[addon] AutoXvid (November 12 Update)

[leecole]

ThickHead,
I think you should leave subtitles=yes if you want subtitles. It isn't many programs that have a comma or a period in them (well there's always "Yes, Dear" it always has the comma.
It doesn't affect anything else, unless you choose to BurnSubtitles, then AutoXvid must wait on the SubTitles program to finish before it can start AutoGK, because to burn in the subtitles, they must be present. SubTitles, and EpisodeData are both seperate programs which do not affect AutoXvid in any way. Just as AutoXvid must wait on SubTitles to finish when you want to burn subtitles, AutoXvid normally does'nt wait on
EpisodeData, unless you are making Subdir. AutoXvid must wait on the EpisodeData in
order to find out Genre and Title. In both cases it does a RunWait instead of the usual Run.
The AutoGK log file should be in the root just like the avi. The AVI is there as soon as VirtualDub starts, but is not finished. The only way I can tell when it is finished is when AutoGK writes it's Log file.
At one point, I had ScheduledRun withot a menu, then even if you clicked on it's icon it would not stop. I decided against that because I almost always have ShutDown=Yes and then if everybody finishes earlir that I expected ScheduledRun will shutdown the system when the last job is finished, so sometimes I myself will shutdown ScheduledRun until I
finish whatever I am working on, then I doubleClick start SchedledRun myself, and instanlly (well Momentarlly it will run EpisodeData to import EpisodeData into BTV and then shutdown my system, Without a Exit menu, I would have to bringup TaskManager locate ScheduledRun and stop it's process that way. So I decided to put the menu back.
Lee Cole

[neekap]

Originally Posted by leecole

Portal45 or Neekap,
Please replace the InstallAutoXvid.exe that you are currently using with this one. Test and let me know as soon as possible, if it fixes your problem or not.
Lee Cole
Changed attachment after testing 3:17PM

Installed perfect. Will test tonight and see if it works or if it blows up

Additionally, I have a big handful of divx files that I need the metadata moved over from the original MPEGs (Which I still have). Can you give me a crash course on how to migrate that meta data so I can free up the gigs of space by deleting the mpeg-2's?

[leecole]

Originally Posted by neekap

Installed perfect. Will test tonight and see if it works or if it blows up

Additionally, I have a big handful of divx files that I need the metadata moved over from the original MPEGs (Which I still have). Can you give me a crash course on how to migrate that meta data so I can free up the gigs of space by deleting the mpeg-2's?

Be glad to do so.
1) Move both the mpg and avi into a Beyond TV Folder, NOT a subdir of a BTV folder. Even if you have Recurse as a option, BTV does not treat those subdirs as
a BTV folder.
2) In your AutoXvid dir edit AutoXvid.ini and under [AutoXvid] section set
Logging= Yes
3) Using explorer click on the mpg file and drag it over the desktop EpisodeData shortcut and release it. Almost instantly you should see a xml
file with the same name as the mpg file, appear in that same directory.
4) Now if you want to see the data, you can double click the xml file and internet explorer will load it and give you a warning, you can anser the warning yes or no, you will be able to see the data. Answering yes allows you to click on
the short - signs and expand or collapse them. If you answer no, you can't expand or colapsle them. When you are satisfied that they do represent the episode data, you can exit ie.
4) click on the AVI that has the same name as the xml, and drag it to the EpisodeData shortcut and release it. If the import works, you will see the size of the AVI increase a small bit, and the XML file will be gone.
The AutoXvid.log should have entries in it concerning the actions taken.
If you bring up Beyond TV and locate the AVI it should have the same info that the mpg file has except for size of file, and Div-AVI format instead of MPEG2 format.
So first drag over the mpg and drop it on EpisodeData shortcut, then drag and drop the AVI.
You can probably do them all in just a few minutes.
Lee Cole
By the way, now you can move the avi to a recursed subdir or another BTV folder.

[jsereda]

Hi,

I had a few questions about this app.

1. Is it possible to have this program only run on only one of my BTV folders instead of all of them. I edited the ini file and specified only the folder I want encoded, however it still encodes every newly recorded show reguardless of which BTV folder they are in. Would I need to restart a service or something in order for the ini file changes to take effect?

