SA w/ DVRMSToolbox

Hello all, I'm a brand-new SA user, having a bit of a problem. I have a registered version of SA installed via DVRMSToolbox (I'm using SA with MS Media Center 2005). When configuring SA I followed the instructions found here:

http://www.bluwiki.org/go/DVRMSToolb...C_Step_by_Step

Now, on to my problem. Whenever I begin to watch a show, I get the following message:

"Commercials file does not exist, would you like to process this show?"

Whether I choose YES or NO, manual and auto commercial skip will not work.

Can someone shed some light on this, for me?

Much appreciated.

-phil

Hi Phil,

What does the c:\program files\dvrmstoolbox\dvrmsfilewatcher.log show for one of the shows you chose to process?

J

Ah, it seems I did not have File Watcher logging enabled. I've enabled logging and am now recording another show. We'll see what happens.

However, I discovered, since my initial post, that the required xml file would suddenly appear in \DVRMSToolbox\CommercialsXml, after several minutes. (I had shutdown MCE and began to search the SA config for a possible answer). When I restarted Media Center, I could then skip the commercials in that particular recording. It made me wonder if SA needed some time to work on the dvr-ms, before being able to output the xml file.

Being somewhat of a nooby with SA, I'm really not clear on how it's supposed to work.

-phil

I don't think SA is analyzing my recordings by default. If I understand correctly, it only runs when I am asked:

"Commercials file does not exist, would you like to process this show?"

When I click YES, I see that a job file is created in \DVRMSToolbox\FWJobs\

Sometime after that, the xml file will be generated and the skip functionality will work. Obviously, I would like this to happen automatically, but I'm unsure what I need to alter in my configs to make that work.

Here's the dvrmsfilewatcher.log entry for the last show I recorded:

 
FW Begin Process F:\Recorded TV\Global National_CKMI_13_05_2006_17_44_36.dvr-ms
InputFile=F:\Recorded TV\Global National_CKMI_13_05_2006_17_44_36.dvr-ms
Processing actions, this may take some time!!
Testing "Processed Files"
Testing "Every File"
"Every File" is a match.
Profile = nativecommdetect
Migrate value in Context["InputFile"] to Context["TempMpeg"]
Duration = 00:00:00.0156250
Find Commercials in file
Duration = 00:00:00.0468750
Write commercial spans as xml
Duration = 00:00:00
Total Duration = 00:00:00.0625000

This only appeared after I hit YES to the above question, and not automatically. Is this an issue with FileWatcher or SA? I guess one could say I am lost.

-phil

ok i have more of an idea of what's going on.

first of all, when you choose to scan the particular recording that has no detection done on it yet by saying yes, it begins processing the file in the background. on a fastish system (for instance i only have a celeron d 2.93ghz) the file should be scanned by the time you hit the first set of commercials. the problem is that the plugin does not recognize the newly created xml file until you stop and restart playback (must check when you first start loading). this would confirm why when you go back to it that it works.

this means that:

a) commskip addin is working (up, down, left, right are responding)
b) SA is working because you have an xml
c) filewatcher seems to the culprit, is it running as a process when you open the task manager? have you read the wiki on dvrmstoolbox? it tells you how to set it up. if not setup properly it will not work at all.

also, i'll say it now cause i'll probably forget later on, you owe a n00b some help next time you see one asking for help and you know the answer.