Fortec Star FS-4400 (A.K.A. FS4400) - Joining Output Files

Justin

After days of searching, I've finally found some software which will seamlessly (and losslessly) join the .dvr files from the Fortec Star 4400 into one large MPEG2 .ts file, ready for editing in VideoReDo Plus.

It's called TS-Doctor and you can download it here:
_http://www.cypheros.de/dvb_e.html

I allowed it to install the Matroska splitter during installation, but didn't tick the boxes to disable my existing Matroska splitters. I probably didn't need to install the bundled splitter at all, as I'm only going to use it for joining files, not converting between file formats...

Once installed, drag the directory containing your recorded .dvr files onto your PC's hard drive from your Fortec's USB drive (you don't need to, but it saves the output .ts file to the same directory as the input files - and your PC may have more room for large files). Hopefully, whichever drive you use won't be FAT32 formatted, as the merged output .ts file might not save, due to its size.

Start-up TS-Doctor and simply drag and drop the file named "info.dvr" onto the application. It'll come up with a message, stating that the files "don't start with valid data" and will ask if you want to cut - press YES.

And that's all there is to it. Amazing really. It's exremely fast too.

There is one drawback... The developer has decided that although the program is Freeware whilst in beta-testing, the current release has a trial period which expires on December 31st 2009!!!

_http://www.sat-universe.com/showthread.php?p=472187

Hopefully, just rewinding my PC's clock before using the program will stop it from expiring. This software is incredible and it'd be a crying shame if Cypheros decided to stop updating the program.

p.s. The Fortec Star 4400's ".dvr" files are the same as "Comag .dvr" files. TS-Doctor can also join Comag SL100 HD .dvr files.