Comskip over LAN + Jumpy Video (1 Viewer)

[jestermgee]

Hello Everyone

I've been using Media Portal in a single seat setup for over 2 years with a dual digital tuner with hardly any issues. My partner loves it and it's the best for TV management that I have ever come across!!!

Because MP + TV Server were installed on my HTPC machine all was quite well and good. My tuned comskip setup has seen us never see a single commercial for the past few years which has saved me heaps of "oh.... We need one of this and that..." When the girlfriend doesn't see the specials in the ads, I have more beer money

I have now decided to upgrade my media server and install 2 tuner cards (4 DTV duners in total now) on my server rather than the HTPC. ALl has gone good so far and all seems to work just as good as my single seat install.

I know that comskip never use to work across a network but I wanted to know does it work these days on clients from the server? I have the latest 1.1.0.0 Beta installed and don't seem to have commercials skipping.

 

[jestermgee]

In addition to my first post I have this other small issue.

My setup in single seat never missed a beat. My new setup having tuners on my server and viewing video across the network sees small skips in both live and playback of live TV every 2 minutes or so... Just a small glitch, enough to be annoying.

My server has 2GB Ram, Dual Core 2.9GHZ and both recording and timeshift are on the same HDD. I have daily scheduled defrags and I can stream HD MKV video using ZoomPlayer with not a single skip or jump. MP seems to skip every minute or so.

I am using MVA and MVP codecs and my HTPC machine has the same setup it use to have in single seat install with just the TV server name changed to point to my server rather than the HTPC itself.

I use the standard network streaming of MP. Just wondering if TV viewing over the network should work as good as in single seat installation and if there is anything more I can try.

 

[merci1983]

Hello jestermgee,

i hope i understand right what you want.
Have you tried to install comskip on your client.

I have 2 htpc. One with the old tv-engine in my living-room with a dual-tuner (so i record most tv-shows on this machine) with comskip installed (i cut the commercials at the end of the recording).

The other one is a single-seat (server and client on one machine) in my bed-room. i installed comskip here also (with same settings). For watching the recorded shows on the machine in the living-room i have made a networkfolder under "my videos". When watching the recorded shows, comskip works as well as when watching direct in the living room.

Sorry for my english - but i hope this can give you an hint how to install.

best regards
merci1983

 

[usualsuspect]

in a client-server system there's no need to install comskip on the client. mp just needs the cutfiles in the recording directory. if they are present and "skip commercials if comskip data is avaiable" in mp-conf is checked, commercials should be skipped.

 

[jestermgee]

Thanks for the replies...

I am quite experienced with Comskip and MP and know hoe the whole thing works. In singleseat operation all is fine. Its when you have a multiseat operation that comskip won't work in the TV section.

I ONLY use MP for TV recording and don't venture into the video section. I believe it's because of the way live and recorded TV is streamed to the client that comskip won't work.

I have done further research and it appears there may be a hack way of getting it to work, or perhaps 4therecord will also allow it to work and I am trying all that as we speak.

The video skipping issue I had on my HTPC doesn't appear to be related to the SVN or anything as another client in the house seems perfect so that is an issue for me to solve.

 

[jestermgee]

Just to update my experience with the jumping video...

There were 2 reasons I found that I was experiencing jumpy video on the clients.

1. - Crappy, Cheap Network Switch!
I have a my 4 port ADSL modem connected to an 8 port switch in the lounge that connects a number of devices (HTPC, PS3, DVR, Wireless Access Point) After running the connection straight into the HTPC, the small skips seemed to dissapear. Only the occasional skip was experienced. I will now replace this switch with a new one.

2. - Auto Defrag Application on server
I have "Smart Defrag" installed on my server to keep my recording and downloading drives in top condition. I had it configured to defrag all my drives automatically when the server was running under 30% utilization. When the defrag would kick in I would experience very bad skips. This has now been disabled and I run only scheduled defrags early int he morning.

The only thing I am yet to now solve is the comskip issue but that will be solved soon I am sure.