Comskip (donator version) live processing help

[DOS4EVER]

Could someone tell me the right settings to use in order to have consistent processing during a live recording? I set the Wait Time to zero in DVRMStoMPEGSettings, but the results are hit and miss. Last night comskip started processing about 10 minutes after Elementary started, but tonight it never started during the recording of Amercian Dad and I had to manually process it after the recording was finished. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[STC]

Do you need live? Last time I messed around with that it was having problems with multiple tuners/simultaneous recordings/processing power.
I scan one at a time, after recording finishes and they queue up.

[DOS4EVER]

Do you need live? Last time I messed around with that it was having problems with multiple tuners/simultaneous recordings/processing power.
I scan one at a time, after recording finishes and they queue up.

I suppose I don't have to have it as long as it processes after recording is finished. What settings are best for that?

[STC]

I am away from my setup notes, but here's something to get you going:
http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/viewtop ... 6019#p6019

You can also set channels that you don't want to scan recordings from such as non-commercial movie channels etc.

[DOS4EVER]

Thanks.

[Space]

Yeah, I would forget about using Live processing.

Last time I had my system set to use it, it would occasionally go in to an endless loop on some recordings and never complete. Doing the commercial detection after a recording has finished works fine.

[DOS4EVER]

So I turned off live processing (livetv = 0) and have the Wait Time set to 5 minutes after recording, but sometimes comskip will still kick off during the recording and other times it works as it should. What would cause this?

[Space]

Yeah, that "wait time" simply does not work reliably (at least I was unable to get it to work), I believe it is due to variances in buffering and bitrate (if you have a lower bitrate, the buffer will not fill as fast and the file will not be written to as often). Anyway, there is a better option, I leave this set to 0 and use this:


When WMC first creates the WTV file, it also adds certain metadata. One of the pieces of metdata is the WM/WMRVEndTime property.
This is set to the date/time that the recording is scheduled to stop. So all I do is have it wait 1 minute after the scheduled stop time before it runs the commercial scan. I check this value, wait until 1 minute after the recording is supposed to be finished, and then check it again (just in case I manually added padding while it was recording), and wait again if padding was added, otherwise it continues.

I also do a couple other checks in there, like checking if the file is copy protected (which I also do in the "Processing Condition Editor", so this is just a double check in case the property was not set correctly when it was first checked early in the recording process) or if the retention period is "Until I watch" in which case it does not continue. (I normally use "Until I delete" for all my Series, so I use the "Until I watch" as a special indicator that I don't want to run comskip on that recording.)
Test Metadata to continue # 1:
WM/WMRVContentProtected NotEqual True (ReloadMetadata checked)
Test Metadata to continue # 2:
WM/WMRVKeepUntil NotEqual -2 (ReloadMetadata checked)

The last entry there is to run a script I created to add a "dummy" commercial break at the end of every commercial XML file as a workaround to the DTBAddin bug of not allowing you to use the left-arrow to go back to the beginning of the last skip if it is the last commercial break, so you can ignore that.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[DOS4EVER]

Awesome. I will try this. Thanks!

[STC]

Interesting. Wait time has never been a problem for me, although I have it set to 10 minutes. No DRM here, everything in the clear which may be related.

[DOS4EVER]

Interesting. Wait time has never been a problem for me, although I have it set to 10 minutes. No DRM here, everything in the clear which may be related.

I'm impatient. I don't want to wait 10 minutes after the recording is finished to start the commercial scan and then wait another 10 minutes for it to process. I like the idea of having it start (almost) immediately after the recording.

[STC]

I hear you. We don't generally watch anything until quite a while after a show is recorded so 10 mins doesn't factor into it.

[DOS4EVER]

When WMC first creates the WTV file, it also adds certain metadata. One of the pieces of metdata is the WM/WMRVEndTime property.
This is set to the date/time that the recording is scheduled to stop. So all I do is have it wait 1 minute after the scheduled stop time before it runs the commercial scan. I check this value, wait until 1 minute after the recording is supposed to be finished, and then check it again (just in case I manually added padding while it was recording), and wait again if padding was added, otherwise it continues.

I also do a couple other checks in there, like checking if the file is copy protected (which I also do in the "Processing Condition Editor", so this is just a double check in case the property was not set correctly when it was first checked early in the recording process) or if the retention period is "Until I watch" in which case it does not continue. (I normally use "Until I delete" for all my Series, so I use the "Until I watch" as a special indicator that I don't want to run comskip on that recording.)
Test Metadata to continue # 1:
WM/WMRVContentProtected NotEqual True (ReloadMetadata checked)
Test Metadata to continue # 2:
WM/WMRVKeepUntil NotEqual -2 (ReloadMetadata checked)

The last entry there is to run a script I created to add a "dummy" commercial break at the end of every commercial XML file as a workaround to the DTBAddin bug of not allowing you to use the left-arrow to go back to the beginning of the last skip if it is the last commercial break, so you can ignore that.

