ComskipHelper utility

[ZaDDaZ]

I have completed my first pass at my ComskipHelper utility. This basically makes sure that all of your programs get Comskip ran on them, even ones previously recorded. It also controls the priority of the Comskip process, and limits the number of Comskip processes to one.

This is my first pass and I have been using it as is for a little over a week without incident. If you decide to use this, please let me know how it works. Also, read the ReadMe.txt file and comment on any other enhancements you would like. I'm releasing the debug build so that if there are any issues, I can get the exact exception that has occurred.

Cheers,
ZaDDaZ

[jdsnov73]

This is great! For some reason comskip would not run with my postprocessing.bat file before. I had to run comskip manually on each of my recordings.

After installing your ComSkipHelper, I no longer have to do any manual comskipping!

I've got my PVR up and running the way I want, except for a slight channel changing bug that I can't seem to figure out. But this will probably all change next week when I get my 2nd PVR-150 card and try and configure a dual tuner set-up. I am hoping it will all go smoothly, but things haven't seemed to be happening that way for me.

Thanks again.

[CodeMonkey]

The author of comskip has a new similar product he is currently testing called ShowAnalyzer. I've played with it a little, and it does a better job than comskip and is much faster as well. He also has a helper app called comskip proxy that lets you run ShowAnalyzer the same way you run comskip now. You guys that use comskip a lot might want to check it out here .

He also has a program there called dirmon that can automatically start ShowAnalyzer when files in a particular directory appear. So in theory it could be used instead of a comskip enabling plugin.

[ZaDDaZ]

Sounds cool, but ComSkip is here now. I'll definately monitor this and check it out when its out of testing. DirMon sounds cool, but one thing people really seem to want is the ability to skip certain channels, I'm assuming movie channels, which would be difficult for a file monitoring utility to do.

Does anyone know when ComSkip can be run on a file? Does the file have to be fully recorded? Or could I launch ComSkip when there is like 10 minutes left in a program assuming that ComSkip will take at least that long to finish?

[Pioneer4x4]

Does anyone know when ComSkip can be run on a file? Does the file have to be fully recorded? Or could I launch ComSkip when there is like 10 minutes left in a program assuming that ComSkip will take at least that long to finish?

I don't know that, but it's worth a manual try.

FWIW, on my machine, it it is idle, it 'comskips' a file in about 1/4 the length of time. For example, a 30 min show is done in about 7 min.

I have a P4 2ghz

[stefan]

According to this:
http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=1...tcount=173
you should be able to start comskip on a file as soon as it has started recording. Wonder if it runs until it detects that the recording has ended?

[Jere_Jones]

Comskip can run on a file that is still being recorded. When it reaches the end of the file, it waits a little and checks to see if the file has grown. If it has it continues to process. If not, it finishes up.

I would personlly recommend that you run comskip like this for 2 reasons:

1) It finishes sooner.
2) It uses MUCH, MUCH fewer resources.

Jere

[CodeMonkey]

Jere:

Does ShowAnalyzer operate this way as well?

[Jere_Jones]

Yes is does. Although I recommend you turn on throttling at the same time. That way you won't even notice when SA has to rewind when it found an edge profile.

Jere

[Jere_Jones]

ShowAnalyzer is the only program that is protected by patents. Since I have to pay royalties on those patents, I have to have some way to limit the distribution. The password is how I do it. If you would like more information take a look here. That post will explain why SA is not available to everyone freely.

All the other programs are freely downloadable. However, if you don't have ShowAnalyzer then the comskip proxy won't do you much good.

DirMon of course is still useful. (And soon to be revamped.)

Jere