Feature Requests and Response Status

[dlflannery]

This thread is for feature requests and tracking their status. Please do not post problems or bugs here, although I may add planned bug fixes here just to track them. I will update the list by editing this post.

FEATURE [DEVELOPMENT STATUS]:

• "Intelligent" QSF. See this post. Now enabled by new COM function added to build 634d to read input file parameters. [In Ver. 0.98 for QSF-only flow, no immediate plans for further changes]
  
• Support Comskip "Live Detection" [On hold for the indefinite future.]

The need for the intelligent QSF mod is summarized in this quote from Dan203:

You should NOT use QSF to recode. I'm not saying it should crash, that's not right, but it's still not a good thing to do. When you QSF to another codec there is no duration, because QSF is recalculating all time stamps, which means we can't use our automatic bitrate calculation and instead have to fall back on the hard coded bitrates which may result in the file actually being bigger then the source

Currently VAP uses QSF to recode, e.g., if you configure only QSF and choose an Output Profile that forces a recode. With "intelligent" QSF, VAP automatically does a two-step process, as described here, when necessary.

 

[dlflannery]

VAP test ver. 0.98T1

The VAP executable (not an installer) in the attached VAP098T1.zip should be subbed into a Ver. 0.97 installation. It has the following two items on the to-do list implemented:

• Add a log entry showing the output file name as produced by the metadata-based file renaming
  
• Change status from AWAITING CUTS to CUTS REVIEWED for files that have had cuts reviewed , and color-highlight file name in Monitored Files list for files waiting to have cuts reviewed.

I await your comments. One possible concern would be whether the drawing and scrolling of the monitored file list has been slowed down by the additional logic needed to highlight items in red.

 

[KryptoNyte]

Yes, sir! Even better than I had envisioned it, thank you!

Didn't have enough files to test the scrolling but should have enough tomorrow night.

 

[graywolfusmc]

SWEET.

Love the color coding. Makes it EASY for me to find items I may have missed.

Did not notice impact to scrolling, and I have the monitor folder is my archived folder, going thru and cutting hundreds of recordings to reduce size of files.

Status Change is great.

 

[dlflannery]

Smart QSF, Test version 0.98T2

This test version is the first crack at "smart QSF". It also incorporates the following fixes or enhancements:

• Add a log entry showing the output file name as produced by the metadata-based file renaming
  
• Change status from AWAITING CUTS to CUTS REVIEWED for files that have had cuts reviewed , and color-highlight file name in Monitored Files list for files waiting to have cuts reviewed.
  
• File status incorrectly displayed "AWAITING CUTS" while an output file was being saved using cuts that had already been reviewed.

The primary goal of Smart QSF is to avoid recoding a file using an unknown bitrate, frequently resulting in H.264-encoded output files that are as large or larger than the input MPEG2-encoded file. See additional discussion earlier in this thread and in the links provided. This is a substantial mod so some unintended behavior would not be surprising. Note that Smart QSF only works with TVS4 versions 6.34 and higher. VAP determines the build number and disables Smart QSF if necessary.

The attached VAP098T2.zip contains a VAP executable (not an installer) to be subbed for the executable in a Ver. 0.97 installation, and three VBScript (.vbs) files to be placed in the installation (runtime) folder. Profiles.vbs replaces an existing file of the same name. The other two .vbs files are new.

EDIT: Correction, there are four .vbs files in the zip.

 

[jordy1955]

How does 98T2 determine that you have 634+ installed? I have, yet the log says, SmartQSF not enabled... Haven't run any files through it yet, just subbed in T2 and started up.

 

[dlflannery]

Verify you put the four .vbs files included in the VAP098T2.zip into the same folder as the VAP executable? The one named getVrdVersion.vbs is run by VAP at startup to get the VRD version number. The one named profiles.vbs must replace the existing one of the same name. Win7 UAC can fool you into thinking it put a file in the Program Files (86) folder tree when it really puts it in a virtual folder in your user folder. To be sure, delete the existing profiles.vbs before copying the new one in. If this is the problem the VAP log will say Smart QSF is enabled, immediately followed by a log line saying it was disabled because of bad profile info.

You can run getVrdVersion.vbs by creating a .cmd file as follows:

@echo off
cscript /B getVrdVersion.vbs
pause

Place it in the run time folder (with getVrdVersion.vbs) and launch it.
It should display the VRD version number. VAP reads that string in and parses the build number out of it. Please copy and paste that version string into a post here, enclosed in code tags. (# symbol at top of post editor)

 

[jordy1955]

OK my fault, Win7 named the new"profiles.vbs" as "profiles (2).vbs". A quick rename and its all good - log says "Smart QSF is enabled".
result of the .cmd code is:

4.20.7.634 - Feb 29 2012

Thanks

 

[KryptoNyte]

• Add process flow consisting only of copying input file to output folder, with meta-based folder/file renaming, and running VAPpostProcess script file. (i.e., no VRD or Comskip processing at all) [Under consideration]

I understand you're kind of in the middle of the 2-step QSF situation, but any new thoughts on this one, DL?

