Comskip Monitor: Announcement

[otakucode]

Me again, I am going to attach my log file here in hopes someone can help me get comskip monitor to work. LJSSageUser, yes, comskip monitor does write a log file. It is created in the directory comskip monitor resides in and is called wrapper.log. That is what I am attaching here. No files are created in my recordings directory at any point. Comskip monitor does not attempt to run every 10 minutes and fail, it failed after installation and has never attempted to run again. I can't see anything useful in the log file, but hopefully someone here will have some ideas.

[tmiranda]

I'm no expert on CSM but I can see from your log file you are running an old version of Java and an old version of ComSkip. I'd try updating the JVM (1.5.10 or 1.6) and then download and install the latest CSM which installs the latest ComSkip.

[erik]

You are using comskip 0.79 build 58.

The following bugs have been solved since that release

Changes in 0.79.68
- Improved auto PID selection.
- Bug solved: A certain audio stream causes Comskip to crash
Changes in 0.79.67
- Bug solved: Incorrect processing of Australian 50fps HD recordings
Changes in 0.79.66
- Bug solved: no preview available when editing a .TXT coming from a .dvr-ms recording
Changes in 0.79.65
- Bug solved: Comskip crashes on certain ASTC recordings.
Changes in 0.79.64: do not use due to ATSC bug
- Bug solved: Incorrect Aspect Ratio used on certain segments causing big mistakes.
- Bug solved: The delete_show_after_last_commercial did not work under certain conditions
Changes in 0.79.63: do not use due to ATSC bug
- Changed the alignment of the frame numbers in the .mls bookMark file as used by the latest version of MPEG Video Wizard
- Added the option to set the title of the debugwindow to allow remote control. Default is windowtitle="Comskip - %s" where %s will get substituted by the filename
Changes in 0.79.62
- Bug solved: BTV versions starting with 4.3 break Comskip on Live TV viewing. Set live_tv_retries=16 and standoff=8000000 (or any amount above 4MByte) in the comskip.ini file
Changes in 0.79.61
- Added parameter for ignoring gray side bars, set ignore_side=number of pixels to ignore, check visual in debugwindow
- Bug solved: Long commercials are not recognized on 60fps HD recordings
Changes in 0.79.60
- Added visual feedback while tuning certain parameters (F2,F3,F4 in debugwindow mode)
- Bug solved: Panic: Unknown audio format when switching between MPEG and AC3 audio in one recording.
- Bug solved: Videoredo requires the comment field in the BTV xml file to be filled with the right time code

[LJSSageUser]

Originally Posted by otakucode

Me again, I am going to attach my log file here in hopes someone can help me get comskip monitor to work. LJSSageUser, yes, comskip monitor does write a log file. It is created in the directory comskip monitor resides in and is called wrapper.log. That is what I am attaching here. No files are created in my recordings directory at any point. Comskip monitor does not attempt to run every 10 minutes and fail, it failed after installation and has never attempted to run again. I can't see anything useful in the log file, but hopefully someone here will have some ideas.

Ditto on the others comments. The last line of the log indicates that the Comskip Monitor is failing because it can't find the required java file.

My experience is that all .jar files have to be copied to the Program Files/Java/[Latest Release] (something like JRE1.5.0_09)/Lib/Ext folder to work. Every time you update Java, you have to copy all the .jar files into this directory, and things begin to work again. The fact that the wrapper.jar file is installed in the Comskip Monitor folder doesn't necessarily mean that java will find it.

The others advice is good; upgrade....

[hemicuda]

Erik:

Comcast is driving me nuts. I still can't load either of the links in your sig. The mirror you PM'd me is working fine though. All I have to do is change the filename.

[matrix35]

first off thanks Steep for this program. it's waaay easier now to get comskip enabled on our systems.

one question though, do you know how to configure it with show analyzer? I could point it to the .exe file but how would you configure show analyzer to
1. work properly
2. work while capturing files.

[bcjenkins]

I just installed this, first thanks!

A couple of comments:

1) A mechanism to setup networked paths would be great. I had to save it with a local one, then modify the file.
2) Comskip in the package is out of date. I upgraded on my own.
3) I saw this asked, but I don't think I saw it answered. Is there a way to run multiple instances of comskip.exe with this program?


Thanks again,

B

[joe123]

Does Comskip Monitor work like DirMon2 in that it has to wake up all drives in order to check for new recordings?

I have 6 drives setup to spin down after 10 minutes of non-use.

Not sure if it can be done, but if there is a way to know in Windows when the last time a drive was accessed? If so, then this program could keep track of that and NOT check that drive if the time has not change since last check.

Anyone know?

[hazlema]

Been using this program for a while now and it works really well.

