very much!

An afterthought:
I was just about to post this when thinking back on the way I used to burn DVDs just gave me an idea, which I promptly put to the test: I downloaded an srt file for Borgen-10 using VLC, renamed it to match the renamed mpeg file and, lo and behold, it worked! In other words, it seems to be possible to use srt files to view the subtitles in Yle's recordings, as long as the starting points match, which may require some extra work, since there's usually a minute or two extra in the beginning of each recording. However, it would still be much faster to search and download the subtitles using VLC and to rename them to match the names of the recordings than to start converting my entire recordings library.

[Edit:]
Disclaimer: Just to be clear, I have only ever burnt my own TV recordings on DVD for my own private use and I don't condone unauthorised distribution of copyrighted material.