STV Import: Closed Caption Playback (v1.2.2 28/February/2008)

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by imstillme22

I can't get this to work with 6.3.8a. When I install it the volume display will not go away and in the options menu I do not have cc there anymore.

Originally Posted by Wheemer

I have noticed my volume doesn't go away as well, but I didn't know where to look...

Looks like there was some code changes in SageMC. (Where's that ironic smilie when you need it?) The options menu items are easy enough to fix, but I haven't seen any volume display issue, but I don't use SageMC, so don't know what is normal. Is it displaying all the time? or is it not timing out after it's been displayed?

I'm just tidying up a new version, which will fix at least the options menu problem, but was waiting for the release version of SageTV 6.5, as who knows, there may be some subtitle/captions changes in it.

Originally Posted by Wheemer

I would like to ask for the CC icon to come back in SageMC. I miss it from the default stv, and it's really handy.

Where would you want the icon displayed?

Originally Posted by willieb

Finally, I thought I read that the JREkiwi plugin would act like the built in sage plugin and put the captions where they belong on the screen (i.e., under the person who says them), but that isn't working for me.

Not with the current version, but I've done some work on the display formating for the next version.

John

[willieb]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Not with the current version, but I've done some work on the display formating for the next version.

Got it. Thanks for your efforts. This is really going to help me increase my WAF...

One more question. I see in your xml that there are options somewhere for a captions_continuous_read property that appears to be able to be enabled and disabled. I do not see that menu option anywhere, though. Am I missing it or is that just done automatically now, so no need to enable/disable? I am having problems getting the captions to show beyond what was loaded in memory when the file started playing. Thanks again.

[Wheemer]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Looks like there was some code changes in SageMC. (Where's that ironic smilie when you need it?) The options menu items are easy enough to fix, but I haven't seen any volume display issue, but I don't use SageMC, so don't know what is normal. Is it displaying all the time? or is it not timing out after it's been displayed?

I'm just tidying up a new version, which will fix at least the options menu problem, but was waiting for the release version of SageTV 6.5, as who knows, there may be some subtitle/captions changes in it.
Where would you want the icon displayed?

John

It's that the volume display doesn't time out, but I'm not sure it's related to your plugin. I just saw imstillme22 post about it so I thought I'd say "me too"

As for the icon, having it displayed everywhere like in the default would be awesome, but I understand the extra work that causes. I guess if it was displayed in the bottom corner of the video item box in imported videos would be perfect. My mother requires closed captions or she cannot watch a movie. Since setting up SageMC for her, she's constantly complaining that she can't tell which movies have CC or not.

Thanks for your work... My mother really appreciates it.

[cfsmp3]

Originally Posted by willieb

If I run ccextractor in streaming mode, does it ever exit? I am constantly killing processes, and I think that it is because in streaming mode it never stops waiting for the file to change. I know I can set a timer, but frankly 100 seconds seems like too short of a time to stop listening if the file doesn't change.

Where do you get this number? You can set any number of seconds. Anyway it looks like you think that the file that needs to change is the output file. It's not. It's the input file (i.e. the recording stream).

So unless there's some huge buffer somewhere, 10 seconds, or even 5, is more than enough. If the input file doesn't grow in 5 seconds, you can be quite sure that the recording has stopped.

[willieb]

Originally Posted by cfsmp3

Where do you get this number? You can set any number of seconds. Anyway it looks like you think that the file that needs to change is the output file. It's not. It's the input file (i.e. the recording stream).

So unless there's some huge buffer somewhere, 10 seconds, or even 5, is more than enough. If the input file doesn't grow in 5 seconds, you can be quite sure that the recording has stopped.

I will look back and figure out what I was talking about as soon as I get back in front of my computer. It was late, so maybe I was just out of it. What I thought was happening was that the program in streaming mode just assumed the file kept going and going so it would never get to the end. I thought you could put in a number of seconds, after which if there had been no captions, the stream would quit. On my machine, whenever I tried to set that number higher than 100, it would default to 100. Thanks again for you reply. Let me straigten myself out and come back to you with a more intelligent question.


UPDATE OK, I was able to sit back down with ccextractorwin. You are right. I was thinking the timer was looking at the cc file. If you are saying it looks at the video file that that is better (and makes perfect sense now that you point it out). I just tried a few more shows and I still am having problems. First. I should probably make sure my results are typical. For an hour long OTA bradcast (CSI), is it typical for it to take 25 minutes to pull all the captions? (this is on a show that was fully completed hours before using ccextractor - I just dragged and dropped it in the input file box). Its fine if it is, I just wanted to make sure I don't have something weird with my system. Secondly, my ccextractorwin.exe never exits on its own. The process just continues to sit there, and occasionally the GUI program locks up too (won't respond). Any thoughts on what could be causing this? Again, this stuff you guys are doing is great. I really do appreciate it.

[Moskus]

Just a thought:
Is it possible to have the .smi files in a subfolder (say /Subs) and let the plugin look in that directory?

