Plugin: CommercialDetector

[madpoet]

Just got my donator version... are there things in the ini for that which aren't in the default ini? Meaning if I point at the default installed ini but the new exe is that bad? I want to be able to comskip .ts file

[tmiranda]

I honestly don't know. If you start with the .ini file that comes with the donator version you need to make sure the following are in it and set correctly:

verbose=0             ;This stops the production of the .log files
output_default=0    ;This stops the production of the .txt files
output_edl=1         ;This makes comskip produce .edl files
delete_logo_file=1   ;This deletes the .logo file when comskip is done
live_tv=1               ;This enables comskip to work while shows are being recorded

If the settings are already in the .ini file make sure they are set as described. If they are not in the .ini file just add them.

[madpoet]

Actually this wasn't in either file:

output_default=0 ;This stops the production of the .txt files

I added it to the new one along with the other changes. It was identical otherwise.

[adone36]

Does CommercialDetector completely replace the previous comskip set up for Sage?? I recently changed my recording directories. I just deleted the old directories and now my browser keeps popping up with an error that my comskip directories are missing. This is coming from the previous comskip running under \program files\sagetv\comskip. Comskip is running as a service and comskip monitor was set up with the directories in question originally. Do I stop the comskip service and delete the previous comskip directory listed above???

[tmiranda]

You need to stop/uninstall Comskip Monitor. The browser pop up error is caused by Comskip Monitor because it can't find the directories with your recordings (because you moved them.) Uninstalling Comskip Monitor will solve that problem.

As I recall, Comskip Monitor has an uninstall.bat file, just run that and you will be good to go.

[adone36]

Yup, got it.

Great plugin BTW. Thanks!

[owilsky]

I have a small problem here. I changed my recording directory to use UNC notation so I can use this plugin from a client.
Now my disk space bar does not show the correct values. Anybody also using the disk space bar from the hidden extras and having a solution?

[bigbill]

Wow, my comskip.ini from the update site was very different!

verbose=0             ;This stops the production of the .log files
output_default=0    ;This stops the production of the .txt files
output_edl=1         ;This makes comskip produce .edl files
delete_logo_file=1   ;This deletes the .logo file when comskip is done
live_tv=1               ;This enables comskip to work while shows are being recorded

If the settings are already in the .ini file make sure they are set as described. If they are not in the .ini file just add them.[/QUOTE]

It had:
verbose=10
output_default was missing
delete_logo_file=0
live_tv=0

I just changed them to what you said they should be...

[bigbill]

I would love to be able to click on the purple "CS" icon on the top of the gui menu that seems to indicate comskip is running, to see what files are being comskip'd and maybe show how far along they are. Right now you have to dig around in the detailed settings and for some reason its still not super clear (to me) what its working on.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by bigbill

Wow, my comskip.ini from the update site was very different!

That's why I pointed out those settings.

[nwboater]

Just installed Comskip on Server & Client and having problems.

1. Several of the movies that Comskip ran on are no longer viewable. When I select the movie to watch the screen is blank. It will show the timer bar and other Sage stuff, but no video. I can't seem to do anything to get it to show, including skipping and fast forward.

When I first installed Comskip I mistakenly did not install the Donators version. I use an HDPVR and later found that I need the Donators. But Comskip I believe ran on several recordings during this time. So I deleted all comskip plugins on the the server and the Client. I then installed the Donators version in its own folder on the Server. Then installed the plugin on the Server and Client and pointed the plugin to the exe and ini on the Donators version. Comskip ran for awhile, then I decided to see if the movies it had treated were viewable. They aren't. Neither the ones that Comskip treated yesterday with the non Donators version, nor the ones today with the Donators version have video that will show.

2. When I realized the video problem I went to the plugin in setup on the server and disabled it. It then showed "Failed" I later wanted to let it run a little more and tried to enable it. I then got the message "Cannot be enabled. A required dependency may be missing or the plugin is broken. Try removing and reinstalling."

Yesterday this happened and I had to totally uninstall the Detector and UI on the server and Client and then reinstall to get it to again be enabled. So it seems that one cannot just Disable and then Re enable to start it again. Full removal and reinstall is required. Or perhaps there is some serious cockpit error here? Right now I have it at the failed state and will await advice from someone (hopefully) before doing anything further.

BTW I haven't used Comskip before, so there shouldn't be old stuff around, except for possibly the non Donators Version I installed,uninstalled yesterday.

Sorry this got so long, but wanted to try to be clear on whats happening.

