STV Import: SageMC Video Tools v3.0

[hammondr]

Originally Posted by toricred

There was actually a new stv by flachbar in the SageMC thread that fixed it.

Edit: Here's the link to the specific post: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...postcount=5890 The attachment fixed me right up.

thanks, toricred.

I applied the patch, and new recordings seem to be working properly. "Stand-alone" compression of non-favorites seem to be working, too. However, I seem to have one more problem.

I recorded lost of favorites while the rig was not autocompressing. Say, 100 .autocompress files are laying around that weren't picked up by this plugin. Is there any way to "kick-start" the plugin so it starts compressing those jobs, too? I've restarted Sage a few times, and restarted Dirmon2, too. (I know this isn't a dirmon problem since no files are being created in the 'qdvd folder' unless I start a non-favorite job.)

Thanks for the help!

[evilpenguin]

If .autocompress files got created without corresponding .qdvd files the only way to get them going is to manually delete the .autocompress files so Sage can reprocess those files. Sorry

[hammondr]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

If .autocompress files got created without corresponding .qdvd files the only way to get them going is to manually delete the .autocompress files so Sage can reprocess those files.(

Hmm... ok. I'll give that a shot. Are you saying that the plug-in is smart enough to recognize any *old* recordings (previously recorded favorites that are set to autocompress, but haven't been) and properly handle them? Is that logic in SageMC, or in your plug-in?

OK, and one more question. Like so many others, I'd love to have the commercial cutting done automagically. My default recording type is mpeg2. I think I read somewhere here that the commercial cutting can only be done on avi files. Is that right? Should my setup + your current plug-in be able to autocut commercials using your "Cut Commercials" profile?

Thanks again!

[gndprx]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Hey, not sure where your seeing references to that .exe but its old and gone. The new setup procedure is linked below...

http://perl2dvd.wiki.sourceforge.net...ng+SageMC+STVi

All of the directions I've found reference in step 1 or 2 to run perl2dvdsetup.exe

I'm having too many other issues to get this working though. Oh well.

[toricred]

Did you follow the link? It doesn't mention the exe file at all and it has a very good description of how to install the tools.

[gndprx]

Sorry, wasn't meaning to say that the directions weren't any good. The directions are fine, but I'm having serious issues with the dynamic menus which is not related to this thread...so I didn't give more detail.

When I enable dynamics menus, I can't select any items so I can't add the Sage Video Tools to the menu. Not sure what's going on, but it's been a problem I've had in the past and I've always just walked away from it and never gone back again.

[evilpenguin]

Are you sure you've downloaded and are running the latest version of SageMC? Its a customized STV that's not the same as the one that comes with SageTV.

[gndprx]

I put the latest sagemc16x9 on before I tried to install this package.

My problem is that this particular system has been upgraded countless times from Sage 4.x through the latest and each time I play with different customizations and plug-ins that I can't tell what's new and what's old anymore. I really need to do a reset of everything, remove all my plug-ins and try to start over from a baseline sage install...just can't get the wife and kids to give up the TV long enough

[gndprx]

Is this a full replacement for showanalyzer and comskip then? Or do I still need to setup one or both of those? I only ask because your new directions show a comskip profile in dirmon2 but no information on setting it up.

comskip/showanalyzer and dvd burning are the 2 I'm after so I can clean up tons of old shows that I've been told not to delete until they can be burned off.

Thanks.

[evilpenguin]

Nope, this plug-in has nothing to do with Comskip, you'll have to download and configure that on you're own (its super easy). You can just see it in that screen shot because I use Dirmon2 to launch comskip and compression.

Also, the plug-in is in a very stable state right now (I just did it last night) so if your having any trouble getting it installed the problem is, like you said, probably with your setup.

[gndprx]

EP,

Thanks for the help so far! A few more questions for you however.

I completely pulled sage last night and re-installed it with a fresh copy of sageMC and the Tools. This solved all of my problems with the dynamic menus and most other issues I was having. It seems quite a bit slower at the moment though, but that's another battle not suited for this thread.

It seems like there is an assumed certain level of knowledge as to how to use these once they are setup and I'm sorry if I sound a bit behind on the subject, but is there a set of step-by-step on how to use the package?

I found the option on each recording to send to... and chose multi DVD (or whatever the exact phrasing was) and added several shows to the queue. On the last show I chose to add and process.

Now what? It's just sitting in the queue and never actually doing anything. I checked the qdvd folder and there were 2 files in there and when you look at the status menu in sage it shows that a show is waiting to be processed. But it just sits there and never actually does anything.

I did go through your directions and verify step-by-step that I setup everythng as shown. Dirmon2 is configured exactly as in your screen shots and the service is running.

Also there is a lot of talk about configuring menus and setting up profiles, but I don't seem to follow where this is done. In the profiles section, it allows me to select a directory where the profiles live, but once that's done is there another step? (i.e. you reference selecting a comcut profile in one of the previous posts) Also is there anything I need to do to actually create a menu structure, or is it supposed to do this on it's own?

Thanks and sorry for some amature questions

[bretm]

Originally Posted by gndprx

I did go through your directions and verify step-by-step that I setup everythng as shown. Dirmon2 is configured exactly as in your screen shots and the service is running.

I also installed this import for the first time last night, and had a similar problem (DirMon2 wouldn't pickup the qdvd files.) Stopping & restarting the DirMon2 service resolved my issue. In hindsight, I think my mistake was not saving my changes after setting up the perl2dvd job. I should have saved before starting the service up for the first time. At least that's my theory.



