Migrating from Topfield PVR

Importing video files

Background

The Topfield TF5800 PVR records video files in MPEG format with an extended header.

Transferring the files

Use one of the available Linux utilities for transferring .rec files from your Topfield to /home/public/data/videos or one of your other media storage areas. ftpd-topfield is a good one because you can then use any decent ftp client to (recursively, if necessary) mirror the files across.

File extensions

The .rec file extension is not automatically recognised by LinuxMCE - see the Add video file extensions page for how to fix this. Once the extension has been added, LinuxMCE should automatically spot the new media via inotify, but you can check/enforce this by visiting the Admin web interface and going to Files & Media > Media Files Sync.

However, xine does not currently recognise the format unless you change the extension to something else appropriate like .ts. This can be done en masse with a simple Perl script.

mplayer does recognise the format regardless of extension, but mplayer is currently only used for a few hardcoded formats such as HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.