Novice Question -- .TS to Mpeg-PS Conversion Problem

[GregorianChanter]

I use a Hauppauge tuner with my laptop computer to record television programs off the air. The resulting files for 480i (standard def), 720p (high def) and 1080i (high def) are all of the transport stream variety (.TS). As I understand it, all of these broadcast video formats use MPEG-2. I can play all of these files on my laptop using the Windows Media Player.

However, my television does not know how to deal with .TS files. But it will play MPEG-2 files. I have been successful using Avidemux 2.6.12 and 2.6.15 to convert the 480i standard def .TS files by simply selecting "Output Format Mpeg-PS muxer (ff)" and saving the file. All the other settings are default (Video Output Copy, Audio Output Copy, Output Format Configure set to Mpeg PS muxer format DVD) The files are a bit shorter, which I take to mean that the overhead of the .TS file has been removed. I assume that the video/audio conversion is lossless. Question #1: Is this correct?

However, I have have not been able to do this sort of conversion with 720p or 1080i .TS files. I have successfully edited these files and saved them as .TS files, but that does not make my TV happy.

Question #2: Can Avidemux convert high def .TS files to (high def) MPEG-2 (losslessly)?
Question #3: If so, what are the settings to make the magic happen?

[eumagga0x2a]

I use a Hauppauge tuner with my laptop computer to record television programs off the air. The resulting files for 480i (standard def), 720p (high def) and 1080i (high def) are all of the transport stream variety (.TS). As I understand it, all of these broadcast video formats use MPEG-2.

I doubt that this applies to 720p and 1080i videos, they might be h264. Please provide output of ffprobe or MediaInfo for such transport streams. Alternatively attach a screenshot of file properties provided by Avidemux ("File" --> "Information").

my television does not know how to deal with .TS files. But it will play MPEG-2 files. I have been successful using Avidemux 2.6.12 and 2.6.15 to convert the 480i standard def .TS files by simply selecting "Output Format Mpeg-PS muxer (ff)" and saving the file. All the other settings are default (Video Output Copy, Audio Output Copy, Output Format Configure set to Mpeg PS muxer format DVD) The files are a bit shorter, which I take to mean that the overhead of the .TS file has been removed. I assume that the video/audio conversion is lossless. Question #1: Is this correct?

Yes WRT to video and audio, but you lose soft subtitles if there were any in the original stream.

However, I have have not been able to do this sort of conversion with 720p or 1080i .TS files. I have successfully edited these files and saved them as .TS files, but that does not make my TV happy.

Question #2: Can Avidemux convert high def .TS files to (high def) MPEG-2 (losslessly)?

If these HD transport streams are MPEG-2, Avidemux can store them in another container, obviously not DVD-compliant. This is the only lossless operation possible with lossy codecs. If the streams contain not MPEG-2 but H.264, you can't convert them to MPEG-2 losslessly. Keep the copy mode but try to select MKV as container in this case. If your TV set can't demux MKV, then resort to MP4 in case you re-encode the audio to AAC or MP4v2 in case the audio track you want to keep is AC3. If the TV can't decode anything but MPEG-2, you are out of luck.

Question #3: If so, what are the settings to make the magic happen?

No magic is happening here.

[Jan Gruuthuse]

Done quick check on currently transmitted MpeG-TS .ts (sat), shows:
Some SD channels still use:

544*576 (SD) = MPEG video
704*576 (SD) = MPEG video

You already find SD in both kinds of video stream MPEG video or AVC.

720*576 (SD) = AVC

most common HD nowadays are:

1820*720 (HD 720p) = AVC
1920*1080 (HD 1080i) = AVC

3840x2160 (UHD 2160p) = HEVC

Most likely defining is the transmission in DVB-C/C2 (cable), DVB-T/T2 (terrestrial) DVB-S/S2 (satellite).
The 2 indicates second generation)

see more info @ https://www.dvb.org/standards