Dirmon2 Problems

[Athfar]

Hey guys I am having trouble using TWO computers to do comskipping...

It seems that dirmon isn't paying attention to the .edl file that is listed so both computers end up ComSkipping the same mpg.

Attached is how my stuff is setup.

[briands]

Originally Posted by Athfar

Hey guys I am having trouble using TWO computers to do comskipping...

It seems that dirmon isn't paying attention to the .edl file that is listed so both computers end up ComSkipping the same mpg.

Attached is how my stuff is setup.

Are you sure that is working at all... you are missing the mpg in the must exist, maybe its not necessary.

Are you using show analyzer? There is an option in there "When" to create the file (when beginning or when done) do you have this set to when done?

[davephan]

Athfar,

I also had two separate computers to do either comskipping or running showanalyzer, before I got a fast dual-core, which can run showanalyzer at any time without degrading my SageTV performance. I have a suggestion for the DirMon2 configuration and a method to run comskip.exe on your SageTV computer without killing the SageTV performance.

I noticed that your "must exist" does not have the "mpg" parameter.

I included a screenshot of my DirMon2 configuration.

If you want to run comskip on the same SageTV computer, but cannot because it consumes too much CPU, you might consider dropping the priority of comskip.exe down to "Low". There are a couple of ways to do it, by running a batch file to start comskip.exe or a utility from www.beyondlogic.org.

To drop the priority of comskip.exe with a startup batch file, the syntax is:

start comskip.exe /low

If you use the free utility, "process.exe" from www.beyondlogic.com, after comskip.exe is running, the syntax is:

process -p comskip.exe low

The priority options are:
Low
BelowNormal
Normal
AboveNormal
High
Realtime

When I ran an Althon XP 2800+ CPU, I was able to run comskip at "low" priority. It made a huge difference. The CPU will still be consumed at high levels, but the comskip.exe process will yield the CPU resources for other things. The comskip.exe will take longer to run at "low" priority, but maybe it would be a better alternative for you than using many computers to offload the workload from your SageTV computer.

In the old punchcard days, I used to run batch jobs, and they are still around! A batch job like comskip.exe should not need to run at the same priority as "interactive" jobs or processes.

I think you'll be surprised how well comskip.exe will work on your main SageTV computer when you run comskip.exe at "low" priority - it won't consume all your CPU without yielding resources to more important tasks.


Dave

[ToxMox]

As long as the target is set to mpg the must exist can remain blank. I think the main problem assuming your comskip creates the edl as soon as it starts is that you set the not exist to OR instead of AND. Basically the way you configured it is if Either the edl or the txt don't exist then it will process. You only want to process if they both don't exist thus the AND.

The only thing I'm not sure of is that I'm assuming your comskip outputs just the edl and no txt right? If that is the case then wouldn't it just keep processing them over and over again and keep recreating the edl since the txt would never exist?

[erik]

Comskip already runs by default at "idle" priority
The disk IO is normally causing the problems people see.
Best is to enable the play_nice

[Athfar]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

As long as the target is set to mpg the must exist can remain blank. I think the main problem assuming your comskip creates the edl as soon as it starts is that you set the not exist to OR instead of AND. Basically the way you configured it is if Either the edl or the txt don't exist then it will process. You only want to process if they both don't exist thus the AND.

The only thing I'm not sure of is that I'm assuming your comskip outputs just the edl and no txt right? If that is the case then wouldn't it just keep processing them over and over again and keep recreating the edl since the txt would never exist?

It says ... edl OR txt ... the larger OR shouldn't matter I would assume... and regarding the creating of .edl files, tried it and it DOES create the edl file immediately (and I even gave it some time on the next computer to make sure).

And as far as com skipping not taxing the CPU goes... Well... I know it doesn't... I just want this to work cause it should!

[Athfar]

OK I figured it out (and it is something kinda silly).

"CLICKING" on the word OR is what makes it OR not reading it as it is displayed. Rather confusing might I add (and frustrating that I spent so much time and didn't think about it).

Attached is the "OK" config

Thanks for trying to help all

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by Athfar

OK I figured it out (and it is something kinda silly).

"CLICKING" on the word OR is what makes it OR not reading it as it is displayed. Rather confusing might I add (and frustrating that I spent so much time and didn't think about it).

Attached is the "OK" config

Thanks for trying to help all

This is exactly what I said to do in my post. Clicking the word OR changes it to AND. In this case edl OR txt means if it doesn't find either a txt or an edl then it will run. When you change it to edl AND txt then it means both have to not exist in order for it to run.
I'm not sure what you found confusing? The idea that you could click on the word to change it to AND or the way it reads? I guess I'm confused

[Athfar]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

This is exactly what I said to do in my post. Clicking the word OR changes it to AND. In this case edl OR txt means if it doesn't find either a txt or an edl then it will run. When you change it to edl AND txt then it means both have to not exist in order for it to run.
I'm not sure what you found confusing? The idea that you could click on the word to change it to AND or the way it reads? I guess I'm confused

The lack of the word "CLICK" hehe . That really should be a drop down though to prevent this sort of confusion.

[Mark57]

Originally Posted by davephan

In the old punchcard days, I used to run batch jobs, and they are still around!

Lordy, thoughts of correcting Fortran syntax errors on punched cards and dropped card trays hasn't come to mind in years. I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread . . . . .

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Athfar

The lack of the word "CLICK" hehe . That really should be a drop down though to prevent this sort of confusion.

Button=click

What else do you do with a button but click it?

Gerry

[Athfar]

Well it's more like...

Word=Click but which word should I click?

Whatever though... No one ever listens/agrees to/with me...