SageMC Client doesn't seem Comdkip edl/txt files

[wayner]

I have Sage running on WHS with 4 HD-200 extenders and one Sage client. I am using SageMC as the UI for all of these. I have comskip running and all of my HD-200s see the Comskip .txt or .edl files which is obvious from the fragmented timeline for the show. But for some reason my SageClient does not see these. The .txt and .edl files are all in my Recorded TV folder so I can't understand why the Client doesn't use these.

I have gone into SageMC options and enabled Commercial Auto Skip. Note that I am running SageMC 6_3_8b_12.

[jmv]

Make sure your client directory structure exactly matches your server directory structure. Although the HD200's are smart enough not to care...I had to share my root directory from my server, and map this to the same drive letter on my client in order for it to "see" the comskip files...

good luck.

e.g. server is

U:\files\SageTV\

So I shared "U" on the network at the root level, and on the client I mapped the network drive to "U"...

[wayner]

On all PCs, and my server, I have the TV Shows folder mapped to my T: drive so I don't think that is the problem, especially since these files are in exactly the same folder as I all of my TV shows. It must be able to see the files, it just isn't using them for some reason.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by wayner

On all PCs, and my server, I have the TV Shows folder mapped to my T: drive so I don't think that is the problem, especially since these files are in exactly the same folder as I all of my TV shows. It must be able to see the files, it just isn't using them for some reason.

You need to use UNC paths.

Gerry

[wayner]

Originally Posted by gplasky

You need to use UNC paths.

I am running Sage for WHS. My recording path is \\localhost\TVShows. This is the default that Sage for WHS uses - I have been meaning to change it to \\server\TVShows. Obviously this path is invalid on a client PC but that doesn't cause problems in my client in accesssing Recorded TV. But will this cause SageMC problems in trying to access my edl and txt files?

If I add \\server\TVShows\ to Recording directories and remove \\localhost\TVShows will this fix the problem? Or will I still have problems due to the fact that wiz.bin will still have \\localhost\TVShows as the folder for the files that I have recorded in the past? Therefore will I have to have wiz.bin rebuild its database?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by wayner

I am running Sage for WHS. My recording path is \\localhost\TVShows. This is the default that Sage for WHS uses - I have been meaning to change it to \\server\TVShows. Obviously this path is invalid on a client PC but that doesn't cause problems in my client in accesssing Recorded TV. But will this cause SageMC problems in trying to access my edl and txt files?

If I add \\server\TVShows\ to Recording directories and remove \\localhost\TVShows will this fix the problem? Or will I still have problems due to the fact that wiz.bin will still have \\localhost\TVShows as the folder for the files that I have recorded in the past? Therefore will I have to have wiz.bin rebuild its database?

Adding \\server\TVShows\ to Recording directories and removing \\localhost\TVShows will this fix the problem. You will need the \\server\TVshows in there so you can use the UNC path on your client. If you remove the localhost path just restart Sage so it can refresh the path. If you search the comskip threads you will see it mentioned you need UNC paths.

Gerry

[wayner]

I added \\server\tvshows\ and removed the \\localhost\tvshows. I then exited the client and restarted the Sage service on the server and then restarted the client. No change in the clients as they still don't see the comskip files. When I look at the show info it still shows \\localhost\tvshows as was to be expected as I believe this is hard-coded in wiz.bin.

Any other ideas or do I have to use the Advanced_file_recovery method to rebuild wiz.bin with UNC paths? If so I have had someone tell me that you may need to rename the \\server\tvshows\ path so that the old path/file name is no longer valid.

[gplasky]

Shut down Sage and set advanced_video_file_recovery=true. Then restart Sage and it should change the path. If not remove all the recording paths and restart Sage. Then add the UNC path for the recording drive. At one of these points the path will change. I had removed all my paths first and restarted Sage. Then added the path and restarted again and they showed up correctly.

Gerry

[wayner]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Shut down Sage and set advanced_video_file_recovery=true. Then restart Sage and it should change the path. If not remove all the recording paths and restart Sage. Then add the UNC path for the recording drive. At one of these points the path will change. I had removed all my paths first and restarted Sage. Then added the path and restarted again and they showed up correctly.

I tried both methods and Sage did not change the paths from \\localhost\. What someone suggested in a different thread is to actually rename the \\server\TVshows to something like \\server\SageTVShows and then start Sage with Advanced_File_Recovery=True. Since the \\localhost\TVShows path will no longer be valid Sage must change the path/file name. And then if you want you can change it back and follow the process one more time. What they said is that as long as the orignal filename still exists then Sage will not rename it.

Does that make sense to you.

[Stuntman]

The problem I'm having with using UNC's is that my 2 external USB drives don't detect when I reboot windows.. I have to power them down , the back up and then windows sees them and all seems fine.. BUT... when windows loses a drive and that drive has shares.. those shares disappear! You have to then recreate those shares... needless to say that creates a problem when SageTV needs those shares! I had to give up for now as there doesn't seem to be any convenient way to get this to work.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by wayner

I tried both methods and Sage did not change the paths from \\localhost\. What someone suggested in a different thread is to actually rename the \\server\TVshows to something like \\server\SageTVShows and then start Sage with Advanced_File_Recovery=True. Since the \\localhost\TVShows path will no longer be valid Sage must change the path/file name. And then if you want you can change it back and follow the process one more time. What they said is that as long as the orignal filename still exists then Sage will not rename it.

