QT on win7 wont play .ts file but QT on iMac does!

Question

Hi.
I have a .ts file which will not play correctly (video ok, audio jumpy) using VLC (both win and mac).
QT 7.72 player on windows gives error 2048 unrecognised file.
But QT 10.0(131) on my iMac plays it just fine!
How can I get quicktime on windows to play it?
background... the .ts file originates from a Beyonwiz PVR. If i record a tv broadcast and download the file, VLC plays it perfectly. However if the recording originates from the a/v input sockets on the PVR, the audio is dodgy using VLC. So i thought i would try QT to play it and i get this inconsistent result. Maybe there is something that the win version needs that the mac version has by default?
btw, my win is win7, 64 bit but this is probably irrelevant as VLC on WinXP does exactly the same.
The fact that QT 10 plays the file fine indicates that the audio is ok in the file, it's just that VLC and QT7 need something to play it back properly, i think.
Any tips?
And finally, I am reluctant to do any video conversion. The whole point of the exercise is to digitise old vcr tapes and there is hours and hours of content so long, slow conversion exercises are not much fun. I just want to record it, download/store it and play it whenever i want, as a .ts file.
Thanks. 

Answer 1

QT 7.72 player on windows gives error 2048 unrecognised file.
QT 7 does not and never has supported transport stream (TS) files and only supports program streams (PS) files.
But QT 10.0(131) on my iMac plays it just fine!
Very strange. On a Mac, TS files are normally associated with multiplexed MPEG-2 content with AC3 or MPEG-1 audio layers. Since QT 10.0 does not support "muxed" MPEG-2 content natively (i.e., it was only introduced until QT 10.1), the implication is that your TS file is not, in fact a TS file and/or does not contain "muxed" MPEG-2 compressed data. I.e., QT 10.0 should not be capable of playing a standard TS file.) Please check the type of compression used and post back.
The fact that QT 10 plays the file fine indicates that the audio is ok in the file, it's just that VLC and QT7 need something to play it back properly, i think.
VLC contains its own built in codec support and does not rely on your system's QT codec component configuration. QT 7 does not natively support MPEG-2 video, AC3 audio, or TS files. QT 10.1 supports MPEG-2 video, AC3 audio, and TS files but not VOB files. QT 10.0 does not natively support MPEG-2 video or AC3 audio but, if what you say is true, does not trap on TS file extensions.
Any tips?
I would normally try to use a work flow that does not require converting the original video content. Multiplexed MPEG-2/AC3 or MPEG-2/MP3 content would normally be played using MPEG Streamclip with the QT 7 MPEG-2 Playback component installed. Muliplexed MPEG-2/MPEG-1/2 audio layers would normally be played in QT 7 with the QT 7 MPEG-2 Playback component installed. Multiplexed MPEG-2 video with either AC3 or MPEG layered audio would normally be played using QT 10.1 under Lion. Depending on the actual format used to compress the audio and video data, you could also try demultiplexing the data to elementary program data streams without actually converting the video or place the compressed data in a program stream file container but based on what you've said, this may not be applicable here as your file does not appear to be a "normal" TS file. I suspect your files may actually contain MPEG-4/AVC compressed data normally associated with MTS or M2TS file containers.
And finally, I am reluctant to do any video conversion. The whole point of the exercise is to digitise old vcr tapes and there is hours and hours of content so long, slow conversion exercises are not much fun. I just want to record it, download/store it and play it whenever i want, as a .ts file.
As previously indicated, the TS file expension refers to the file container rather than the compressed data it contains. To best know what you can do with the data, you must first know what kind of data the file contains. Since you indicated the file loads in both the VLC and QT 10.0 players, you should check the media/Inspector and/or Finder Info windows to learn more about the data formats used in your file.