STV Import: Comskip Playback for Default STV (v1.5.4 30/August/2008 for SageTV 5/6)

[JREkiwi]

The Comskip Playback import provides for the automatic or manual skipping of commercials identified in either edl (preferred) or txt files created by running Comskip or ShowAnalyzer

Following on from the work of at least, malore, nielm, flachbar and sundansx and using code stolen from anyone and everyone, here is the latest incarnation of Comskip Playback for the Default STV. As it is an evolution of previous versions of Comskip Playback, any feature available previously, but no longer working could be considered a bug. For anyone following progress in the A Collection of Minor Tweaks for the Default STV thread, this version supersedes the version that was there.

The current version is Comskip Playback 1.5.4 (30 August 2008) download from here.

Features in this version are:

- ToxMox comskip marker icons for airings
- Delete comskip files button on options for airing (deletes .edl, .txt, .vPrj, .log)
- Supports all SageTV video file formats (.mpg, .avi, .ts, .mp4, .mkv files etc)
- Supports edl or txt format files
- Option for using Left/Right buttons for Custom 4/5 function
- Option to Enable/Disable marker icons for airings with comskip files
- Option to Enable/Disable marker icons for airings without comskip files
- Option to briefly display timeline when skipping
- Option to manually run comskip (or any batch file) on a video
- Option to start running comskip (or any batch file) on a video when you start watching it
- Option to not autoskip commercials smaller than a specified size
- Deletes comskip files when recording is deleted
- Works on Sage version 5 and 6.
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Installation is a 3 step process.
Step 1. Unzip into SageTV maintaining the directories. (ie: The df_sageutils.jar from the zip file needs to be in the JARS directory. The other files need to be in the STVs\SageTV3 directory.)
Step 2. Restart Sage so it will pick up the new jar.
Step 3. SageTV 6.4 and higher: Setup -> Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Manage STVI plugins -> Add a new STVI plugin file
Select Comskip_Playback.stvi. Click close and answer Yes to rebuild.
Versions prior to SageTV 6.4: Load the import by going to Setup -> Detailed Setup -> Advanced, then select "Import SageTV Application Package" Select Comskip_Playback.stvi
Notes:
The df_sageutils.jar file included requires Java 1.6. A version of df_sageutils.jar that will work with Java 1.4 - 1.6 can be downloaded from here.
If also installing the MiniGuide import, install this import after the MiniGuide import.
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Changes:
(1.2.2)
- Option for using Left/Right buttons for Custom 4/5 function
(1.2.3)
- Option to Enable/Disable ToxMox marker icons for airings
- Option to Enable/Disable marker icons for airings without comskip files
(1.2.4)
- Fix for icons showing on clients when they shouldn't. This is the only change from 1.2.3
(1.2.5)
- Changed size of Setup Options so the panel fits on an MVP
(1.3)
- Added function to optionally run and pass parameters to an application/script when a video is watched
(1.3.1)
- Changed the Start on Watch Options layout
- Fix loading on Version 5
(1.3.2)
- Support for SageTV V6.1
(1.3.3)
- Fix deleting comskip files when video is deleted
- Changes to Comskip Icon code
(1.3.4)
- Added Option to display timeline when skipping
(1.3.5)
- Added new ToxMox marker icons
(1.3.6)
- Changes to Skip delays to allow negative delay (start skip earlier or stop skip later)
- Added option to manually run comskip on a video
(1.3.7)
- Fix left skip not returning to skip point and autoskipping when it shouldn't after a left skip
- Fix looping Start on Watch script causing cmd.exe to use 100% of CPU when Start on Watch was enabled, but default script had not been customized. Updated script in download (3 Apr 07)
(1.3.8)
- Changed left/right skip to not skip when Video Info is being displayed (Video Info also uses left/right to toggle on/off so was toggling info on/off as well as skipping)
- Fix imported videos not displaying titles on options panel (regression from 1.3.6)
(1.3.9)
- Enable/Disable Autoskip from a playing video's options panel will now only Enable/Disable Autoskip while that video is playing
(1.4.0)
- Removed the left/right skip block if Video Info was displayed and stop info toggling
- Added Marker icons to Version 6 Browser view
(1.4.1)
- Change Marker position on Sage Recordings
- New Option in More Options for left/right handling when Video Info is showing. Allow skipping (1.4.0 style) or block skipping (1.3.8 style)
(1.4.2)
- Fix left skip not disabling autoskip
- Added configuration option for default setting to show/not show extended OSD Info
(1.4.3)
- Support for SageTV 6.2
(1.4.4b)
- Support for SageTV 6.2.5
(1.4.4)
- Added support for SageTV 6.2 themes for marker icons
(1.4.5)
- Support for SageTV 6.2.6 and hopefully fixed for future changes
(1.4.6)
- Fixed marker icons placement when "Show recording status marker icons in lists" is disabled
(1.4.7)
- Added toggling of Autoskip on/off via a key defined as Custom2
(1.4.8)
- Added option for larger OSD progress indicator
- Added option of different color commercial blocks when autoskip is turned off
- Removed the option for transparent markers
- Fixed image definitions for markers.
(1.4.9)
- Removed restriction of only working on .mpg .avi .ts (should work on any video file that has a comskip file)
- Fix file naming so should now work on linux
(1.5.0)
- Support SageTV 6.3
- Add additional debug logging
(1.5.1)
- Fix Detailed Info toggling in SageTV 6.3
- Changes to be more compatible with the L/R arrows in the MiniGuide import (Install this import after the MiniGuide import)
(1.5.2)
- Change when playback starts in a commercial block to skip to the end of the block
- Change to not skip to the end of the commercial block when FF/RW into a commercial block
- Fix not showing icons in imported videos in SageTV 6.3.10
(1.5.3)
- Added option to not autoskip on commercials smaller than the specified size
- Fix not disabling autoskip when left arrow skip or FF/RW into a commercial block in pre-show padding
(1.5.4)
- Fix for not deleting comskip files when a video is deleted in SageTV 6.4 and changes for file extension case in ShowAnalyzerSuite
- Reduced the amount of logging done by default with an option to enable full debug logging.

