Getting started with TS-Doctor

When you open TS-Doctor, you will see the main window with a window for selecting TV recordings. Presumably no recordings will be displayed at first, as there are no TS files in the default directory. TS-Doctor only lists TS files (.ts, .mts, .ts4, .dvr, .m2ts, .rec, etc.) for a better overview. MP4, MPG, MKV and other formats can be imported via File/Import.

If you now select a directory that contains TS files, these will be listed. Even if recordings are divided/split into several files or contain additional files, these are only displayed as a single entry. TS-Doctor automatically merges split files for most formats.

If you double-click or select a file and open the recording with the "Open recording" button, TS-Doctor starts analyzing the recording files. Depending on the data carrier on which the recording is saved, this can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. The recording is subjected to various checks and the progress can be seen on the left-hand side in the form of green check marks. If the recording does not contain any major errors, the dialog for automatic editing appears.

Various methods are available for recognizing commercial breaks, with varying results depending on the broadcaster. Video analysis, for example, works for most German channels, as these channels hide the channel logo during commercial breaks. TS-Doctor tries to suggest the most suitable method based on the information found. You can also skip the commercial detection and cut the recording manually.

The commercials detection can be a great help in identifying advertising blocks and generating a cut list from them. TS-Doctor displays this in the main window after the ad recognition. The red areas in the timeline are the areas that are to be removed. The audio, video and subtitle tracks found are also listed.

You can use the "Prepare cutting" button to correct the cut suggested by the advertising recognition or to define the cut completely manually.

Once the cut has been defined, close the cut window with OK to apply the changes. Click on "Create new file" in the main window to create a copy of the recording in which the defined cut areas are removed.

Here you can specify the location and the file name under which the recording is saved. You can also specify under File type whether TS-Doctor should use the regular TS format .ts or the closely related BDAV format .m2ts.

The progress indicator provides an overview of the progress made in processing the recording and any warnings and errors detected.

After TS-Doctor has finished its work, you will receive an overview of the errors and warnings found, as well as the reduction in file size. As TS-Doctor removes all redundant data streams and fill data, the new file is considerably smaller without losing any sound or picture quality. The "Logfile" contains the technical details of the recording and information about errors and processing steps.