 

[dlflannery]

VAP test ver. 0.98T3

This test version incorporates all the changes in ver. 0.98T2 plus:

Add process flow consisting only of copying input file to output folder, with meta-based folder/file renaming, and running VAPpostProcess script file. (i.e., no VRD or Comskip processing at all)

The progress bar during file copies from monitor to output folder is just an activity indicator, unfortunately. I've found no way to track progress of a file copy that doesn't also slow the copy way down (which is very bad since many files are multi-GB and go to network drives).

The attached VAP098T3.zip contains a VAP executable (not an installer) to sub into a Ver. 0.97 installation. It also contains five .vbs files, only one of which (fileCopier.vbs) is new or different from the ones already furnished with Ver. 0.98T2. Note that profiles.vbs must replace the one distributed with Ver. 0.97.

So just configure to do neither QSF nor AdScan. The input file will be copied to the output folder. Both the file name and the output folder will be meta-renamed if so configured. If so configured, the post-process batch file will run and it will be furnished the usual three arguments.

 

[jordy1955]

Feature Request

Hey,
Yesterday, I used the "delete" file button and then immediately wished I hadn't. It seems that VAP completely removes the file from the system when you do this. Any chance of having VAP always send deleted files to the recycle bin like the post processing action? Not overly concerned about the incidental files, just the original video - although if they were all sent to the recycle bin, then a simple "restore" could be advantageous

cheers

jordy

 

[dlflannery]

Try the check box, lower left on the "Other Tab" of Advanced Configuration.

 

[jordy1955]

I already had that checked, and it didn't work. Just tried it again - twice on two different files - that didn't work either. The log says "Cleaned up temp files for .....". but nothing appears in the recycle bin. When deleting post process it all works fine.

thanks

 

[KryptoNyte]

I can confirm Jordy's results. It would be nice if files manually deleted with the "delete" button were sent to the bin.

 

[dlflannery]

I can confirm Jordy's results. It would be nice if files manually deleted with the "delete" button were sent to the bin.

OK, will put this on the to-do list. I guess I remembered it wrong.

 

[dlflannery]

Note: If you are using test versions VAP 0,.98T2 OR 0.98T3 please install version 0.98, just released. There is a bug that can cause a .NET exception when doing "smart" QSF using those test versions.

 

[KryptoNyte]

14 March 2012, Ver. 0.98

Enhanced: Changed status from AWAITING CUTS to CUTS REVIEWED for files that have had cuts reviewed , and color-highlighted file names in Monitored Files list for files waiting to have cuts reviewed.

Enhanced: Added a “null” process flow, i.e., neither QSF nor AdScan/Comskip are performed if neither operation is checked. The input file is simply copied to the output folder with metadata-based renaming of file and output folder, if configured. If post-processing is configured the VAPpostProcess script file is run.

Fixed: The “Delete” key did not cause the input file to be sent to the Recycle Bin when deletes were so configured in the “Other” tab of Advanced Configuration.

These items are working very well. Thank you.

 

[cyberlewis]

Feature Request

Hi,

I am just wondering if it would make sense to have a VAP workflow that checks for the existence of a corresponding (same root name) .vprj file in the monitor folder where the video files are located. In turn this existing .vprj file would be used to define the cuts that would be automatically applied versus running AdScan/Comskip again. I have a scenario where I previously use Comskip to output a .vprj file and could just move that into the monitored folder with the video file when it's ready for VAP processing. Just a thought.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[dlflannery]

I'm curious about your other scenario that generates the .vprj files, if you wouldn't mind describing it.

 

[cyberlewis]

Certainly.

I use the Commercial Detector plugin for SageTV that runs Comskip (regular or donator's version; I use the donator's version) on recorded tv files to create the associated EDL files that are supported during media file playback within SageTV. That particular plugin also allows you to pass additional command line arguments to Comskip upon execution, to which I have added '--videoredo' to have an associated VPRJ file spit out at the conclusion of the comskip process. I then periodically execute a script from within SageTV that moves recordings of my choosing off of the recording drive and into VAP's monitored folder for processing. Currently, this process works great as I just have VAP do QSF and AdScan by running Comskip again against the QSF'ed file. I use the same comskip.ini for execution of Comskip both within SageTV and within VAP, the only difference being that the file processed by VAP has been QSF'ed (I don't know if this makes a difference on the output). Essentially, I guess, I would like to view the recording within SageTV and use that as my AdScan confirmation step so that when I run the script to move recordings into the VAP monitored folder that I could also pass the existing VPRJ file, skip the QSF step, and just have VideoReDo apply the cuts in the existing VPRJ file (then encode to H.264 MKV; I'm using TVS4). This is not a big deal as VAP has been doing an AWESOME job in this setup for some time, but the new suggested workflow allows for a review of commercial cutting within the source application as well as removes redundant processing cycles. Make sense?

Thank you,
Brian