Feature Requests and Response Status

[Ryland]

Your test VAP6 detects commercials and saves the vprj file. I will test more tomorrow since I found that the input file seems to have an error which causes VRD to crash on output.

Edit: I had another video which I was able to use and VAP shows VRD as having stalled even though it never looks like it did (The bar kept moving and the file size was increasing). The output file was successfully created using VRD and the vprj file that VAP6 made.

Log:
10/8/2019 10:16:57 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: VideoReDo version 6.60.3.805 - Oct 4 2019
10/8/2019 10:17:02 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: VideoReDo opened file: \\TOWER\public\RecordedTv\NCIS (2003) - S17E03 - Going Mobile.ts
10/8/2019 10:28:20 PM VideoReDo completed VideoReDo AdScan on input: \\TOWER\public\RecordedTv\NCIS (2003) - S17E03 - Going Mobile.ts
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM 0 file ignore keys were read
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM 0 file wildcard match keys were read
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Read 0 input filename metadata parsing template(s)
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Read 0 title translation data lines
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Read 0 profile match list items
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Metadata-based templates:
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Series Output Folder = ""
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Series Output file = "{title} {seasonnum}x{epnum} {eptitle}"
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Movie Output Folder = ""
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Movie Output File Name = ""
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Title = ""
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Started auto-cuts, input: NCIS (2003) - S17E03 - Going Mobile
10/8/2019 10:30:37 PM Using profile: *MP4-H264
10/8/2019 10:30:49 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: VideoReDo version 6.60.3.805 - Oct 4 2019
10/8/2019 10:34:39 PM STALL ERROR: VideoReDo process stalled -- killing it
10/8/2019 10:34:39 PM Moving input file: NCIS (2003) - S17E03 - Going Mobile.ts
10/8/2019 10:34:39 PM Started moving stalled file: "NCIS (2003) - S17E03 - Going Mobile.ts"
10/8/2019 10:34:44 PM Finished moving "NCIS (2003) - S17E03 - Going Mobile.ts" to stalled folder
10/8/2019 10:36:58 PM H.264 is encoding for: NCIS (2003) - S17E03 - Going Mobile.ts
10/8/2019 10:37:26 PM Stopped program

 

[dlflannery]

Your test VAP6 detects commercials and saves the vprj file. I will test more tomorrow since I found that the input file seems to have an error which causes VRD to crash on output.

Edit: I had another video which I was able to use and VAP shows VRD as having stalled even though it never looks like it did (The bar kept moving and the file size was increasing). The output file was successfully created using VRD and the vprj file that VAP6 made.
…………….…………...

On the "Other" tab of the Advanced Configuration page there is a checkbox to disable stall detection.

Stall detection occurs if either of these two conditions are met::
1. If no progress is made over two 2-minute intervals
2. The total CPU time for the TVS6 COM process is less than 10% of time elapsed since the process started.

These parameters are not adjustable in the VAP6 UI, but they are in the VideoFileManager.xml file and changes can be edited (recommend edit this file only when VAP6 is not running, and save off a copy before editing)..

<MaxStalledFileRetries>1</MaxStalledFileRetries> See note 1
<StallCheckIntervalSeconds>120</StallCheckIntervalSeconds>
<StallRetryIntervalMinutes>10</StallRetryIntervalMinutes> See note 1
<StallCpuUseThreshold>0.1</StallCpuUseThreshold>

Note 1: The current settings mean the file moved to the stalled folder will be retried (moved back into the monitored folder) one time after a ten minute interval.

Obviously there is no algorithm/settings combo that can be guaranteed correct for any possible setup and contingency (e.g., CPU busy with too many other processes).

BTW, saving from VRD using the VAP6-created project file is not the identical task because you had to be using a different Output Profile. The *MP4-H264 is defined only within VAP6. It was created in TVS6 by starting with its MP4 profile then forcing the output codec to H.264 and setting the quality to 50, then exporting. You could of course create the identical profile in your TVS6.

EDIT:
The process you provided the log excerpt for went almost 4 minutes before stalling. What percent completion was it showing before the stall detection? Was it nearing 100%?

