Utility: ShowAnalyzer Beta

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by pftg4

the error is when i run the installer and comskip when i double click i get a quick black screen in a dos window then nothing

Actually, um, no. It didn't help. I have no idea what that is. What version of windows are you running? Where did you get DirMon?

Redownload the files from this page. And try again.

Regarding the comskip proxy, I've made some changes to the registry settings that SA uses and I didn't update the comskip proxy. The next version of SA will include a comskip proxy that works correctly.

In the meantime, to get it working now run the attached reg file to add a registry setting. You should be able to use it unmodified if you installed SA in the default location (C:\Program Files\Dragon Global\ShowAnalyzer). If not, just modify the reg file to reflect the location of ShowAnalyzer.exe.

I feel silly right now.

Jere

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by lovingHDTV

Will SA work on TS files?

thanks,

Not yet. If SA ever starts recording TS files, I'll look in to it.

Jere

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by geogecko

What I'm wondering, is if I need this DirMon software or not? I use mlbdude's SageMC 16x9 STV along with Sage.

I'm not sure if his STV will automatically run comskip. If it does, replace it with the comskip proxy and you're good to go. Make sure you pay attention to the above post about the proxy though.
Otherwise, DirMon may be your best option. But it is not your only option. There are a few options for running comskip automatically that will run SA if you use the proxy. A quick search of the Commercial Detection Beta thread should show some of them.

Originally Posted by geogecko

Also, does there seem to be any issues using V4 of Sage with SA?

VERSION 4!!! Where did you get that??? I'm still on version 3!
Seriously, though, there aren't any issues I know of.

Jere

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

I'm curious what the following means, in the generated .xml file for each comskipped show... a duration of 'zero'?

The only XML that SA produces is the smartskip file for BeyondTV. I'm not sure where your XML came from.

Jere

[Xsabre]

I am interested to know 2 things about the full paid version of Show Analyzer:

1) Accuracy in commercial detection compared to Commercial Skip
2) Speed of processing recorded shows

Your comments are greatly appreciated.

[salsbst]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

Not yet. If SA ever starts recording TS files, I'll look in to it.

Jere

Do you mean, if "SageTV" starts recording TS files? Because SageTV has started recording TS files.

[geogecko]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

I'm not sure if his STV will automatically run comskip. If it does, replace it with the comskip proxy and you're good to go. Make sure you pay attention to the above post about the proxy though.
Otherwise, DirMon may be your best option. But it is not your only option. There are a few options for running comskip automatically that will run SA if you use the proxy. A quick search of the Commercial Detection Beta thread should show some of them.

VERSION 4!!! Where did you get that??? I'm still on version 3!
Seriously, though, there aren't any issues I know of.

Jere

Thanks for answering my questions. I'm not sure what all this proxy stuff means, but I'll just have to read more when my system is up and running. Right now, that is my main priority...

Oh, you mean you weren't given version 4 yet? Oops, I probably shouldn't have said anything...

I got Sage and Girder mixed up, sorry about that...

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Xsabre

I am interested to know 2 things about the full paid version of Show Analyzer:

1) Accuracy in commercial detection compared to Commercial Skip
2) Speed of processing recorded shows

Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Jere has said that the only difference between the paid and free version is the decoder used. The accuracy of SA should be the same between the two.

As far as the speed goes, I am getting anywhere from 200 - 250 FPS across a 100m network. I get somewhat better on a local drive. There are reports of folks getting MUCH higher throughput, but... I re-scanned 85 shows (1 hour - 2.5 hours lengths) and it took ~ 8 hours to do them all.

In the end, SA is much quicker than comskip AND much more accurate!

-Jason

[ajuhawk]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

The only XML that SA produces is the smartskip file for BeyondTV. I'm not sure where your XML came from.

Jere

The XML files are generally created by the STV - I know Cayars STV creates one for each file as it goes along. I'm not sure how many other STVs are doing this for sure. But I have noticed that the duration is almost always 0 so there seems to be a problem there.

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by geogecko

I'm not sure what all this proxy stuff means, but I'll just have to read more when my system is up and running. Right now, that is my main priority...

Since there are already quite an infrastructure in place for comskip, why not use it?
Basically the "comskip proxy" will run ShowAnalyzer anytime anyone/anything tries to run comskip. While proxy may not be the best word, it was the only one I could come up with.
It enables you to use SA without reprograming or changing anything. Just replace the real comskip with the comskip proxy. Done. Of course, please note my previous post about the registry entry.

Jere

[malore]

I can't seem to get the -ini setting to work. Every combination of path and file name I've tried still results in it saying that the file could not be found, loading internal defaults. Could you give me an example command line and verify that it works. Thanks.

[jlindborg]

Is there a snappy way to slurp the commercial frame information output by SA with a video editor like VideoRedo? I'm keen on automatically trimming up some shows prior to burning them to DVD - it'd be nice to not have to do that by hand...

thanks

-J

[malore]

jlindborg, showanalyzer can output to several different formats including VideoRedo and Wobble.

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by malore

I can't seem to get the -ini setting to work. Every combination of path and file name I've tried still results in it saying that the file could not be found, loading internal defaults. Could you give me an example command line and verify that it works. Thanks.

No need for paths or extensions, just the name of the profile.

For example, if I had a Nova.ini in the \Settings directory I would call:
ShowAnalyzer -ini Nova D:\Video\Nova.mpg

Jere

[jlindborg]

Ah, duh! Now I see all the options in there - I'm trying the VPRJ stuff now to see if I can batch it up and run it with DIRMon...

Thanks Malore!

[malore]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

No need for paths or extensions, just the name of the profile.

For example, if I had a Nova.ini in the \Settings directory I would call:
ShowAnalyzer -ini Nova D:\Video\Nova.mpg

Jere

That was my initial guess, but still no luck. I tried "Showanalyzer -ini Mine S:\Showname-5153915-0.mpg" and the log window still says Error: Mine could not be found. Using internal defaults.

I use my spare CPU cycle to run distributed computing projects, but Showanalyzer's priority is so low that it barely gets any processing time (1%). Or depending on how you look at it BOINC's priority is too high.

[src666]

Regarding the speed, on my Athlon 64/2800 media server, I get 500-600 FPS throughput. A one hour show seems to take about 2 minutes.

[rich_l]

Thanks Jere Jones. So far this program is awesome. I will be purchasing as soon as a i get a chance to add more to the paypal account.

On a amd xp 3000+ with 1gb of ram and throttle is set at 70%, i am getting an average of 350fps and an average of 3 minutes per episode.

edit: Btw, the womble output is awesome.

[abasu2003]

bump.

Originally Posted by abasu2003

Jere, I just noticed that I'm not getting pausing on playback. My webserver seems to be working just fine and it shows up as Currently Watching something. what can I do to troubleshoot

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by abasu2003

Jere, I just noticed that I'm not getting pausing on playback. My webserver seems to be working just fine and it shows up as Currently Watching something. what can I do to troubleshoot

If you run SageTV in service mode and the webserver is setup in the sage.properties file then the webserver doesn't show what you are watching. Hence SA can't tell.

Does pause while recording work?

Jere