Comskip Playback for v7

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Is it every show on that channel or just certain shows? Are you getting a clear picture or is it "snowy"? Is there some kind of "ticker" running along the bottom?

Comskip looks for various things to find commercials including:

- black frames
- a logo in one of the corners
- aspect ratio changes

so far, i did 3 shows on espn and two found no commercials and one found only one. pictures are perfectly clear, and yes, there is a ticker at the bottom a lot of the time, there is also ESPN bands on the sides when they cut to some 4:3 commercials

is anyone else getting comskip to work for espn?
it is not a huge issue for me as i'm the only one in the house who watches
this channel (so the DAF, daughter acceptance factor, remains high)

everything else i've recorded so far has had excellent comskip performance

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by cat6man

so far, i did 3 shows on espn and two found no commercials and one found only one. pictures are perfectly clear, and yes, there is a ticker at the bottom a lot of the time, there is also ESPN bands on the sides when they cut to some 4:3 commercials

is anyone else getting comskip to work for espn?
it is not a huge issue for me as i'm the only one in the house who watches
this channel (so the DAF, daughter acceptance factor, remains high)

everything else i've recorded so far has had excellent comskip performance

The ticker and the bands on the sides are the likely culprits. I have not found a good way to make comskip more reliable for these situations.

[graywolf]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

The ticker and the bands on the sides are the likely culprits. I have not found a good way to make comskip more reliable for these situations.

If I recall, I think there is at least 1 parm in the comskip.ini file that deals with tickers and help to ignore it.

Haven't ever used it. But do recall it was there.

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by graywolf

If I recall, I think there is at least 1 parm in the comskip.ini file that deals with tickers and help to ignore it.

Haven't ever used it. But do recall it was there.

thanks, i'll check it out........but i may end up just putting espn channels on the 'do not comskip' channel list

[Fuzzy]

yeah, there's a parameter in the comskip.ini to ignore the bottom x pixels I think. This should allow you to effectively crop out the ticker area. Also helps with emergency alert crawls and such.

EDIT: looks like the setting is ticker_tape=1

[cat6man]

thanks fuzzy!

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

yeah, there's a parameter in the comskip.ini to ignore the bottom x pixels I think. This should allow you to effectively crop out the ticker area. Also helps with emergency alert crawls and such.

EDIT: looks like the setting is ticker_tape=1

just set the ticker_tape=1 but the comment says that it is the # of pixels at the bottom to ignore, so it seems like the value should be > 1 ?

anyone using this param?

[graywolf]

Originally Posted by cat6man

just set the ticker_tape=1 but the comment says that it is the # of pixels at the bottom to ignore, so it seems like the value should be > 1 ?

anyone using this param?

Not I, but you could check the ComSkip forums to maybe find out, or ask a question for clarification.

http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/index.php

[mbowling]

I upgraded from 2.0.6 to 2.0.8 from my HD200 user interface. I restarted the GUI and also restarted the server. On my server when I go to the Comskip Playback Options in Detailed Setup it says "Comskip Playback Options V2.0.8". However, when I go to Comskip Playback Options in Detailed Setup on the HD200 it says "Comskip Playback Options V2.0.6".

I also now have 2 timebars displayed under the video thumbnail when viewing the list of recorded shows on the HD200. There was only one timebar when running v2.0.6.

How can I fix this?

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by mbowling

How can I fix this?

I'd try pulling the power out on the HD200. Looks like the plugin hasn't loaded properly on the running STV on it.

John

[mbowling]

I did a power cycle of the HD200, but there was no change. I still have "Comskip Playback Options V2.0.6" on the HD200 and "Comskip Playback Options V2.0.8" on the server. I also still have 2 timebars displayed under the video thumbnail. What should I try next?

EDIT: I recovered the folder C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV from a backup and I'm back to version 2.0.6 with only one timebar on the recordings screen. I tried to update to 2.0.8 a second time. The update appears to be successful, but it still says version 2.0.6 on the HD200 and two timebars are displayed on the recordings screen. I'll stay with 2.0.6 from my backup for now unless there is something else you would like me to try. Thanks.

[JREkiwi]

Can you check that your HD200 is using SageTV7.xml

John

[mbowling]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Can you check that your HD200 is using SageTV7.xml

John

That appears to be the problem John. I was using SageTV7-1.xml. I switched back to SageTV7.xml and upgraded to 2.0.8. The HD200 shows "Comskip Playback Options V2.0.8" and there is only one timebar on the recordings screen. I don't know where the SageTV7-1.xml came from. Thanks for your help!

[graywolf]

Originally Posted by mbowling

That appears to be the problem John. I was using SageTV7-1.xml. I switched back to SageTV7.xml and upgraded to 2.0.8. The HD200 shows "Comskip Playback Options V2.0.8" and there is only one timebar on the recordings screen. I don't know where the SageTV7-1.xml came from. Thanks for your help!

SageTV7-1.xml would have been created if you had added a STVi manually thru the Setup section (Advanced).

[nyplayer]

The new release appears to have the same problem sometimes it autoskips and sometimes it doesn't. I will turn on debug to see if I see anything.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

The new release appears to have the same problem sometimes it autoskips and sometimes it doesn't. I will turn on debug to see if I see anything.

I've not been able to get this version to fail. The previous version I was able get to fail consistently.

John

[nyplayer]

I set Scale Timeline to "NO" and it appears to be working much better. No problem with recordings I had problems autoskipping before.

[JREkiwi]

Disabling Timeline Scaling should make skipping more accurate, but I can't see how it would affect autoskipping.

John

[adone36]

With 2.0.8, I seem to have lost the timeline bar on the preview window. I enabled the bar in menu lists and it does not show there either. It IS there on playback and cs is working just fine. Any ideas on what happened to the previews??

[JREkiwi]

Using malore menus? I'll have to fix them.

John