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

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by dshields

I am new to SageTV. I have been using it for just a couple days. I want commerciail skip features like I had in my ReplayTV boxes. I have already spent a couple hours reading about how to do this and following threads and I am still confused (mostly because of discussions relating to SageTV version 3 and older).

In particular, at the Comskip Wiki, the screen shots look nothing like what I see in SageTV v4.

I have installed DirMon2, Comskip v79.33, and the stvi. Unfortunately, even after reading the forums, it's still not clear how to get this to work from my client (MediaMVP).

Supposedly, I cannot use UNC paths with SageTV running as a service. But it appears comskip needs UNC paths.

Nope, you cannot use mapped drives, UNC paths work just fine

I have a bunch of other questions after reading all the posts about older versions, but is it possible that someone could help me understand the most simple way to use ComSkip with SageTV v4 (latest) and the MediaMVP? Thanks!

The basic theory hasn't changed, you need 3 things:

1) An application to detect and mark commercials, like ShowAnalyzer (my choice) or Comskip
2) Something to run said app on recordings, originally this was part of an STV (SageTV Application Package), but things have leaned in favor of Dirmon/Dirmon2.
3) An STV for Sage capable of reading the commercial files and skipping (or allowing you to skip) commercials.


How to do that?
1) Just download and install (ShowAnalyzer)
2) Download, install, and then setup - With dirmon(2) you just install and setup the location of the recordings, the location of the app from 1, and what files it should look for (mpg)
3) The easiest way is to just download neilm's comkip import and import that in SageTV.

There are more detailed instructions are posted in the threads/pages for each.

[dshields]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Nope, you cannot use mapped drives, UNC paths work just fine



The basic theory hasn't changed, you need 3 things:

1) An application to detect and mark commercials, like ShowAnalyzer (my choice) or Comskip
2) Something to run said app on recordings, originally this was part of an STV (SageTV Application Package), but things have leaned in favor of Dirmon/Dirmon2.
3) An STV for Sage capable of reading the commercial files and skipping (or allowing you to skip) commercials.


How to do that?
1) Just download and install (ShowAnalyzer)
2) Download, install, and then setup - With dirmon(2) you just install and setup the location of the recordings, the location of the app from 1, and what files it should look for (mpg)
3) The easiest way is to just download neilm's comkip import and import that in SageTV.

There are more detailed instructions are posted in the threads/pages for each.

Thank you very much

I think I correctly performed all 3 steps you list. However, I did not get any commercial skipping on my MediaMVP. In fact, the comskip setup options do not appear in my client, even though I saw and reviewed them on my server.

So my questions are:
1. Do I need to perform the stvi import on the client (even though I did it already on the server)?
2. Do I need to reboot the server after all this? I didn't. I did reboot the client, but that didn't help. My server is headless, runs W2K3, and only runs SageTV and related apps.
3. Could someone provide me a link to the correct stvi file (neilm's comkip import)? I think I found the correct one, but it wasn't easy to find it. I only found one. The file name is "comskip_playback_import.stvi". I can't paste the link where I found it because Spurl.Net is down today

4. Does any see any problem with me using the exact comskip .ini file used by jlindborg at this post? - http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...t=16237&page=2

5. Lastly, is there a post that describes the best way to set up the MediaMVP remote buttons for use with comskip?

Thanks!

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by dshields

Thank you very much
1. Do I need to perform the stvi import on the client (even though I did it already on the server)?

Yes. This is your stopper. The MediaMVP is just another Sage client. If you want it to do something different then you need to import the appropriate .stvi. The .stvi you're using for comskip is fine. You just need to import it on your client where you're trying to use it.

Gerry

[dshields]

Thanks!

[dshields]

After doing all this and installing the stvi on the MediaMVP client, I still do not get any commercial advance functionality.

What troubleshooting steps should I try?
How can I determine if everything is functioning correctly?

Thanks

[stanger89]

Are you getting txt files with your recordings (on the HDD)?

[dshields]

Yes. I know that comskip processed all my mpg files after I installed it and dirmon2. The process took several hours and comskip created .txt files related to all my mpg files.

I actually think the problem is that comskip just isn't working well for me. I just opened up several of these text files and typically the only frames marked as commercials are at the beginning and end of the video. I didn't see a single .txt file with more than 3 segments marked and all were at either the beginner or end of the mpg.

Should I try SA instead? Or has someone figured out how to configure comskip.

[antplugger]

I have the same problem running comskip from dirmon. I did report the problem but have not followed up on whether it got resolved Anyhow, I found if I ran comskip manually from cmd.exe it worked perfectly and thats the way I use it today as I only use it selectively

[blade]

Originally Posted by dshields

Yes. I know that comskip processed all my mpg files after I installed it and dirmon2. The process took several hours and comskip created .txt files related to all my mpg files.

I actually think the problem is that comskip just isn't working well for me. I just opened up several of these text files and typically the only frames marked as commercials are at the beginning and end of the video. I didn't see a single .txt file with more than 3 segments marked and all were at either the beginner or end of the mpg.

Should I try SA instead? Or has someone figured out how to configure comskip.

