STV Import: Comskip Playback support for SageTV v4 (v1.3 18/Oct/2005)

[JasonJoel]

I don't think so.


I would REALLY like that support added as well... Basically re-load the .TXT file anytime the OSD comes up or something...

Jason

Originally Posted by owilsky

Does this comskip import STV support live rereading of the txt file while watching a show? I have SA running while the show is recorded but it seems that the txt file is not reread...

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by JasonJoel

I don't think so.


I would REALLY like that support added as well... Basically re-load the .TXT file anytime the OSD comes up or something...

Jason

Yepp, or every 5 minutes or so...

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by owilsky

Does this comskip import STV support live rereading of the txt file while watching a show? I have SA running while the show is recorded but it seems that the txt file is not reread...

I'm *almost* certain that this includes the rereading of the txt. However SA.0.5.1 has a bug that causes live output to work... um... randomly. It has been fixed and will work correctly in the next version.

Jere

[blade]

It appears this import does re-read the file while you watch. I was watching a show yesterday that was still being processed and new commercial breaks did appear while I was watching. I was using comskip and the show was finished recording when I started watching.

[owilsky]

Well, then let's wait for SA 0.5.2 (or 0.6?) ;-)

Thanks for all the answers!

[laurenglenn]

The import should re-read the Comskip files every 60 seconds. If you have access to Studio, you can take out the code in the IF statement that compared COMSKIPID to the media file's show ID and then it will read constantly.

The delay of 60 seconds was put in to reduce CPU usage. When I used the xCard plugin, it would always max out at 85% percent constantly. Putting the delay in caused it to drop down to about 10% on my system when no OSD is on screen.

If you're getting no updates, try turning on the OSD which should make the 60 second delay active. Someone with Studio could also create a link to the reading code when the Inactivity timer turns on (basically like when the OSD is set to Auto Hide).

I used to have a panel with a Fork() command to activate when the file playback screen is active, but sometimes you end up getting multiple Forks running and then it checks it way too often sometimes.

Lauren

[Snuffy2]

On prior STVs that supported Comskip playback, if I rewinded back over a commercial segment that was previously skipped, it wouldn't skip it again when it played over it. This was good because if comskip messed up, I could just rewind and see what I missed.

Now it always skips when it comes to the commercial segments, so I don't have a good way to see what's been skipped if Comskip made an error.

Any ideas?

[sleonard]

Originally Posted by Snuffy2

On prior STVs that supported Comskip playback, if I rewinded back over a commercial segment that was previously skipped, it wouldn't skip it again when it played over it. This was good because if comskip messed up, I could just rewind and see what I missed.

Now it always skips when it comes to the commercial segments, so I don't have a good way to see what's been skipped if Comskip made an error.

Any ideas?

This is also happening to me. A bit frustrating when trying to verify the accuracy of ShowAnalyzer.

[laurenglenn]

Originally Posted by sleonard

This is also happening to me. A bit frustrating when trying to verify the accuracy of ShowAnalyzer.

Hit Commercial Skip Back. The Comskip code turns off AutoSkip for 20 seconds and then it will re-enable automatically. By that time, it's already beyond the time window for Autoskip and should not skip.

Lauren

[nielm]

Cool thats some nice code you have ther lauren

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by nielm

Cool thats some nice code you have ther lauren

... that you have there? What about your module, nielm? Or did you simply copy lauren's code without really knowing what's in there?

[nielm]

Or did you simply copy lauren's code without really knowing what's in there?

Yes! As mentioned in the first post,

This is simply an importable version of the code created by Malore, LaurenGlenn, and others... It can only be considered beta, because I don't actually use comskip myself!

I don't actually know half of what it does!

[Snuffy2]

Originally Posted by laurenglenn

Hit Commercial Skip Back. The Comskip code turns off AutoSkip for 20 seconds and then it will re-enable automatically. By that time, it's already beyond the time window for Autoskip and should not skip.

Lauren

Is Custom 4 still Commercial Skip Back?

Thanx

[nielm]

yes

[JasonJoel]

Nielm, you sent me a test version of this import that removed the pause before skip, which fixed my inability to manually skip commercial segments (still think it is a Media MVP in 3.0 issue... but anyway).

Was this cahnge integrated into the STV posted here?

Jason

Originally Posted by nielm

Yes! As mentioned in the first post, I don't actually know half of what it does!

[nielm]

not yet -- the one I mailed is still latest

[nielm]

Ok, uploaded a new version... The only difference is that there is a new option for Pausing playback before the commercials are skipped. This must be disabled for Matts MediaMVP plugin, but it may need to be enabled for certain decoders (such as the PVR-350)

[JasonJoel]

I have noticed that there is a problem with the commercial segments not getting marked properly with this import.


If I take the commercial markings and bring them into VideoReDo for a given show, they are frame accurate. Perfect, actually.

However, when I then watch the same show in Sage using this import, they are off. Usually shifted early (commercial segment start and end are both 5-10 seconds earlier than reality).

Seems like there is a bug somewhere in the time calc. I pad all of my shows on beginning and end (2 minutes each side), so I don't know if that is where the issue is or not.

Can Lauren (or someone else) takea look at this? Makes the import pretty useless for me.

Jason

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by JasonJoel

Seems like there is a bug somewhere in the time calc. I pad all of my shows on beginning and end (2 minutes each side), so I don't know if that is where the issue is or not.

I don't think this is the case. The directshow Seek() interface is always off by a few seconds. I am running into this problem as I am writing a program to make tuning the settings easier. When ever I seek to a certain frame, it almost always seeks to a point 2 seconds earlier. I suspect that Sage is suffering from the same DirectShow "bug".

The current solution is to change the "delay" to whatever you need. This is available in Cayar's STV. I don't know if it is included in the import.

Jere

[malore]

Originally Posted by JasonJoel

However, when I then watch the same show in Sage using this import, they are off. Usually shifted early (commercial segment start and end are both 5-10 seconds earlier than reality).

Seems like there is a bug somewhere in the time calc. I pad all of my shows on beginning and end (2 minutes each side), so I don't know if that is where the issue is or not.

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

I don't think this is the case. The directshow Seek() interface is always off by a few seconds. I am running into this problem as I am writing a program to make tuning the settings easier. When ever I seek to a certain frame, it almost always seeks to a point 2 seconds earlier. I suspect that Sage is suffering from the same DirectShow "bug".

You are both correct. Jere is right that SageTV doesn't do frame accurate seeks which results in jumps being off, but not by more than a second or two. JasonJoel is also correct the times are off. It appears the basis for this import forked off of my work before I noticed that the time bar for a 30 minute recording goes for 0:00 to 30:00, but if you open up the file in a media player you with find the the file is actually a few seconds short. So adjustments need to be made to convert the comskip positions on a 29:54 minute show to a full 30 minutes.