Comskip Playback for v7

[razrsharpe]

I uploaded a direct (and incomplete) port of JREkiwi's Comskip Playback for the Default STV to the plugin repository. Hopefully this will keep everyone comskipping along until JREkiwi can do a proper V7 port.

Working Sections: changes to the OSD timeline, functionality during playback (autoskip, left/right to skip), and Comskip Options on the OSD and under Detailed Setup -> Customize.

Not Working: Anything else, ie the EPG and info view customizations were not relinked

Post any issues with the port or installation here

v6 thread for reference here

Installation Instructions:
from the Sage V7 main menu go to Setup -> SageTV Plugins -> All Available Plugins -> STVi -> Comskip Playback -> Install Client (or server) Plugin

Note: To get accurate skipping (mostly noticable when using the hd-pvr) make sure you set the following property to true (it is false by default) in sage.properties (ie server property)

videoframe/disable_timescaling_on_seek=true

[jpaddock3000]

Thanks, but I'm surprised that Sage didn't build this in to version 7. Are there actually people who don't use comskip?

[razrsharpe]

my guess is they can't/don't want to for contractual/business reasons... i.e. - they don't want to piss off the content providers

[jpaddock3000]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

my guess is they can't/don't want to for contractual/business reasons... i.e. - they don't want to piss off the content providers

Yeah, I guess that make sense.

[stanger89]

And with how easy it is to install now, I don't really see much benefit.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by jpaddock3000

Are there actually people who don't use comskip?

Yes, there are, but you probably won't find many of them reading this thread.

[rtrski]

I don't, but that's only because I'm an eeeediot (Ren and Stimpy reference, natch!) who used up what little geek cred he had getting Jetty and the metadata plugins working. My first few tries with Comskip resulted in chopped recordings missing bits, and I quailed at the thought of the lost WAF.

That, and I did figure out how to set my FFWD button on my remotes to 150 seconds so it just took a click.

I would LIKE to use it though, so if it gets easier in v7, I'm a fan.

[aflat]

Is there a reason the disable_timescaling_on_seek property isn't always true? Is it ok to set it to true even though I have multiple tuners, not all of them a hdpvr?

[stanger89]

If it's not set, then recordings often (usually?) won't quite fill the timeline. They'll end a little soon. Apparently Sage got enough support requests at some point that they added the scaling.

I've turned it on with no ill effects. It doesn't affect anything (AFAIK) but how the timeline playback fits the timeline.

[bcjenkins]

Comskip stopped working for me, presumably with the last update.

Fri 5/21 6:12:57.752 [MiniUIServerConnection@1ee970] ERROR Could not process STV Import properly: /opt/sagetv/server/STVs/SageTV7/Comskip_Playback.stvi cause: tv.sage.a: kind=0; java.io.FileNotFoundException: /opt/sagetv/server/STVs/SageTV7/Comskip_Playback.stvi (No such file or directory)

The file is not capitalized correctly.

-rw-r--r-- 1 sagetv users 1150033 May 19 22:08 comskip_playback.stvi

B

[razrsharpe]

mmmmm.... i wonder why i didnt have a problem upgrading then??? perhaps its a windows / linux issue (ie windows doesn't care about capitalization and linux does)... let me whip up a new manifest to fix the capitalization in the zip file...

[bcjenkins]

Windows won't care, Linux/Mac would.

Thanks!

B

[razrsharpe]

v1.5.4.2 is now available in the plugin repository.

The only change is to fix the capitalization issue on the stvi file for linux/max compatibility(thanks bcjenkins )

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

v1.5.4.2 is now available in the plugin repository.

The only change is to fix the capitalization issue on the stvi file(thanks bcjenkins )

No, thank you! It is working again.

B

[Naylia]

Does it support .edl files?

[excalibur5]

I have installed the ComSkip plugin, and seem to be having issues getting it to run.

All my recorded stuff is in D:\My Videos\

Will this limited version automatically detect the new files and run comskip on them?? Do I have to do it manually by selecting the recorded program and hitting the "run comskip" button?

Sorry, just uncertain how to use this area of the program.

[bialio]

Does it support .edl files?

Yes.

Will this limited version automatically detect the new files and run comskip on them??

No, you have to have something else managing the detecting and comskip running on new files. This plugin just uses the output of that process (usually an .edl file) to display where the commercials are in the timeline, and let you skip to the beginning / end of a commercial break.

[razrsharpe]

as bialio said this port only includes the reading of edl files and what to do with them (allowing the viewer to skip commercial breaks and displaying the commercial breaks as different color in the osd).... creating the edl files is up to the user to decide how he/she wants to do that. personally i recommend sjq or dirmon2.

EDIT: It might still be able to be used to create edl files (to be honest I'm not sure if that was still supported in the v6 version either) but i honestly have no idea.

[excalibur5]

That makes sense. I thought I was missing something.

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

as bialio said this port only includes the reading of edl files and what to do with them (allowing the viewer to skip commercial breaks and displaying the commercial breaks as different color in the osd).... creating the edl files is up to the user to decide how he/she wants to do that. personally i recommend sjq or dirmon2.

EDIT: It might still be able to be used to create edl files (to be honest I'm not sure if that was still supported in the v6 version either) but i honestly have no idea.

Is Dirmon2 less CPU intensive than CSM? I find that when CSM initializes a search it spikes CPU usage through it's Wrapper.exe service. This can sometimes cause stutters in video.