It would make the structure on my server much better.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by Moskus

Just a thought:
Is it possible to have the .smi files in a subfolder (say /Subs) and let the plugin look in that directory?

It would make the structure on my server much better.

Not possible at the moment.

John

[cfsmp3]

Originally Posted by willieb

For an hour long OTA bradcast (CSI), is it typical for it to take 25 minutes to pull all the captions? (this is on a show that was fully completed hours before using ccextractor - I just dragged and dropped it in the input file box).

It takes around 90 seconds in my computer, provided there is no other activity. Was the HD being used for something else at the same time?

Originally Posted by willieb

Its fine if it is, I just wanted to make sure I don't have something weird with my system. Secondly, my ccextractorwin.exe never exits on its own.

This is correct in streaming mode without timeout. What is the command line being used? (the GUI lets you see it)

[willieb]

Originally Posted by cfsmp3

It takes around 90 seconds in my computer, provided there is no other activity. Was the HD being used for something else at the same time?

Well, I was trying to play back the file at the same time, but I wouldn't think that would be the difference between 90 seconds and 25 minutes.

Originally Posted by cfsmp3

This is correct in streaming mode without timeout. What is the command line being used? (the GUI lets you see it)

Just so I am clear. In streaming mode, the process always stays alive even after the file has finished? I will have to post the command line tonight. Thanks!

[cfsmp3]

Originally Posted by willieb

Just so I am clear. In streaming mode, the process always stays alive even after the file has finished?

If there is no timeout, yes. ccextractor doesn't have any way to know when a recording is finished other that assume that it is after some time without new data. If there is no timeout, ccextractor will never exit.

[Wheemer]

there should be a default timeout then

[cfsmp3]

Originally Posted by Wheemer

there should be a default timeout then

The default is to read the file until its end, and then exit.

In streaming mode it makes sense to have a timeout if you assume that you are extracting captions from a recording that will eventually be complete, but this may or may not be the case. For example you could be getting captions directly from a device (ie no actual file involved). Or the user could be pausing and resuming the recording manually (for example to prevent commercials from being recorded in a show he's watching), etc.

There are valid arguments for both having and not having a default timeout :-)

[willieb]

Originally Posted by cfsmp3

There are valid arguments for both having and not having a default timeout :-)

So it sounds like if I want a "default" timeout, all I do is put 10 seconds (or something like that) in the textbox, right? If I do that, I assume that it will exit 10 seconds after it hits the end of the file? That sounds like a fine solution to me.


I have to do some more testing tomorrow. I know I still owe you the command line I was using, but tonight with the couple I did, I was getting more like the 90 seconds you described. I am still having a problem with the live tv, but I think it may be a setting in JREkiwi's plugin that I am not able to set because I am using SageMC (or something like that).

[JREkiwi]

Added a new beta version to the first post

(1.3.0)
- Added Reading UTF16 files (showanalyzer)
- Added marker icons on SageMC
- Added more font size options
- Changed display formatting to honor spacing, and italics and bold tags
- Fix to stop displaying marker icons on upcoming recordings
- Fix for OSD options on SageMC 6.4.8.a
- Other things I've probably forgotten

Lots of code was reworked so there is undoubtedly things broken.

John

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by willieb

One more question. I see in your xml that there are options somewhere for a captions_continuous_read property that appears to be able to be enabled and disabled. I do not see that menu option anywhere, though. Am I missing it or is that just done automatically now, so no need to enable/disable?

Noticed, that this didn't get answered earlier. It's done automatically now, so the enable/disable was removed.

John

[scanner95]

Hello,

I'm going to use HD200 in extender mode, and display external subtitles (.smi) with the help of Closed Caption plugin. Can someone please tell me if languages other that English are supported in this setup? I'm specifically interested in Russian (cyrillic) and Hebrew.
I can provide sample subtitles if somebody is so kind to check this out for me.
Thanks a lot!

[willieb]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Noticed, that this didn't get answered earlier. It's done automatically now, so the enable/disable was removed.

Thanks! I will check out this new version this weekend and let you know if I find anything broken.

[darkmar]

Does anyone use this plugin with the recordings made over firewire from STB. I wonder if anybody else have the same timing issue as my closed captions is terrribly out of sync. In ccextractor I am getting errors: Warning: Reference clock has changed abruptly. Is there anything I can do?

Another problem I discovered that in SageMC this plugin causes the sagetv to hang almost immediately when I use Arcsoft codec on channels displayed by HD-PVR. The firewire channels are not affected but then again CC is useless.

[Wheemer]

I am seeing terribly inconsistent results with ccextractor on firewire recordings as well. I am seeing the same errors also.

[scanner95]

Anyone? Please!

Originally Posted by scanner95

Hello,

I'm going to use HD200 in extender mode, and display external subtitles (.smi) with the help of Closed Caption plugin. Can someone please tell me if languages other that English are supported in this setup? I'm specifically interested in Russian (cyrillic) and Hebrew.
I can provide sample subtitles if somebody is so kind to check this out for me.
Thanks a lot!