______________________________________________________________

Configuring Options
The majority of the configurable options are via
Setup -> Detailed Setup -> Customize -> Comskip Playback Options



The Comskip Playback Options Panel, displays the version of the import and the basic settings



Auto Skip Commercials Enabled/Disabled
When Enabled, the SageTV media player will skip over any commercial breaks identified in an .edl or .txt file associated with the video. When Disabled, it won't.
You can still manually skip using the left or right arrows, with Left/Right Arrow Skip enabled. (or with Custom 4/5 if you're an old timer)

Pause Playback before skipping Enabled/Disabled
When Enabled, the SageTV media player will pause before skipping over any commercial breaks. (Some people say this makes skipping work better on HD and .avi videos)
When Disabled, it won't.

Show Timeline on Skip Enabled/Disabled
When Enabled the timebar will display momentarily when skipping a commercial. (Some people like to see some feedback when auto skipping)
When Disabled, it won't.

Left/Right Arrow Skip Enabled/Disabled
When Enabled using the Right arrow button will skip forward to the end of the next identified commercial break. The Left arrow button will skip back to the previous transition (start or end) of a commercial break. It will also temporarily disable auto skipping.
When Disabled, they won't.

Start on Watch Disabled/Configure
A function to optionally run and pass parameters to an application/script when a video is watched



Run if No Comskip Files = True - will only run the selected application/script if No Comskip files (either edl or txt) exist.
Run if No Comskip Files = False - will run the selected application/script always.
Date Format = Allows changing the format of the date passed as %7

Parameters passed are:
%1 = MediaFile
%2 = Title
%3 = Episode
%4 = Description
%5 = Channel Number
%6 = Duration
%7 = Date
%8 = Category
%9 = SubCategory

A modified version of the comskip.cmd batch file is included which allows setting different parameters based on the channel a show was recorded on.

For a quick setup get the latest version of Comskip and unzip it into the \STVs\SageTV3\Externals folder

Manual Comskip Disabled/Configure
A function to run and pass parameters to an application/script when the button Run Comskip is pressed on a specific Video's Options panel



Parameters passed are:
%1 = MediaFile
%2 = Title
%3 = Episode
%4 = Description
%5 = Channel Number
%6 = Duration
%7 = Date
%8 = Category
%9 = SubCategory

A modified version of the comskip.cmd batch file is included which allows setting different parameters based on the channel a show was recorded on.

For a quick setup get the latest version of Comskip and unzip it into the \STVs\SageTV3\Externals folder

More Options



Broadcast Type (frame rate) NTSC (29.97fps)/PAL (25fps)
Only used when using .txt files (.txt files use frame numbers). Set to the correct value for your broadcast you are recording.

