SA/COMSKIP on HD files not working...

[twieder]

I have been using DirMon2 and SA, along with ComskipPlayback reliably on SD programs. The problem came in with FusionHDTV Lite OTA recordings. SA creates the ELD files, but Sage jumps forward several seconds early, and start up again ~30 sec. early.
Now that I have a HDHOMERUN installed, I find that SA doesn't seem to work on TS files at all --- is this everyone else's experience?

Here is my setup:
Celeron-3gHz
1 Gig Ram
nVidia 6600GT, PureVideo decoder
1-Haupaugge PVR-500, 1-Hauppauge PVR-150, 1-Fusion HDTV Lite (OTA), 1-HDHOMERUN (QAM)

SageTV 6.18
ShowAnalyzer 0.8.7
DirMon2 6.3.46

Any help would be appreciated.
-tw

[lobosrul]

I can tell you this is probably not a showanalyzer issue, or really even a sage issue. Sometimes there are problems in the transport stream, especialy if theres a weak signal. In this case showanalyzer and sage sort of lose sync. I used to have this happen a lot until I found a better location for my antennae (and now get a stronger signal).

Usually if you pass the mpg thru video redo with a vprj cutlist (SA and comskip can generate a vprj in addition to an edl), it will cut the correct portions out. However, the output file cant be used in the "TV" section of Sage, it would need to be imported for the "Video" section.

Hope that made sense.

EDIT: If the commercial cut list on every file is off sync by the same amount, there is a way in SageMC to specify an offset.

[erik]

Videoredo does not use the PTS, only counts frames.
Comskip can use the PTS (set max_repair_size=200) or count frames (set max_repair_size=0)
Make sure you use the correct setting otherwise timing will be progressively off towards the end of the recording

[Jere_Jones]

Many people are having issues with the HDHR. Which is a shame because it seems like an awesome box. I have requested samples from users that will help me fix the problems. If you can contribute, just let me know.

Jere

[tmiranda]

How do you want us to deliver sample files? Do you have an FTP site?

[jkohn]

I too have noticed that the Comskip markers and SageTV don't quite "line up" correctly, although my problem isn't as severe as what the original poster is describing. What I've found is that when using automatic skip during playback, it would often skip a few seconds early and then go either a few seconds to far or not quite far enough. Because of this I have automatic commercial skip disabled and just use the "right - arrow" key to skip once the commercial starts; but usually I then I have to go foward/back a few seconds since the skipping isn't quite right. I'm pretty sure this is a timeline issue; transport stream files are rarely error free even with a good signal (I've used both HDHomeRun/QAM and OTA with similar results).

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

How do you want us to deliver sample files? Do you have an FTP site?

I do have an FTP site setup. I PM'd you the instructions.

Thanks!
Jere

[lovingHDTV]

Personally I think this is an issue with how the sage player works. I think it gets confused as to where it is. I can skip 10s forward, then 10s backwards and while the marker shows the proper position, the playback is not at the same spot.

I see this with the video editing plugin, where the mark stays the same, but where the sage player thinks it is, is not consistant. I have not seen this issue with other players, only with the sage player.

I'm just living with it by not enabling the automatic skip. My SDTV recordings are alway dead on with no issues at all. Skipping forward 10s then back 10s always puts me back to the same spot. Same for the commercial markings.

my $0.02

[that_kid]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

I do have an FTP site setup. I PM'd you the instructions.

Thanks!
Jere

I'd like to send you some files too.

[jkohn]

Originally Posted by lovingHDTV

Personally I think this is an issue with how the sage player works. I think it gets confused as to where it is. I can skip 10s forward, then 10s backwards and while the marker shows the proper position, the playback is not at the same spot.

That's what I've noticed as well. When I use the arrow key to skip over the commercials, I'll find that it hasn't gone far enough so I'll skip forward 30s (the shortest skip interval I have) and then I find myself too far into the program so I have to back up and at that point the timeline at the bottom shows that I'm back where I was, even though I'm not. It's almost like the skip-forward functionality in Sage uses a rough estimate than any type of precise calculation. It's not just HD for me though, I can record SD channels as transport stream as well via QAM-256 with the HDHomeRun, and the behavior seems pretty similar there. So I'm guessing maybe it's related to transport streams in general as opposed to just HD.

[JREkiwi]

Try turning on Pause Playback Before Skipping in the Comskip Playback Options and see if that helps.

John