2. Can I have this only run when I tell it to? Like if I come home from work today and decide I want to encode the files then, rather than a set schedule or immediately.

3. Instead of specifying a percentage for quality or size, can I tell it a bitrate to encode the file to? Also can I utilize 2 pass encoding? I've never used autogk so I don't know if this is a valid question.


Also something I noticed is that after a show records and the show data transfers, the episode name appears twice, example....
Da Ali G Show - War (original show data)
Da Ali G Show - War "War" (Transfered show data)

[leecole]

Originally Posted by jsereda

Hi,

I had a few questions about this app.

1. Is it possible to have this program only run on only one of my BTV folders instead of all of them. I edited the ini file and specified only the folder I want encoded, however it still encodes every newly recorded show reguardless of which BTV folder they are in. Would I need to restart a service or something in order for the ini file changes to take effect?

2. Can I have this only run when I tell it to? Like if I come home from work today and decide I want to encode the files then, rather than a set schedule or immediately.

3. Instead of specifying a percentage for quality or size, can I tell it a bitrate to encode the file to? Also can I utilize 2 pass encoding? I've never used autogk so I don't know if this is a valid question.


Also something I noticed is that after a show records and the show data transfers, the episode name appears twice, example....
Da Ali G Show - War (original show data)
Da Ali G Show - War "War" (Transfered show data)

1) The link to Beyond TV is not that flexable, as far as I can learn. When I set up the link, he posts me with the drive:\path\filename.mpg for every show. Currently the tool builds a list of BTV folders, only so it knows in what folders
I can use to import Episode data. I must move the AVI into one of BTV's folders before it will accept a inport of episode data. And the list of BTV folders that have the Recurse option is built so if you ask to make a subdir, those folders are the only ones that BTV will "see". As I have designed it, I accept all recordings that are posted, and queue them to AutoGK. AutoGK doesn't start encoding, until ScheduldedRun hits the AutoGK START button, for IMMEDIATE that occurs immediatly. So if I have AGKExecutionHours set for MidNight thru 9am, and during the day, you recorded 4 shows, when you got home from work at say 6pm, you would find AutoGK loaded and in its Que box would be the 4 shows, but it would be setting idle. Also loaded would be ScheduledRun, and it would be asleep set to awaken at midnight. At this point, you could edit AutoXvid.ini and comment out (any char will do) ;AGKExecutionHours=Midnight thru 9am then code another (without any preceeding char) AGKExecutionHours=immediate then click on ScheduledRun icon in the taskbar (its my poor attempt at a hourglass) and click exit on its menu, it will end. Then you go to the folder where the AutoXvid package was installed and
double click that same icon there (starting ScheduledRun). It will read the AutoXvid.ini, see execution hours are immediate, and hit AutoGK START button, AutoGK will start encoding the first show, and when it is finished it will start encoding the next show, etc. Scheduled run will see when AutoGK is finished with each show, import episode data, etc. I could create another parameter, I suppose, that said what folders to accept recordings from, and just ignore all recording that were posted from somewhere else. I will ponder that.

2) AutoXvid was written to be input driven so it doesn't ask for input, it expects to be passed all input on it's cmdline. I tried to design it to be a Hands OFF tool, that provided the encoding to Divx that SnapStream removed. If you prefer, you could remove the file at 'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Snapstream\Beyond TV\CustomPostProcessing.XML' which would break the linkage between Beyond TV and AutoXvid. After that Beyond TV would not post AutoGK with any recordings, then using explorer you could locate an mpg that you wanted encoded, click on it and holding down the mouse button drag it to the AutXvid shortcut on your desktop, release it and AutoXvid will start the process.

3) AutoGK does have a key sequence that brings up a screen that allows you to set bitrates etc, see Shortcuts.txt in AutoGK folder, CTRL-F9 - launch hidden option properties, I think it is. I don't know enough to make such changes myself, so I leave it alone. It is my understanding, that AutoGK always does a single pass on Quality recordings and always does two pass on Filesize recordings. I have never verified this, but if your AutoXvid OutPutSize=FileSize 700 then my tool chooses FileSize 700MegBytes for AutoGK instead of the Quality. Because others wanted it, you can also specify OutPutSize=FileSize 30% (AutoGK doesn't provide this) I get the mpg filesize * 30 / 100 and round it to MegBytes, then set AutoGK FileSize = result.