Yes, use SA. You should find that it's a lot more accurate for you. I have the same problem you do when using comskip but SA works just fine.

[erik]

It would help me a lot when some of you that have bad detection results with comskip would mail me the .csv file and .log file generated by comskip when you set
verbose=10
and
output_framearray=1
in the comskip.ini file.

[dshields]

Originally Posted by erik

It would help me a lot when some of you that have bad detection results with comskip would mail me the .csv file and .log file generated by comskip when you set
verbose=10
and
output_framearray=1
in the comskip.ini file.

That sounds simple enough. I'll do it right away if someone will tell me how to run comskip from the command line on a specific .mpg file.

I assume the .csv file is the result of "output_framearray=1", right?

Erik, do you need the .mpg file along with the .log file?

Where should I email the .zip file to? Thanks, and I hope I can help.

[erik]

Simply drag and drop the mpeg file onto comskip.
Either by creating a shortcut to comskip.exe on the desktop or directly onto the executable in its folder.

If you are able to upload the mpeg that would be nice.
I will PM you the upload details.

The rest is OK to zip and to mail to me at
erik@kaashoek.com

[blade]

I think many of the bad detections are from comskip's problems finding it's .ini file when using Dirmon2. I dropped the .ini into the system32 folder and it seems to have fixed my detection problems.

[dshields]

Originally Posted by erik

Simply drag and drop the mpeg file onto comskip.
Either by creating a shortcut to comskip.exe on the desktop or directly onto the executable in its folder.

If you are able to upload the mpeg that would be nice.
I will PM you the upload details.

The rest is OK to zip and to mail to me at
erik@kaashoek.com

Erik, thanks for the instructions, but I don't think this is necessary now. After doing what you suggested, I found out that comskip processed the file correctly. (This is the first time it has ever done that for me!) Then I read Blade's post about the potential .ini problem with DirMon2 and it all makes some sense.

When I run comskip with DirMon2, it processes very poorly (like others have explained in this forum), but when I run it by dropping a specific mpeg on the .exe, it processes very well.

I already have SA installed now, so I'll try that for a couple days, then I'll try blade's suggestion of putting the comskip.ini file in System32 (or editing my path env var) and compare the results.

Sounds like this mysterious problem may be near solved.

[dshields]

Originally Posted by blade

I think many of the bad detections are from comskip's problems finding it's .ini file when using Dirmon2. I dropped the .ini into the system32 folder and it seems to have fixed my detection problems.

Comparison of 1) comskip run under DirMon2, 2) SA run under DirMon2, 3) comskip run by dropping MPG onto comskip.exe.

1) comskip run under DirMon2:
FILE PROCESSING COMPLETE 107867 FRAMES AT 2997
-------------------
1 1111
107866 107867

2) SA run under DirMon2:
FILE PROCESSING COMPLETE
------------------------
13596 18101
35018 39520
47287 50891
56287 60796
77948 82459
96522 101027

3) comskip run by dropping MPG onto comskip.exe:
FILE PROCESSING COMPLETE 107867 FRAMES AT 2997
-------------------
1 1111
13601 18106
35022 39524
46390 50895
56290 60800
77952 82463
96526 101032
107866 107867
(wow)

[ldavis]

Neilm,

I have problem with the comskip plugin. The best way to describe it is to give an example. I am running comskip on “Numb3rs”. I used comskip's own internal debug window and the cuts were perfect, but in Sage the cuts were off especially later in the program.

Here is what I think the problem is. No recorded show has exactly the number of frames that the length would indicate. The “numb3rs” file had 108303 frames, which would indicate a length of 60 minutes and almost 14 seconds. I know that the Sage timeline shows this as exactly 1 hour but I do not know how it takes up the slack. I think that the Sage plugin simply divides the frames in the .txt file by 29.97 to arrive at the (in)correct point on the timeline. Some of the time when the actual length of the file is close to what it should be, this works fine. In others, such as my example above, there are errors. In most cases the errors are just enough to irritate the end user. Also these errors get progressively worse later in the file.

Is there anyway to correct for this in the plugin?

[owilsky]

Hmmm... if I remember correctly, there was a setting for comskip in advanced options which you can set to PAL or NTSC. Are you sure that you set this properly?

[erik]

Originally Posted by owilsky

Hmmm... if I remember correctly, there was a setting for comskip in advanced options which you can set to PAL or NTSC. Are you sure that you set this properly?

That parameter has disappearded (got automated reading the mpeg file) about 50 releases ago.

[lovingHDTV]

Originally Posted by erik

That parameter has disappearded (got automated reading the mpeg file) about 50 releases ago.

I'm pretty sure I saw that last night in my Sage->detail setup->advanced->comskip setting last night. It is not a comskip setting, but a setting in the STVi on how to handle the comskip inputs inside Sage. Maybe it does not do anything any longer?

[erik]

Originally Posted by lovingHDTV

I'm pretty sure I saw that last night in my Sage->detail setup->advanced->comskip setting last night. It is not a comskip setting, but a setting in the STVi on how to handle the comskip inputs inside Sage. Maybe it does not do anything any longer?

Comskip does not use it anymore, maybe sage uses it in the translation from frame numbers to seconds.