Commercial Advance Beta Release

[sleonard]

I just got comskip working last night. I set it up on both my server and client. I first tried a manual run on the server (P3 1GHz, 256 RAM) but it took way too long. A manual run on the Daily Show (1/2 hour show) from the client also took a while (about 20 min.). Client is a P4 1.8 GHZ, 1 GB RAM. It marked 3 commercial breaks. The first 2 were spot on but the third didn't recognize when the show came back for the Daily Zen near the end.

I'd like to get this running automatically on the server whenever it finishes recording a show since my client isn't running unless I'm watching something. The problem is that the server runs in service mode without the GUI running. Is it possible to modify comskip to run on a service mode only server? Maybe by writing a VB app to run it instead of an STV. Just thinking.

I'll continue using manual runs from the client to test more shows for comskip accuracy and report back. Nevertheless this looks like a great little program and both Malore and Jere should be proud of their work.

Scott

P.S. Jere - Go Navy! Proud veteran of 6 yrs in the canoe club here

[ToxMox]

Scott you could run SageTV.exe in pseudo client mode on the server with the comskip stv loaded and just always sleep it.

[ajuhawk]

Another option is to just leave the Sage server running - that is the frontend as well as the service. I leave the frontend in sleep mode in the tray area, that way it runs com skip shortly after recording each show so they're ready to watch within 15 mins (P4 3.0GHz).

Just another options for you.

-AJ

[sleonard]

Another option is to just leave the Sage server running - that is the frontend as well as the service. I leave the frontend in sleep mode in the tray area, that way it runs com skip shortly after recording each show so they're ready to watch within 15 mins (P4 3.0GHz).

That is what I am planning to do for now but was thinking in the long term. It would be nice to have comskip also run in a service mode in case the server has a power loss or other unattended reboot. We've waited a long time for Sage to have this capability built in.

What is psuedo-client mode?

Scott

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by sleonard

What is psuedo-client mode?

The mode Sage runs in when you start it and it detects the service running.

[insomniac]

It would also be nice if compskip was called from a service, so that you could use the gui for a Media MVP client instead. The service would or could actually be quite easy. e.g. directory monitoring could trigger a file name read which would then launch and populate the compskip process. All of which is pretty much being done through some existing stv's (malore, nielm, maldude).

any takers?

I.

Originally Posted by sleonard

That is what I am planning to do for now but was thinking in the long term. It would be nice to have comskip also run in a service mode in case the server has a power loss or other unattended reboot. We've waited a long time for Sage to have this capability built in.

What is psuedo-client mode?

Scott

[Opus4]

The service doesn't use an STV, so there isn't much to customize there.

-Andy

[insomniac]

didnt think about that. So I guess that the easiest thing to do is write a quick directory monitoring script and have a service launch it every so often to pickup the newely recorded stuff and, compskip them.

Are there other ways which might better suit this purpose already in the works?

Originally Posted by Opus4

The service doesn't use an STV, so there isn't much to customize there.

-Andy

[briands]

Doesn't the STV play back the file skipping the commercials as it goes. Isn't that the part of Malore's original process STV that is still in use. Like I proposed earlier, that is the part that should be in the core installation. Then this feature would not be tied to any one STV or user interface.

[krutaw]

Originally Posted by briands

Doesn't the STV play back the file skipping the commercials as it goes. Isn't that the part of Malore's original process STV that is still in use. Like I proposed earlier, that is the part that should be in the core installation. Then this feature would not be tied to any one STV or user interface.

As far as that goes, the file being encoded should be scanned as it's being written to the drive to detect the commercials so that scheduled tasks don't have to be written to do what should be done during recording.

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by insomniac

didnt think about that. So I guess that the easiest thing to do is write a quick directory monitoring script and have a service launch it every so often to pickup the newely recorded stuff and, compskip them.

Are there other ways which might better suit this purpose already in the works?

Actually, not to give too much away, but there is a constantly running routine in the Main Menu that checks the recorded files to see if there is a TXT file from COMSKIP there.

When the system runs through all the current files, it starts the loop over constantly checking for new files. If it finds one that isn't COMSKIP'd, then it runs COMSKIP on the file.

Lauren

[insomniac]

ah..so my main question will be if we can get this running inside sage (which I would think that frey will not let happen), and if we cant get this running inside sage, then what are the alternatives?

Personally, I would love to explore running my server as a service and robbing the GUI for the new MVP client. It just seems economical and clean.

I.

Originally Posted by laurenglenn

Actually, not to give too much away, but there is a constantly running routine in the Main Menu that checks the recorded files to see if there is a TXT file from COMSKIP there.

When the system runs through all the current files, it starts the loop over constantly checking for new files. If it finds one that isn't COMSKIP'd, then it runs COMSKIP on the file.

Lauren

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by insomniac

ah..so my main question will be if we can get this running inside sage (which I would think that frey will not let happen), and if we cant get this running inside sage, then what are the alternatives?

