Plugin: CommercialDetector

[Ericft]

great updates keep on coming...wanted to know if instead of performing the manual comskip from the plugiun config page, would it be possible to do it from the options menu for the file similar to the old malore comskip option..the reason why I ask is that when i try to select my file to manually comskip the file names of so many files (edl, properties,txt) are similar as they are all generated from the same .mpg or .ts file and hence i can't figure out which is actually the video file, as the files are so long that i can't see the extension in that window....

[tmiranda]

Already done. See my posts including the updated first post of this thread.

Go to plugin manager and look under the UI Mod section for the Commercial Detector UI.

[phelme]

Are you replacing the existing comskip files with each update? If so that would explain why comskip suddenly can't decode my HD-PVR files.

(I noticed some comskip files were renamed and "versioned" too)

If I point the config to some directory OTHER than the comskip one you made, will that still happen? IMO it shouldn't.

[Fuzzy]

No, which is why it was recommended that you don't replace the plugin installed files, and instead, put your own somewhere else, and point the plugin to there.

[tmiranda]

Yes, as Fuzzy said, if you are using your own comskip install it somewhere else and use the plugin config options to select the .exe and .ini you want to use. The plugin system does automatic backup and deletion of the files that are installed by the plugin.

[Ericft]

I am using the donators version of comskip with its own .ini file in separate folder that I am pointing to. I looked in the recordings directory and I am getting multiple files created for each show.....there is a .edl, .txt, .log file for each .ts created by the HDpvr...how do i change the settings in my .ini file (not yours) so only create .edl files? or are those extra files needed by comskip/sagetv... thanks.

[tmiranda]

output_default=0 will stop the .txt files
verbose=0 will stop the .log files (I think)

[freewheeling]

I'm not too sure how this is supposed to work. I installed all of the related plugins, including the two UI plugins and CommercialDetector. When I click on a video there's a button for "run comskip on this file" but after I click that and run the video sometime later, nothing seems to happen. I still see the commercials, and there doesn't seem any attempt to block them. Is there some other parameter I'm supposed to set? I don't have to install a comskip program on my computer separately, do I?

[Fuzzy]

Okay, simple question.. have you installed the Comskip Playback plugin? All this plugin creates is the .edl file used to mark where the commercials are. You need the Playback plugin as well (under UI Mods) to read those files in.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by freewheeling

I'm not too sure how this is supposed to work.

The short answer:
- It sounds like you installed everything properly.
- You won't see anything on old recordings, only new recordings will have comskip information. The next beta will have an option to scan your entire library and generate comskip information for any show that's missing it.

The long answer:
- If you install the Commercial Detector UI from the "UI Mod" section of the plugin manager it will automagically download and install everything you need. Alternatively you can do what you did, install the three parts separately, and still be good.
- After installing you need to configure the interface to show the comskip information the way you like it. You do that by going to Setup -> Detailed Setup -> Customize and look for the Comskip Playback Options near the end of the list. From there you can customize how the comskip information is displayed.

So you probably did everything right but there is no comskip information available for your old shows. You can manually generate the comskip information for a show (or group of shows) by selecting "Run Comskip" from the show or group dialog. try doing that and if you do not see comskip information after a while there is something wrong. ("A while" depends on the power of your CPU. On my system it takes about 20 minutes to process a 1 hour .mpg.)

Let me know if you are still confused.

Tom

[freewheeling]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

You can manually generate the comskip information for a show (or group of shows) by selecting "Run Comskip" from the show or group dialog. try doing that and if you do not see comskip information after a while there is something wrong. ("A while" depends on the power of your CPU. On my system it takes about 20 minutes to process a 1 hour .mpg.)

Let me know if you are still confused.

Tom

I did that a couple of days ago for several files and still don't see any comskip information. I also installed the CPU level UI and haven't seen the bar get very fat. Wouldn't surprise me if there were something wrong. I only *just* finally got the PlayOn plugin to work correctly. But I don't even know what the comskip information would look like.

[tmiranda]

What comskip does is scan a .mpg file and create a corresponding .edl file. The .edl contains information about where commercials start and stop.

To tell if comskip has done its job look into the directory where your recordings are stored. If there are .edl files corresponding to your .mpg files then it has. If not, something is wrong.

Tom

[49studebaker]

Could you add different color CS icon to indicate that a recording is currently being comskipped?

For example:

Yellow CS icon = comskip is processing recording
Purple CS icon = comskip has finished processing recording

[sscumming]

This maybe a silly question but can V7 simply use the Comskip and DirMon2 commercial skipping software like V6? I like the fact that this set up starts analyzing as soon as the show begins and finishes ~2-3mins after it has finished.

[bcjenkins]

If you already have something working - you don't need this plugin. If you don't then this may be the easiest way to get going.

B

[freewheeling]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

What comskip does is scan a .mpg file and create a corresponding .edl file. The .edl contains information about where commercials start and stop.

To tell if comskip has done its job look into the directory where your recordings are stored. If there are .edl files corresponding to your .mpg files then it has. If not, something is wrong.

Tom

Tom:

I don't see any .edl files in any of the recording directories. Where would the exec file for comskip be located?

Update: There's a comskip.exe in the comskip subdirectory of the Sage directory. That's where it should be, I take it.
Update2: I turned on error logging, but am not sure what file I should be looking at or where it's located. It doesn't look like comskip is doing anything at all, so there may not be any errors to report.

[tmiranda]

3dOptics - I could probably do that. No promises at this point.

sscumming - Yes, any of the older solutions will still work.

freewheeling - comskip.exe is in the comskip folder in the Sage install directory as you surmised. If you are not seeing any .edl files something is not working properly. Can you post a zipped logfile? Are you running on an extender, placeshifter or SageClient?

[Deacon Crusher]

I'd love to have Showanalyzer support.

I use comskip, but mostly because SA development went dark for so long.

I've got the donators version of both programs.

I've just started to fiddle with SA again because it sounds like its h264 skipping might be much faster and more accurate.

Plus it looks like it now has the ability to have/use different settings for different shows which could make it much more accurate.

So, yes, please add SA support and if possible maybe add support for using both? comskp for mpeg and SA for h264?

Thanks

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Beta 0.30 is now available. Changes:

- Added support for UI Mod allowing manual comskip.
- Fixed bug that incorrectly caused some files to be processed as soon as recording started.
- Improved processing for MediaFiles that have multiple parts due to capture problems or a Sage failure.
- Improved error handling if comskip queue became corrupted or obsoleted.

I don't have any new functionality on the drawing board so once any bugs are shaken out this will be the 1.00 release.

I have though about supporting ShowAnalyzer but don't know if there is any demand for that. If you use ShowAnalyzer and are interested in using this plugin please let me know.

[bcjenkins]

The problem with Show Analyzer is that it is Windows only.

B

[tmiranda]

Where can I find the command line parameters for SA? I browsed the website a week or so ago but did not find it.

bcjenkins - Can you confirm it does not work under wine?