STV Import: Comskip Playback for Default STV (v1.5.4 30/August/2008 for SageTV 5/6)

[michelkenny]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Added a new test version to the first post

(1.5.0)
- Support for SageTV 6.3.1

John

I've been using SageTV 6.3.1 and ComSkip 1.5.0 for a few days and it's been working great except for one show I watched tonight. It was for Canada's Worst Driver. The commercials were properly marked on the time bar, but when it would go to skip to the next show block, it would actually skip to the end of the show. This happened with either the auto skip or manual skip (right diagonal arrow).

Edit: I watched a few more shows tonight and the ComSkip was working fine... Don't know what was up.

[davidk21770]

Originally Posted by michelkenny

I've been using SageTV 6.3.1 and ComSkip 1.5.0 for a few days and it's been working great except for one show I watched tonight. It was for Canada's Worst Driver. The commercials were properly marked on the time bar, but when it would go to skip to the next show block, it would actually skip to the end of the show. This happened with either the auto skip or manual skip (right diagonal arrow).

Edit: I watched a few more shows tonight and the ComSkip was working fine... Don't know what was up.

I've had this happen when the time codes were messed-up in the video. A clean-up run through VideoReDo cleaned them up and they play fine after that.

[naln]

Hi,

Could someone point me to some info on using Comskip with the original STV (Sage 6). Not only comskip playback- but running the comskip function in the first place.

I have been using the SageMC interface for a long time now and forgot how I had this working earlier with the original STVs.

The new sage6 beta menus are a lot quicker- so wanted to revert to it for a while....Any help is appreciated.....

Thanks!
naln

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by davidk21770

I've had this happen when the time codes were messed-up in the video. A clean-up run through VideoReDo cleaned them up and they play fine after that.

Hi there - when you say you run it through VideoReDo, how does that work? Can I just download the software and run it? Or how do you use VideoReDo (do you run it manually or do you have some batch job run to analyze your shows)?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

Hi there - when you say you run it through VideoReDo, how does that work? Can I just download the software and run it? Or how do you use VideoReDo (do you run it manually or do you have some batch job run to analyze your shows)?

You can use my VideoEdit plugin to execute VideoReDo from within the SageTV GUI but you still need to download and Buy (or Trial) VideoReDo. I do not provide it. You also should try a few manually before using my plugin to get familiar with VideoReDo and it's capabilities first. In particular see if you can do a "Silent Batch Mode" execution. If that works then you should be able to setup my plugin to work with it as well.

[michelkenny]

Originally Posted by michelkenny

I've been using SageTV 6.3.1 and ComSkip 1.5.0 for a few days and it's been working great except for one show I watched tonight. It was for Canada's Worst Driver. The commercials were properly marked on the time bar, but when it would go to skip to the next show block, it would actually skip to the end of the show. This happened with either the auto skip or manual skip (right diagonal arrow).

Edit: I watched a few more shows tonight and the ComSkip was working fine... Don't know what was up.

Further to my comment above, this has happened to me a few more times. I think I have figured it out though. It has to do when watching shows that are still being recorded. I have DirMon starting ShowAnalyzer within a few minutes of a show starting to record. While watching the show (recording and ShowAnalyzer in progress), the time bar is marked properly with the commercial locations. Manually skipping 60 seconds back/ahead and rewind/fast forward all work fine. The only thing that doesn't work is the auto/manual commercial skip. It will usually always go to the end of the recording! Yesterday I watched 4 shows while they were being recorded and this happened to me on every commercial break. This does not happen for shows that have been completely recorded (unless something is recording on the same channel; then it will skip to the end of the next show!) or with the last final version of Sage and ComSkip Playback 1.4.9. This only started to happen with the newest Sage Beta and ComSkip Playback 1.5.0.

As I said above, this happens very consistently for me when watching shows being recorded.

Let me know if there's anything you want me to test.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by michelkenny

...It has to do when watching shows that are still being recorded. I have DirMon starting ShowAnalyzer within a few minutes of a show starting to record. While watching the show (recording and ShowAnalyzer in progress), the time bar is marked properly with the commercial locations. Manually skipping 60 seconds back/ahead and rewind/fast forward all work fine. The only thing that doesn't work is the auto/manual commercial skip. It will usually always go to the end of the recording!