Does that make sense to you.

To a point. But if you remove all the recording directoroties and start up Sage that should server the same purpose. The directory doesn't exist as far as Sage is concerned. After you removed the directories did you have Sage refresh the media directories? Or if yours is set to automatically scan did you leave it set long enough to do it? Mine had changed almost immediately after I rebooted. Check the FAQ on moving files but this should be working.

Gerry

[bjp999]

Originally Posted by wayner

I added \\server\tvshows\ and removed the \\localhost\tvshows. I then exited the client and restarted the Sage service on the server and then restarted the client. No change in the clients as they still don't see the comskip files. When I look at the show info it still shows \\localhost\tvshows as was to be expected as I believe this is hard-coded in wiz.bin.

Any other ideas or do I have to use the Advanced_file_recovery method to rebuild wiz.bin with UNC paths? If so I have had someone tell me that you may need to rename the \\server\tvshows\ path so that the old path/file name is no longer valid.

If the fully qualified filename that is associated with a recording is valid from the server's perspective, whether it is in a valid recording directory or not, the advanced file recovery will not reassign the recording directory.

A solution:

1. Create a new directory on the recording drive (e.g., recordings2)
2. Assign this new directory as a valid recording directory using UNC (//server/recording2)
3. Bring down Sage completely
4. Move all of the files from the existing recording directory to the new one (moving files between directories on the same drive is very quick. Just don't try and copy them!)
5. Manually edit Sage.Properties and set the advanced_file_recovery to true.
6. Start Sage
7. Verify that the directory has changed on affected recordings
8. Remove the //localhost directory from the recording paths
9. Remember to update the dirmon2 configuration (or whatever is driving comskip) to refer to the new directory. Note that comskip can continue to reference the drives by drive letter - it doesn't have to use UNC paths.

Hope this helps!

[wayner]

When I started this thread I had no idea that we were going to be reprising this thread http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=39278 from a couple of weeks ago. But remember what we discussed back then that moving files on WHS likely isn't quick so I will probably just change the name of my TVShows shared folder and then used Advanced File Recovery.

[bjp999]

Originally Posted by wayner

When I started this thread I had no idea that we were going to be reprising this thread http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=39278 from a couple of weeks ago. But remember what we discussed back then that moving files on WHS likely isn't quick so I will probably just change the name of my TVShows shared folder and then used Advanced File Recovery.

The key thing to remember is that if the pathname associated with the show is valid from the server's perspective, advanced file recovery won't do anything. Renaming fhe folder / share should accomplish this. I'd set up the new sharename to a dummy folder first, set it up as a recording directory in Sage, bring down Sage, and then remove the new share, and assign that name it to the older directory (deleting the older share name). When you bring Sage back up with advanced recovery, it should do its magic.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by bjp999

The key thing to remember is that if the pathname associated with the show is valid from the server's perspective, advanced file recovery won't do anything. Renaming fhe folder / share should accomplish this. I'd set up the new sharename to a dummy folder first, set it up as a recording directory in Sage, bring down Sage, and then remove the new share, and assign that name it to the older directory (deleting the older share name). When you bring Sage back up with advanced recovery, it should do its magic.

bjp999 is right. This should work. You won't need to move any files. SHutdown Sage. Rename SageTV Shows folder to something-SageTV Show original. Now create a folder SageTV Shows and leave it empty. Start up SageTV and let it run. It will now see all the files are gone and the original path is no longer vaild. SHut down Sage. Delete the SageTV Shows empty directory you just created. Rename SageTV Shows riginal back to SageTV Shows.

Gerry

[wayner]

Originally Posted by gplasky

bjp999 is right. This should work. You won't need to move any files. SHutdown Sage. Rename SageTV Shows folder to something-SageTV Show original. Now create a folder SageTV Shows and leave it empty. Start up SageTV and let it run. It will now see all the files are gone and the original path is no longer vaild. SHut down Sage. Delete the SageTV Shows empty directory you just created. Rename SageTV Shows riginal back to SageTV Shows.

Should all of this be done with Advanced_File_Recovery=True?

[gplasky]

Yes.

Gerry

[PiX64]

Thanks for all the help on this. I was able to get comskip working on all of my clients. One thing I noticed though is that if i only had the UNC paths setup for recording on the server, live tv wouldn't work correctly. I thought that maybe this was a permissions issue, so i double checked to make sure that the folders were shared with full read/write access, and that the user logged into the server was the one specified by the sage service. After all of this i was still unable to get the live recordings to work as expected on ALL clients. The way i found around this was by adding the physical paths to the recording directories along with the UNC. So inside of sage my recordings setup looks as follows:

\\sageserver\folder-1
\\sageserver\folder-2
x:\folder-1
y:\folder-2

The above setup seemed to fixed my issues with live tv not playing, and now allows me to utilize comskip on all clients.
I have 2 questions though
1)Does anyone know if the above setup will cause any issues?
2)Does anyone know what could have been causing my issues with the UNC only paths?

Thanks,

Mike

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by gplasky

You need to use UNC paths.

Gerry

FWIW if you use SageTVLauncher* on the client pc, it removes the need to use UNC paths.

* some configuration required