 

[Ryland]

EDIT:
The process you provided the log excerpt for went almost 4 minutes before stalling. What percent completion was it showing before the stall detection? Was it nearing 100%?

I will try again after disabling stall detection. It was probably around 60% done. Having it take awhile saving over the network is fairly normal for me.

 

[dlflannery]

I will try again after disabling stall detection. It was probably around 60% done. Having it take awhile saving over the network is fairly normal for me.

Don't know if you are aware of this VAP feature, or if it would help regarding your network situation:

If VAP terminates itself due either to -maxIdle or -shutdown times (while running with the -hotStart CL arg), it will launch a script named VAPonShutDown.cmd (or .bat) – if it finds the script in the configured Output Folder. VAP then terminates immediately (without waiting for the script process to complete). No arguments are sent to the script. A message telling whether the script was launched is logged. This script is a convenient place to execute clean-up operations that apply to many output files that have been processed, e.g., moving them to a network drive.

 

[Ryland]

My last usage of VAP6 went without a hitch without disabling the stall detection. I might just increase the timeout to 3 minutes and see how it goes. Thanks!

 

[dlflannery]

Just released Beta #3 of VAP6, which is a .NET 4.0 program built in Visual Studio Community. The integrated ability to use a free Git repository on Azure.com is nifty!

 

[minimeh]

Awesome, glad that worked out for you!

 

[dlj9999]

Just wanted to say i was having the same problem with "Comskip cannot process current file type -- reverting to VRD AdDetective ".
i inserted the xml dlflannery posted and everything works.
So thank you.

 

[dlflannery]

Just wanted to say i was having the same problem with "Comskip cannot process current file type -- reverting to VRD AdDetective ".
i inserted the xml dlflannery posted and everything works.
So thank you.

Glad it's working for you but confused by what you said. The xml file I attached earlier in this thread would have no connection with the Comskip message AFAIK. That message means just what it says. Typically it occurs when you try to use the free version on a file containing H.264 video.

 

[Bradj@mira.net]

Feature Request:
please add a “pre-processing” option, like post-processing but it is the first step executed.
this is so I can use the trim script as part of my workflow instead of having to do it in 2 passes (Trim only, then a second pass with QSF, AdScan and encode.

 

[dlflannery]

Feature Request:
please add a “pre-processing” option, like post-processing but it is the first step executed.
this is so I can use the trim script as part of my workflow instead of having to do it in 2 passes (Trim only, then a second pass with QSF, AdScan and encode.

This would be a major coding effort. However, it may be possible to configure VAP6 to make it do what you want without mods.

Could you give several examples of the sequence of file names for a video as it goes through your flow, i.e.,
Input file name
File name after trimming.
File name after QSF, Adscan and encode

Also, how are you doing the trim? Is this a script using VRD COM functions?

 

[Epic]

Feature Rquest: Profile selection box for Post-Processing.

 

[dlflannery]

Feature Rquest: Profile selection box for Post-Processing.

Not sure what you mean. Please give more detail on what you’re doing and how you want this to function.

 

[Epic]

Not sure what you mean. Please give more detail on what you’re doing and how you want this to function.

like the ad-scan selection box except for the vappostprocessing script. Right now I keep multiple vappostprocess scripts and rename them when I want to change the settings. Would be nice to be able to select the script used for post-processing in the vap interface.

 

[dlflannery]

like the ad-scan selection box except for the vappostprocessing script. Right now I keep multiple vappostprocess scripts and rename them when I want to change the settings. Would be nice to be able to select the script used for post-processing in the vap interface.

Don’t know if you’re aware that if you are sending output files to different meta-renamed folders, you can put different postprocess scripts in each such folder. VAP gives those scripts precedence over the script located in the default (UI-configured) output folder. Could you use this feature to accomplish your purpose?

Just curious: what are your postprocess scripts doing?

 

[Epic]

Don’t know if you’re aware that if you are sending output files to different meta-renamed folders, you can put different postprocess scripts in each such folder. VAP gives those scripts precedence over the script located in the default (UI-configured) output folder. Could you use this feature to accomplish your purpose?