I hope this has been helpful. I am not a encoding guru, I like many others just wanted a way to get a reasonable quality recoding that took less disk space, and because of my age, I don't always hear the dialog, so I like subtitles. My attempt has been to provide as many features as possible, without requiring a lot of tecnical info. AutoGK seemed a logical choice, although, for my purposes, it would have been even better if it accepted cmdline input, or a script to take it's input from. Instead I have to bring up it's screen and attempt to fill in it's parameters from there.
Lee Cole

I almost forgot your unnumbered query. I too see the difference, but I don't alter anything in the exported data except what is required to get BeyondTV to accept the episode data. If you drag an MPG file to the shortcut for EpisodeData that is on your desktop, release it, you will see a XML file appear in the same folder where the MPG is. It will have same filename.xml. That is the Episode Data. Double clicking it will cause IE to load it (it will give a warning, if you answer yes or no, it will still display the contents) (Answer yes and you can click the dash that it preceeds each node with and it will collapse the node and the dash will become a plus, answer no and you can't collapase or expand nodes). The only things I change are the FORMAT from MPEG2 to Divx-AVI and the drive:\path\filename.mpg to avi. So I too don't understand the difference you observed. If you have an AVI file in the same folder, then you can drag/drop the AVI file to the EpisodeData shortcut, and EpisodeData will edit the xml makng the changes I just described, and then will import the data to Beyond TV. It then destroys the XML.

OK, I pondered, I made changes to AutoXvid. With this version of AutoXvid any
file that comes from a dir that is not in the BTVRecordFolders= will be rejected. I will still build the INI including all BTV folders, but with this AutoXvid.exe you should be able to edit the list to limit what folders will be encoded to AVI.
I have made changes that require updates to several prograns, so before you install this AutoXvid.exe, please get the AutoXvid package V1.0.3.0, install it,
then install this AutoXvid.exe in place of the one in the package. Then edit your AutoXvid.ini and change BTVRecordFolders= to just the folders you want to be encoded. After that, every time AutoXvid is posted with a recording, it will compare the folder the recprding is in against BTVRecordFolders= and if it finds no match, it exits. If logging is on it does log the fact that it was rejected because it was not in an acceptable folder.
You are the tester. Let me know.
Lee Cole

[neekap]

Lee ---

Thanks for the info, that worked great!

I recorded a couple of shows last night but it didn't look like they auto-converted. I manually triggered the process by dragging them from my SnapStream folder (D:\TV) to the Autoxvid icon on my desktop. It converted great, but despite the entry in the ini file, it dumped the avi to the root of D:, not D:\TV as specified in the ini file.

Here's the chunk of my autoxvid.ini file:
[AutoXVID]
AutoGKPath= C:\Program Files\AutoGK\AutoGK.exe
BTVRecordFolders= D:\TV
BTVRecurseFolders= D:\TV
OutPutSize= Quality 30%
Priority= Normal
MakeSubDir= No
SubDirFormat= Genre\Title
Logging= Yes
OutPutFolder= D:\TV

And here's the log file from one of those shows I manually tried to do. (Nothing was logged for the auto)

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ___________
2005-08-23 23:16:48 : AutoXvid: D:\TV\Intensity-2005-07-15-0.mpg
2005-08-23 23:16:48 : OutPutSize SB Quality 30%
2005-08-23 23:16:48 : EpisodeData exported episode data into D:\TV\Intensity-2005-07-15-0.xml
2005-08-23 23:16:52 : Final Path=D:\TV MakeSubDir=0 DeleteSource=0 EpisodeData+1 Shutdown=0 Chapters=0
2005-08-23 23:16:52 : AutoXvid Qued D:\TV\Intensity-2005-07-15-0.mpg to AutoGK
2005-08-24 08:13:45 : XmlEdit: D:\TV\Intensity-2005-07-15-0.xml
2005-08-24 08:13:46 : EpisodeData has saved episode data into D:\TV\Intensity-2005-07-15-0.avi
2005-08-24 08:15:29 : EpisodeData exported episode data into D:\TV\Top Gear-(Ferrari's Million Dollar Supercar)-2005-08-17-0.xml
2005-08-24 08:15:34 : XmlEdit: D:\TV\Top Gear-(Ferrari's Million Dollar Supercar)-2005-08-17-0.xml
2005-08-24 08:15:34 : EpisodeData has saved episode data into D:\TV\Top Gear-(Ferrari's Million Dollar Supercar)-2005-08-17-0.avi
2005-08-24 08:15:38 : EpisodeData exported episode data into D:\TV\Top Gear-(Ferrari 612 Scaglietti vs. Jet Plane)-2005-08-10-0.xml
2005-08-24 08:15:42 : XmlEdit: D:\TV\Top Gear-(Ferrari 612 Scaglietti vs. Jet Plane)-2005-08-10-0.xml
2005-08-24 08:15:42 : EpisodeData has saved episode data into D:\TV\Top Gear-(Ferrari 612 Scaglietti vs. Jet Plane)-2005-08-10-0.avi
2005-08-24 08:16:59 :