Personally, I would love to explore running my server as a service and robbing the GUI for the new MVP client. It just seems economical and clean.

I.

Personally, I'd run SageTV (not just the service) on your server and let it do the Comskip running. At least Sage should have no problem determining whether the file is a Complete Recording or not. You wouldn't want Comskip to run on an incomplete file.

If Sage is running in sleep mode on the server, you should have no problem with the Comskip. Plus, it frees up the Client to not have to use 90% CPU to have Comskip.

Lauren

[krutaw]

Originally Posted by laurenglenn

Personally, I'd run SageTV (not just the service) on your server and let it do the Comskip running. At least Sage should have no problem determining whether the file is a Complete Recording or not. You wouldn't want Comskip to run on an incomplete file.

If Sage is running in sleep mode on the server, you should have no problem with the Comskip. Plus, it frees up the Client to not have to use 90% CPU to have Comskip.

Lauren

I take a slightly different approach. I didn't enable the auto-scanning in malore's STV. Instead, I run a process every night to check all of my video directories (dynamically gathered by looking at the sage.properties file) and look for any mpg's that don't have txt files and scan them. I also remove orphan'd files that might have been left behind by deleting a recording.

This works quite well for me, as I rarely watch a show on the same day it's recorded, and even when I do, I can force a comskip right there and then.

[sleonard]

I didn't enable the auto-scanning in malore's STV. Instead, I run a process every night to check all of my video directories (dynamically gathered by looking at the sage.properties file) and look for any mpg's that don't have txt files and scan them. I also remove orphan'd files that might have been left behind by deleting a recording.

Would you mind posting the commands you use in the process?

[krutaw]

Originally Posted by sleonard

Would you mind posting the commands you use in the process?

I'm waiting on feedback from a couple of testers before I give the script out en mass (simply because there's no way I coudl work out the bugs as fast as with multiple problems as one at a time since I'm on a limited timeline.)

As soon as it's ready, you'll know. hehe

[snipeman]

I would love to get a copy of this script as well. I'd like to run COMSKIP on my media server, and not on my HTPC/Sage machine.

[krutaw]

Originally Posted by snipeman

I would love to get a copy of this script as well. I'd like to run COMSKIP on my media server, and not on my HTPC/Sage machine.

Ask and ye shall receive. Please find the attached script. This script requires the Microsoft Registry Object Pack, which can be downloaded here:
Registry Object Pack

I'm sharing this script to try and better the environment. I make no claim of warranty and do not guarentee that it won't light your cat on fire, let air out of your tires, cause virus-scanner software to freak out or make your significant other leave you.

In other words...

I'm trying to help you, so don't get upset if it doesn't work the first time you run it. Be cool, and I'll help you in any way I can.

This version of the script has the following features:

- Automatic determination of SageTV directory. If the auto-detection fails, it asks the user for the SageTV directory.
- Automatic determination of all Video directories
- Automaticly scanning of all mpg files that don't have a cooresponding .txt file. NOTE: The script is set to *NOT* automatically remove the files, if you want to turn on this feature, edit line 68 and make it read: orphan_clean_up=True
- Automatic removal of *ALL* orphaned files
- Logging of all actions to either a flat text file or the MS Event Viewer. If flat text files are used, the logs automatically rotate based on date. The logs are kept in the SageTV\Logs directory.
- Support for Video directories with spaces in the name
- Checking to see if the .mpg is already in use (to ensure we're not scanning a file as it's being watched or recorded.)


Instructions:

Simply download the Registry Object pack and install it. Once that's done, reboot the computer, and download and run the ComSkipAutomation script.

If you have problems, please get me a copy of the log from your SageTV directory so I can help troubleshoot the problem.

Any and all feedback is both requested and appreciated.

[snipeman]

Thanks a lot for the reply.

Don't worry, I'm not going to complain if your script doesn't work for me the first time I try it.

Besides, everything you listed bad that it might do has already happened to me. The room still smells like cat fur...

I'll test it out tomorrow, and nicely ask for help if I have any problems. Hopefully it'll rul smoothly first shot.

Thanks again,

Andy

[ajuhawk]

Originally Posted by krutaw

Ask and ye shall receive. Please find the attached script.

Soley for curiousity sake I decided to run your script to see what all it did, etc. Normally I just let Sage do the comskip, so I don't really need it. But anyway, I tried running it from a client machine and it wasn't happy only finding SageTVClient.exe instead of SageTV.exe - so I guess my question to you is, does it have to run on the "server" or could it run on the client machine as well?

-AJ

Ok, so I opened the script and figured out where you did the check and changed it to look for "SageTVClient.exe" and it worked - I think. So now I have another dumb question (excuse my lack of VBS knowledge) - is there a way to show a dialog box so you know if it's working or not? and maybe what it's doing?