Advice on File renaming, metadata, use with WMC

[ttfitz]

I'm trying to figure some stuff out, and have hopes that someone here might have some advice on what might work for my situation.

Background - I have been using NPVR for a long time, back to the GB-PVR days, with my WinTV HVR-1250 card installed in my main desktop computer in the den, recording clear QAM programs as a supplement to the Comcast DVR attached to the HDTV in the family room. I stream those recordings via TVersity (a DNLA server, if you aren't familiar with it) to the PS3 in the family room, and this has worked well for quite some time. I recently added the DCR-2650 cablecard tuner to my system in the hopes of replacing the DVR, not only saving the cost of the DVR, but putting the recordings under my control.

One thing I miss about recording on the DVR is having access to the show titles and summary, so I've been looking at what I can do in that regard. It looks like a XBox 360 is in my future, so this could be used as a Windows Media Extender to stream the files from my computer. I would prefer to continue recording using NPVR - I'm familiar with it, it works well, it records in ts format which is easier for me to work with in VideoReDo cutting commercials, and it allows me to record two shows at the same time with the HVR-1250 when things are on the same frequency.

So, I'm looking for a good method to get metadata to display in WMC. All the plugins and add-ons I have found for WMC need at a minimum filenames with SxxExx info. I have been experimenting a bit with Imagegrablite, but I haven't fully figured out what I need to do with the metadata and images there to use with WMC, and the fact that the renaming has been rather hit-or-miss so far, I'm not sure that is what I need. I've looked at a few other things, VidImport and GuidePlus, but I'm not sure if they are going to give me what I need, either. Most things, understandably, are geared towards viewing recordings with NPVR, so I sometimes get a little confused with it.

So, if anyone has suggestions, comments, or a full blown solution, I would certainly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

[mvallevand]

If the imageGrabLite renaming is hit or miss please post specific details otherwise I can't help fix it, that is why there is logging.

Martin

[ttfitz]

If the imageGrabLite renaming is hit or miss please post specific details otherwise I can't help fix it, that is why there is logging.

Martin

Yeah, I keep meaning to do something with that, but as I've just started messing with it, I haven't had a chance to dig into it. Part of it, too, is that sometimes I record 6 or 8 things in one night, and the log files have scrolled off for the ones which messed up.

I'll try to find a time when I get no rename and send you the data.

Thanks.

[mvallevand]

I can get the information I need from the recording-backup.xml file, since it shows what isn't renamed and can work without logs.

Martin

[ttfitz]

I can get the information I need from the recording-backup.xml file, since it shows what isn't renamed and can work without logs.

Martin

Okay, thanks, I'll keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, let me ask you a question - I run comskip parallel to recording, and when the renaming works, all the files get renamed, which is good. However, since I use VideoReDo when I edit out commercials, I use the VRD file (VideoReDo project file) output from comskip. The project file includes the name of the video file it is associated with, so of course when the files are renamed, it can't find the file. Is there any way to get the new filename that is being generated, so I can use it in my batch file to change the name found in the project file?

Thanks.

[mvallevand]

If it is inside that is a challenge, upload a .vrd sample and I will see what I can do.

Martin

[ttfitz]

If it is inside that is a challenge, upload a .vrd sample and I will see what I can do.

Martin

Well, if I had both the old name and the new one, it would be easy enough to do in the batch file, but if you want to look at it, here is a VPrj file for you (sorry, said the wrong extension before).

In the rename not working, I had two instances tonight, one a minor mystery (probably easily solved), and another complete mystery. The probably easily solved case showed an error of the rename not happening "Read Error The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process." I manually ran ImageGrabLite and it worked correctly. My guess is that comfix wasn't finished running at the time, perhaps?

In the other case, I had 3 recordings running between 9pm-10pm. Two of them did the rename fine. The third one did not, but there was no log file left behind - and it should have been, since there was a log for a recording done between 8pm-9pm still there. The nrecord.log shows the post processing file running, so I don't know what happened there. Once again, when running manually everything worked fine.

[mvallevand]

Well, if I had both the old name and the new one, it would be easy enough to do in the batch file, but if you want to look at it, here is a VPrj file for you (sorry, said the wrong extension before).

I can't think of a good way to pass it back, so I have an update that will do this too.

In the rename not working, I had two instances tonight, one a minor mystery (probably easily solved), and another complete mystery. The probably easily solved case showed an error of the rename not happening "Read Error The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process." I manually ran ImageGrabLite and it worked correctly. My guess is that comfix wasn't finished running at the time, perhaps?

Unless you run comfix in a second thread no, but possibly the file was in use being watched etc. My bulk renamer will fix this.

In the other case, I had 3 recordings running between 9pm-10pm. Two of them did the rename fine. The third one did not, but there was no log file left behind - and it should have been, since there was a log for a recording done between 8pm-9pm still there. The nrecord.log shows the post processing file running, so I don't know what happened there. Once again, when running manually everything worked fine.

That is odd, do you still have the NRecord.log? The bulk renamer will fix this too though.

Martin

[ttfitz]

That is odd, do you still have the NRecord.log? The bulk renamer will fix this too though.

Martin

Sure, it's attached.

This bulk renamer sounds interesting - I guess from the name it will take all those old files I have from before I started using the ImageGrabLite program and do the same renaming? Do the recordings have to be in the database for this to work (I've been moving things around a bit)?

[mvallevand]

Thanks, my logging strategy definitely needs to be improved.

The bulk renamer is actually just a function in the imageGrab with a GUI that I am working on. It is designed for working from the recording tables only, but if you are using MCE you might find other plugins to help you if you have moved them. There is also TVRename http://www.tvrename.com/ for files not in the database.

Martin