STV Import: Comskip Playback support for SageTV v4 (v1.3 18/Oct/2005)

[JUC]

I may be mistaken, but this import doesn't actually process the files right? It just reads the commskip generated point. So, what are all you guys using to kick off the commskip processing? I am just starting to fool around with showanalyzer and the commskip proxy and am trying to avoid Dirman setup for now. Any way to use the stock v3 STV with this import and not use dirman?

[blade]

Originally Posted by JUC

I may be mistaken, but this import doesn't actually process the files right? It just reads the commskip generated point. So, what are all you guys using to kick off the commskip processing? I am just starting to fool around with showanalyzer and the commskip proxy and am trying to avoid Dirman setup for now. Any way to use the stock v3 STV with this import and not use dirman?

Just use Dirmon, it's very easy to setup and works great. IMO it's the best way to handle comskip or SA. When files are processed a txt file is created for each show. When you delete the recording Dirmon will delete the associated txt file for you. I don't know if any of the STV's can do this. If not you'll have to manually delete the txt files or find some other way to have it done automatically.

BTW if you use Dirmon then you don't need the comskip proxy. I don't know much about Sage and even I could talk you through installing and setting it up in just a couple of minutes.

[JUC]

I just checked it out and will be installing it tonight---for some reason i thought it was more complicated that it is to setup.
thanks
JUC

[JasonJoel]

Makes perfet sense. It also explains why it works correctly in your current v3 STV....

Jason

Originally Posted by malore

You are both correct. Jere is right that SageTV doesn't do frame accurate seeks which results in jumps being off, but not by more than a second or two. JasonJoel is also correct the times are off. It appears the basis for this import forked off of my work before I noticed that the time bar for a 30 minute recording goes for 0:00 to 30:00, but if you open up the file in a media player you with find the the file is actually a few seconds short. So adjustments need to be made to convert the comskip positions on a 29:54 minute show to a full 30 minutes.

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

I don't think this is the case. The directshow Seek() interface is always off by a few seconds. I am running into this problem as I am writing a program to make tuning the settings easier. When ever I seek to a certain frame, it almost always seeks to a point 2 seconds earlier. I suspect that Sage is suffering from the same DirectShow "bug".

The current solution is to change the "delay" to whatever you need. This is available in Cayar's STV. I don't know if it is included in the import.

Jere

Unfortunately, it's not part of the import. But it can be added with a simple addition using a GetProperty call in Studio. If it gets adjusted in the AfterMenuLoad section, it would be easier to implement than in the commercial listing.

I haven't really noticed a problem with the seek for commercials... it seems to be dead on accurate for the most part.

The thing is that the code uses the reported start time for the show. Not the scheduled start time, but the actual time it starts recording. For example, if the show started recording at 9/14/2005 7:30:04pm, it would return 9/14/2005 7:30:04pm and base the calculations on that (which would return a length of 0:29:56 for a 1/2 hour show like Malore said. It was something that would always cause a problem for me with the older files I had and made it easier for me to do the multiple segment section.

Let me take a look at the code and find a place to add it in. I don't know if the import adds the section to the Detailed Setup for Comskip delay, so I guess I'll load of Cayars's STV and see what he uses.... Tomorrow is my day off so I should have something by then.

Lauren

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by blade

Just use Dirmon, it's very easy to setup and works great. IMO it's the best way to handle comskip or SA. When files are processed a txt file is created for each show. When you delete the recording Dirmon will delete the associated txt file for you. I don't know if any of the STV's can do this. If not you'll have to manually delete the txt files or find some other way to have it done automatically.

BTW if you use Dirmon then you don't need the comskip proxy. I don't know much about Sage and even I could talk you through installing and setting it up in just a couple of minutes.

Not only that, but you can set up the "Processor" section to only run ShowAnalyzer if the TXT file does not exist. Under triggers, set "Does Exist" to MPG and "Does Not Exist" to TXT. If you set it to only run when a file is not being written to, all your shows will be scanned at the interval set.

Since reading the posts here, my Comskip processing in Sage has been turned off. If you run SageTV as a service, you can always close Sage's window and have all your shows Comskip'd when you're ready to watch them.

Plus, you won't get the problem that Sage sometimes exhibits when you manually delete an MPEG file.... (Sage would still show the listing in its database and try to execute ShowAnalyzer.. SA would then open up a dialog box stopping background processing) Either way.... Dirmon and SA are a great combination...

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by laurenglenn

SA would then open up a dialog box stopping background processing)

I have fixed that. When SA is run with a filename that doesn't exist, it will silently exit. If it is run with no filename, then the dialog box will pop up. Thanks to Wheemer for bringing this up.

Jere

[JasonJoel]

No rush, but did you ever have a chance to look at this?

Jason

Originally Posted by laurenglenn

Tomorrow is my day off so I should have something by then.

