Show analyzer and Comm skip

[roxy99]

I downloaded and installed SA and I don't know what to do next. How does SA interact with the mpeg files and automatically detect commercials? Do I need special decoders or something? When I installed it, nothing happens.

I read that Dirmin2 is needed to act as a plugin to call upon the text files created by SA. I just don't know where to begin. I have tried reading a topic thread of over 895 posts and now I am more confused than ever.

Can someone give me the low-down short and sweet version of how to do this?

[scm]

1. Register SA with Jere. Its $10 or something like that and he will send you a registration code. Open the SA Configuration program, click on Help--Register and enter the code Jere sends you. Under the default settings, move the bar at the bottom under Depth of Analysis to around 40. You will have to play with this to see if this setting is detecting commercials well with your computer. Click on File--Save All and SA is pretty much ready.

Follow this link to the DragonGlobal forum:

http://www.dragonglobal.org/forums/showthread.php?t=312

Download and install Dirmon2. This will show you EXACTLY how to configure Dirmon2. Copy what the pictures show you.

Download either:
1. SageMCE with the latest development build
or
2-a. Go here:http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...12194#null.zip, goto Installation Instructions and click on "importable stvi by following this link". Save the file in the SageTV/STVs/SageTV3 directory.
2-b. Open Sage, goto Setup-Detailed Setup-Advanced-Import STVI. Navigate to where you saved the file you downloaded, select it and it will be imported. Once SA has processed some files, you will notice tick marks on your time bar marking commercials. If you see these, right click on your screen and see if the bottom line in the options menu shows Commercial Skip: Enabled (or something close to that). It will automatically advance commercials for you.

[stanger89]

SA, as well as comskip, is just an application that is run on an MPEG file to detect commercials.

The part you're missing is the manager that tells SA what to run on. There are some STVs with that functionality, but IMO, Dirmon2 is the way to go. It will monitor directories you specify, and run SA (or comskip or any app) on files you tell it to.

Check the Dirmon2 thread for details on how to set it up.

[roxy99]

scm and stranger,

Thks. I'll check those out. I guess the dirmin2 part is the tricky part.

[blade]

Personally I would use comskip instead of SA and I'd use the newer comskip stvi that supports edl files instead of the old txt files because it's more accurate. The link posted above to the stvi is for the old txt files.

[roxy99]

Originally Posted by scm

1. Register SA with Jere. Its $10 or something like that and he
1. SageMCE with the latest development build
or
2-a. Go here:http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...12194#null.zip, goto Installation Instructions and click on "importable stvi by following this link". Save the file in the SageTV/STVs/SageTV3 directory.
2-b. Open Sage, goto Setup-Detailed Setup-Advanced-Import STVI. Navigate to where you saved the file you downloaded, select it and it will be imported. Once SA has processed some files, you will notice tick marks on your time bar marking commercials. If you see these, right click on your screen and see if the bottom line in the options menu shows Commercial Skip: Enabled (or something close to that). It will automatically advance commercials for you.

I am using Sage ver 5.0.2. How do I know if it includes the development build?

Do I still need to follow the instructions regarding or is it incompatible with ver 5.0.2?

"importable stvi by following this link". Save the file in the SageTV/STVs/SageTV3 directory

Or is my version already plugin capable and if so what do I do to get the plugin to run?

[roxy99]

Originally Posted by blade

Personally I would use comskip instead of SA and I'd use the newer comskip stvi that supports edl files instead of the old txt files because it's more accurate. The link posted above to the stvi is for the old txt files.

I'm sold on Dirmin 2.

The issue regarding Comskip vs SA is for me whatever is easier to set up.

Now, how do I enable STV import functionality to Sage ver 5.0.2?

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by roxy99

Now, how do I enable STV import functionality to Sage ver 5.0.2?

Its in the manual. page 185-186

[zuzzu]

y'all,

along the same lines, how does one use the comskip functionality contained within SagetMC 6.10? I have it installed, and see all the options to enable comskip (which I have done), but nothing happens to recorded files. Do I still have to install some comskip plugin stuff as well? Not sure what to do here. The only thing I have installed in Sage is SageMC and OSDClock.

[blade]

Originally Posted by zuzzu

y'all,

along the same lines, how does one use the comskip functionality contained within SagetMC 6.10? I have it installed, and see all the options to enable comskip (which I have done), but nothing happens to recorded files. Do I still have to install some comskip plugin stuff as well? Not sure what to do here. The only thing I have installed in Sage is SageMC and OSDClock.

You still need to run either ShowAnalyer or Comskip to process the shows. The comskip stvi imports and stvs that support comskip read the results generated by the other software.

[roxy99]

Blade,
Assuming I use Showanalyser, I still need Dirmin2, correct?


Scm

'Open Sage, goto Setup-Detailed Setup-Advanced-Import STVI. Navigate to where you saved the file you downloaded, select it and it will be imported. Once SA has processed some files, you will notice tick marks on your time bar marking commercials.'

Whic file? The showanalyser module you mean? Where is the STVi module that needs to be imported in order to tell STV to process using SA?

[scm]

The file you saved in step 2-a.

SA is not a module. It is a program. The conceptual overview is this:
1. Sage records a program and puts it in a folder.
2. Dirmon2 is another independant program that periodically scans the folder that you configure it to scan--which is the folder your Sage recordings are in. It looks for mpg files (ie, Sage recordings) that do not have an associated txt file (the file Show Analyzer creates--more to come). If it sees a show without the txt file, it sends that file to Show Analyzer or Comskip to process.
3. Show Analyzer is yet another independant program. It starts only when a another program (or you manually) gives it a specific file to process. It analyzes the program and creates a txt file that marks the beginning and end points of commercial segments. If you look in the Sage recordings folder after SA has run, you will find two files with the same name. One is the original mpg recording and the second is a very small txt file.
4. Sage does not natively recognize the txt files or have any idea what to do with them. So, you have to import the STVi that "teaches" Sage what to do. (SageMCE built this knowledge into the theme, so if you use this theme, it recognizes and uses the txt files.) Once you import the STVi into Sage, it will now "see" the commercial segments in the time line and jump past them if you wish.

The confusing issue is this is not an "integrated" solution. There are three separate programs and one Sage import working together.

[roxy99]

Thanks scm,

The link you provided to the plugin looks like the old one. The new show analyzer outputs in edl format, correct? (not txt). If so then should'nt I use this plugin instead: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19122

[MrApollinax]

SA can be configured to output both. It has the ability to output a variety of files for commercial processing after processing the file.

[blade]

Originally Posted by roxy99

Thanks scm,

The link you provided to the plugin looks like the old one. The new show analyzer outputs in edl format, correct? (not txt). If so then should'nt I use this plugin instead: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19122

If you want to use .edl files then you need the one you linked to. If you're going to use .txt files you need the older import. Personally I'd go with edl because it's more accurate.

When setting up Dirmon2 to use edl be sure to include edl as the trigger instead of txt.

[roxy99]

Cool ! I can hardly wait. I may not have time tonight or tommorow, but I'm going to get this baby set up. New TV season starting and I hate TV commercials.