I'll have a look, but the skipping code in the import hasn't changed in a long time, so it may be highlighting a SageTV bug.

John

[davidk21770]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

Hi there - when you say you run it through VideoReDo, how does that work? Can I just download the software and run it? Or how do you use VideoReDo (do you run it manually or do you have some batch job run to analyze your shows)?

It's payware, but has a trial period to check it out. All you do is load the file in and select save. It'll tell you have you have no edits, do you want to remux the entire input file -- just say yes.

(I also find this is a great tool to do the cuts. Showanalyzer will generate a cut file that's compatible with it and you can do a quick check of the accuracy of each cut and make any necessary changes.)

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by michelkenny

The only thing that doesn't work is the auto/manual commercial skip. It will usually always go to the end of the recording! Yesterday I watched 4 shows while they were being recorded and this happened to me on every commercial break. This does not happen for shows that have been completely recorded (unless something is recording on the same channel; then it will skip to the end of the next show!) or with the last final version of Sage and ComSkip Playback 1.4.9. This only started to happen with the newest Sage Beta and ComSkip Playback 1.5.0.

I can't get this to fail, however I use Comskip. I've changed the download on the first post to include some more debug logging.

Can you enable debug logging and get a log from when it fails (set debug_logging=TRUE in your SageClient.properties or Sage.properties if not running as a service) and post the log.

John

[Taddeusz]

I don't know if this is a problem with the add-on or with Sage itself but I've noticed on the MVP when watching transcoded recordings that when the skip occurs the timeline shows that it jumps beyond and then back to the proper point. As a result, if playback is near the end when it skips the playback could stop if the initial jump is the end of the recording. I have to restart playback again in order to complete watching it. It's rather annoying. Anyone else have this problem?

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I don't know if this is a problem with the add-on or with Sage itself but I've noticed on the MVP when watching transcoded recordings that when the skip occurs the timeline shows that it jumps beyond and then back to the proper point. As a result, if playback is near the end when it skips the playback could stop if the initial jump is the end of the recording. I have to restart playback again in order to complete watching it. It's rather annoying. Anyone else have this problem?

It's a problem with SageTV. Although there have been a number of bug reports submitted for it, doing another would highlight that it's still a problem that is affecting more than 1 or 2 users and needs looking at.

John

[pseudonym]

I have searched through this thread, it doesn't appear anyone else has run into my specific questions, but perhaps I missed (it is a LONG thread). If I did miss PLEASE point me to posts with info, thank you!

I am running Comskip Playback 150b2 and SageTV 6.2.10, Comskip 79_111. I have Comskip processing files only after they have finished recording.

What I am trying to do, is configure Comskip Playback to wait ~3 seconds past (into) detected start of commercial block, and resume ~3 seconds prior (early) of detected end of commercial block.

Comskip Playback makes jumps that are very close to the factual commercial block, if I leave the start/end delay values at 0ms. So I believe the frame numbers as detected by Comskip program are reasonably accurate as to commercial locations. (I have autoskip ON and pause OFF for Comskip Playback options.)

If I change the start/end delay values from 0ms to any other values, Comskip Playback can jump many seconds too early or late or resume many seconds too early or too late, it does not appear to use the values correctly?

If I understood the instructions at the start of this thread, I should use 3000 (positive number) for both the start and end delay values, to do what I want? I did try that, and also 3ms and 10ms and 100ms, and tried making one or both a negative number. Playback jumps are erratic and pretty far off unless both values are 0.

What do I need to do differently, to set the delays the way I would like?

Another question: I have relocated a copy of comskip.cmd and would like to use that one instead of the one provided in sage ...\externals folder. However, I cannot seem to change the path and filename both in "Start on Watch" and in "Manual Comskip" config options in Setup -> Customizing -> Comskip Playback options. When I click on 'select' to change the path/filename I get an odd looking thin bar and no apparent way to navigate or type in a new path and filename. I can press 'esc' key and the path/filename setting is unchanged.

