SageTV is removing my xvids from recording library!

[silentmonolith]

This is how my transcoding process works:
-mpg is moved from the Recordings directory to a temp folder
-ffmepg recodes it to xvid
-creation and modified date/time transfered to xvid movie
-mpg deleted
-xvid moved to the Recordings folder

The problem is that Sage removes the entries of that show, so I can't play it within Sage. All the additonal files are still in the Recordings directory (vprj, xml, etc) only the mpg has been replaced with avi. Why are they disappearing?
Do I have to close SageTv before starting the encoding process? Thanks!

[stanger89]

When you move the MPEG out of the recording dir, Sage probably thinks you deleted it and removes it from the database. Do your Xvids end up in the Import Videos section?

Oh, and FWIW, Sage 6 supports transcoding of recordings natively.

[silentmonolith]

Originally Posted by stanger89

When you move the MPEG out of the recording dir, Sage probably thinks you deleted it and removes it from the database. Do your Xvids end up in the Import Videos section?

Oh, and FWIW, Sage 6 supports transcoding of recordings natively.

I just checked and indeed, they appear in the Import Videos section. So, if I close Sage, these problems should not occur anymore?

[stanger89]

If you don't move the mpeg until you're ready to put the Xvid in it should be OK.

[silentmonolith]

Originally Posted by stanger89

If you don't move the mpeg until you're ready to put the Xvid in it should be OK.

Do I really need to move the mpg to a temp directory anyway? What if I do all the encoding stuff directly in the recording directory?

[stanger89]

Probably not.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by silentmonolith

Do I really need to move the mpg to a temp directory anyway? What if I do all the encoding stuff directly in the recording directory?

Leave the mpg where it is but create the AVI in a temp folder then move it back when it's ready. A partly-transcoded AVI will be seen as invalid by Sage when it scans it.

[silentmonolith]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Leave the mpg where it is but create the AVI in a temp folder then move it back when it's ready. A partly-transcoded AVI will be seen as invalid by Sage when it scans it.

Thank you for you posts guys!
I tried the scenario where I did all the transcoding stuff in the same Recordings folder and it seems there are no issues (right after the avi is done, the mpg is deleted). But (there is always a but isn't it?) Sage now is unable to use the comskip files with the avi. (I'm getting a beautiful green line when playing the movie) although the associated vprj still exists in the recording folder. What do I have to do now?

[stanger89]

Only thing I can think of is, is the filename exactly the same, except for the extension?

[silentmonolith]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Only thing I can think of is, is the filename exactly the same, except for the extension?

Well, the avi retains the same filename...I will try to change the extension to mpg, see what happens after that.

**Update: I have renamed the avi to mpg, but Sage is freezing if I try to play that file. For a few seconds though I'm able to see the segmented green line (meaning Comskip is active on that file) So, the problem is the extension of the movie. Any solutions?

[stanger89]

Well I wouldn't do that. Does the AVI filename match the comskip text filename (other than extension)? Oh, and none of the comskip customizations I'm aware of read VPRJ files, they either look for txt or edl files, are those still there?

Oh, I bet the comskip "monitor" is deleting your comskip files because there's no longer an mpg file. Might want to look into changing the monitor so it doesn't delete if and avi or mpg is there. Dirmon can do that.

[silentmonolith]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Well I wouldn't do that. Does the AVI filename match the comskip text filename (other than extension)? Oh, and none of the comskip customizations I'm aware of read VPRJ files, they either look for txt or edl files, are those still there?

Oh.. I thought the stv works with vprj. Anyways, I renamed the mpg to avi inside the vprj file as well with no luck. Here's a screen shot:

[malore]

The traditional comskip file that STVs use for commercial skipping is .txt. ShowAnalyzer can generate a file type of .edl that a newer commercial skipping import supports.

.vprj are VideoReDo project files.

[silentmonolith]

Well after some tweaking I found the best way for me. Here it is:
-1. Run VideoRedo and place the comercial free mpg outside the Recordings folder
-2. Run ffmpeg and convert the mpg to xvid @ 1400 kb/s
-3. Touch the xvid using the mpg as the reference file
-4. Shut down SageTv and after 10s move the avi in the Recordings folder, delete the original mpg and the comerical free mpg
-5. Restart SageTv

I'm having some problems at step 4 though. Although I have mentioned that the avis appear correctly listed in Sage (under Tv Recordings) I was wrong. 90% of my recordings still go under "Imported media". That's why I choose to close Sage before copying and deleting process. Also I allowed a delay of 10s to make sure Sage is off completely. I'm still testing this chain of steps so I'm not sure if I succeeded.
I was wondering about this: if SageTv is closed while it's recording something, what would happened with that recording? (basically Sage would be off for about 10s only). Thanks!

[stanger89]

You've gone far beyond my area of expertise.

[silentmonolith]

-1. Run VideoRedo and place the comercial free mpg outside the Recordings folder
-2. Run ffmpeg and convert the mpg to xvid @ 1400 kb/s
-3. Touch the xvid using the mpg as the reference file
-4. Check and see if Sage is recording (by checking the HDD size for 1 min):
4.1 If recording wait for 5 minutes then check again
4.2 If not recording, close Sage, delete original mpg, comercial free mpg and move the avi to the Recordings folder
-5. Restart SageTv
Voila!

Also, very useful, I found a little command line application that would set ffmpeg.exe`s priority to low. This way, you won't notice that the computer is transcoding in the background (usually transcoding requires 80-90% of your processor's resources). It's called process.exe and you cand find it with google.