Comskip Playback + Commercial Detector server/client

[thegodfaza]

I use to run the STVi import for the comskip playback on my clients with Comskip running as a service on the server. But now I switched over to the built in plugins for better integration + updates. The problem I'm having is that the Commercial Detector plugin only runs comskip on recordings as / after they have been recorded. If I have a recording with a bad comskip file and i use Comslip Playback to delete the edl file, the only way to re-run comskip is to go to the server plugins page, go to the plugin's settings, then have it scan for recordings without comskip files. I noticed that Comskip Playback has an option for manually running comskip on a recording but I can't get it to work. It brought up a file browser for the server's file system and i pointed it to sagetv->sagetv->comskip->comskip.exe. But when I choose the "Run Comskip" option in the recordings menu it doesn't start the comskip process on the server. Does this feature only work from the SageTV interface on the server?

[trallyus]

I think the manual comskip option only works if there is no comskip file already for the program your trying to comskip . Also it may not work if your trying to use it during one of the restricted times you set up for it but I am unsure on that one.

If you have a comskip file already generated for a show you can right click the show like your going to play it and click delete comskip files and then you can manually run comskip again.

One other thing is if your recordings are crappy or have weather alerts or news banners running on the bottom of them, this could throw off comskip and not generate a good comskip edl file.

Also I used comskip on placeshifter but I am not sure if I installed it via the placeshifter after installing it on the server.

[thegodfaza]

My problem is that I want to use the option in the Comskip Playback plugin to "Run Comskip". When I select that option once i have enabled it on a recording without a comskip file nothing happens. My SageTV server is running on a Windows Home Server. I'm logged into it via remote desktop and watching the process monitor and when I select that option nothing happens. I'm wondering if the "Run Comskip" feature in the Comskip Playback plugin doesn't work with a client - server setup.

[trallyus]

Did you click one of the shows you want to comskip like your going to play the show and choose run comskip under that menu as the menu you posted the pic of is for the comskip settings.

You need to go to TV and select a show and a menu will pop up with the watch now option and if you look down the menu you'll see Run Comskip if the tv show you clicked has not been comskipped already.

If the show you clicked has been comskipped already you wont see the Run Comskip option for it.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by thegodfaza

But when I choose the "Run Comskip" option in the recordings menu it doesn't start the comskip process on the server. Does this feature only work from the SageTV interface on the server?

Install the "CommercialDetector UI" from the "UI Mod" section of the plugin manager. That will make the "Run Comskip" button work. It will also place a "CS" icon in the header when comskip is running. If you press the run comskip button from a SageClient it will take a minute or two for the server to start processing the file.

You can do this from any SageClient, PlaceShifter or the server.

Tom

[thegodfaza]

Originally Posted by trallyus

Did you click one of the shows you want to comskip like your going to play the show and choose run comskip under that menu as the menu you posted the pic of is for the comskip settings.

You need to go to TV and select a show and a menu will pop up with the watch now option and if you look down the menu you'll see Run Comskip if the tv show you clicked has not been comskipped already.

If the show you clicked has been comskipped already you wont see the Run Comskip option for it.

I know how to use the plugin to delete and run comskip. The screens were to show my client settings and the files on the server. As I said in my original question, can the Comskip Playback plugin run the comskip program that is living on the server from the client? Also, I pointed the comskip path to a batch file I wrote to log any arguments passed to it. When I chose to "Run Comskip" the command wasn't logged as being executed. I'm guessing that the plugin was designed to be ran on a SageTV Media Center, not a SageTV Client connected to a headless box.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Install the "CommercialDetector UI" from the "UI Mod" section of the plugin manager. That will make the "Run Comskip" button work. It will also place a "CS" icon in the header when comskip is running. If you press the run comskip button from a SageClient it will take a minute or two for the server to start processing the file.

You can do this from any SageClient, PlaceShifter or the server.

Tom

Thanks for your answer. It works perfectly. I also notice that the instanced version of comskip that comes in the Commercial Detector plugin works a lot better and faster than the old one that would watch for new recordings then pipe them into comskip. It actually fills the playback bar with the commercials in real time. Before it would only do so at the end of recordings. I also like the little CS icon in the status bar at the top showing when comskip is running.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by thegodfaza

Thanks for your answer. It works perfectly.

[thegodfaza]

Well the Commercial Detector UI plugin installed fine on my laptop but on my gaming PC it complains about a dependency. A bit odd as I can download the file it is complaining about just fine. To make google happy it says:

Plugin Client Install Progress: Done - FAILED - Dependency
Install commercialdetector-Failed - Zip Extraction of
http://tmiranda.googlecode.com/files/comskip-80.032.zip

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by thegodfaza

Well the Commercial Detector UI plugin installed fine on my laptop but on my gaming PC it complains about a dependency. A bit odd as I can download the file it is complaining about just fine. To make google happy it says:

Plugin Client Install Progress: Done - FAILED - Dependency
Install commercialdetector-Failed - Zip Extraction of
http://tmiranda.googlecode.com/files/comskip-80.032.zip

I think it downloaded the file OK but could not extract the contents. Maybe a permission issue? What OS is your laptop running and what OS is your gaming PC running? Any mods done to the gaming PC?

Try going to the "General" tab and installing the CommercialDetector plugin located there. If that works then go back to the "UI Mod" section and install that.

[thegodfaza]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I think it downloaded the file OK but could not extract the contents. Maybe a permission issue? What OS is your laptop running and what OS is your gaming PC running? Any mods done to the gaming PC?

Try going to the "General" tab and installing the CommercialDetector plugin located there. If that works then go back to the "UI Mod" section and install that.

Both machines are running Windows 7 Pro x64. There isn't anything running that I can think of that would cause permission conflicts. I also went into where Win7 stores SageTV and went to the plugin cache folder (%APPDATA%\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\PluginInstallers) and wiped out the cache for Commercial Detector UI and comskip. When i tried again it just redownloaded and errored out again. I also noticed that it seems to be complaining about not being able to unzip the file so I made my own httptmirandagooglecodecomfilescomskip80032zip file with 7zip using the contents from the manual download but it blew it away when i tried installing again (guess it checks the file's hash). Trying to install the Commercial Detector plugin on the client also fails with the same error.