Comskip and Grid Computing

[Skiier__Dude]

Hey all,

I have been testing the latest version of Comskip on my H.264 files generated by the HD-PVR. While it works great, my under-powered server (AMD 3200+ w 1Gb RAM) is running pretty flat-out processing the files. I had one of those "wouldn't it be cool if..." moments the other day.

Anyhow, wouldn't it be cool if....you could make use of the multiple CPUs in your home network (server, desktops, laptops etc...) and pool the unused resources to process the H.264 files faster?

I believe VirtualDub used to do something like this a few years ago where you could run a client on multiple machines to assist with file conversions. Anyhow, thought this would be a cool project to look into. Rather than have my CPU dedicated to finding ET with the SETI@Home grid computing project, I could make use of my multiple CPUs for my own needs.

Any thoughts?

[erik]

There is a much simpler solution.
The h.264 decoder in Comskip is rather slow and there are faster h.264 decoders out there.
Why not transcode to mpeg2 320x200 and then let Comskip work on the mpeg2 file.
That should be MUCH faster.
Maybe someone can create a windows transcode graph?

[danmyersmn]

I have my office computer doing all my comskip processing. I already had my media directory shared to move pictures from my office pc (where my digital camera is connected). I mapped the share to a local drive letter, installed comskip and use that machine to process all the recordings. I was not able to get comskip monitor or Dirmon2 to fire off comskip aganist the files but Dirmon does an outstanding job. I have 4 instances of Dirmon running.

[Eckwell]

Originally Posted by erik

There is a much simpler solution.
The h.264 decoder in Comskip is rather slow and there are faster h.264 decoders out there.
Why not transcode to mpeg2 320x200 and then let Comskip work on the mpeg2 file.
That should be MUCH faster.
Maybe someone can create a windows transcode graph?

Erik,

see this post on transcoding to mpeg2 first:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34062