ZTools: Coming soon! (to do list)

[scb147]

I've been using Ultra 1.2.151 for a little while now... doesn't seem to be stalling or anything.

But for new shows, if I have "Date matches AirDate" and "Considered a repeat after" set to 0 days, none of my shows come up as new. I'd expect that if a show has an AirDate of 01/13/2009 and the date it is showing is 01/13/2009, it would be marked new. But it doesn't seem to be doing that for me. I have to set it to 1, then I get the day of, and the day after set to as new shows.

I am going to be out of town for the next 8 days, so I won't be able to get you any logs. But I wanted to throw it out there for you to possibly look at to see if you can figure anything out without logs. I can provide logs when I get back if you need them.

Thanks for this app by the way!

[zehd]

Windows XP SP3. When I ran it interactively, it said that the attribute needed to be set and that it set it. A quick check confirmed that, however, it didn't stick. I don't remember how/when it got reset; just that I checked after a subsequent reboot and it was NOT set. As I said, after killing the pvrx2 and recording tasks and then setting manually it stayed set and all is well now.

Yes. I've confirmed that we will need to set the service manually for now untill I can get that working correctly

[zehd]

I've been using Ultra 1.2.151 for a little while now... doesn't seem to be stalling or anything.

But for new shows, if I have "Date matches AirDate" and "Considered a repeat after" set to 0 days, none of my shows come up as new. I'd expect that if a show has an AirDate of 01/13/2009 and the date it is showing is 01/13/2009, it would be marked new. But it doesn't seem to be doing that for me. I have to set it to 1, then I get the day of, and the day after set to as new shows.

I am going to be out of town for the next 8 days, so I won't be able to get you any logs. But I wanted to throw it out there for you to possibly look at to see if you can figure anything out without logs. I can provide logs when I get back if you need them.

Thanks for this app by the way!

I think you're right, that the logic is flawed. Certainly it makes sense that 0 days would make all shows new... But here's a thought...

If you want all shows to be marked new, then why are you even using a New Show Indicator (*)? Maybe (it's been a while) I wrote that 'flawed' logic because I thought if you would mark all shows new, would be the same as marking NO shows new...

Can someone give me an instance where that wouldn't make sense?

[zehd]

ZProcess

So I really think I've nailed down a roblem with ZProcess, and streamlined a couple of new features. I will probably 'release' it soon...



UltraXMLTV

I think that after discovering that the Interact With Desktop bug was affecting Both ZProcess and Ultra, I can now safely say that Ultra is pretty stable.

But before I release it, I will be adding a couple of features, including some major cosmetic changes... I will really look for help checking that all things are working. I won't be changing much logic at all, but you never know how things might snap when they're bent...


Post Processing

I've been toying with adding PostProcessing to ZProcess. But lately I'm being drawn to an idea that I would finish ZQueue, which was started to be a GUI for adding and deleting recordings to a list for deferred processing, and selectable post processes. It would be more like a combination of batch files that I've used over the years.

• ZQueue
  
• Recording finishes, entered into ZQueue list
  
• At Scheduled time, ZQueue will iterate list and process each entry in turn
  

• ZPost
  
• Transcode
  
• Retime
  
• Comskip
  
• Comclean (this one is gonna take a while cause there are so many ways)
  
• Rename
  
• Crop (remove overscan or remove letterbox)
  

ZPost would also be able run directly after a show is finished recording, so if your computer has the grunt...


Z-Aspect

As mentioned in a previous post, I have a program almost finished which helps set zoom and overscan for a PC Client, similar to MVPScreenPosition works with an MVP. It will also help configure the different aspect ratio (F7) choices

---

The reason I'm even writing this blurb is to see what interest exists. I know I want these utilities, but I'm willing to prioritize the order that I work on the features, if others are expressing interest...

[leaded1]

Frank,
Just wanted to give you a quick status update and cast my vote for your suggestions above. I've really got ZProcess (the latest "Pre")working well now. My SD widescreen h.264/aac videos show up great on my widescreen TV using sub's built in ffmpeg. (The FFMPEG-Alt is not built with faad, so the aac audio kills it). My SD TS recordings can be viewed on the fly if I pause a bit at the beginiing to let it build up a buffer (My server is pretty under powered and I am getting ~ 27-30 fps) using Mencoder 1 rc2. Coolest of all, I have my HD TS recordings running using sub's overnight processing to call Zprocess. The next morning I have a 720x480p .mpg file that looks shockingly nice on my 1080p tv through the MVP.
1) Is there any chance of configuring the transcode directory so that the new file stays in the same folder as the original and/or updating the path in the gbpvr database?

