Feature Request: Autoconvert WTV -> DVR-MS
- Thread starter Ryland
- Start date
dlflannery
Moderator
What version of VRD are you running? The most recent beta versions of VRD TVSuite with H.264 have good WTV support as far as I know.
I am running VideoRedo Plus 3 which doesnt support WTV files thus I am currently stuck right clicking on them and converting them to DVR-MS before importing them into VRD.
There is a utility floating around which would monitor my recorded tv folder BUT if I ran that and VAP I might have VAP running on both the WTV and DVRMS files.
There is a utility floating around which would monitor my recorded tv folder BUT if I ran that and VAP I might have VAP running on both the WTV and DVRMS files.
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dlflannery
Moderator
If that utility monitors a folder and converts the wtv files to dvr-ms files, it should work fine with VAP. VAP will not see the .wtv files because it knows it's being used with VRD Plus. Will that utility delete the wtv files after converting them, or do you want them deleted? VAP could be made to do what you want but why bother if the utility solves the problem? Even if the utility can't delete the .wtv files, that could easily be done automatically in a VAPpostProcess.cmd script.
A batch file that woud convert all the wtv files in a folder would also be fairly easy to do. Windows does these conversions using WTVconverter.exe located in C:\windows\ehome folder. VAP already runs that program for a completely different purpose, which is to tell whether a wtv file contains h.264 or mpeg2 video. (Presumably yours all are mpeg2.) The converter quits and produces no .dvr-ms file if its a h.264 video (since dvr-ms cannot contain h.264 video). VAP only does this if it can't get this info using the mediaInfo DLL.
A batch file that woud convert all the wtv files in a folder would also be fairly easy to do. Windows does these conversions using WTVconverter.exe located in C:\windows\ehome folder. VAP already runs that program for a completely different purpose, which is to tell whether a wtv file contains h.264 or mpeg2 video. (Presumably yours all are mpeg2.) The converter quits and produces no .dvr-ms file if its a h.264 video (since dvr-ms cannot contain h.264 video). VAP only does this if it can't get this info using the mediaInfo DLL.
dlflannery
Moderator
OK. If you don't find a clean solution, I will modify VAP. I'm curious what utility you're talking about. DirMon? DvrmsToolbox?
The app is WtvWatcher at http://wtvwatcher.codeplex.com/ .
Can you tell me what I am doing wrong? I have "Do Ad Scan" checked along with all folders selected. VAP detects my videos and if I tell it to start processing nothing shows in the "Current VideoReDo activity" window and nothing is created. The last line of the log says "VideoReDo complted ADSCAN on input <blah>. Where is the associated project file?
dlflannery
Moderator
To minimize my questions and guessing games, could you please open your VRDAutoProcessLog.txt file in notepad and select and copy the last few lines, preferably starting with the last point where it says:
"Started program -- VideoReDo-AutoProcessor - Ver. ????"
Then paste that in a text file and attach to a post here -- or insert in a post but enclose it in code tags.
If it said it completed adscan, there should have been something in the current activity window and a progress bar going across before that so that is quite puzzling. Please tell me what is checked in the Default Settings panel, since that won't be in the log file.
To find the folder containing the log file, open a command window and type:
echo %appdata%\vap
This location varies widely with Windows version and login.
"Started program -- VideoReDo-AutoProcessor - Ver. ????"
Then paste that in a text file and attach to a post here -- or insert in a post but enclose it in code tags.
If it said it completed adscan, there should have been something in the current activity window and a progress bar going across before that so that is quite puzzling. Please tell me what is checked in the Default Settings panel, since that won't be in the log file.
To find the folder containing the log file, open a command window and type:
echo %appdata%\vap
This location varies widely with Windows version and login.
dlflannery
Moderator
OK. The status of that file should have been "AWAITING CUTS". If you stop VAP processing and select that file and click the VRD button it will bring the project up in VRD for you to review and adjust the cuts. Then save (under the exact same project name) and restart processing in VAP, and it will continue by saving the output file with your modified cuts.
Is WtvWatcher working OK for you?
Is WtvWatcher working OK for you?
dlflannery
Moderator
Look at item 5 in the "Things To Know" section of the PDF. 
I seriously think my eyes are going. Did you really put:Look at item 5 in the "Things To Know" section of the PDF.