Thanks very much for any efforts to try to help me. Happy Thanksgiving!

Rod

[Fuzzy]

Comskip (and commercial detector) do nothing to alter the video file, or the playback graph. It is almost guaranteed to be something else causing you issues.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by nwboater

Just installed Comskip on Server & Client and having problems.

1. Several of the movies that Comskip ran on are no longer viewable. When I select the movie to watch the screen is blank. It will show the timer bar and other Sage stuff, but no video. I can't seem to do anything to get it to show, including skipping and fast forward..

<snip>

Sorry this got so long, but wanted to try to be clear on whats happening.

Thanks very much for any efforts to try to help me. Happy Thanksgiving!

Rod

Rod,

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

As Fuzzy said, CommercialDetector and comskip should not do anything to alter the actual video files. Just to double check, look at the timestamp on the files in question to see if they were altered.

What other plugins are installed? Did you change anything else on the system?

What I'd recommend is uninstalling ALL plugins and starting over. You may have to restart sage several times because some plugins can't be uninstalled until all remnants of some dependency are uninstalled.

Once they are all uninstalled concentrate on getting the video to play.

Tom

[nwboater]

Fuzzy & Tom,

Thanks for the quick response.

The time stamps I don't believe have been altered. They at least have dates going back many months.

The only other plugin is SageMyMovies which I also installed yesterday.

This is totally weird! The only recordings that won't play are the ones that have been looked at by Comskip.

Unless someone has some other ideas I guess I'll have to uninstall the plugins and go from there.

Thanks again.

Rod

[tmiranda]

Rod,

Post the .edl or .txt file for one of the recordings that is not playing. (Actually, If there are other files with the same base name but different extension, post them too.) Those are the files produced by comskip that contain the commercial location information, maybe they are confusing the plugin that reads them.

Tom

[nwboater]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Rod,

Post the .edl or .txt file for one of the recordings that is not playing. (Actually, If there are other files with the same base name but different extension, post them too.) Those are the files produced by comskip that contain the commercial location information, maybe they are confusing the plugin that reads them.

Tom

Hi Tom,

Attached are two .txt files. The forum system would not allow me to upload 2 others .edl and .log. If you need those perhaps we could find another place to post them.

Thanks very much for trying to help here.

Rod

[tmiranda]

Rod,

There is nothing special about those files. I see comskip found two commercials and the .logo file look normal as well.

The easiest way to upload any other files is to put them in a ZIP file and upload that.

Also, check your .ini file to make sure the following is in there and set to these values. (The ";" and the text after it are comments and can be excluded.) I don't think this will solve your problem, but it will keep your file system cleaner.

verbose=0             ;This stops the production of the .log files
output_default=0    ;This stops the production of the .txt files
output_edl=1         ;This makes comskip produce .edl files
delete_logo_file=1   ;This deletes the .logo file when comskip is done
live_tv=1               ;This enables comskip to work while shows are being recorded

[nwboater]

Hi Tom,

This is embarrassing but it apparently wasn't anything to do with Comskip. It was the mpeg2 video decoders were set at Sagetv decoders instead of Microsoft DTV-DVD. I have no idea how I did this! What's so odd is that the movies that I had checked as non Comskipped and that worked must have been HD movies using different decoders. The ones that had been comskipped and didn't play video were mpeg2.

I discovered this after removing all Comskip from server & Client and other Plugins including SageMyMovies. So lots of rebuilding to do now!

So sorry to send you on the wild goose chase. And I really want to thank you again Tom for your efforts and for being so responsive.

We'll be gone all weekend so next week will little by little get everything reinstalled.

Rod

[meisner]

I have just upgraded to STV v7 and am having lots of fun uninstalling the old support utils (like jetty) in favor of the plug-ins. I am having a problem with SJQ client and was looking into using your commercial Detector plugin.

I am using an HD-PVR and found the donator version of comskip always gets off in timing. This is because there is a difference in the length of the video between what comskip think and it's real length. I have a vbs script I use to fix up the edl file. Is there anyway to launch this using your plug in? Can I run a batch file instead of comskip.exe?

Maybe I could write a .exe to launch comskip, then launch the vb script.

Steve

[tmiranda]

Steve,

CommercialDetector is not designed to run anything after running comskip. I have two suggestions for you to try:

1. Do what you are thinking, write your own "comskip.exe" that actually runs comskip and then the vbs script.

2. Wait a little longer until Slugger and I release SJQv4. We're getting close to a public beta. See here: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52623

Tom