Comskip Playback for v7

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by Peter_h

New version is not showing commercial markers on the timeline bar for me.

Did you restart the UI after loading it?

John

[brianrent]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

1. I've got some playback issues on my PC, so I'd not noticed they were a different size. I'll fix that.
2. I'll have a look at that. On SageMC was the marker color themed?

Are you using the plugin manager and are running on an unmodified SageTV7.xml?

I think I got it right on Favorite Excluder. The background process doesn't work when it's not running on a desktop UI. You can set up excludes via an extender, but there needs to be a desktop UI running for the processing to work. I know flachbar looked into why that was the case, but it didn't get resolved.

John

Actually i ended up reinstalling the whole sage installation. I had other problems with bmt and sage web so i figured better to get it done right. It all works fine now. Thanks for a great plugin.

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Did you restart the UI after loading it?

John

Ok, found out the problem. The update prompted to restart the UI which I said yes to. It restarted and I could not see the CS markers. I then turned the extender off and on again and everything started working.

Hope this helps troubleshoot.

Thanks again for the great plugin.

[voorhees]

Originally Posted by Peter_h

Ok, found out the problem. The update prompted to restart the UI which I said yes to. It restarted and I could not see the CS markers. I then turned the extender off and on again and everything started working.

Same here. Markers show up after extender restart.

JREkiwi and razrsharpe, thanks so much for your hard work!

[QueOnda]

Tried2.02 and if autocomskip and left arrow to before comskip, comskip markers turn blue. Is this intended?

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by QueOnda

Tried2.02 and if autocomskip and left arrow to before comskip, comskip markers turn blue. Is this intended?

Yes it is intended. The markers will be blue when autoskip is not enabled. When you left arrow autoskip is temporarily disabled so that it can play past the skip point.

You can disable the colour change behaviour in Setup/Detailed Setup/Customize/Comskip Playback/More Options/Different Marker when Autoskip Enabled.

John

[QueOnda]

Thanks!! My wifey loves comskip being back!!!

[RandyJohnson]

I am noticing an anomaly.

From the main TV "All Recordings" index I see some of the "folders" have "CS" on them and some do not.

Some of the folders that are not marked "CS" have some of their recordings marked "CS".

While some of the marked folders do not have all of their recordings marked "CS".

It looks like there is no consistency as to why the "CS" marker is shown on the folders.

What is this supposed to be telling me at the folder level?

Thanks in advance...

Randy

[bialio]

The icons at folder level are for the yellow highlighted show in the episode list on the bottom right hand corner. So if you have the scrolling behavior turned on you'll see the icons changing for the folder.

It's very confusing. One of the reason's I turn off most of those icons.

btl.

[bond00]

So am I missing something? What's the point of the this plugin if you still have to install Comskip Monitor or Dirmon2? Why can't SageTV just package it all up into one nice plugin instead of putting different pieces together to make it work?

I've just installed this plugin and CSM...so I'll see how it goes. This is my first time messing with Comskip...but I fail to see the point of making it super-easy to install via the GUI, when you still have to download and configure CSM. I guess it simplifies one step anyways. Is there an easier way to do this and I'm just missing it?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by bond00

So am I missing something? What's the point of the this plugin if you still have to install Comskip Monitor or Dirmon2?

all this plugin does is skip portions of the video based on a text file generated by a commercial analyzer like Comskip or ShowAnalyzer. Comskip Monitor and Dirmon2 are programs that can trigger Comskip or SA to scan for commercials. SA can run automously without needing Comskip Monitor or Dirmon2. Comskip Monitor, Dirmon2, Comskip, and SA are all outside programs that do not directly interact with Sage.

Why can't SageTV just package it all up into one nice plugin instead of putting different pieces together to make it work?

probably because there are legal reasons for having comskipping included into SageTV. Since they don't package it up, it is up to third parties, to set up how comskipping works. It could be set up to have one plugin do everything, but there are advantages to using comskip or SA that each person needs to make, same with comskip monitor and Dirmon2. So, each program has its need, one looks for show without commmercials and when it finds one, it sends that info to the commercial scanner. the commercial scanner then outputs the .edl file that the SageTV plugin uses to skip the commercials.

I've just installed this plugin and CSM...so I'll see how it goes. This is my first time messing with Comskip...but I fail to see the point of making it super-easy to install via the GUI, when you still have to download and configure CSM. I guess it simplifies one step anyways. Is there an easier way to do this and I'm just missing it?

because as mentioned, you have options how you get the .edl file generated outside of Sage (heck, you can even have CSM running on a different computer if you wanted to) , then the plugin goes from there.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by bond00

Why can't SageTV just package it all up into one nice plugin instead of putting different pieces together to make it work?

Because SageTV doesn't want to open themselves up to legal action for including commercial skipping technology.

[mbowling]

Originally Posted by bond00

Why can't SageTV just package it all up into one nice plugin instead of putting different pieces together to make it work?

I used ReplayTV years ago. It was a nice DVR which included commercial skipping that was packaged with their product. They were sued by the TV networks and eventually filed for bankruptcy.

[bond00]

Makes sense...I just installed CSM. Put it in the SageTV folder, ran the batch file, went through the setup, and in the morning all my DVRed files had a CS next to them. Pretty cool.

[RandyJohnson]

Is there anywhere that the various options in the ComSkip UI Mod are documented.

Sometimes the commercial skip seems to abruptly cut off a small part of the program just prior to the commercial.

I was wondering if one of the options included in the ComSkip UI managed that?

Thanks in advance...

Randy

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by RandyJohnson

Sometimes the commercial skip seems to abruptly cut off a small part of the program just prior to the commercial.

Randy, there are some settings in the Comskip Playback Options to adjust how soon to skip after the time a commercial is flagged.

John

[JREkiwi]

Submitted version 2.0.3

Added optional timebar displays in detail and list panels
Added more options for selecting where Comskip icons are displayed
Reworked options menu to cater for new timebar and icon options

John

[bialio]

Thanks JREkiwi - just goes to show Hobbits aren't the only good thing to come out of New Zealand

I'd make the timebar on the details/list menus a bit smaller (ie thinner horizontally) and a tad bit wider (maybe as wide as the dropshadow) - just a tweak you could consider.

btl.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by bialio

Thanks JREkiwi - just goes to show Hobbits aren't the only good thing to come out of New Zealand

Hey, i think they filmed Legend of the Seeker there too... hehe

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by bialio

Thanks JREkiwi - just goes to show Hobbits aren't the only good thing to come out of New Zealand

What about Xena?

Originally Posted by bialio

I'd make the timebar on the details/list menus a bit smaller (ie thinner horizontally) and a tad bit wider (maybe as wide as the dropshadow) - just a tweak you could consider.

I thought I had the width covered by putting it in the autosizing panel, but it looks like that doesn't scale proportionally. I'll look at another way of getting it to match the thumbnail size as well as reducing the height.

John