Now it's my turn for a newbie question: when I try to compress DVDs (VIDEO_TS), I'm not given any option to use an encoding profile. Instead it takes me directly to the Advanced Options screen and I have to select each encoding option. I was hoping to take advantage of the "auto-encode" profile that EP is so proud of

Also, possible bug with the studio logic: If I select "Send To... > Compress" on a VIDEO_TS movie (to open the options menu described above), if I press cancel or back it still creates a qdvd file and compresses the movie. Once you go in, there's no going back! Mildly annoying.

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by bretm

I also installed this import for the first time last night, and had a similar problem (DirMon2 wouldn't pickup the qdvd files.) Stopping & restarting the DirMon2 service resolved my issue. In hindsight, I think my mistake was not saving my changes after setting up the perl2dvd job. I should have saved before starting the service up for the first time. At least that's my theory.

Yep, that's what I was going to say also. Sometimes Dirmon2 can be a bit picky when you first set it up. I've also seen cases where you'd have to configure and start the service manually the first time (Control Panel->Adminstrative Settings->Services).

Originally Posted by bretm

Now it's my turn for a newbie question: when I try to compress DVDs (VIDEO_TS), I'm not given any option to use an encoding profile. Instead it takes me directly to the Advanced Options screen and I have to select each encoding option. I was hoping to take advantage of the "auto-encode" profile that EP is so proud of

Also, possible bug with the studio logic: If I select "Send To... > Compress" on a VIDEO_TS movie (to open the options menu described above), if I press cancel or back it still creates a qdvd file and compresses the movie. Once you go in, there's no going back! Mildly annoying.

Those are both fixed (and even slightly improved) in the (hopefully) soon to be released update

[bretm]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Those are both fixed (and even slightly improved) in the (hopefully) soon to be released update

Wow... 5 minute replies. I'm at work right now, we make our customers wait at least 24 hours. You're setting the bar too high!


On a side note: I was initially intimidated by this STV Import. I'm new to SageTV, and I'm new to the world of video transcoding. I knew this was something I wanted to eventually try, but after reading all 500+ posts, it looked, erm, rather complicated. But my fears were quickly set to rest -- I was able to get this up & running in less than 30 minutes, and the interface is very intuitive. Bravo!

[gveres]

Has anybody installed this and got it working on a Mac SageClient?

I am just realizing that I have to install this on all my machines to get the UI to work.

Here was my mental model, which I now think is incorrect.

I thought this was a UI modification that would control actions on the server. Therefore, if I installed it once on the server, all the clients and placeshifter instances would see the UI, then carry out the actions on the server.

Since none of my place shifter clients and SageClients have the new UI, then I have jumped to the conclusion that my mental model is wrong.

It would be nice to do one off encodings started from placeshifter or a client, but what I really want is the ability to setup a new recording on placeshifter or the client and be able to tell it to compress with a certain profile.

is that possible? Oh, and the other complicating factor is that my client is a mac and my placeshifters are HD100s.

Thanks
Greg

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by bretm

Wow... 5 minute replies. I'm at work right now, we make our customers wait at least 24 hours.

Probably because you are on the Sage forums instead of actually working.

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

Probably because you are on the Sage forums instead of actually working.

Haha, I used to be in tech support and I learned very early to always make people wait. For some reason everyone was overall much happier with a constant, resonable, level of service than a sometimes fast/sometimes slow response time that was dependent on the difficutly of the problem and how busy I was.

[gndprx]

Ok, ShowAnalyzer is finally doing it's thing to 260+ recordings, so that will take a while.

For the DVD burning, I know you say it's iffy but as far as using it goes do I just select a bunch of recordings, add them to a multi-video dvd and then process on the last one? Then what, if a disc is in the drive it will do it's thing? Will there by any sort of prompt to let me know it's burning or done? How about if there are too many videos than will fit on a single disc, what will it do?

Thanks!

[hammondr]

Originally Posted by hammondr

Hmm... ok. I'll give that a shot. Are you saying that the plug-in is smart enough to recognize any *old* recordings (previously recorded favorites that are set to autocompress, but haven't been) and properly handle them? Is that logic in SageMC, or in your plug-in?

ep, any ideas? I've double checked all of these options, and my favorites are still not being transcoded automatically:

1. SageMC option "use default compression": disabled
2. SageMC option "auto compression": enabled
3. SageMC Video Tools option "use default compression": disabled
4. SageMC Video Tools option "auto compression": enabled
5. SageMC Video Tools option "enable video compression": enabled
6. Favorites have "auto compress series" set, and "Auto Encode" as the profile (1/1). Wait until ... watched/comskip/archived all set to no.

I have one Dirmon2 job running SA to create .edl files first, and a lower priority Dirmon2 job to process the .qdvd files in the qdvd folder. .qdvd files are created in the folder for recordings I *manually* "send to..." compression, but they are not created automatically for favorites. (Since the manual compressions work, I'm sure the Dirmon2 piece is working fine.) I also deleted all of the old .autocompress files laying around, but sage has not recreated them or automatically kicked off *any* jobs as far as I can tell.

I've reinstalled 6.3.7a SageMC, your .k plugin version, and the .xml patch/import provided by flachbar in the other thread. All have been restarted (Dirmon2 and sage service) several times. Any advice?

p.s. As pretty much everyone else says, thank you, thank you, thank you for your hard work on all of this plugin!

[rsagetv99]

Hey Evil, I noticed on your instructions you say DVD burning is iffy, is this still the case?

I can get a single DVD to process and burn, but when I go to play it in a DVD player (even the one in the Sage computer that burned it) it won't playing saying that the disc is not valid or something to that affect. I think it has to do with the disc not being formatted correctly for a DVD player, but I don't know for sure.

Any ideas, or is this still a work-in-progress?