Let me know if you have any questions.

So I'm currently testing a random recording right now and I noticed that comskip kicked off 1 minute after it started recording and quickly closed and then generated the necessary xml file in the proper folder. I checked the Recorded TV folder and I see that there is no metadata yet of the current recording that ends at 3 pm CST. Maybe it will be generated afterwards but it sounds like from you that the metadata is supposed to be generated immediately. Is that correct? Have I done something wrong?

[Space]

Yes, some of the metadata is written to the recording file when it starts (or soon after it starts). I've never had a problem with it. The EditDvrmsMetadata program is not able to see the metadata while it is recording so that will not tell you if there is any metadata in a WTV file, but DVRMSToolbox is able to see the metadata while it is still recording.

There is a setting under the "Processing" tab that has to do with waiting until the metadata is available, "Delay Processing". I have this set to "Wait" to wait until metadata is available, maybe that is your problem? (I've always had it set this way, so I don't know if it is necessary or not).

What does the log indicate is happening? %public%\dvrmstoolbox\FWlogs

[DOS4EVER]

Ahhh... that must be it. It was set on FindCommercials. Thanks, I'll try again.

[DOS4EVER]

No, didn't make a difference. Here is the log...

Start Process: 5/10/2016 : 3:30 PM
InputFile=D:\Recorded TV\Highly Questionable_ESPNHD_2016_05_10_15_30_00.wtv
Processing actions, this may take some time!!
Current Affinity: 15 System Mask: 15
Getting MetaData
Testing "Protected Content"
Testing "Processed Files"
Testing "Every Sage File"
Testing "Every File"
"Every File" is a match.
Run Profile = nativecommdetect
ProcessId = 5952
DvrmsToolbox Version: 1.2.2.5
Throttle DVRMStoMPEG
FWThrottle: D:\Recorded TV\Highly Questionable_ESPNHD_2016_05_10_15_30_00.wtv
WaitTime: 0 PollTime
Duration = 00:00:00.0050001
Waiting for available worker: 5/10/2016 3:30 PM
Worker allocated: 5/10/2016 3:30 PM
Get Video Information
1280x720 : 1280x720 ATSC=True
Duration = 00:00:00.3365077
Find Commercials in file
Wait 10 seconds before scanning file
Wait 10 seconds before scanning file
Wait 10 seconds before scanning file
Wait 10 seconds before scanning file
Wait 10 seconds before scanning file
Wait 10 seconds before scanning file
Create Analyzer: Comskip
Use Comskip
Using comskip
Running comskip this may take a while.
Run C:\Program Files (x86)\DVRMSToolbox\Applications\comskip.exe "D:\Recorded TV\Highly Questionable_ESPNHD_2016_05_10_15_30_00.wtv" "C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\CommercialsXml"

Finished Commercial Detectection
Commercials xml file exists
No commercials found
Action did not complete successfully
Total Duration = 00:01:18.1327025

PW Exit: System.InvalidOperationException: No process is associated with this object.
at System.Diagnostics.Process.EnsureState(State state)
at System.Diagnostics.Process.get_HasExited()
at System.Diagnostics.Process.EnsureState(State state)
at System.Diagnostics.Process.get_ExitCode()
at Durrant.DVRMSFileWatcher.ProcessWrap.ap_Exited(Object sender, EventArgs e)

[Space]

It looks like you don't have the FileWatcher set up to run your new profile, it appears to be running the default profile.

Run ProcessingConditionEditor.exe and edit the "Every File" entry. There is a pull-down menu there where you can select the profile to run. If you've named it the same as I named my profile posted earlier, it should be set to "Scan for Commercials directly in WTV". Obviously, if you made the modifications to a different profile, then that is the name you should use here.

[DOS4EVER]

Okay, got that changed. What about the profile in the Processing tab of DVRMSToolbox? Same new profile or default?

[Space]

Okay, got that changed. What about the profile in the Processing tab of DVRMSToolbox? Same new profile or default?

If you have the option above it set to "Wait", that value is ignored, so it doesn't matter.

[DOS4EVER]

Okay. I think I'm starting to understand the logic in all this. Thanks for your help.