The .wtv file format is the new file format used by Windows Media Center for television recording. Starting with Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 and now in Windows 7, Microsoft has been phasing out the older dvr-ms file format in favor of wtv.
There are some commercial converters popping up on the market that will convert directly from wtv to .mp4, or avi, but hey, I'm not one to pay for a solution when I can find one for free! If you'd prefer to go that route, you can check out the converters from DVRSoft. They're currently charging about $30. This process requires two steps to convert to .mp4, avi, mpeg, etc. In a nutshell, you need to convert the files back to the old dvr-ms format first, and then convert to the format of your choice. On the plus side, Windows 7 ships with a handy built in dvr-ms converter.
Watch the video tutorial, or follow the instructions below...
Browse to your Recorded TV directory. By default it is located at C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV. Right-click on the .wtv file you'd like to convert and choose "Convert to .dvr-ms format.
This will pop up a WTV converter windows where you can view the conversion progress. The process is pretty quick. A 1 hour show with a file size of about 1.5 GB took about a minute on my PC.
Now you should have a file with the same name, approximately the same size, but with a .dvr-ms file extension. Next you need to convert the file to your preferred file format with Format Factory. Download and install Format Factory if you haven't already and then run the application.
Choose your preferred Video format by clicking one of the choice on the left panel.
On the next screen, click on “Output Setting.”
Choose any custom setting on the Video Setting screen. For best quality, I recommend setting “Encode 2 Pass to Yes. This will increase the time of the conversion, but give you better quality output.
Or, you can choose one of the built-in profile settings from the drop down list. Click “OK” when ready.
Next, you can add another file, or click “OK.”
When you finished with settings, click “Start” to begin the conversion.
Click here to download Format Factory
You can check out a commercial .wtv converter from DVRSoft.
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