STV Import: SageMC Video Tools v3.0

[Arioch5]

Originally Posted by Brent

Looks like a new version of Handbrake was released this week and in my first test it seems to be working much faster than in the past. Worth a download to update handbrake!

I'm not completely sure, what's involved in upgrading handbrake? Can I just download, replace the old version, and receive the benefits?

If so, where is handbrake currently installed =P

[evilpenguin]

Upgrading Handbrake is easy, all you have to do is download the win32 CLI version and drag those files into the "...\SageTV\perl2dvd\" folder.



However, the new Handbrake is actually hanging on me quite a lot right now, so I don't recommend upgrading quite yet

[Stuntman]

I can't see this plugin on any of the extenders.. is this only configurable on the sage server itself? Or am I missing something (wouldn't be a surprise!)

[evilpenguin]

It sounds like I need to update my plug-in to support Greg's STVi tools which have special code for importing on extenders.

Until then you can do the import on a Server/Client and then load the resulting STV on the extender.

[toricred]

That explains it. I've wondered ever since getting my HD100 why I couldn't import on my extender.

I tried the new version of HandBrake earlier this week and about half the compressions ended up really messed up. When I tried to play them back, it would just loop on like 7 seconds of the audio and the video would freeze on the first frame displayed. I tried FF and REW, but that just changed where the loop happened.

[scandx]

I am using 3.0k and sagemc 6.3.7 and default AutoEncode profile.

About 1 out of every 5 compressions have no audio. Actually looking at the avi in GSpot says audio is there. Seems to happen more often on movies or video longer than one hour.

Since there is no log kept I cannot review log and see what might have happened.

Also I had posted earlier about the long encoding times. After some time it appears when handbrake is used, the 2nd pass only uses about 30% of cpu. This is probably why it takes so long.

One last question. How can I run autoencode on directory/list of files outside of sage?

[toricred]

I just realized that the problem compressions were on movies. It happened tonight with the old version of HandBrake so that is probably not the problem. I was using my own modified autoencode without reversetelecine. That might be the problem.

[mp328]

hey EP, so i did some testing since u last mentioned to use autoencode for all compression.
so i tried that, but the time jt takes is pretty much trippled from before.

so after looking into it, the default autoencode does a twopass h264 encode, so i played around and even with onepass, it takes twice as long then handbrake.

so i changed it again to use xvid instead of h264 and im back to normal times. roughly 21min for 30min show at 1000bitrate and doing onepass or 28min for 2500bitrate.

now my question is, why would i wanna use h264 when it takes longer and i only do SD recordings.
and the second one, did i edit these profiles correctly?

defult changed to onepass and cutcommercials:

PHP Code:

Encode CLI #1     =/onePass<&>/x264<&>/autoCrop<&>/cutComm 


and this is what i changed to do xvid:

PHP Code:

Encode CLI #1     =/onePass<&>/mp3<&>/xvid<&>/autoCrop<&>/cutComm 


tnx again for ur work on this, i cant use sage without this anymore

[gtdave]

Update: the .autocompress files ARE being created but the .qdvd files are not. Anyone have any tips?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by gtdave

I'm having the same problem--the .autocompress file is not being created, and neither is the .qdvd file. I have to go in and manually add the compression job, which works fine.

How did you fix this? I'm running SageMC 6.3.7...it seems you are too, though...

Thanks for your help!

[Brent]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Sorry, i've been sick/busy/useless for the last week or so, but i'm starting to feel better now so i'll try and look the autoCompression issues ASAP.

@Brent - "Output Mode" in the profile files doesn't do anything anymore except indicate that there are no more encoding commands. What you should do is make your profile that encodes to the format you want and then inside SageMC, create a custom version of it, and modify the advanced options to "Output Mode = Path", and specify the folder there.

As for DVD's right now Sage is setup to automatically pick my Handbrake profile if you select a "VIDEO_TS" folder so getting that working would require moding some of my profiles. I'll try and loose this restriction in the next version.

Also, its worth noting that I'm working on some new smart profiles for devices (iPod/PSP/etc.) as well as a streamlining the Advanced Options to simplify non-"In Place" compression.

Sounds good EP. I look forward to the next evolution of this excellent add-on. Thanks for all of your work on this!

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by gtdave

Update: the .autocompress files ARE being created but the .qdvd files are not. Anyone have any tips?

Thanks!

I'm looking into this right now, I hope to have something out before the end of the day.

edit: Found the problem, but its in the full STV (completely my fault, I sent Dirk some bad code). I'll work with him this week to sort it out

[toricred]

Thank you so much for getting the auto compression fixed with flachbar. I've been having problems with long recordings and I saw at least one other post about similar problems. I just noticed something over on the comskip forum and since I know you are using comskip for some prep work, I thought it might be related. Here's the link: http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=532

[Brent]

I'm running this plugin on my SageTV server, but was wondering if its possible to execute a conversion from a client while the server does the actual transcoding? Is this possible?

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by toricred

Thank you so much for getting the auto compression fixed with flachbar. I've been having problems with long recordings and I saw at least one other post about similar problems. I just noticed something over on the comskip forum and since I know you are using comskip for some prep work, I thought it might be related. Here's the link: http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=532

Can you go into detail about the problems your having, and if possible post a log file?

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Brent

I'm running this plugin on my SageTV server, but was wondering if its possible to execute a conversion from a client while the server does the actual transcoding? Is this possible?

Let me make sure I understand what you're asking: You want to set up the plug-in/dirmon2 on your server to do the transcoding and also be able to import the plug-in on a client and have it schedule shows to transcode but still have the work be done on the server.

If that's the case, then you're in luck because it already works that way. All you need to is make sure the "qdvd folder" in your preferences is a UNC path so that the client and server can both access the qdvd folder with the same path (i.e. //Server/qdvd Folder rather than C:\...\qdvd folder)

[Brent]

Yes that's what I was looking for. I've switched the directory to UNC and will import the plugin on the client to try it out.

Thanks!

[toricred]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Can you go into detail about the problems your having, and if possible post a log file?

I don't have a log file at the moment, but on long recordings (generally movies), when they are transcoded using the autoencode profile with just cutcomm added, the video freezes when I start the video and the sound loops about 3 seconds continuously. If I FF or REW, the same thing happens only at the new spot.

I'll work on getting a log file after work tomorrow and post it then.

P.S. I got my Q6600 yesterday and boy what a difference it makes Handbrake is now transcoding at ~300fps on SD videos.

[belleboyd]

Originally Posted by toricred

I don't have a log file at the moment, but on long recordings (generally movies), when they are transcoded using the autoencode profile with just cutcomm added, the video freezes when I start the video and the sound loops about 3 seconds continuously. If I FF or REW, the same thing happens only at the new spot.
.

FYI: I am having a similar problem. In my case - playback only seems to be a problem on the HD100 extender. The symptoms are the same however. Video freezes and audio loops a 3second burst. I will also post a log file when I have another full length movie to encode.

[evilpenguin]

Hmm, i'm definetely going to need a log file to see what's going on. I've never seen a problem like that on my HDextender, but I also never encode anything longer than 1 hour.

[toricred]

Mine was also on the HD Extender. I don't have any PC clients and I deleted the problem files so I couldn't try them anyhow. I creating a compression now and should have the log file in a short while.