Lauren

[sleonard]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

I have fixed that. When SA is run with a filename that doesn't exist, it will silently exit. If it is run with no filename, then the dialog box will pop up. Thanks to Wheemer for bringing this up.

Jere

What happens if Sage deletes the file after SA has started processing. Say I'm watching live TV when Dirmon calls SA. I'm still watching so the files passes the checks and starts processing it but before SA finishes I stop watching the show so Sage tries to delete it.

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by sleonard

What happens if Sage deletes the file after SA has started processing. Say I'm watching live TV when Dirmon calls SA. I'm still watching so the files passes the checks and starts processing it but before SA finishes I stop watching the show so Sage tries to delete it.

I think Windows has a Read-Lock on the file or something like it when it's running. When I tried to manually delete a file SA was running on, it wouldn't let me delete the file..

Re: Import....
Sorry for the delay in fixing this, but the fix I proposed didn't take, but I have a solution that I'll be uploading in my STV tonight.....

[laurenglenn]

OK. I posted a quick fix that should use the GetProperty to adjust the Delay and Offset for Comskip. It was put into the initial detection where the code populates the Commercial_List variable. This should work as you would have to leave the file playback area to jump to change the variable. When you go back into the LiveTV area (or where you can view video playback), it will automatically adjust according to the delay and offset.

Lauren

[JasonJoel]

Dumb question... Where did you post it?


Jason

Originally Posted by laurenglenn

OK. I posted a quick fix that should use the GetProperty to adjust the Delay and Offset for Comskip. It was put into the initial detection where the code populates the Commercial_List variable. This should work as you would have to leave the file playback area to jump to change the variable. When you go back into the LiveTV area (or where you can view video playback), it will automatically adjust according to the delay and offset.

Lauren

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by JasonJoel

Dumb question... Where did you post it?


Jason

http://download.sage.tv/~laurenglenn/laurenglenn.zip

Lauren

[laurenglenn]

I don't want to detract from Nielm's Comskip import, so let me know if it works for you and then he can change the code.

Lauren

[Gaurav]

I have the Sage v3 STV with Neilm's comskip plugin.
Every once in a while, Sage gets stuck in an infinite loop when it hits a commercial break. Pressing the FWD button brings it out of the loop.
It seems somehow the break sends the seeker back a few miliseconds.
So far i've only seen the problem when it hits a break very early in the show.

Anyone else has this prob ?

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by Gaurav

I have the Sage v3 STV with Neilm's comskip plugin.
Every once in a while, Sage gets stuck in an infinite loop when it hits a commercial break. Pressing the FWD button brings it out of the loop.
It seems somehow the break sends the seeker back a few miliseconds.
So far i've only seen the problem when it hits a break very early in the show.

Anyone else has this prob ?

Rarely when it's at the beginning of the show. Maybe we'll have to extend that 20 second delay for jumping backwards to the jumping forwards too, so it doesn't try to Comskip until after the 20 seconds has passed. That should stop that problem.

Lauren

[Snuffy2]

I hate when new betas come out ON the day I am bored & have free time. Anywhoo ....

I upgraded to 3.0.13 from 3.0.11. After reading about all of the STV upgrades I also decided to recreate my custom STV. So I created a new MySage.stv file from the 3.0.13 SageTV.stv. I imported the comskip import, the dynamic menu import, the delete partial recordings import, and enabled the hidden extras (for malores recording menu).

All of the other imports EXCEPT the comskip one seemed to work. The malore menus list [CA] after the show names so I know that some part of the STV sees that the txt files are there, but when i go to play the show, there are now commercial segments listed and in the Show Options there is no way to enable or disable auto comskip (it's not listed).

To try to help troubleshoot this a bit more:
1. I tried another clean 3.0.13 stv and just loaded the comskip stv - Same as before, no go.
2. I loaded up my old custom stv from 3.0.7 (maybe earlier, the one I was using up until today) and the comskip on there works just fine.
3. When I import the comskip import, the option for comskip doesn't appear under Customize until I reload the MySage.stv or restart Sage.
4. I tried, in addition to the above imports to try to import the now deprecated malore import (neilm's malore import, not malore's malore import) to see if that would help (it's what I used in my old stv), still no go.

Can anyone else recreate this? Am I missing something?

For now I'll stick with my old working stv, but I'll be happy to try any ideas you might have.

Justin

[Opus4]

Due to the changes to the time bar to show any padding the recording has, the ComSkip import would have to be updated. I'm quite sure an updated version will be available fairly soon.

Edit: "fairly soon" may be a fairly subjective term!

- Andy

[malore]

Here is an update to work with the changes made to the media player in V3.0.13RC2.

[ajuhawk]

Originally Posted by malore

Here is an update to work with the changes made to the media player in V3.0.13RC2.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm still not able to get this to work under 3.0.13RC2 - do I need a fresh install or should I clean up the properties file? Basically even with this new file I'm having the same results as the post above...

EDIT: I notice that the import file (in the zip file) has a date of August 04, 2005...if that matters...