Comskip No Longer Automatically Runs After a Show is Recorded

[SteveW]

Hoping someone can help me here. Comskip has been running perfectly on my system for years. About 2 or 3 weeks ago, I noticed shows no longer showing any comskip run against them.

I can go into the details for the show, and choose “Run Comskip”, and see the CS icon show in Sage, and after a few minutes, there is comskip info for the show as there should be.

I just can’t figure out why it doesn’t run automatically when the recording finishes. I looked for a setting in the plugin and in the customized settings that may be causing this but can’t find a setting (other than launch as soon as recording starts, but I don’t want that).

There have been no changes made to the system other than Win 10 did a creators update, and I added the format detector plugin - though I’ve seen no one post a similar issue when using the format plugin.

Any suggestions on where I should be looking to resolve this? Tnx.

[SteveW]

Maybe I’ll just have to try uninstalling the plugin and reinstall it...

[wayner]

Is there any logging you can check, like the SageTV main log, or perhaps another file that contains logs for just the Comskip process?

[Malfunction]

I'm also having issues with Comskip going back several months. It works on files from my Hauppauge dual tuner, but not from the Colossus or the HD-PVR2.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Malfunction

I'm also having issues with Comskip going back several months. It works on files from my Hauppauge dual tuner, but not from the Colossus or the HD-PVR2.

It’s probably because of the file types that each of those tuners generate (mpeg-2 vs h.264). I haven’t used comskip in many years, but it used to be that you needed to use the Donator version for it to work with h.264 files.

[Malfunction]

Originally Posted by Tiki

It’s probably because of the file types that each of those tuners generate (mpeg-2 vs h.264). I haven’t used comskip in many years, but it used to be that you needed to use the Donator version for it to work with h.264 files.

My bad here, it's because I reinstalled the plugin, which brought in the free version. I've managed to mess up the installer so it won't uninstall, but appears to work fine now.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by Malfunction

My bad here, it's because I reinstalled the plugin, which brought in the free version. I've managed to mess up the installer so it won't uninstall, but appears to work fine now.

I put the donator version in its own directory and point to it in the commercial detector plugin (by Tmiranda). I also have the Tmiranda commercial detector UI plugin installed as well.
By pointing it to the donator version of comskip.exe that is what always runs whether during/after a show or if I run comskip manually on a recording.

This also "fixes" the problem of putting the donator version in the same spot that installing the plugin puts the non donator version. You just have to make sure if you're doing a "virgin" install of comskip that you go back and make sure the commercial detector is still pointing to where the donator version is located.

[Malfunction]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

I put the donator version in its own directory and point to it in the commercial detector plugin (by Tmiranda). I also have the Tmiranda commercial detector UI plugin installed as well.
By pointing it to the donator version of comskip.exe that is what always runs whether during/after a show or if I run comskip manually on a recording.

This also "fixes" the problem of putting the donator version in the same spot that installing the plugin puts the non donator version. You just have to make sure if you're doing a "virgin" install of comskip that you go back and make sure the commercial detector is still pointing to where the donator version is located.

It worked for about 9 years without failing, I just overlooked it on a hardware rebuild. I've lost the install/uninstall options on the plugin, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm fixing it anyway. I have comskip.exe and comskip.ini in commercialdetect/comskip. Can you tell me a bit about the cached files? I see there are radio buttons I can click on to tag files. Does Comskip just skip these files instead of working on them? That's what I'd like to do.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by Malfunction

It worked for about 9 years without failing, I just overlooked it on a hardware rebuild. I've lost the install/uninstall options on the plugin, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm fixing it anyway. I have comskip.exe and comskip.ini in commercialdetect/comskip. Can you tell me a bit about the cached files? I see there are radio buttons I can click on to tag files. Does Comskip just skip these files instead of working on them? That's what I'd like to do.

Are you talking in the commercial detector UI plugin? If so there are options to not check certain filetypes (I've never done that one), as well as to skip certain channels, i.e. HBO, PBS, etc where there are either no commercials at all, or only a very limited # of them and usually only at the beginning and end with no commercials in the main airing portion.

If that isn't it, then can you quote me the exact option name and I can check what I have/haven't done with it, or at least possibly explain what it does.

[Malfunction]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

Are you talking in the commercial detector UI plugin? If so there are options to not check certain filetypes (I've never done that one), as well as to skip certain channels, i.e. HBO, PBS, etc where there are either no commercials at all, or only a very limited # of them and usually only at the beginning and end with no commercials in the main airing portion.

If that isn't it, then can you quote me the exact option name and I can check what I have/haven't done with it, or at least possibly explain what it does.

I was referring to the option in the plugin to scan for files that aren't already Comskipped. "Show jobs that are queued". No need to look this up, it worked, and the radio button did skip those files, although it doesn't show if you show the jobs again.

I queue'd about 1800 files and it's all done. I was doing them 6 at a time.
Anything over that seems like it's running a load test like Prime95. I've been able to do 24 tasks, but I don't think it actually gains any speed after you get past 4 or 6. I cut it down to 2 after doing this, cuts down on the fan noise. I also tweaked my fan speeds after this for less noise.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by Malfunction

I was referring to the option in the plugin to scan for files that aren't already Comskipped. "Show jobs that are queued". No need to look this up, it worked, and the radio button did skip those files, although it doesn't show if you show the jobs again.

I queue'd about 1800 files and it's all done. I was doing them 6 at a time.
Anything over that seems like it's running a load test like Prime95. I've been able to do 24 tasks, but I don't think it actually gains any speed after you get past 4 or 6. I cut it down to 2 after doing this, cuts down on the fan noise. I also tweaked my fan speeds after this for less noise.

Not sure if you noticed, but up near the top of that same config is a setting to limit the # of comskips that can run at any one time. I have mine set to 3 which has worked well for me. I also have mine set to only do comskip after the recording finishes. If I want something comskipped while still recording (think sports, racing, etc) then I run it manually. But the majority of the time I don't watch things until after they've finished recording anyway. And I never, EVER watch live TV.

Any more files requiring comskipping over your limit will just get put in the queue and run when a slot opens up as another job finishes.