COMSKIP stopped working?!?

[metzz71]

So here is what happened.... I had comskip working for a long time now, prolly around a year without touching it. I realized some time ago that I was only skipping the mpg files and not the ts files. So, I updated to the latest version of comskip and updated comskip monitor to run on both the mpg and ts files. So now, postprocessing does not work on anything, it starts, creates the txt, log, and edl files, but its nothing. It doesn't work. If I run it manually, it works just fine. So, being that comskip monitor is a bit old, I decided to try the DirMon2 app. That works well too. However i'm still in the same boat, but a little differently. Again, manual works, but post does not. With DirMon2, the first couple files it processess works just fine, however anything after does not. In other words, I can start the DirMon2 service, it picks up the first few files that need processing, completes those, then any new shows to be captured, it fails. It creates the emtpy txt log and edl files.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

[SprDtyF350]

Are you using the Donator version of Comskip? The regular one does not do TS files.

[metzz71]

Yes, donator version

[sic0048]

I recently rebuilt my SageTV server and installed the donator version of Comskip using directions that were probably created back prior to SageTV V7. It didn't work with TS files either.

After a little troubleshooting I realized that V7 has a dedicated Comskip folder now (the free version is installed automatically now) and the donator version needs to be installed in that folder to replace the free version. Once I got the donator Comskip version installed in the correct location, it works fine.

I'm not sure if that is the issue you might be facing, but I thought I would throw it out there. Generally if you are not getting TS files processed, it is because the donator version is not installed in the correct location.

[metzz71]

where is the correct location?

[SprDtyF350]

C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\comskip on a 64 bit machine.

C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\comskip on a 32 bit machine.

I only replace what's in there with the donator comskip.exe, and comskip.ini files.

Are you using the comskip plugin that gets installed in Sage from the plugins menu?

[metzz71]

I have tried DirMon2, the plugin, and Comskip monitor. The plugin seemed to work the best, but i'm still getting some misses. Its all messed up now!

[SprDtyF350]

I have only used the plugin but find that even with the Donator version I don't get good results with the TS files the Colossus records. I don't have the patience to tune Comskip but the couple times I have tried it hasn't really helped. Most of our shows get recorded as mpg files by the HD Homerun and Comskip has always worked great with them.

[patja]

Originally Posted by SprDtyF350

I have only used the plugin but find that even with the Donator version I don't get good results with the TS files the Colossus records. I don't have the patience to tune Comskip but the couple times I have tried it hasn't really helped. Most of our shows get recorded as mpg files by the HD Homerun and Comskip has always worked great with them.

The Colossus produces TS files with many minor errors in them, so many that with the default settings comskip stops trying to compensate for them. I got much better results after editing the comskip.ini and setting max_repair=2000

[SprDtyF350]

Thanks, I will give that a shot and see what happens. Would be nice to see it work...

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by SprDtyF350

C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\comskip on a 64 bit machine.

C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\comskip on a 32 bit machine.

I only replace what's in there with the donator comskip.exe, and comskip.ini files.

Are you using the comskip plugin that gets installed in Sage from the plugins menu?

I recommend against overwriting what's in those directories. What you should do is install the donator's version of comskip to a new location, and then go to the CommercialDetector General config options and slect "choose location of comskip.exe" (or something like that) and point it at the new comskip.exe you installed. I'd also recommend NOT using the comskip.ini that comes with the donator's version because the .ini used by CommercialDetector has some altered settings. (You can do a diff to see what they are.)

[metzz71]

nothing I have is stable. One time it works, the next does not. It appears that maybe its failing on the files during the recordings. Does anyone else have issues starting before the program is finished recording?

[metzz71]

ok, this is what I found. The recording starts, the comskip starts, catches up to the file and ends. Then since the edl, log, and txt files are in place, the comskip never restarts.

EDIT: ok, yes. This is exactly what happens. Is my only option to start comskip after the file is completed? Or do I have a setting incorrect? Is there a way to keep the comskip going and alive while the recording is taking place?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by metzz71

ok, this is what I found. The recording starts, the comskip starts, catches up to the file and ends. Then since the edl, log, and txt files are in place, the comskip never restarts.

EDIT: ok, yes. This is exactly what happens. Is my only option to start comskip after the file is completed? Or do I have a setting incorrect? Is there a way to keep the comskip going and alive while the recording is taking place?

You'll need to check the log files to see WHY comskip is stopping early. It is likely you need to increase the retries found in the comskip.ini so that it will keep looking at the file for new data.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by metzz71

ok, this is what I found. The recording starts, the comskip starts, catches up to the file and ends. Then since the edl, log, and txt files are in place, the comskip never restarts.

EDIT: ok, yes. This is exactly what happens. Is my only option to start comskip after the file is completed? Or do I have a setting incorrect? Is there a way to keep the comskip going and alive while the recording is taking place?

Warning - I'm not objective Why are you using DirMon and Comskip Monitor when you can easily use CommercialDetector? Here's what I'd recommend:

- Uninstall DirMon and Comskip Monitor.
- Leave the donator's version of comskip installed. (If you have it.)
- Install the CommercialDetector UI Mod plugin (or CommercialDetector General if you are using something other than the default UI.)
- If you have the donator's version of comskip, go to the CommercialDetector options, look for the option that says "location of comskip.exe", and point it at your donator's comskip.exe. Do NOT change the .ini file.

The problem you are describing is usually happens when "livetv" is set to 0 instead of 1 in the .ini.

Tom

[metzz71]

Thanks tmiranda, I have tried all three an all have the same effect. I set the live tv to 1 and tried all the way up to 5000 on the retries, same result, it just dies. What is a reasonable value for retires? Help?

Ok, i've tried up to 800,000, no change. As soon as it reaches the EOF, it dies.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by metzz71

Thanks tmiranda, I have tried all three an all have the same effect. I set the live tv to 1 and tried all the way up to 5000 on the retries, same result, it just dies. What is a reasonable value for retires? Help?

Ok, i've tried up to 800,000, no change. As soon as it reaches the EOF, it dies.

Turn on debug logging in Sage, set the loglevel in CommercialDetector to Verbose and attach the logfile to a post. That will provide all the stdout and stderr messages from comskip.exe which should tell us what's going on.

[metzz71]

Debugging is on and verbose is set to 10, is 10 ok? Very much appreciate your help!

[metzz71]

I hope these are the ones you are looking for. I launched Sage, started LiveTV and attached the output.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by metzz71

I hope these are the ones you are looking for. I launched Sage, started LiveTV and attached the output.

If you are using CommercialDetector to launch comskip you must set the debug log level in the CommercialDetector options to "Verbose".

Unfortunately I don't see anything telling in the comskip log file, it all looks normal except it only processed 600 or so frames and then stopped.

You do have a ton of plugins installed. I'd try uninstalling all of them (and all of their dependencies) and using the default STV to eliminate that possibility.