Just curious: what are your postprocess scripts doing?

Thanks, can you provide and example for folders by show name?

I am using the postprocess script that came with VAP5, running the output of VAP through handbrake. I use two different scripts for handbrake depending on the show. Low for SD one for HD.

 

[dlflannery]

Thanks, can you provide and example for folders by show name?

I am using the postprocess script that came with VAP5, running the output of VAP through handbrake. I use two different scripts for handbrake depending on the show. Low for SD one for HD.

Click the "Advanced Configuraton" button.
On the "MetaData Templates" tab, look in the "MetaData-based output file and title renaming" section
See the template entries for TV Series and for Movies.
What you enter is a path with metadata substitution tags in {} inserted. Here is an example for TV series: c:\temp\mgmoves\{title}\{title}_{eptitle}
The template portion before the last '\' defines the folder naming, while the rest defines the file renaming.
The Tag Grabber at upper right makes it easy to select and insert the substitution tags.
Of course for this to work you have to have metadata for the video. VAP6 attempts to look up metadata from theTVDB or TMDb. If the input file is .TiVo or .mp4 or .wtv it will read metadata from it. And you can parse metadata from the input file name --- see the lower section "Templates for parsing metadata from input file names".

There are many further details about how the metadata stuff works but at this point I would need to know more detail about your file types and naming conventions. I'll be glad to help if you give it a try.

 

[Epic]

Click the "Advanced Configuraton" button.
On the "MetaData Templates" tab, look in the "MetaData-based output file and title renaming" section
See the template entries for TV Series and for Movies.
What you enter is a path with metadata substitution tags in {} inserted. Here is an example for TV series: c:\temp\mgmoves\{title}\{title}_{eptitle}
The template portion before the last '\' defines the folder naming, while the rest defines the file renaming.
The Tag Grabber at upper right makes it easy to select and insert the substitution tags.
Of course for this to work you have to have metadata for the video. VAP6 attempts to look up metadata from theTVDB or TMDb. If the input file is .TiVo or .mp4 or .wtv it will read metadata from it. And you can parse metadata from the input file name --- see the lower section "Templates for parsing metadata from input file names".

There are many further details about how the metadata stuff works but at this point I would need to know more detail about your file types and naming conventions. I'll be glad to help if you give it a try.

Thanks,
This example seems to be working.

 

[Bradj@mira.net]

This would be a major coding effort. However, it may be possible to configure VAP6 to make it do what you want without mods.

Could you give several examples of the sequence of file names for a video as it goes through your flow, i.e.,
Input file name
File name after trimming.
File name after QSF, Adscan and encode

Also, how are you doing the trim? Is this a script using VRD COM functions?

Sorry for the late response.

Regarding the file names I guess you're asking in case I use metadata renaming, or if I rename in the post-processing script? Which I don't.
I use the trim.vbs script that I got from this forum and I put the trimmed output into a different folder with the same file name.
I perform this trim to remove the start and end of my .ts files because the way my PVR saves the .ts file often causes QSF to stall. Trimming them usually fixes it.
If I had a pre-processing option I would change the script to replace the original file in the Monitor folder so that QSF could just continue on.
So my sequence would look like this.

VAP config Folder File name
Monitor Folder Monitor file.ts
Pre-processing would occur here, to cut the start and end so that the QSF process doesn't choke.
Temp (QSF) Folder QSF file.ts
Output Folder Encoded file.mkv

If I could also select the actual pre-processing and post-processing scripts to run in the front UI that would be awesome.

 

[dlflannery]

Do you use any parameters other than file name(s) when you call the trim script?

I’m pretty sure I can give you a setup for VAP6 that will accomplish your work flow. Rather than trying to explain it now, I am going to test it first myself before providing it. My approach will work if only the input and output video file paths plus **fixed** trim amounts are required as arguments to the trim script (or the trim amounts are hardwired in the script).

Actually I would appreciate getting a copy of the trim script since I’ve searched this forum and couldn’t find it.