Jump to content

DVBViewer Recording Properties


Lars_MQ

Recommended Posts

The basics of this Windows Explorer Plugin are explained here: http://www.DVBViewer...howtopic=33276.

 

New in 2.0

 

- 32bit AND 64bit Versions. The installer will install the fitting version for your Windows.

 

- Add: Supports TS and MPEG Files for the file properties.

 

- Add: Additionaly it can now create Explorer thumbnails for a lot of video files (thanks to the help of ffmpeg).

Which file formats it should support can be selected in the installer.

 

- Add: The installer can download the latest ffmpeg version and extract it into the correct folder for you. It will select the 32bit or 64bit version depending on your windows version.

 

- Add: For recordings without file properties the property file (the txt file with the same name) is used if available to gather the needed informations.

 

- The plugin uses the DVBVPropertyHandler.ini in the (DVBViewer) program folder to save it's configuration. Most value can't be changed or do have only effect on installation but there are two values which might be of interesst:

 

* "Offset": describes the offset in seconds ffmpeg should use to create the thumbnail. ffmpeg might fail to create the thumbnail for this offset and will fall back to an offset of 0 and try again.

 

* "readnetwork": For performance reasons reading the in-depth file properties (resolution, codecs, duration etc) is disabled. With this setting you can activate (=1) it. Default is deactivated (=0).

 

Changing these settings will most likely require administrator rights for the editing program. And it might take several minutes till the change takes effect.

 

 

This plugin only works for Windows Vista and newer. The installer will refuse to install it on Windows XP!

 

 

In Deutsch

Link to comment

- Add: Additionaly it can now create Explorer thumbnails for a lot of video files (thanks to the help of ffmpeg).

Which file formats it should support can be selected in the installer.

 

OK, I tried this but thumbnail generation using ffmpeg is very slow, and very high in CPU usage, using LAV is much quicker and more CPU efficient. Also when you uninstall TS thumbnail generation is broken.

Edited by dvbrewer
Link to comment

No it is not broken, it is removed. Since there can only one thumbnail generator be at work, you have to reactivate the old one.

I see, thanks. Can you explain why this cannot create thumbnails that work inside the OSD? I have tried the generator in Settings>Movies>Movie Thumbs but this always fails for me.

Link to comment

- The plugin uses the DVBVPropertyHandler.ini in the (DVBViewer) program folder to save it's configuration. Most value can't be changed or do have only effect on installation but there are two values which might be of interesst:

Wondering if it's perhaps possible to rename the fileinfo variables or is this hardcoded into the OS? For example the season and episode value in the fileinfo pop-up gets located under the "Subtitle" label/variable, which is quite confusing. It's of course the same for the explorer properties. The RS info files uses the "Info" label for the very same information, which is a bit less confusing.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Big problems on my 64-bit system with DVBViewer Recording Properties v.2.0. All fileinfo/properties durations values has disappeard. The whole field is gone in the fileinfo and the recordings db has merely doubled in size. I have 652 .ts in the backup and 1147 is showing in rec.db. On my 32-bit system everything's normal with DVBViewer Recording Properties v.1.0.

 

post-56433-0-10698000-1333319645_thumb.jpg

post-56433-0-52229300-1333319664_thumb.jpg

Edited by majstang
Link to comment

That's intended. Before the duration was taken from the fileinfo, which was the epg duration. It did not take pre/post roll times into account. This caused severe trouble with the WMP, which took the wrong duration.

 

Now the correct fileduration is calculated among with the resolution and all. It is (for performance reason) deactivated for networked drives. You can activate it by setting in the file "DVBVPropertyHandler.ini" the entry

 

readnetwork=1

 

to 1. It might take some seconds until the setting gets active.

Link to comment

That's intended. Before the duration was taken from the fileinfo, which was the epg duration. It did not take pre/post roll times into account. This caused severe trouble with the WMP, which took the wrong duration.

 

Now the correct fileduration is calculated among with the resolution and all. It is (for performance reason) deactivated for networked drives. You can activate it by setting in the file "DVBVPropertyHandler.ini" the entry

 

readnetwork=1

 

to 1. It might take some seconds until the setting gets active.

The new fileduration calculation method clearly brings new problems to the table. The readnetwork=1 tweak only applies to actual recordings (here the duration values appears) and it doesn't affect the dummy.ts in the backup (still no duration values showing). Seeking some backward compatibility here for all old backup. Even on newly recorded files (which have the duration field) when copying the fileinfo from actual recordings over to dummy.ts with propcopy the duration field is gone. This creates issues in the next step, when taking into account how important the duration value is for a correct recordings database.

 

When rebuilding the db and without the duration values on my dummies I get massive amounts of duplicate entries. First showing 1 hour of duration and the duplicate showing 2 hour of duration. Like this:

fr, 2011-12-30 20:00 (02:00) Discovery Channel Mythbusters - E104

fr, 2011-12-30 19:00 (01:00) Discovery Channel Mythbusters - E104

Perhaps this issue also plays a role getting this result:

http://www.DVBViewer.tv/forum/topic/47452-rs-database-winter-time-change-bug/

 

However if there could be a chance to get the new method working for dummy.ts as well and in the same time play nicely with the winter time change issue perhaps everything would be fine and dandy :)

 

regards

majstang

Link to comment

Just a minor detail. The thumbnail feature in v.2.0 doesn't generate a thumbnail in the tooltip for recordings (RS recordings tab) like the old thumbnailgenerator did. That was a nice feature so hopefully it will be back down the road :bye:

Link to comment

I've reworked the whole thumbnail generation quite a bit.

