Ability to process recordedings or call a script after recording (1 Viewer)

[mattmannz]

I am running MP1.1.0.0 on XP SP3 here in New Zealand with a DVB-T PVR3000 and an analog PVR250 card.

The .TS files play fine on my Popcorn Hour in the bedroom if they come from the PVR250 but the DVB-T here in NZ uses HE-AAC audio which is about the only codec NOT supported on the PCH.

I have done some experimenting with VLC and got a quick and easy command line script to convert the audio in the .TS files to AC3 from AAC.

vlc -vvv -I dummy "c:\original.ts" --sout=#transcode{acodec=a52,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ts,dst='c:\converted.ts'} vlc://quit

Does anyone here know how or have some pointers on how I might script this so that either on a scheduled basis it goes through and converts the recordings or after recording a program it calls the script to convert it?

The issues I see are that not all recordings need to be converted, and I want the recordings to stay in the My TV folder so if the conversion is scheduled it needs to not reconvert files that have been converted and also retain the existing filename.

Any thoughts? It would seem like the best bet would be to do the conversion immediately after recording but I still need to check the original audio format and only convert if it's AAC and retain the original file name etc.

Cheers
Matt.

 

[usualsuspect]

AW: Ability to process recordedings or call a script after recording

you can call the postprocessing with the inbuilt comskip launcher: TV-Server/Configuration/Plugins/ComSkipLauncher - MediaPortal Manual Documentation

another way would be to use a for-command in a batch file to run the command line script for all files in your rec-folder. you can avoid double processing by using a marker file that will be created after conversion. then you can configure your batch commands to only call the vlc if the marker file does not exist. this: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/plugins-erweiterungen-178/comskip-atomatisieren-per-batch-73753/ could help you, although it's german the code should be clear.

anyway I have no clue how to check which files have to be transcoded. but I guess this should be possible to check with vlc.

 

[mattmannz]

Thanks very much for your help.

I have a script that will convert the files correctly and tried using Comskip, setup the plugin etc and the test button works okay but it doesn't appear to work after a recording is completed. Do you know if there is any debugging that can be done on the plugin?

Cheers
Matt.

 

[kiwijunglist]

you might also want to check out for the record plugin, from memroy this plugin supports processing files post recording.

 

[mattmannz]

Okay it turns out that I hadn't stopped and started the recording service after enabling the comskip plugin.....

Works perfectly now. Thanks for everyone's help.

Cheers
Matt.

 

[mattmannz]

Here is the final script I ended up using if anyone is interested. It's called via the Comskip plugin in the TV Server using the filename parameter at the end of the recording.

I have two cards, an analogue for Sky and a DVB-T for Freeview HD so only the Freeview programs with HE-AAC needed to be converted, the others were recorded with MPG audio.

There are probably better and smarter ways of writing this script but this works for me at the moment. Have tested all the various permutations of error situations and it seems to handle them all okay.

I used the cli version of Mediainfo to check the file to see if it needed to be converted. I added some logging so that I could see what was going on.

Hope someone else can get some use out of this.

@echo off
rem Change to TV drive
e:
cd "\recorded tv"

rem Start logging
echo Starting conversion at %date% %time% > conversionlog.txt
echo You passed me %1 >> conversionlog.txt

rem Check supplied file exists
if not exist %1 goto NOFILE

rem Check current audio codec in file
setlocal
e:\mediainfo\mediainfo.exe --Inform=Audio;%%Format%% %1>audiocodec.txt
set /p TOOLOUTPUT= < audiocodec.txt
del audiocodec.txt
echo The codec in the file is %TOOLOUTPUT% >> conversionlog.txt
if "%TOOLOUTPUT%" == "AAC" goto CONVERT
echo No need to convert %1 >> conversionlog.txt
goto END

:CONVERT
rem Rename original file and delete temp file if necessary
if exist tobeconverted.ts del tobeconverted.ts
rename %1 tobeconverted.ts
echo renamed %1 to tobeconverted.ts >> conversionlog.txt

rem Call VLC to convert renamed file and output as original filename
"g:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" -vvv -I dummy tobeconverted.ts --sout=#transcode{acodec=a52,ab=256,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ts,dst=%1} vlc://quit
echo Just converted %1 >> conversionlog.txt

rem Check for file and check file length of converted file and if zero back out
if not exist %1 goto DELANDRENAME
if exist %1 for %%i in (%1) do if %%~zi==0 goto DELANDRENAME

rem All okay so delete renamed file
del tobeconverted.ts
echo Converted %1 okay >> conversionlog.txt
goto END

:NOFILE
rem No file exists
echo Error file %1 doesn't exist >> conversionlog.txt
goto END

ELANDRENAME
rem Delete zerobyte file and backout
echo Problem so rolling back >> conversionlog.txt
if exist %1 del %1
rem Rename file to original
rename tobeconverted.ts %1
goto END

:END
rem Nothing left to do
echo The end at %date% %time% >> conversionlog.txt

 

[andy_p]

That script looks really useful.
I've got one suggestion though - use a different temp filename each time instead of just "tobeconverted.ts", because if two recordings finish at the same time one will overwrite the other. You can set an environment variable to "tobeconverted_%random%.ts" and then use that, which I've never had a collision with.