"5. The reader is a blind idiot who can't see that the log file is in %APPDATA%/VAP?"
thanks.
dlflannery
Moderator
The PDF isn't the greatest documentation. Some stuff is only described in the changelog items at the end. But I find using the search feature works pretty well in most cases. In this case searching for "log" finds it pretty quickly.
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Yeah, it probably would have. I scanned to the setup section thinking that the log location would be in there.
For some reason having VAP startup from the windows Startup folder made it not see the dvr-ms file that was in the input directory. I exited VAP and restarted it and then it saw the file but didnt automatically process it, I had to hit Start Processing to get it to do something. When it finished creating the vprj file I hit Stop Processing but then got an error box when I hit "Run VideoReDo". The log for today:
7/21/2011 4:55:42 PM log file C:\Users\Kevria\AppData\Roaming\VAP\VRDAutoProcessLog.txt is too large to display.
7/21/2011 4:55:42 PM Only new log events will be displayed.
7/21/2011 4:55:42 PM All log events will still accumulate in the log file
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM No command line arguments found
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM Started program -- VideoReDo-AutoProcessor - Ver. 0.77
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM Using configuration/data file: C:\Users\Kevria\AppData\Roaming\VAP\VideoFileManager.xml
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM VRD install folder: d:\Program Files (x86)\VideoReDoPlusBeta\
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM Read 0 input filename metadata parsing template(s)
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM Read 0 title translation data lines
7/21/2011 6:15:11 PM Stopped program
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM log file C:\Users\Kevria\AppData\Roaming\VAP\VRDAutoProcessLog.txt is too large to display.
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Only new log events will be displayed.
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM All log events will still accumulate in the log file
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM No command line arguments found
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Started program -- VideoReDo-AutoProcessor - Ver. 0.77
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Using configuration/data file: C:\Users\Kevria\AppData\Roaming\VAP\VideoFileManager.xml
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM VRD install folder: d:\Program Files (x86)\VideoReDoPlusBeta\
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Read 0 input filename metadata parsing template(s)
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Read 0 title translation data lines
7/21/2011 6:15:36 PM theTVDB metaData search succeeded for: Restaurant- Impossible_FOOD_2011_07_20_21_58_00.dvr-ms
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM 0 file ignore keys were read
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Read 0 input filename metadata parsing template(s)
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Read 0 title translation data lines
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Metadata-based templates:
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Output Folder = "
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Output file = ""
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Title = ""
7/21/2011 6:20:52 PM Started Ad Scan, .vprj only, input: Restaurant- Impossible_FOOD_2011_07_20_21_58_00.dvr-ms
7/21/2011 6:21:02 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: VideoReDo version 3.10.3.609 - Nov 16 2010
7/21/2011 6:21:16 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: Edit mode set to cut
7/21/2011 6:28:49 PM VideoReDo completed ADSCAN on input: D:\recorded tv\Restaurant- Impossible_FOOD_2011_07_20_21_58_00.dvr-ms
7/21/2011 4:55:42 PM log file C:\Users\Kevria\AppData\Roaming\VAP\VRDAutoProcessLog.txt is too large to display.
7/21/2011 4:55:42 PM Only new log events will be displayed.
7/21/2011 4:55:42 PM All log events will still accumulate in the log file
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM No command line arguments found
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM Started program -- VideoReDo-AutoProcessor - Ver. 0.77
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM Using configuration/data file: C:\Users\Kevria\AppData\Roaming\VAP\VideoFileManager.xml
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM VRD install folder: d:\Program Files (x86)\VideoReDoPlusBeta\
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM Read 0 input filename metadata parsing template(s)
7/21/2011 4:55:43 PM Read 0 title translation data lines
7/21/2011 6:15:11 PM Stopped program
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM log file C:\Users\Kevria\AppData\Roaming\VAP\VRDAutoProcessLog.txt is too large to display.
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Only new log events will be displayed.
