Utility: DirMon v0.2.4 (Updated 3 September 2005)

[Wheemer]

Comskip only seems to be taking up 40-50% of my CPU when processing files. Would it be possible to have dirmon kick off two instances of it if there are more shows to process?

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by Wheemer

Comskip only seems to be taking up 40-50% of my CPU when processing files. Would it be possible to have dirmon kick off two instances of it if there are more shows to process?

Sounds like you may have your play nice settings enabled in the comskip.ini

[jelder]

I am not sure I am using the Ignore list correctly. I have a few questions:
Is the list case sensitive?
Do you have to put the wildcards around the phrase, i.e. *bear* or does in automatically do that.
In the example above, if the filename is BearintheBigBlueHouse, will it pick it up.

Great utility, I just need to figure out how to get it fine tuned. As comskip is still processing a few childrens shows that do not have commercials.

Thanks.

[Wheemer]

What line is the play nice setting? Is in in my ini file I pasted above?

[ToxMox]

No it doesn't look like you are using the play nice. Is this comskip running on a P4 with hyperthreading? If so then that would explain why it maxes out at 50%.

[Wheemer]

yes... I guess it's not taking full advantage of the hyperthreading...

[Jere_Jones]

Wow! I take a nap and y'all done went and had a discussion without me.

Wheemer:
Regarding ComSkip's 40-50% usage: that is normal on a hyperthreading computer. ComSkip is a single thread so it is not able to take advantage of more processors (real or imaginary). ShowAnalyzer, on the other hand, is multithreading and will max out ANY processor (that I have, at least). Unfortunately, with multithreading comes a whole host of complications, programming wise. And, truth be told, that is the main reason ShowAnalyzer is still in the initial debuging stage. For now, comskip, at least it leaves "the other processor" free to handle GUI tasks so that your computer doesn't slow down on you.

Regarding DirMon running more than one process at a time: that is on the todo list (configureable even), but I'm working on ShowAnalyzer and want to at least get an alpha testing before I do any more work on DirMon.

Regarding the playnice settings: those are located in the comskip ini file. See the comskip thread or wiki for details.

Jelder:
*bear* should match BearintheBigBlueHouse because * is interchangeable with any number (including 0) of characters. The wildcards are not case sensitive either and they only match against the base filename (no extension included).

Jere

[Jere_Jones]

I'm trying to write some instructions on how to setup DirMon, but since I find that it all seems self-explanatory. Heck, I wrote the code, so it all makes sense to me.

What are some areas that are not obvious and could use some explanation?

Thanks a bunch,
Jere

[snipeman]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

I'm trying to write some instructions on how to setup DirMon, but since I find that it all seems self-explanatory. Heck, I wrote the code, so it all makes sense to me.

What are some areas that are not obvious and could use some explanation?

Thanks a bunch,
Jere

Jere,

I think wildcard examples would top my list for a doc, several have asked. Also, the AND/OR logic could be confusing to some. Perhaps an example in the doc oh what the settings should be for a typical processor like comskip. This would reduce the "get going" time of someone new.


On a bug report, I've had touble with the blackout times crossing over the day border. Dirmon didn't kick off any processors at all for 2 days when I set the start time to 1900 and the end time to 0100. I moved it back to 1900 and 2359 and it worked fine. I think something is going on weird with this.

Andy

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by snipeman

On a bug report, I've had touble with the blackout times crossing over the day border. Dirmon didn't kick off any processors at all for 2 days when I set the start time to 1900 and the end time to 0100. I moved it back to 1900 and 2359 and it worked fine. I think something is going on weird with this.

snipeman,

Thanks for the bug report. A new version is posted that corrects this (I hope).

Jere

[snipeman]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

snipeman,

Thanks for the bug report. A new version is posted that corrects this (I hope).

Jere

A new bug report: DirMon isn't saving the end time of the blackout time properly. I enter 0100, then hit Save settings, then Exit.

I reload the program, and a new number is in this field, usually something like 0051.

It does appear to work as long as you enter 0100 and leave the program running though. As it stands it requires a new end blackout time to be entered each time it is run.

Andy

[snipeman]

Jere, FYI - The number that pops back up on a reload for me is always 0052. I have no idea where it comes from. I'm saving 0100 before exiting.