Commercial start delay
The number of milliseconds from the commercial start identified before the SageTV player will start to skip. Positive numbers will skip later than the identified start, negative numbers will skip earlier than the identified commercial start.

Commercial stop delay
The number of milliseconds from the commercial end identified that the SageTV player will skip to. Positive numbers will skip to before the identified commercial end, negative numbers will skip to after the identified commercial end.

Comskip Files Icon CS & No CS/CS Only/No CS Only/None
Marker icons to display in recordings views
CS & No CS = will display a CS marker if a comskip file exists and a No CS marker if no comskip file exists
CS Only = will display a CS marker if a comskip file exists
No CS Only = will display a No CS marker if no comskip file exists
None = will not display any CS/NoCS markers

Commercial Marker Density Transparent/Solid
Changes the density of the commercial block markers in the SageTV media player timebar
Transparent = a slightly transparent block
Solid = a solid block

Skip while Info Displayed Yes/No
Yes = If Left/Right Arrow skip is enabled, Left/Right Arrow skip will skip with OSD Info displayed and not toggle OSD Extended Info On/Off
No = Left/Right Arrow skip will not skip when OSD Info is being displayed and will toggle OSD Extended Info On/Off

Show OSD Extended Info Yes/No
Sets the default setting for showing OSD Extended Info
Yes = Extended Info will be displayed when Info button is pressed
No = Extended Info will not be displayed when Info button is pressed
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Additional Information

Commercial skipping in SageTV has 3 component processes

1. Commercial detection process
2. Running the commercial detection process
3. Commercial skipping in the STV

1. Commercial Detection
The two options are Comskip or ShowAnalyzer. Both have their advocates. Comskip can run while a show is recording, ShowAnalyzer can integrate with nielm's Webserver to customize commercial scans.

2. Running Commercial Detection
A number of options.
Dirmon2 Can run either Comskip or ShowAnalyzer. (Can do much more than just running commercial detection)
Comskip Monitor Runs Comskip (you probably will want to update the packaged comskip executable from here) by default, but you can customize it to run batch or executable file.
Running Comskip via the STV using the Unofficial Secret Extras or the same function in SageMC (both only good for creating .txt files)
Start on Watch or Manual Comskip in the Comskip Playback import. (runs a script that can call either Comskip or Showanalyzer or anything else)

3. Commercial Skipping
The Comskip Playback import imported into the default STV.
The SageMC STV has built in commercial skipping
The Meekel STV has built in commercial skipping (only for .txt format)

________________________________________________________________

Commercial Detection Output
.edl format files are preferred and provide more accurate skipping than .txt format files
.edl files list commercials based on times within the video
.txt files list commercials based on frames within the video. This then needs to be converted during playback (based on broadcast frame rate) to time codes within the video

To enable edl format output:

For comskip to turn off producing txt files and enable edl files add or modify the comskip.ini.

output_default=0
output_edl=1

For ShowAnalyzer configure edl output in SAConfig
________________________________________________________________


John

[davidk21770]

I've read a few posts that suggest that sage service also needs to be restarted in step 2? If this is true, I'd change that step to include restarting sage service.

[michelkenny]

Originally Posted by davidk21770

I've read a few posts that suggest that sage service also needs to be restarted in step 2? If this is true, I'd change that step to include restarting sage service.

Usually that's what people mean when they say restart Sage. For those who have just the client on a PC you restart the Sage client. For those using it on the server, you restart everything Sage on that server.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by davidk21770

I've read a few posts that suggest that sage service also needs to be restarted in step 2? If this is true, I'd change that step to include restarting sage service.

davidk21770, I started writing a tome on when restarting was and wasn't necessary and which parts needed restarting in what situations. While I was working on that, michelkenny posted his 'simple' rule.

The simple rule works in all cases. The only additional piece of information would be, if you already have this, or a later version of df_sageutils.jar, then you don't need to do any restarts.

John

[davidk21770]

All this time, when I've read "restart sage", that's what I did -- I exited and restarted SageTV. Never occurred to me that sage service would have anything to do with that file...

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by davidk21770

All this time, when I've read "restart sage", that's what I did -- I exited and restarted SageTV.

davidk21770, that's all you need to do unless you are updating the df_sageutils.jar. You only need to restart as many things as needed to make it work. (How do you write that in an instruction?)

By getting people do restart the service you know that all bases are covered. and it will work.

John

[mdnttoker]

Is this compatible with SageMC if the internal comskip is disabled? (or alternately, are all these features already in the SageMC version?)

