Comskip in Sage V4

[farmboy03]

I just upgraded to version 4 and I had been using Cayars and comskip with Sage 2.28. What is the best way to have commercial detection done automatically just like comskip used to do? I don't care about auto-skipping the commercials. I also want to be able to skip commercials on a client too. I don't even mind paying for ShowAnalyzer if that's what it takes, but I just don't know if that's what I want or not.

I've read so many posts about so many different imports and STV's that I'm confused. I would really appreciate it if someone could clear things up for me.

Thanks!

[lotusvball]

I second this request.

[rp1790]

I think if you use Malores STV that Compskip support is included. At least it seems to work for me.

Its available here:

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=12213

[stanger89]

Neilm has an import.

[farmboy03]

I got everything working how I want it and I thought I would post exactly what I did in case it can help anyone else who has the same questions I did.

First I purchased Showanalyzer and downloaded it along with Dirmon from here: http://www.dragonglobal.org/index.html

I installed them both on the SageTV Server and configured Dirmon as discussed here: http://www.dragonglobal.org/forums/showthread.php?t=111

Then I downloaded Neilm's STV Import to enable comskip playback support from here: http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ad.php?t=12194

I imported into both the Server and the Client, although I'm not sure if I needed to do it on the Server or not, since I don't watch recordings on that machine.

From there, I also enabled the "Unofficial Secret Extra V4 UI Features" as detailed here: http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ad.php?t=12520

And I downloaded and installed Neilm's Dynamic Customizable Main Menu from here: http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ad.php?t=13527

I also downloaded and installed IMDB search Interface from here: http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ad.php?t=13537

Everything pretty much worked without any problems and I now have comskip and the other features that I wanted. I hope this info will help someone and I would like to thank all of the creators of these customizations (especially Neilm and Jere_Jones) for their fantastic work with SageTV.

[Fluffdaddy]

farmboy03, Thank you 'Big Time' for helping some of us non-greeks out with a step by step

[mayamaniac]

Just a warning, if you don't use UNC paths (//server/share) for the recording directories of your Server, then on the client machine, you need to map the same directories with the same letter drives in order for Comskip to work on the Client machine. I had to do this in order for the client machines to work with comskip. I can't use UNC paths since I run SageTV in service mode.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

I can't use UNC paths since I run SageTV in service mode.

I run Sage TV in service mode and all of my paths are UNC. Matter of fact if you run in Service mode don't they have to be?

Gerry

[mayamaniac]

Oops, I had the other way around. If you use mapped drives, then it wouldn't work with service mode.

[steingra]

Originally Posted by farmboy03

I got everything working how I want it and I thought I would post exactly what I did in case it can help anyone else who has the same questions I did.
...
Everything pretty much worked without any problems and I now have comskip and the other features that I wanted. I hope this info will help someone and I would like to thank all of the creators of these customizations (especially Neilm and Jere_Jones) for their fantastic work with SageTV.

Thanks so much for all that information. I will have to try that. So you are using Showanalyzer for detecting the commercials, and comskip for playback in the clients, right?

How well are you finding that Showanalyzer and comskip are working for you. I am debating if I will just manually edit my shows, before I burn them off to dvd's (to remove commercials) unless this Showanalyer is pretty accurate.

I have also found that some of my shows (from Voom channels) do not even have commercials. Now I really like that!!!! I just realized that tonight when I was reviewing a few of the recent recordings.

THanks

[farmboy03]

Showanalyzer creates a .txt file with the commercial times and the comskip playback STV import allows Sage to read that file and skip the commercials. I do the skipping manually, but I think you can have Sage auto-skip for you if you want. It is pretty accurate from what I've seen so far. It is not 100%, but I would say it's about 90% accurate. I would not want to watch TV without it, that's for sure!

I am using UNC paths, but I don't run in service mode.

[steingra]

Originally Posted by farmboy03

Showanalyzer creates a .txt file with the commercial times and the comskip playback STV import allows Sage to read that file and skip the commercials. I do the skipping manually, but I think you can have Sage auto-skip for you if you want. It is pretty accurate from what I've seen so far. It is not 100%, but I would say it's about 90% accurate. I would not want to watch TV without it, that's for sure!

Thats encouraging glad its working that well. I will have it working too, soon I hope. Just gotta make my new updated list of things to do next with SageTV. I have accomplished a lot so far, but much much more to do, and to try this stuff is so much fun!!!!! It darn addictive to say the least.

