Comskip tuning

Channels DVR Server
#1

Windows server

  1. What is the purpose of all the comskip.ini files in the recording/log directory? How do I make any sense of the sub-directories and such?
  2. Where is the primary comskip.ini file that controls all the skipping, the one that the user can modify and will affect all future programs?
  3. How can I modify the comskip.ini file to improve comskip scanning time? Right now, on an older Core i5 750 at 4ghz, it's taking well over 1 hour to comskip a 1 hour program! It's using less than 3% of the overall CPU! Normally running comskip on a 1 hour show would take 10 minutes or less (and if you do it while the show is recording, it's pretty much done when the show is done).
  4. After modifying the comskip.ini file, will it get overwritten at some point with a CDVR update? If so, how do I prevent this?
  5. Why does it take 5 or 10 minutes before a newly created post appears in this forum?
#2
  1. What is the purpose of all the comskip.ini files in the recording/log directory? How do I make any sense of the sub-directories and such?

When Channels runs a commercial scan, it creates a fresh directory and a copy of the comskip.ini that it uses for processing. Also in that directory are all of the output files that can be used for post-processing by other applications.

  1. Where is the primary comskip.ini file that controls all the skipping, the one that the user can modify and will affect all future programs?

That file is internal to Channels. If you wish to use your own comskip.ini file as the default instead of the one that Channels uses by default, simply place it in the data directory of your Channels install.

  1. How can I modify the comskip.ini file to improve comskip scanning time? Right now, on an older Core i5 750 at 4ghz, it's taking well over 1 hour to comskip a 1 hour program! It's using less than 3% of the overall CPU! Normally running comskip on a 1 hour show would take 10 minutes or less (and if you do it while the show is recording, it's pretty much done when the show is done).

There is an option to allocate more threads to the processing; by default it only uses one. Channels' default option is:

thread_count=1

Simply increase this value to the number of processors/cores you would like to use. Just beware that it will affect the load of your system.

  1. After modifying the comskip.ini file, will it get overwritten at some point with a CDVR update? If so, how do I prevent this?

No, your override file will live in Channels' data directory, and not be touched by an update.

  1. Why does it take 5 or 10 minutes before a newly created post appears in this forum?

Personally I've never noticed this lag, so it could just be a cookie/cache issue with your browser.

1 Like
#3

What happens to all those comskip.ini files (and directories) if I manually delete the recordings?

#4

Yeah, it's weird. And about 18 minutes after I create a new post I get a notification on my user, so I click on it and I get this:

message
message.jpg1601×948 419 KB

What is that?

1 Like
#5

That was me editing your post to move it into the Channels DVR section from the General section.

1 Like
#6

Nothing. But when you prune the db it will remove those files along with other internal metadata about those recordings.

1 Like
#7

It took 18 minutes to edit my post?

#8

It was most likely 18 minutes after you posted that Aman noticed it was in the wrong topic and moved it.
It's a weekend here in the US, not sure where you are.

If you're looking for where your CHDVR data directory is to put the override comskip file, see this post.

#9

The CHDVR default comskip.ini can be found in the file directory for a recording you have run comskip on (as long as you don't have an override comskip.ini in place).

i.e. ChannelsDVR\Logs\comskip\1558\comskip.ini is for file(recording) 1558

#10

Thanks to chDVRuser and racameron for helping. I was finally able to locate the install directory.

1 Like
#11

If (3) programs record from 8pm to 9pm, how do I force the system to comskip all (3) programs simultaneously? It only seems to be running one comskip process/recording at a time.

1 Like
#12

You don't. Commercial detection is only run one-at-a-time. There is currently no way to parallelize the process, or run multiple processes. The only change you can make is to increase the thread count, which would cause it to run more quickly and finish earlier.

#13

So no live comskip, and no running comskip on multiple recordings simultaneously.

That's great.

#14

No live comskips, but you can run multiple (after recordings have finished). This isn't sage...
See recomskip thread.

1 Like
#15

Yeah, that's becoming very apparent.

1 Like
#16

If live commercial detection and concurrent commercial detection processes are required for your use-case, then Channels is not the software for you.

However, I do know that MythTV—and I believe SageTV, too—offers both of those features. Also, both of those services are free, only requiring a cost for your guide data, which can be had for $25/yr from Schedules Direct, which also provides Gracenote data so the quality of the guide info would be the same, for nearly 1/4 of the cost. Clients/frontends (including remote access) and developer response, however, are not nearly as good as Channels.

(Tvheadend also allows for concurrent commercial detection, but they do not offer live commercial detection.)

#17

Just curious what your expectations were for Channels DVR to replace SageTV and why you jumped.
It replaced TiVos and PLEX DVR for me. But I knew what it offered before I jumped.

#18

Okay. Thanks.

#19

I haven't 'jumped.' I'm running them side by side. I researched it a bit before going in, but I was expecting it to have basic file operations already in place ... like being able to realize that a recording is missing (or deleted externally). My mistake.

#20

Are you referring to the developer response to simple questions like this one, where I asked if there were directions to move a DVR server from one pc to another?

Fortunately someone else asked the question and got some response. Thanks.