Thanks,
-Dan

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by mdnttoker

Is this compatible with SageMC if the internal comskip is disabled? (or alternately, are all these features already in the SageMC version?)

No, Sorry, only for the Default STV. I stole the edl and txt support from SageMC, but don't think anything else is in SageMC.

John

[blade]

I just installed the import this morning when I upgraded to the latest beta and it appears to be working much better than the old import. I love the new options to delete the comskip files and the icon letting me know the files have been processed.

This isn't comskip related, but sort of related to the CS indicator idea. Would there be any chance you could create an import that would indicate whether or not the show had been transcoded? I transcode some shows to XviD using the built in transcoding of v6 when I need additional space. Having a small icon indicating the show has been converted would be nice.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by blade

Would there be any chance you could create an import that would indicate whether or not the show had been transcoded? I transcode some shows to XviD using the built in transcoding of v6 when I need additional space. Having a small icon indicating the show has been converted would be nice.

Thanks blade, I'll have a look at a transcoded indicator. If I do something I'll put it over here.

John

[blade]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Thanks blade, I'll have a look at a transcoded indicator. If I do something I'll put it over here.

Thanks.

[roxy99]

Anyone using this in conjunction with only this monitor utility:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20358

I think it would be easier than Dirmon2 to set up.

[Pretzelboy]

Originally Posted by roxy99

Anyone using this in conjunction with only this monitor utility:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20358

I think it would be easier than Dirmon2 to set up.

I'm new to Sage and I set up Comskip / Comskip monitor yesterday. I had previously tried SA and DirMon2 and found the set up to be very annoying. I'm not familiar enough with the workings of Sage to know about much of the configuration.

The Comskip and CSMonitor setup couldn't have been easier. Absolutely no effort at all and it works great. I really like the ability to schedule out low processor use time periods. It chugged along while I was watching live and prerecorded shows after my turkey overdose.

[roxy99]

Originally Posted by Pretzelboy

I'm new to Sage and I set up Comskip / Comskip monitor yesterday. I had previously tried SA and DirMon2 and found the set up to be very annoying. I'm not familiar enough with the workings of Sage to know about much of the configuration.

The Comskip and CSMonitor setup couldn't have been easier. Absolutely no effort at all and it works great. I really like the ability to schedule out low processor use time periods. It chugged along while I was watching live and prerecorded shows after my turkey overdose.

You're not kidding. Couldn't have been any easier.

[AngelofDeth]

Has anyone had a problem when trying to skip backwards through a commercial block? It didn't happen on all blocks, but some blocks (on the MVP) wouldnt let me skip backwards through a commercial block and back into whatever show I was watching.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

Has anyone had a problem when trying to skip backwards through a commercial block? It didn't happen on all blocks, but some blocks (on the MVP) wouldnt let me skip backwards through a commercial block and back into whatever show I was watching.

Just trying to figure out what you mean.

What are you trying to do? Get back to before the commercial block? Get back to the start of the commercial block? Get back to before the end of the commercial block?
What do you mean by wouldn't let me? It wouldn't skip? It would skip back into the commercial block and then skip forward?
Are you using the RW/FF or Custom 4/5 keys?

John

[AngelofDeth]

Sage/MVP skips past the commercial block, then I rewind. I can rewind through and see the commercials, but once I get to the spot where the commercials end and the previous show block starts, it automatically skips forward, and won't let me see the previous show block. I have to disable CS for that show in order to do so. I hope that made sence.

I am using the "skip" button on the MVP remote, though using the RW button has the same outcome.

[JREkiwi]

Interesting, I think I see what you mean, but it works the same way in SageMC. I think for what you are wanting to do (skip back to the start of a commercial block and disable autoskip) you need to use the custom 4 key.

See the manual (Link Infrared/Keystrokes to SageTV Command) for mapping a remote button to Sage Command Custom4.

FYI. Custom5 skips fwd to the end of a commercial block.

John

[band80]

I did everything as per the instructions but can't seem to get the Comskip options to show up the Customize setup area

I'm running V6 btw.

[blade]

Originally Posted by band80

I did everything as per the instructions but can't seem to get the Comskip options to show up the Customize setup area

I'm running V6 btw.

What version are you running? There was a bug with 6.0.13 where the imports weren't saved. If you're using that version you'll have to save the changes with studio or better yet upgrade to the latest beta. If you're not using that version then that shouldn't be your problem.