So, I downloaded the free trial of VideoReDo and it works perfectly. So, are you saying I can't use VMS to burn the mpeg file to DVD or it just might not be the quality I want?

there are a few free conversion programs involving two or three steps, or you can spring for a conversion program for about 50-60 bucks, or you can buy the latest nero platinum package which has a recorder program - which can be immediately used in VMS. I opted to bypass windows altogether and bought the nero package. It has many very useful tools besides the recorder portion. Another option depending on your video source is a canopus ADVC 55, 110, or if you have the bucks the 300 series. There are a few other brands as well. Oh, and some video cameras have a pass through capability and convert the analog to digital signal with the onboard chip.

DVR-ms is a fancy mpeg that windows adds extra information to it so it knows how to handle the files. The extra files confuse most software that try to read it. The free convertion programs strip out the extra files so it is back to being a "normal" mpeg. (You may run into audio/video sync issues - I did on a few occasions). I can only assume that Sony hasn't come up with a patch to do this automatically because this is on the edge or outside the scope of what they want the program to be doing, or Bill Gates is charging too much to let them do it. Nero has a much better approach for those of us who have a media center computer and actually have the audacity to use something other than microsoft software.

good suggestions rustier. Does Nero have the ability edit out commercials? If not, then the 50 bucks for VRD is money well spent. Yes, it could be done manually, but VRD does it so quickly.

CD, if you click the "THIS" link I posted, you will see that, like the "other" software I have, you could use VMS, but it wants to re-encode the mpeg file inreasing the time it takes to burn a DVD. If spending $50 is not something you want to do, read through the "How to Save Tivo to DVD" thread mentioned in my "THIS" thread. There are free programs instead of using VRD to unwrap the dvr-ms mpeg files.

Until VMS recogizes these encoded mpeg files natively and doesn't need to re-encode them, using the steps I outlined (or Nero) is the way to go. Once you've done a few, the workflow becomes easy.

Look for DVRMStoolkit. It is a free program. I got it from Thegreenbutton.com but their website has been down for the last couple of days.

It has a routine to go through the dvr-ms files, strip out the commercials and write the file down to an mpeg. I have had very good luck with it. It is a program that is still a work in progress so it is a little shy of help files and so forth but the website has pretty good descriptions of what is what.

I found what I think is a good idea when it comes to getting rid of commercials.

Put in a chapter marker at the beginning and at end of a commercial. Delete the material in between. What you end up with is a commercial free presentation with a chapter marker where a commercial used to be.