When you said you do the skipping manually, what do you mean? Not sure I understand. You mean you hit a button on your keyboard or remote? vs. just having SageTV automatically skip right past the markers?

QUESTION:
Is it possible to turn showanalyzer off on certain shows? or is it either on or off for all shows? The reason I ask, is because I know for sure that all my movies and certain voom channels dont have commercials. ALthough there are transitions from one part of the show to another, which might be interpreted as a commercial...although I have no idea for sure. Just wondered if you can turn on/off per show if needed?

Thanks

[farmboy03]

Yes, I hit a button on the remote to skip over the commercials. You can map any remote key or keyboard key to "Custom 4" and "Custom 5" in Sage to skip back and forth over the commecial section.

I have no idea about the other question, maybe someone else can answer that one?

[RedCoat999]

QUESTION:
Is it possible to turn showanalyzer off on certain shows? or is it either on or off for all shows? The reason I ask, is because I know for sure that all my movies and certain voom channels dont have commercials. ALthough there are transitions from one part of the show to another, which might be interpreted as a commercial...although I have no idea for sure. Just wondered if you can turn on/off per show if needed?

Thanks

You can add filters with ShowAnalyzer to process or not by show title for example. You can also setup different profiles for different shows or channels to refine the commercial skipping better.

In Sage with (nielms import????), you can add channels to ignore the files in the detailed setup - there should be a separate item for Commercial Skip.

I didn't use dirmon, I just used nielms commercial skip import - this fires showanalyzer

[steingra]

Originally Posted by farmboy03

I got everything working how I want it and I thought I would post exactly what I did in case it can help anyone else who has the same questions I did.

Were you using the standard version 4 stv before starting this process?

Could you post screenshots of your Dirmon setup screen(s)?

Also, will Showanalyzer/Dirmon work if sagetv is sleeping on the server (where SA and dirmon are loaded)?


Thanks

[mightyt]

Floating this to the top ... Any response to steingra'a question ... ?

Almost ready to do this ...

OH and thanks for the How-To Sequence farmboy03 !!!

Thanks, T.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by steingra

Also, will Showanalyzer/Dirmon work if sagetv is sleeping on the server (where SA and dirmon are loaded)?


Thanks

Both ShowAnalyzer and Dirmon are separate programs that work outside of Sage. That said, it does not matter if Sage is sleeping or awake (or exercising or eating...) .

I think that most of the confusion over the integration lies in the misunderstanding that the stv's that people are using MUST invoke (use...) either comskip or SA. In fact, they don't have to at all... all they have to do is utilize the .txt files that these programs output. There ARE, however, some stv's that actually invoke/call the comskip/SA executables from within.

In my opinion, the term 'comskip integration' is a misnomer, UNLESS, the stv actually calls either of the programs (SA or comskip). 'Comskip PLAYBACK' is more a reality...

In any case, I use both SA and dirmon to analyze the mpegs that Sage writes. Dirmon resides in my tray and periodically polls the directories I select to see if anything new has been saved (it actually checks if their is corresponding .txt file for each mpeg...) and then calls SA if it finds a new recording and has that recording analyzed. On the flip side, if Dirmon finds a .txt file that has no corresponding mpeg file (Sage has deleted it...) it will delete the .txt file.

There was another question regarding how to have certain channels/mpegs NOT analyzed. In order to do this, SA needs to communicate with Sage. SA does this via nielm's web server. In SA you set up access to the Web server and then tell it to NOT scan certain channels. In effect, Dirmon will call SA on the mpeg, but then SA will check to see what channel it was recorded on. If it matches one of the 'do not analyze channels' then it will gracefully exit, leaving a 'blank' .txt file.... So Dirmon will not continue to try and re-analyze it.

I have both my server and my client setup this way with different polling intervals.

-Jason

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by steingra

Could you post screenshots of your Dirmon setup screen(s)?

Thanks

Am about to try this out ...

farmboy03 ... Any chance of seeing those screen shots steingra asked for befrore I do so ??

Thanks, T.

[blade]

http://www.dragonglobal.org/forums/showthread.php?t=111

It's pretty simple to setup. There are screenshots in that thread.

[farmboy03]

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I'm home from work today sick (cough, cough), so I'll post screenshots in a couple of hours and answer any questions.