TV Ripping

hey i just wanted to know how eztv rips there shows! like what programs they use
and what codes they encode there files with?

right now i am using virtualdub for the ripping and divx for the encoding! is
this what i should be using?

thanks!

eztv do not rip any shows. they source their episodes from 'scene' releases.

oh thats cool! so then how do they rip their shows?

thanks for the link! and sorry i should have worded my post right, i meant how
do the scene's rip their shows.

but thanks for the link!

there are all sorts of tutorials for capping & encoding tv shows. doom9 (google
it) is a good place to start for guides 😉

doom9 was the first place i looked but thanks!

to give you a quick idea of the process:

1. record a ts file from a digital capture card
2. process the ts file to fix any errors in the stream which may occur due to
poor reception (which causes the glitches you may see on some scene releases)
and remove commercials
3. at this stage the ts file is usually converted to m2v and ac3 (mpeg2 video
and ac3 audio separated)
4. then convert to xvid the same way you would for a regular dvd.

so what app would i use to get ts file?

no, a dvd recorder will take analogue inputs, so you would be converting a
digital tv signal to an analogue output, and then the dvd recorder would convert
it to digital again. this would degrade the quality. you need a digital tv
capture card. you can use the software which comes bundled with the card to
record a ts file. note: a ts file is a transport stream, and an exact copy of
what is being sent by the broadcaster. there is no loss of quality from the
original broadcast to the recorded ts file.

there are a few ways to capture .ts

- hdtv over-the-air tv card (pdtv/hdtv caps)
- digital satellite tuner card connected directly to a satellite (for dsr rips)
- firewire connected to dvr and pc (works for dsr/pdtv/hdtv)

although i'm not sure of the best software to use for each method. there use to
be a great website for the firewire one but that went down