How do I edit the path/filename and/or navigate or enter a new one?

Thanks in advance for any help, and again sorry if I missed info on these two questions.

Thanks and regards,
--pseudonym

P.S. REALLY like the features of Comskip Playback! Thanks for a nice package.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by pseudonym

What I am trying to do, is configure Comskip Playback to wait ~3 seconds past (into) detected start of commercial block, and resume ~3 seconds prior (early) of detected end of commercial block.
..............
If I change the start/end delay values from 0ms to any other values, Comskip Playback can jump many seconds too early or late or resume many seconds too early or too late, it does not appear to use the values correctly?

If I understood the instructions at the start of this thread, I should use 3000 (positive number) for both the start and end delay values, to do what I want? I did try that, and also 3ms and 10ms and 100ms, and tried making one or both a negative number. Playback jumps are erratic and pretty far off unless both values are 0.

3000 should work, and does in my quick test, but I'll have more of a look at it.

Originally Posted by pseudonym

Another question: I have relocated a copy of comskip.cmd and would like to use that one instead of the one provided in sage ...\externals folder. However, I cannot seem to change the path and filename both in "Start on Watch" and in "Manual Comskip" config options in Setup -> Customizing -> Comskip Playback options. When I click on 'select' to change the path/filename I get an odd looking thin bar and no apparent way to navigate or type in a new path and filename. I can press 'esc' key and the path/filename setting is unchanged.

I can see the problem there and I'll fix that.

John

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

3000 should work, and does in my quick test, but I'll have more of a look at it.

I've tried this with a number of different times from 0 - 10000 and all work. I've added some more debug logging, so if it's still a problem with skipping in the wrong place, enable debug logging (debug_logging=TRUE) in Sage.properties or SageClient.properties, run a test and post the log (sagetv_0.txt or sagetvclient_0.txt) here.

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

I can see the problem there and I'll fix that.

Missing application selector fixed in version 1.5.0b3 (thanks pseudonym)

John

[pseudonym]

Thank you very much. I'll install b3 version and then see if I can get further info for you on the skipping problem... more to come.

Thanks and regards,
--pseudonym

[pseudonym]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

I've tried this with a number of different times from 0 - 10000 and all work. I've added some more debug logging, so if it's still a problem with skipping in the wrong place, enable debug logging (debug_logging=TRUE) in Sage.properties or SageClient.properties, run a test and post the log (sagetv_0.txt or sagetvclient_0.txt) here.

Thank you John! I have done some more testing and the delay paddings are working exactly as they should. I will do some more experimentation, as I have changed some settings in SageTV, also I am now running 6.3.2 beta as opposed to 6.2.10 release version when I first posted to you.

If I can find a setting that specifically interferes I'll let you know, otherwise if/when it should happen again, I'll get you a debug log.

Thank you again for all your help.

--pseudonym

[chrisc983]

I am having issues with comskip working on a Sage Client. First of all is comskip compatible with sage client or does it only work on the server?

I have Sage Server and Sage Client 6.1. I am using Showanalyzer to create edl files. Comskip works without any issues on the sage server but it doesn't detect the commercials on the sage client. I am using comskip 1.49

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by chrisc983

I am having issues with comskip working on a Sage Client. First of all is comskip compatible with sage client or does it only work on the server?

Yes, it is compatible with the SageTV client, however the requirement is that the both the SageTV server abd client must uses the same full path to access the video file.

For example, both must access the file as F:\Videos\Test.mpg or \\servername\Videos\Test.mpg

If you're running the server in service mode then you will need to use UNC names (\\servername\Videos\Test.mpg)

John

[chrisc983]

I added the folder the recordings are saved using the UNC path in the sagetv server but I am still unable to get it to work on the client. Is there any additional setting I need to do on the client?

[ke6guj]

you may need to remove the original folder and only have the UNC folder listed.

The existing files need get updated in Sage to be listed under the UNC path in order for the client to get access to the .edl files.

Try a new recording that you know was recorded after you made thye UNC change. it should work fine in the client.