I have run into a problem, my video directory has subdirectories of old captures / shows that need to be comskipped. Your program does not seem to process subdirectories, how hard would it be to add subdirectory support?

[LJSSageUser]

Originally Posted by hazlema

Been using this program for a while now and it works really well.

I have run into a problem, my video directory has subdirectories of old captures / shows that need to be comskipped. Your program does not seem to process subdirectories, how hard would it be to add subdirectory support?

I think it already has that capability. You just have to enter each directory by hand. It doesn't process subdirectories automatically.

[pmolaughlin]

I have this program setup on a Windows XP box and it works great!

However, I tried installing it on Windows Vista and ran into issues. The service gets installed and runs fine. However, it does not appear to ever run comskip.exe. Has anyone been able to get this working on Windows Vista?

[jaystroup00]

Originally Posted by pmolaughlin

I have this program setup on a Windows XP box and it works great!

However, I tried installing it on Windows Vista and ran into issues. The service gets installed and runs fine. However, it does not appear to ever run comskip.exe. Has anyone been able to get this working on Windows Vista?

Sorry dude, but Vista sucks right now. I always wait for SP 1 from Microsoft. Give the man some time to catch up on other projects that he wants to complete.

[kevpriest]

I just can't get past the network directory issue so far. It's probably my own fault, as I have a share name with a space in it. I'd change it, but I have so many things pointing to it at this point that I'm loathe to go messing around unless I have to. My sage server runs on a machine called "Mediaserver". There is a share called "sage files" where all my sage recordings are kept.

Here's what I put in the csm.properties file:

////Mediaserver//sage files

I also tried the following:
////Mediaserver//sage%20%files
////Mediaserver//sage files,
////Mediaserver//sage files//
////mediaserver//sage files
////Mediaserver//Sage Files

Everytime, I get the message that my directory is invalid when CSM tries to run. Any suggestions short of changing the share name?

Thanks,

KevPriest

[matrix35]

Originally Posted by kevpriest

I just can't get past the network directory issue so far. It's probably my own fault, as I have a share name with a space in it. I'd change it, but I have so many things pointing to it at this point that I'm loathe to go messing around unless I have to. My sage server runs on a machine called "Mediaserver". There is a share called "sage files" where all my sage recordings are kept.

Here's what I put in the csm.properties file:

////Mediaserver//sage files

I also tried the following:
////Mediaserver//sage%20%files
////Mediaserver//sage files,
////Mediaserver//sage files//
////mediaserver//sage files
////Mediaserver//Sage Files

Everytime, I get the message that my directory is invalid when CSM tries to run. Any suggestions short of changing the share name?

Thanks,

KevPriest

try mapping you folder to a network drive and try it from there.

[kevpriest]

Sorry, I knew I left something out. I tried mapping it to my F: drive, so the line in CSM.PROPERTIES says: F\:\\

I still get: A directory specified in csm.properties "file.directories" attribute is invalid. Please update csm.properties with valid video file directories, and then uninstall and reinstall ComskipMonitor.

Should've included that info in my original post. Thank you for the suggestion.

KevPriest

[hemicuda]

yeah, I found out it doesn't like mapped drives either. my weak suggestion is to enclose the path in quotes. works for 'cmd' so maybe here too.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by kevpriest

I just can't get past the network directory issue so far. It's probably my own fault, as I have a share name with a space in it. I'd change it, but I have so many things pointing to it at this point that I'm loathe to go messing around unless I have to. My sage server runs on a machine called "Mediaserver". There is a share called "sage files" where all my sage recordings are kept.

Here's what I put in the csm.properties file:

////Mediaserver//sage files

I also tried the following:
////Mediaserver//sage%20%files
////Mediaserver//sage files,
////Mediaserver//sage files//
////mediaserver//sage files
////Mediaserver//Sage Files

Everytime, I get the message that my directory is invalid when CSM tries to run. Any suggestions short of changing the share name?

Thanks,

KevPriest

Try this. Spaces don't matter. It's the angle of the dangle.

file.directories=\\\\Freenas\\tv\\SageTV, \\\\Frontroom\\data (f)\\SageTV

Gerry

[hemicuda]

DOH! to me.

Originally Posted by gplasky

Try this. Spaces don't matter. It's the angle of the dangle.

Gerry

which is proportional to the.... oops. got to keep this at least PG for any young-uns out there.

[jkohn]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

yeah, I found out it doesn't like mapped drives either. my weak suggestion is to enclose the path in quotes. works for 'cmd' so maybe here too.

Mapped drives don't work because they're specific to your logon session, which is not accessible to the service. All services have this limitation.

[hemicuda]

even if they're running under a user account? interesting.