Andy

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by snipeman

Jere, FYI - The number that pops back up on a reload for me is always 0052. I have no idea where it comes from. I'm saving 0100 before exiting.


Andy

I can't find anything wrong in the code. It uses the exact same code for the start and end, so I don't understand why there would be a difference. Take a look in the ini file and see what it says there.

Also, make sure that you don't have a larger number typed in (like 010052). The box only has space for 4 letters so you can't see the others.

Obviously there is a problem in the code, so I'll write a bounds checker for them and make the boxes a little bigger... soon... I hope. The MPEG decoder is driving me nuts right now.

Jere

[snipeman]

Thanks for the follow-up. I just confirmed I only have 4 numeric digits in the end box. They are indeed "0100". I have a workaround and am functioning. It isn't high priority, just when you take DirMon up again, check into it some more.

For me when I save 0100 and exit, reload always 0052 appears.

SA is more important!!!!

[ldavis]

Jere_Jones,

Currently I am using SageMC to initiate comskip .txt files. I like this method since I can get it to ignore specific channels that never have commercials and save processing time. The problem is how to clean up the orphaned files. As I understand it using your program automatically deletes these files when using comskip. I would like to stay with my current method for the reasons mentioned but would like to use your program to delete orphaned files. I have set up txt as the source and the trigger as "does not exist" mpg. The problem I have is what processor to use. When I simply enter "del" it says that this does not exist. What should I be doing to get the orphaned files deleted?

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by ldavis

Jere_Jones,

Currently I am using SageMC to initiate comskip .txt files. I like this method since I can get it to ignore specific channels that never have commercials and save processing time. The problem is how to clean up the orphaned files. As I understand it using your program automatically deletes these files when using comskip. I would like to stay with my current method for the reasons mentioned but would like to use your program to delete orphaned files. I have set up txt as the source and the trigger as "does not exist" mpg. The problem I have is what processor to use. When I simply enter "del" it says that this does not exist. What should I be doing to get the orphaned files deleted?

For this you don't need a processor. Just put the extensions that you want deleted in the target block and mpg in the source block. It will then delete all orphans on each "run".

Jere

[mayamaniac]

Jere,

Can I use DirMon to monitor a folder and when new files are detected, it would make shortcuts (.lnk files) of the files/folders inside a specified folder. Is this possible to automate and how would I go about setting this up? Any help greatly appreicated.

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Can I use DirMon to monitor a folder and when new files are detected, it would make shortcuts (.lnk files) of the files/folders inside a specified folder. Is this possible to automate and how would I go about setting this up? Any help greatly appreicated.

I don't know of any CLI program that does that (i.e. creates shortcuts), but it shouldn't be too hard to write it. Can you give me any more details that would help?

Is the destination directory always the same?
Do you want the shortcuts deleted when the mpeg is deleted?
Do you mind other "clutter" in the mpeg directory?

Jere

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

Is the destination directory always the same?
Do you want the shortcuts deleted when the mpeg is deleted?
Do you mind other "clutter" in the mpeg directory?

For simplicity, yes the destination folder is always the same. It would be great feature if deletion of original file will also delete its shorcut. If there are "clutter" files created, can they be in a "clutter" folder or deleted once the shortcuts are made? And this should apply to all types of files and folders too if possible, not just mpegs.

Example:
Let say I have two folders.
D:\Source
D:\Shorcuts.

D:\Source is the directory being monitored. When a new file or folder is created in D:\Source, a shortcut of that file or folder is created in D:\Shortcuts, using the same names as the original file or folder. Thats all it has to do.

I did find this command line utility that creates shortcuts, but haven't figure out how to make it auto create shortcuts with same file names as original. Anyway, here it is: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by snipeman

Thanks for the follow-up. I just confirmed I only have 4 numeric digits in the end box. They are indeed "0100". I have a workaround and am functioning. It isn't high priority, just when you take DirMon up again, check into it some more.

For me when I save 0100 and exit, reload always 0052 appears.

SA is more important!!!!

This was a very subtle bug.

100 in base 10 is the same as 64 in base 8.
64 in base 10 is the same as 52 in base 8.

That's where your 52 comes from. After telling my string to number code to assume the number is in base 10 instead of automatically deciding, it works fine.

I'll put an update up shortly.

Jere