PRECISELY the setup for Zprocess? What could I be doing wrong?

[hockeyrink]

Sorry to sound like a n00b (I generally amn't!), but confirm for me my mediaMVP setup (trying to get aspect ratio working correctly). I'm stepping through the Wiki beta-release notes (http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...ess#toc16), but not having success the MediaMVP displaying a letterboxed video, although the test procedures do convert correctly on the host CPU.

I'm using a Win2kSP4 3200+ Athlon as my media server.
Zprocess 1.0.987
GB-PVR (latest as of March 3 '07)
6.17Meg version of FFMPEG
Mencoder (latest as of March 3 '07)
MediaMVP rev D3a

0) I'm betting that all my problems stem from what happens EVERY time I start zprocess. I get "String From Text is EMPTY because this Function wasn't told when to stop. Check strEndPhrase...maybe vbTab or spaces" / "This is the strBuff: |live_tv=0|" 13 times (except the strBuff, which returns just "||" after the 1st error). It finishes with a "Form Load Timer, 5 Invalid procedure call or argument", but everything in the menu looks fine.

1) When viewing an AVI uzing zprocess, what process on the host CPU should be powering up? Zprocess, or FFMPEG? I'm getting ffmpeg.exe.

2) I don't have to use the actual "transcode" OSD button on the MVP menu, right? I should just pick the AVI, and it *should* auto-letterbox and display. Right now, I'm still getting the standard MVP "scale the whole screen until it touches top and bottom, and cut off the sides" behavior.

3) Is there a setting I could be missing in GB-PVR's config file? (Got the latest version as of March 4 '07). From what I gather, gb-pvr scalls trans2mvp which in turn runs ffmpeg to do the conversion to mpg. How/where does Zprocess intercept the call?

From the wiki:

Now let’s try it with the MVP

If you have saved these values in the Trans2MVP profile and there were no errors, and VLC was able to display an on the fly transcode, you should be ready for the next step: Watching a video on the MVP…

In theory, GB-PVR is already set to work with ZProcess, and that’s because it thinks that ZProcess is ‘ffmpeg.exe’

So if you are in the Video Screen in PVR (on the MVP) and you select your avi, in a few seconds (by the GB-PVR default of 5.5 secs) a letterboxed video should play…

What should be happening is: ZProcess should be on the server, with a MEncoder window and a Hunter window. GBPVR Recording Service is also running, serving the newly created, on-the-fly MPG to the MVP…

Ok, I can see then the "ffmpeg.exe" possibly taking up CPU, but with Mencoder selected, Mencoder is the high-consumption process. I'm not seeing a Mencoder window, nor the Hunter. I definitely think I've got something wrong here where GB-PVR ain't calling zprocess!

4) From the "Beta" portion of the wiki:

Now let’s tweak the colours…(and sound)

I'm not seeing this on this version of ZProcess. Is there a beta newer than the 1.0.987?
**Update: Found it. Nevermind.

This is looking like a *very* cool app, and I'm sorry I'm the odd man out in getting it working. Tips for where else to investigate (especially the "zprocess.exe" startup errs?)

Thx,
Dave (in Calgary!)

[hockeyrink]

Short term fix:
I was messing around in the "Utilities" tab. Found the "GBPVR Settings" / "Config.xml in Notepad". With your cool log files, at least I came up with a short term hack. I can't use MENCODER.exe, but I can copy the params out of the log for FFmpeg, and paste them into the CONFIG.XML configuration file to get the correct letterbox. Until I overwrite the XML again:

<MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLineNTSC>-y -i "{SOURCE_FILE}" -target ntsc-dvd -t 00:01:00 -b 6000000 -vcodec mpeg2video -ab 224 -ar 48000 -acodec mp2 -ac 2 -r 29.97002997003 -s 720x352 -padtop 64 -padbottom 64 -aspect 4:3 "{DEST_FILE}" </MVPFFmpegTranscodeCmdLineNTSC>

(Using the "Check Zprocess.exe" gives me an error, and it borks. Sigh...)

[zehd]

0) I'm betting that all my problems stem from what happens EVERY time I start zprocess. I get "String From Text is EMPTY because this Function wasn't told when to stop. Check strEndPhrase...maybe vbTab or spaces" / "This is the strBuff: |live_tv=0|" 13 times (except the strBuff, which returns just "||" after the 1st error). It finishes with a "Form Load Timer, 5 Invalid procedure call or argument", but everything in the menu looks fine.

Before we work on the other things (you ARE on the right track) we have to fix this error. I would have thought other people would have had this issue as it's obvious that something is wrong with comskip, as in, doesn't exist, or perhaps in the wrong directory.

What I'd like to see is both your ZProcess logs from the backup directory

Edit: I also need a copy of you comskip.ini...

[hockeyrink]

Wish they said more about the install process... Had to truncate today's log (too big), but the same errors repeat.

