The DVR-MS and WTV formats are difficult enough to work with on PCs and extenders. What if you want to take your shows on the road, maybe put it on your iPod? Well, basically you’ll need to convert it to a format like MPEG first. Once the file has been turned into an MP4 you’ll find it much more compatible with just about any portable player available.

First we will need to get the tools to do the conversion. For this job we’ll use DVRMSToolbox, one of the most useful applications out there for Media Center users. Download and install DVRMSToolbox from Andy VT’s blog and then (if running beta 7048 or earlier) download todvrms as well. One last thing you’ll need is the profiles from Coyote on Andy VT forms. Just download the package and extract it to your DVRMSToolbox install directory.

Unfortunately, in order to convert WTV to an MP4 we’ll need to get a DVR-MS from it first. Recent versions of the Windows 7 beta include the ability to convert .wtv files from Explorer by right-clicking the file and selecting “Convert to DVR-MS”. If you don’t have this option however, you can also use todvrms to convert the file. There is already a detailed guide on Converting WTV to DVRMS using todvrms here.

As soon as you’ve got a DVR-MS file to work with from the original WTV file open DVRMStoMPEGGUI from the DVRMSToolbox programs menu. This process is fairly straight forward. Double-click the Input File box and select your DVR-MS file, then do the same for the Output File selecting “.mpg” as the file type.

You may or may not want to select Normal or High under Process Priority depending on the time frame you would like the conversion to be completed in. Setting this higher will use more system resources but should complete the conversion faster than the default setting. Setting this to RealTime isn’t recommended as this can cause system instability in some situations.

Under Profile you should select the one labeled “Export to iPod using mencoder”. This will use a combination of mencoder and ffmpeg to convert the DVR-MS file into an MP4 file. There is also an included ability for importing the MP4 file into iTunes automatically. If you don’t want this to happen or if this part of the process gives you trouble you can edit the profile in DVRMStoMPEGSettings and set it to “Continue on Fail” or delete it completely.

There is also a profile included in the default install of DVRMSToolbox called “Export to iPhone with FFmpeg” created by Ben Drawbaugh of EngadgetHD. This profile has some bugs in it, however, including one affecting 720p60 content.

Once complete you should now have an MP4 file compatible with most portable video players. Some players will still need to convert this file into an AVI, such as the Creative Zen, but this should be able to be completed as usual with the software provided by the player. That’s all there is to it!

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