[leecole]

neekap,
If nothing is logged then AutoXvid isn't being posted by Beyond TV. Please do this, go to
the first entry of this thread. Download AutoXvid package, it is V1.03.0. Unpack it and run the InstallAutoXvid again. I always have AutoGK build in the root of the drive that contains the final destination folder. That keeps Beyond TV from seeing AutoGK's test avi and work files and working dir agk_tmp. When AutoGK is finished I "move" the file to it's final destination. No move actually occurs, the opeating system simply updates the directory, to show the file there. In the initial release, I had forgotten that Beyond TV required a DLL be installed before BTV would post an external routine when a recording is finished. Obviouslly you don't have that DLL. After you unpack V1.0.3.0 into the AutoXvid directory you should see ssppcmd.dll. After you run InstallAutoXvid it will be gone. When AutoXvid gets posted with a mpg, you should see ScheduledRun icon in the systemtray, it is the program that waits on AutoGK to finish. It's icon is my poor attempt at a hourglass, don't click that icon, because that stops the program from running. It goes to sleep for 5 min, wakes up looks in the root for AutoGK log file. The AVI appears there as soon as VirtualDub begins the encription, but the avi isn't complete. AutoGK will create a log file when it is done. ScheduledRun will then move it to D:\TV and import episode data to BTV, and delete AutoGK's work files and work dir.
Lee Cole

[neekap]

Originally Posted by leecole

neekap,
If nothing is logged then AutoXvid isn't being posted by Beyond TV. Please do this, go to
the first entry of this thread. Download AutoXvid package, it is V1.03.0. Unpack it and run the InstallAutoXvid again. I always have AutoGK build in the root of the drive that contains the final destination folder. That keeps Beyond TV from seeing AutoGK's test avi and work files and working dir agk_tmp. When AutoGK is finished I "move" the file to it's final destination. No move actually occurs, the opeating system simply updates the directory, to show the file there. In the initial release, I had forgotten that Beyond TV required a DLL be installed before BTV would post an external routine when a recording is finished. Obviouslly you don't have that DLL. After you unpack V1.0.3.0 into the AutoXvid directory you should see ssppcmd.dll. After you run InstallAutoXvid it will be gone. When AutoXvid gets posted with a mpg, you should see ScheduledRun icon in the systemtray, it is the program that waits on AutoGK to finish. It's icon is my poor attempt at a hourglass, don't click that icon, because that stops the program from running. It goes to sleep for 5 min, wakes up looks in the root for AutoGK log file. The AVI appears there as soon as VirtualDub begins the encription, but the avi isn't complete. AutoGK will create a log file when it is done. ScheduledRun will then move it to D:\TV and import episode data to BTV, and delete AutoGK's work files and work dir.
Lee Cole

Okay, I'll give that a whirl after this last manual encode is done. Does the archive contain that latest InstallAutoXvid that I used to successfully install it with no errors?

[jsereda]

Lee-
Awesome, I'll give it a go tonight when I get home and post the results after a few days of testing.
By the way........... great work.

I really like the ability to transfer show data from mpeg to avi. Any chance of making that into a stand alone exe? I have tons of encoded shows with no show data. Would be a cool add on to be able to add show data into those avi's as well. Your probably too busy with this tool, but i figured I would throw that out there.

[leecole]

Originally Posted by jsereda

Lee-
Awesome, I'll give it a go tonight when I get home and post the results after a few days of testing.
By the way........... great work.