Now if available the LAV Filter Decoder and Source are used, because they are faster (-> hardware decoding) and keep the aspect ratio even if it changes within the offset. FFMpeg will only be a fallback then.

 

I'm currently working on minor details and hopefully the next beta will be out soon.

 

 

Edit:

After I read your post the second time: There never was a thumbnail in the tooltip? Where exactly do you mean?

Link to comment

I'm currently working on minor details and hopefully the next beta will be out soon.

Great news :thumbsup:

 

Edit:

After I read your post the second time: There never was a thumbnail in the tooltip? Where exactly do you mean?

Yes, it is!

 

Checking the tooltip for an actual recording in my RS recordings database (webinterface-->Recordings tab) on my Win7 32-bit system with RS 1.9.4.1 and DVBViewer recording properties v.1.0 gives this:

post-56433-0-63026800-1333566985_thumb.jpg

 

Same recording with Win7 64-bit, RS 1.9.4.1 and DVBV Recording Properties 2.0 gives:

post-56433-0-61193100-1333567075_thumb.jpg

 

The thumbnail has been replaced by a channel logo.

Link to comment

Ah I see. Those are completely unrelated. The recording properties are only used for the Windows Explorer.

 

The Thumbnails for the recording service are created by the vthumbs.exe and ffmpeg (for now). Check your service.xml if it is activated

 

  <section name="Recording">
   <entry name="CreateThumbs">1</entry>

Link to comment

Hi Lars,

 

I've tried delprops.exe and noticed that I used the wrong clear/save at the wrong side, so I have some TXT Files now for Recordings looking like this:

 

[General]
Version=1.1

[Media]
Created=
Channel=

[0]
Id=
Date=30.12.1899
Time=00:00:00
Duration=00:00:00
Title=
Info=
Series=
Description=
Charset=255
Content=0
MinimumAge=0
TimerID=

[stats]
Errors=0
Size=2,83 GB (3043020828 bytes)
Avr. Datarate=0,421 MB/s
Device=TechniSat Mantis DVBC BDA Receiver (1)

[General]
Version=1.1

 

I'm able to recreate Date, Time, Channel and so on with a small bash script, but what is that Id? Do I have to fill in even more to get these recordings back to the RecordingService Webpage/Recordings?

 

thanks!

Link to comment

Ah I see. Those are completely unrelated. The recording properties are only used for the Windows Explorer.

 

The Thumbnails for the recording service are created by the vthumbs.exe and ffmpeg (for now). Check your service.xml if it is activated

Yes, i messed up checking the newly added thumbnail option in RS. Sorry for the confusion :blush: Wasn't sure about how the new DVDV rec.prop ffmpeg thumbnail generator role works in relation with RS.

 

regards

majstang :bye:

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

I posted about this issue before, but in the wrong thread (DVBViewer Recording Properties v.1.0). The issue is about missing values in the extended file properties. Now when having tested DVBVRP v.2.0 more extensive on my WIN7x64 there's pretty often one or more Video property values are missing. I do notice especially when the Video Compression value is gone, cuz that particular recording never gets sent for commercial removal. That happens every day now. Right now i'm having quite many discontinuities in my recordings and i'm wondering about if that can corrupt the bytes containing the file properties? Sounds far fetched when considering the DVBVRP v.1.0 (on the WIN7X86) always did a nice job identifying the Video Compression regardless of discontinuities.

Link to comment
  • 1 year later...

Saw this plugin was moved from the beta section in here, despite it's still a beta. Christian, do you know if Lars got the chance to finish the new beta he spoke of in this thread?

 

I'm currently working on minor details and hopefully the next beta will be out soon.

 

I'm currently choosing between plague and cholera in the sense DVBViewer Recording Properties v.1 doesn't support Unicode and .TS explorer thumbnails compared to the DVBViewer Recording Properties v.2 beta which supports Unicode, but has the nasty habit of failing identifying Video Compression (and other values also) of recorded files (on both 32/64-bit systems). The latter causes automatic commercial removal to fail, cuz it's dependant on the Video Compression value to work. This tool is a truly great and a popular addition to RS/DVBViewer and I really hope some more work will be put into it, especially to fix the nasty bug.

 

Regards

majstang

Link to comment

Christian, if you're planning to fix the bug in this plugin sometimes in the future here's a short sample where it failed: http://www.filedropper.com/2013082814-19-03kanal9tidsresenrerna-s18e0710cut

 

I also checked with MediaInfo GUI 0.7.64. and it successfully manage to identify the Video Compression. Updating MediaInfo.dll in DVBViewer folder from 0.7.62 -->0.7.64, DVBVRP v.2 beta still fails to identify Video Compression (and bitrate and dpi too). Bug is definitely in DVBVRP v.2 beta and not in MediaInfo. The failure is atm thankfully quite uncommon, maybe 1 out of 20 files or so.

Link to comment
  • 1 year later...

:( This beta doesn't work that well for Windows 10 x64. Particularly it uses the CLSID registry key for Audioformat/Video Compression instead of plain text. Also as said countless times it also sometimes fails to detect Audioformat and VideoCompression altogether, while MediaInfo.dll does not. Don't you think it's time for a better developed update to rid the bugs?

 

post-56433-0-89481500-1440701040_thumb.png

Link to comment

I do think Christian has the source code. Not sure though, but that seemed to be the case when contacting him a year or so back regarding my troubles with this plug-in.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...