Here's the comskip.ini, although I'm not presently using it. Had bad luck with it about a year ago, so until I'm motivated, I'm manually skipping through recorded programs. Why should Comskip play a factor in playing back AVI's?

comskip.ini
----------------------
detect_method=255 ;1=black frame, 2=logo, 4=scene change, 8=fuzzy logic, 16=closed captions, 32=aspect ration, 255=all
verbose=10 ;show a lot of extra info, level 5 is also OK, set to 0 to disable
max_brightness=60 ;frame not black if any pixels checked are greater than this (scale 0 to 255)
test_brightness=40 ;frame not pure black if any pixels checked are greater than this, will check average brightness (scale 0 to 255)
max_avg_brightness=20 ;maximum average brightness for a dim frame to be considered black (scale 0 to 255) 0 means autosetting
max_commercialbreak=600 ;maximum length in seconds to consider a segment a commercial break
min_commercialbreak=10 ;minimum length in seconds to consider a segment a commercial break
max_commercial_size=120 ;maximum time in seconds for a single commercial or multiple commercials if no breaks in between
min_commercial_size=4 ;mimimum time in seconds for a single commercial
min_show_segment_length=60 ; any segment longer than this will be scored towards show.
non_uniformity=250
max_volume=500 ; any frame with sound volume larger than this will not be regarded as black frame
ticker_tape=0 ; Amount of pixels from bottom to ignore in all processing
intelligent_brightness=0 ; Set to 1 to use a USA specific algorithm to tune some of the settings, not adviced outside the USA
logo_percentile=0.92 ; if more then this amount of logo is found then logo detection will be disabled
logo_threshold=0.80
aggressive_logo_rejection=0
connect_blocks_with_logo=1 ; set to 1 if you want successive blocks with logo on the transition to be regarded as connected, set to 0 to disable
cut_on_ar_change=0 ; set to 1 if you want to cut also on aspect ratio changes, set to 0 to disable
delete_show_after_last_commercial=1 ; delete the last block if its a show and after a commercial
delete_show_before_or_after_current=1 ; This can lead to the deletion of trailers of next show
shrink_logo=5 ; Reduce the duration of the logo with this amount of seconds
padding=0
delete_logo_file=1 ; set to 1 if you want comskip to tidy up after finishing
output_framearray=0 ; create a big excel file for detailed analysis, set to 0 to disable
output_videoredo=0
output_womble=0
output_cuttermaran=0
output_mpgtx=1
output_zoomplayer_chapter=0
output_zoomplayer_cutlist=0
output_edl=0
live_tv=0

[zehd]

Wish they said more about the install process... Had to truncate today's log (too big), but the same errors repeat.

Here's the comskip.ini, although I'm not presently using it. Had bad luck with it about a year ago, so until I'm motivated, I'm manually skipping through recorded programs. Why should Comskip play a factor in playing back AVI's?

No good. I need you to attach the comskip.ini. Also, the ZProcess.log isn't important right now.

The Regsettings log show that you are working with MEncoder.Let's not. Let's try and get this working with ffmpeg first.

I'm pretty sure that the comskip.ini is actually corrupt or formatted incorrectly.

Let me see the comskip.ini, and I should be able to find the glitch.

[zehd]

Scratch that. I know what happened. You have edited the comkip.ini

Here is an excerpt of mine...

Code:

output_demux=0                ; set to 1 if you want comskip to demux the mpeg file while scanning
sage_framenumber_bug=0
sage_minute_bug=0
live_tv=0    ; set to 1 if you use parallelprocessing and need the output while recording
cuttermaran_options="cut=\"true\" unattended=\"true\" muxResult=\"false\" snapToCutPoints=\"true\" closeApp=\"true\""

You'll notice that 'live_tv' is not the last entry, (yours is...) and that it still has the comments.

I'm a HUGE proponent to using defaults, and this structure comes from the original comskip.ini shipping with comskip. If I want to edit a value, I change live_tv=0 to live_tv=1 (ZProcess actually lets you do that inside the gui)

I won't be changing ZProcess to work around this. I suggest you getting a copy of the original comskip.ini. If you have tweaked it for better commerical detection, make note of the changes and just change the variables 'in place' and leave in the comments...

And now that this error is fixed, I'll bet that ZProcess will start working right for you. You do have a great grasp on how it should work. I would use small steps though. Make sure you use ffmpeg first. Once you have it all set right, you can just change ffmpeg to mencoder...

[zehd]

Or if you want to leave your comskip.ini file the way it is, just add an extra line after live_tv=0 something like this...

Code:

...
output_framearray=0 ; create a big excel file for detailed analysis, set to 0 to disable
output_videoredo=0
output_womble=0
output_cuttermaran=0
output_mpgtx=1
output_zoomplayer_chapter=0
output_zoomplayer_cutlist=0
output_edl=0
live_tv=0
;end of file

The semi-colon is used so comskip won't get confused by the line...

[hockeyrink]

W00t! A new comskip.ini file, and all the error messages go away! How cool is that...

Thanks so much for your patience. I'm off to test it on the MVP!

------------------

Ahhh, much better - thenkyoubeddymuch. Mencoder dies after about 5 seconds of encoding (can't find a error in a logfile), but FFmpeg is working just fine. That'll do just fine until I rebuild my PVR box on a weaker machine and *need* the extra processor headroom.

Thanks again!

[zehd]

That'll do just fine until I rebuild my PVR box on a weaker machine and *need* the extra processor headroom.

Just a friendly thought... Downgrading to a weaker machine and counting on MEncoder to help with a few LESS horsepower is really IMHO a recipe for disaster...

I remember trying to get my doorstop PIII working as a PVR a year ago. It seemed a waste to have it sit not doing anything. Might as well be a PVR right? Well, I've since realized that more of my time was wasted trying to get it working.

The tax refund took care of a new Motherboard and CPU, used my old hard drive and other stuff, and just upgraded components when other cash rolled (i mean trickled) in.

And very shortly I will be removing my endorsement of MEncoder as a FASTER transcoder. (not removing support - still let you have choice). It seems to have colour correction and better sync of transcoded files, you need a pretty beefy computer. I'm hoping the new version of VLC comes out and addresses those issue...

If you are unable to get MEncoder working on your current setup, there is a good chance it won't work with a lesser machine...