NextPVREncoder

[reven]

NextPVR Encoder

Download / Source Code located at github. Click the "Downloads" button on that page to grab the latest version.

Description
Simple little tool for reencoding your recordings after they have finished recording, will update your NPVR database with the new filename and delete the original recording.
It uses Handbrakecli.exe to do the encoding (which is the bulk of the download).

Why Would You Use It?
# If you wanted to convert your ts files to a easier to use format like MKV.
# If you had a device that couldn't playback ts files
# If you wanted to store your recordings in a format that used less space

How To Use
1. Download from github
2. Extract to your "scripts" directory in NPVR (in Windows 7 location is -> C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts)
extraction should put PostProcessing.bat into the directory C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts and a subdirectory called "NextPVREncoder" into that directory
3. Open NextPvrEncoder.exe.config in your favourite text editor (I use notepad++), change "connstr" value if your database isnt located to "C:\Users\Public\NPVR\npvr.db3"
4. Your done.

NOTE: If you already have a PostProcessing.bat file, you will need to make a backup of that and combine the two files

Features
# Will queue recordings for reencoding, so if a encoding is already taking place when another recording finishes, the new recording will be added to the queue and processed after the other one is completed. This stops you from having too many encodings happening at once.

To Keep Original Files
Open NextPvrEncoder.exe.config and set "deleteoriginal" to "false"


This isn't a big util, I don't expect a lot of people to use it, it's just something I use and find easier to backup recordings. I convert all mine to MKV files, they playback better on my RaspberryPI and it's easier to edit a recorded movie in a MKV file than a TS. Once its in MKV I usually trim the start/stop and archive the movie.

[smajor]

I'll use it! I prefer mkv files too. I've manually converted thinks I've recorded to save as mkv with Handbrake. How are the output sizes compared to TS?

[reven]

SD ones are about half i think, HD about 70-80%.

you can change the handbrake command to whatever you like in the config file, its basically "Normal" preset but with 2 audio tracks, the original plus an aac one. (Normal present only has stereo aac, i wanted to keep the original which is usually ac3 5.1 where i live)

[jam_zhou]

Do you guys know if Handbrake can de-interlace with decomb/de-interlace on - does it do this automatically? When I try Handbrake with the decomb it still takes about 25 min for a 60 min show on my I7 (my dual core is able to do it in 35 min). I try to keep my encodes to below 15 min/hour which I can achieve with mencoder (but no interlacing). In mencoder I can enable threads with the x264 codec and I can see the difference as I enable more cores.

[UncleJohnsBand]

I loaded this up and am going to give it a go......

[UncleJohnsBand]

I am using the iPad pre-config....I discovered the line in the config that was commented out that was using a preset had an incorrect format.... you need to use --preset not -preset. When I just went with the default the conversion ran but the file size was all but the same size as the .ts file.

<add key="encoderParameters" value="-i &quot;{0}&quot; -o &quot;{1}&quot; --preset=&quot;iPad&quot;" />

[reven]

yeah i had to remove the second dash from the comment as comments do not allow "--" in an xml file, since thats the begin of a close comment statement.

personally im not to worried about file size, just after a better container and playback on a pi.

but you can make it whatever you like, just a simple little tool.

[UncleJohnsBand]

yeah i had to remove the second dash from the comment as comments do not allow "--" in an xml file, since thats the begin of a close comment statement.

personally im not to worried about file size, just after a better container and playback on a pi.

but you can make it whatever you like, just a simple little tool.

I have a bunch of stuff that will fire through tonight.....but one thing I remembered after one recording last night.....sometimes the .ts files do not have the correct header info and handbrake can't process them.....which is fine......but I think I recall that most of mine end up that way. We'll see what happens.

I updated the script to capture info in a set of logs....one for general processing info and the other for handbrake specific info. Below is my postprocessing.bat file and attached is an example of the two logs.

Code:

@echo off

rem *** This is the log directory ***
set log_dir=D:\Users\Public\NPVR\Logs\

echo ********* >>"%log_dir%%~n1_process.log"
echo    Handbrake Process Started... %date% %time% >>"%log_dir%%~n1_process.log"

cd /d "D:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts"
NextPvrEncoder\NextPvrEncoder %1 >>"%log_dir%%~n1_handbrake.log"

echo    Finished Handbrake processing... %date% %time% >>"%log_dir%%~n1_process.log"
echo ********* >>"%log_dir%%~n1_process.log"

One thing I noticed in this transcode was the line below....Is that coming from your app? I was watching the transcoded file and it was about 500mb.....the original was 3.3gb so I am not sure why this message came out? If this is your app....is this configurable?

Output file size is too small, assuming transcode failed

[UncleJohnsBand]

I have a bunch of stuff that will fire through tonight.....but one thing I remembered after one recording last night.....sometimes the .ts files do not have the correct header info and handbrake can't process them.....which is fine......but I think I recall that most of mine end up that way. We'll see what happens.

I updated the script to capture info in a set of logs....one for general processing info and the other for handbrake specific info. Below is my postprocessing.bat file and attached is an example of the two logs.

Code:

@echo off

rem *** This is the log directory ***
set log_dir=D:\Users\Public\NPVR\Logs\

echo ********* >>"%log_dir%%~n1_process.log"
echo    Handbrake Process Started... %date% %time% >>"%log_dir%%~n1_process.log"

cd /d "D:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts"
NextPvrEncoder\NextPvrEncoder %1 >>"%log_dir%%~n1_handbrake.log"

echo    Finished Handbrake processing... %date% %time% >>"%log_dir%%~n1_process.log"
echo ********* >>"%log_dir%%~n1_process.log"

One thing I noticed in this transcode was the line below....Is that coming from your app? I was watching the transcoded file and it was about 500mb.....the original was 3.3gb so I am not sure why this message came out? If this is your app....is this configurable?

Output file size is too small, assuming transcode failed

I updated to version 9.8 of Handbrake and the output file size too small message went away.

[jksmurf]

This isn't a big util, I don't expect a lot of people to use it, it's just something I use and find easier to backup recordings. I convert all mine to MKV files, they playback better on my RaspberryPI and it's easier to edit a recorded movie in a MKV file than a TS. Once its in MKV I usually trim the start/stop and archive the movie.

I often think about using something like this for the reasons you list above, but never dared as I was always worried comskip would no longer work.
I know it is possible to run comskip and comcut and take out the ads, then do the transcoding thing, but it seems messy.
If you convert it, can you THEN run comskip on the resultant mkv and get the same result ,and will NPVR skip as well as TS files (and FF etc?)

k.