I really like the ability to transfer show data from mpeg to avi. Any chance of making that into a stand alone exe? I have tons of encoded shows with no show data. Would be a cool add on to be able to add show data into those avi's as well. Your probably too busy with this tool, but i figured I would throw that out there.

I assume you mean AVI's for which you have no original mpg? If the avi is in a BTV folder, drag the avi to EpisodeData shortcut, drop there, you should see filename.xml appear, right click on xml, choose open with notepad.
You should see
<property name="EpisodeDescription"/>
After editing you want to end up with
<property name="EpisodeDescription">Ruth finds a new way to unwind; David and Keith await news from Mary; Julio gets into trouble at school, surprising Vanessa.</property>
This is really data from Six Feet Under, but you get the idea. The important point I am trying to make is the XML flags need to be right, they are different for data and no data. I would have expected a empty field to look like:
<property name="EpisodeDescription"></property>
instead of:
<property name="EpisodeDescription"/>
After filling in the fields, save. Drag the avi to EpisodeData and drop again.
If you haven't figured it out. EpisodeData has two functions: Import and Export.
If no xml file exists with same name, it requests episode info from BTV, and a xml file results, if a xml file exists, it request BTV to import the data.
Lee Cole

[leecole]

Originally Posted by jsereda

Lee-
Awesome, I'll give it a go tonight when I get home and post the results after a few days of testing.
By the way........... great work.

I really like the ability to transfer show data from mpeg to avi. Any chance of making that into a stand alone exe? I have tons of encoded shows with no show data. Would be a cool add on to be able to add show data into those avi's as well. Your probably too busy with this tool, but i figured I would throw that out there.

Yes, that release was just posted yesterday. It is current except for the change I just made to AutoXvid.exe to reject recording not from approved folders.
Lee Cole

[leecole]

Originally Posted by neekap

Okay, I'll give that a whirl after this last manual encode is done. Does the archive contain that latest InstallAutoXvid that I used to successfully install it with no errors?

Yes, it was just posted yesterday. It is up to date except for the AutoXvid.exe that excludes recordings except those from an approved folder list.
Lee Cole

[leecole]

Originally Posted by jsereda

Lee-
Awesome, I'll give it a go tonight when I get home and post the results after a few days of testing.
By the way........... great work.

I really like the ability to transfer show data from mpeg to avi. Any chance of making that into a stand alone exe? I have tons of encoded shows with no show data. Would be a cool add on to be able to add show data into those avi's as well. Your probably too busy with this tool, but i figured I would throw that out there.

I don't think I want to tackle another tool until I get some stars on this one. I am not sure if anyone has it working. I of course only see posts from people having problems, but I wonder if it works for anyone. In any case, the next release of Beyond TV is due soon, and I understand it will contain Divx re-encoding along with Windows format. They haven't announced a price for upgrading yet though. This works for me, and since I am retired, living on a fixed income. if it is too steep, I will continue using this.
I have been thinking about a sort of fun tool along the lines of BTVTunerView, but instead of a dry display window, I would have a MSAGENT, Merlin, Genie, or Peety, pop up and speak upcoming recordings that are scheduled to run. Maybe hotketed. You hit WINDOWS-S for scheduled recordings, WINDOWS-R for recordings already recorded, etc. Just thinking, I think people would like something that amused them while giving them information about their Beyond TV.
Lee Cole

[jsereda]

Wow Lee your tunerview idea is golden. I always wished I could right click the BTV notification icon and get a list of upcoming recordings or recordings already taken place, instead of the shabby, just hover over the icon and see only the next recording, supplied by BTV. But having it speak too.......

[neekap]

Originally Posted by leecole

Yes, it was just posted yesterday. It is up to date except for the AutoXvid.exe that excludes recordings except those from an approved folder list.
Lee Cole

Lee,

I just installed the latest version. I am assuming that both upon completion of a recording and manual dragging the mpg file to the autoxvid icon will do the following:

Begin AutoGK creating the AVI in D:\
Upon completion, autoxvid will see the log in the root of D:\
it will merge the XML into the new AVI
It will move the AVI to D:\TV
It will delete the MPG

Let me know if I'm confused on that.

Thanks,