Convert TS files to MP4

Where TS files come from

Anything that records digital TV without changing it tends to produce .ts files: TV tuner cards and network tuners recording from an antenna or cable, set-top boxes with a recording feature, and tools that capture IPTV or live streams, whose video arrives as transport stream pieces. OBS Studio can record to .ts too.

Because nothing is compressed further, the files are big: an hour of HD TV can take several gigabytes. VLC and TV software play them, but phones, editors and most upload forms want MP4. A broadcast in H.264 is already efficient, so for those a copy is the whole job.

One limit to know: many TVs and some set-top boxes encrypt what they record to a USB drive, so it plays only on that device. Octoolo cannot read those recordings, and the same goes for scrambled pay channels.

Copied or converted, by kind of broadcast

All the sound tracks come along, so a film with its original language, a dubbed track and audio description keeps all three. Broadcast subtitles are sent as pictures or teletext, which Octoolo does not carry into an MP4.

A radio recording from the same broadcast is sound only. Converted to MP4 it becomes a file with no picture, so for radio the Sound only tab and MP3 make more sense; video to MP3 explains it.

Long recordings: size and time

Copying an H.264 recording leaves the size about the same and takes a fraction of the time a re-encode would. An MPEG-2 recording shrinks noticeably as H.264, but every frame has to be encoded, so a two-hour film takes a while; the graphics card takes on the work if it can, and the line under the file shows the speed and the time left.

Up to four files run at once, only one of them re-encoding. A recording that will not copy cleanly is converted instead, automatically. There is no limit on length or size, only on the space left on your disk. To cut the minutes before and after the program, trim the MP4 in the Video Editor afterwards.

Settings for a TV archive

For channels already in H.264 or HEVC, As it is gives you an exact copy at the same size. For MPEG-2 recordings you have a real choice:

• As it is or High keep the detail of the broadcast in a smaller file.
• Balanced is plenty for news, talk shows and anything you will watch once.
• Size 720p under More settings shrinks an HD recording further for a tablet or phone.

Dolby Digital 5.1 is copied with As it is, so a film keeps its surround sound. High, Balanced and Small turn every sound track into AAC instead, which matters if you play the files through a home cinema. For a library on a media server, H.264 MP4 is the kind most players can stream directly, and a folder of its own, set under Save in, keeps the archive easy to browse.