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM All log events will still accumulate in the log file
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM No command line arguments found
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Started program -- VideoReDo-AutoProcessor - Ver. 0.77
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Using configuration/data file: C:\Users\Kevria\AppData\Roaming\VAP\VideoFileManager.xml
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM VRD install folder: d:\Program Files (x86)\VideoReDoPlusBeta\
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Read 0 input filename metadata parsing template(s)
7/21/2011 6:15:15 PM Read 0 title translation data lines
7/21/2011 6:15:36 PM theTVDB metaData search succeeded for: Restaurant- Impossible_FOOD_2011_07_20_21_58_00.dvr-ms
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM 0 file ignore keys were read
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Read 0 input filename metadata parsing template(s)
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Read 0 title translation data lines
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Metadata-based templates:
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Output Folder = "
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Output file = ""
7/21/2011 6:20:51 PM Title = ""
7/21/2011 6:20:52 PM Started Ad Scan, .vprj only, input: Restaurant- Impossible_FOOD_2011_07_20_21_58_00.dvr-ms
7/21/2011 6:21:02 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: VideoReDo version 3.10.3.609 - Nov 16 2010
7/21/2011 6:21:16 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: Edit mode set to cut
7/21/2011 6:28:49 PM VideoReDo completed ADSCAN on input: D:\recorded tv\Restaurant- Impossible_FOOD_2011_07_20_21_58_00.dvr-ms
dlflannery
Moderator
VAP should find files whether processing is active or not. But it will only run VRD processes when processing is active, i.e., you have clicked the "Start Processing" button. I don't see anything suspicious in the log file, assuming "Kevria" is the account you're logging on with. Are you saying VAP didn't see a file in its Monitor folder?
How did you set this up? Did you just put a shortcut in the startup folder, or something more complex? Win7 is tricky about UAC etc. I have dim memories of playing with task scheduling and automatic startup and they are more complicated to set up than in XP. Is there a place when you set this up where you choose to start up either at startup or upon login? If so you have to choose "at login" for it to work IIRC.
I searched the old TVAP thread (TVAP was the predecessor of VAP) and here is a link that should help: http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/showthread.php?p=64642
And look at the link quoted in that post too. I think you have to use the task scheduler to set this up and some quirky but critical details are in the linked post. IIRC I was able to set it up to run at login, but not just at startup (it doesn't know what account it's running in then).
There is a -hotstart command line argument that will cause VAP to enter the processing mode (as if you clicked Start Processing) as soon as it can after starting - about 20 secs or so. If you search on hotstart in the PDF you will also see a couple other CL switches that may be of interest, including automatic shutdown after a specified run time, and auto shutdown if idle more than a certain time.
How did you set this up? Did you just put a shortcut in the startup folder, or something more complex? Win7 is tricky about UAC etc. I have dim memories of playing with task scheduling and automatic startup and they are more complicated to set up than in XP. Is there a place when you set this up where you choose to start up either at startup or upon login? If so you have to choose "at login" for it to work IIRC.
I searched the old TVAP thread (TVAP was the predecessor of VAP) and here is a link that should help: http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/showthread.php?p=64642
And look at the link quoted in that post too. I think you have to use the task scheduler to set this up and some quirky but critical details are in the linked post. IIRC I was able to set it up to run at login, but not just at startup (it doesn't know what account it's running in then).
There is a -hotstart command line argument that will cause VAP to enter the processing mode (as if you clicked Start Processing) as soon as it can after starting - about 20 secs or so. If you search on hotstart in the PDF you will also see a couple other CL switches that may be of interest, including automatic shutdown after a specified run time, and auto shutdown if idle more than a certain time.
Kevria is the account that I am running in. I thought that it would automatically start processing any found files when it was started and have now added the -hotstart option.
I have it starting by creating a shortcut in the accounts Startup folder which should mean it only starts at login. The auto started VAP was open and nothing was in the Monitored Files folder until after I exited it and restarted it. I am going to leave it in the startup folder until tomorrow because I want to see what account it is starting up as.
I have it starting by creating a shortcut in the accounts Startup folder which should mean it only starts at login. The auto started VAP was open and nothing was in the Monitored Files folder until after I exited it and restarted it. I am going to leave it in the startup folder until tomorrow because I want to see what account it is starting up as.
I added the hotstart switch to my auto startup and VAP is starting up as the kevria user which is correct. I dont have anything scheduled to record until saturday but I just restored a dvrms file from my recycle bin, VAP saw it and started processing it so maybe it was just a fluke.
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the help!