2) Of your suggestions above, I'd be most interested in a ZQueue that could run at specified times (days of the week and hours of the day). I love the idea of ZPost, but I've never trusted comskip enough to go through all of that without reviewing the cutpoints first.

Also, I get a popup window that says "53 file not found" whenever ZProcess uses Mencoder, but it doesn't seem to mess anything up.

Also Also, Ultra (I think I've kept up to date with the latest pre-releases) has been running great for me for months

Thanks for the great tools.
Leaded1

[zehd]

Frank,
Just wanted to give you a quick status update and cast my vote for your suggestions above. I've really got ZProcess (the latest "Pre")working well now. My SD widescreen h.264/aac videos show up great on my widescreen TV using sub's built in ffmpeg. (The FFMPEG-Alt is not built with faad, so the aac audio kills it). My SD TS recordings can be viewed on the fly if I pause a bit at the beginiing to let it build up a buffer (My server is pretty under powered and I am getting ~ 27-30 fps) using Mencoder 1 rc2. Coolest of all, I have my HD TS recordings running using sub's overnight processing to call Zprocess. The next morning I have a 720x480p .mpg file that looks shockingly nice on my 1080p tv through the MVP.
1) Is there any chance of configuring the transcode directory so that the new file stays in the same folder as the original and/or updating the path in the gbpvr database?

2) Of your suggestions above, I'd be most interested in a ZQueue that could run at specified times (days of the week and hours of the day). I love the idea of ZPost, but I've never trusted comskip enough to go through all of that without reviewing the cutpoints first.

Also, I get a popup window that says "53 file not found" whenever ZProcess uses Mencoder, but it doesn't seem to mess anything up.

Also Also, Ultra (I think I've kept up to date with the latest pre-releases) has been running great for me for months

Thanks for the great tools.
Leaded1

Thanks for the support.

Well the whole idea of configuring a output path is something I was thing about for zqueue/zpost But I beleieve adding that support to a working post setup like you have is easy enough... THanks for showing me that it all works the way I think it does...

As far as ZPost (idea) I also no not trust comskip enough to actually cut-out what is marked. I've seen threads where erik helps folks, but it's never been important enough to me to go through the troubleshooting. I don't let GB-PVR auto skip, and I don't cut out commercials. And I never miss anything...

So I would be making each of the steps for ZPost to be optional...

---

Short answer, I'll add some functionality for you to change the output path in ZProcess, but I think You'll also be happy with what I do for ZPost...

Though that might be a month or two (sorry for tease)

[leaded1]

No rush, I'm pretty satisfied with the way it is working now. I patiently look forward to trying out your new utilities.

Again, Thanks!

[scb147]

I think you're right, that the logic is flawed. Certainly it makes sense that 0 days would make all shows new... But here's a thought...

If you want all shows to be marked new, then why are you even using a New Show Indicator (*)? Maybe (it's been a while) I wrote that 'flawed' logic because I thought if you would mark all shows new, would be the same as marking NO shows new...

Can someone give me an instance where that wouldn't make sense?

My take on "0 day" is that a show will only be marked "new" on that day. As "1 day" is considered the day of, and the day after.

i.e.
Airdate = 01/23/2008
1 day = 01/23/2008 and 01/24/2008 are marked new

Airdate = 01/23/2008
0 day = 01/23/2008 is marked as new

I see no reason to mark all as new if the setting is 0 day, then like you said, why use it.

[zehd]

On the BTW, I'm having a lot of fun with .net. And to open up my projects in VB6, almost made me think of the stone age...

I am currently working on an updated (actually redesigned) UltraXMLTV Enhancer. It's much faster so far (thanks whurlston) and very very stable with the Internet... Very frugal on downloading new copies of xml files. The TVDB guys will be happy I'm sure...

My goal from now on, is to make sure all my stuff will run regardless of the Recording Service set to 'interact with desktop. I'm sure that this will clear up a lot of details. Also I will be saving my settings to XML files, so that backing up your settings will be much easier...

I guess what I'm saying is, I won't be spending too much time working on new features or persistent bugs that I know I could have licked in VB.net...

[scb147]

Sweet, looking forward to it...