pruperting

UPnP, PS3, Transcoding and MediaTomb

For quite a while I had been using PS3MediaServer to provide access to my Video files from my PS3. The problem was, I was getting huge problems getting it to support anything other than the files that the PS3 natively supports. I had previously messed around with MediaTomb but I couldn’t get it’s transcoding features to work. But then I came across this post and it sorted all my problems out. I simply followed the tutorial there and made some minor adjustments, which I will describe below.

The quickest way to follow the tutorial is to cheat and just copy and paste the config.xml that is kindly provided. However, I have found that copy and pasting the whole config.xml doesn’t work. I am pretty sure it is to do with the <udn>uuid= part of the config, since I guess this aligns and individual config to an individual MediaTomb installation. Thus, simply copy and paste all the stuff after and including this line:

“<protocolInfo extend=”yes”/><!– For PS3 support change to “yes” –>

and you’ll be good to go. Next, since most of my files are in the MKV container, I needed to add some extra stuff to support MKV files and the transcoding of them. So, I added the following two lines to their respective places (you can tell where they should go by looking at their format and looking for other lines that look similar). I added these two lines:

<map from=”mkv” to=”video/x-matroska”/>

<transcode mimetype=”video/x-matroska” using=”vlcmpeg”/>

And awesomely, it worked straight out of the box. Nice one Mr Pyke! There are a few more things to add, like adding thumbnail support, which I understand you can do by using a script and app called thumbnailermpeg, but that’s about it. I have found that using MediaTomb and VLC to transcode files puts much less strain on my server than using PS3MediaServer ever did. HTOP shows MediaTomb and VLC when streaming an MKV file pushing the server to around 15% CPU usage on my dual core Pentium4. Doing the same thing for one of the few supported movies by PS3MediaServer shows CPU usage maxed out at 100% on both cores full time. Ouchy! So I have saved some energy and prolonged the lifespan of my server by doing this too. I know that at the moment MediaTomb doesn’t do all the fancy things that PS3MediaServer does (like AC3 pass-through and stuff) but I can live without that. I am sure there was a lot I was missing in PS3MediaServer that it can do and it is updated much more frequently than MediaTomb, but I just couldn’t agree with the huge resource usage it entails.

I now have full streaming of all my recorded-off-the-tele MKV movies and I am a happy bunny, so thanks RobertPyke and thanks MediaTomb!

Windows Session Save and Restore

So, I do a lot of work from home and often have a large number of different programs and files open at the same time. I use two different computers, with the mouse and keyboard shared between the two using the excellent Synergy+. Often I am working on a particular project that last a number of days, each day I need to open the same files and folders. I was wondering if there was an app out there that allowed me to save my Windows “session” i.e. all the programs and files that I had open so I could quickly restore them the next day.

Now, after doing a lot of searching, sadly it seems there isn’t The best solution seems to be to use Windows Standby/Hibernate. But this is kinda impracitcal, since I want to use the computer after I have saved the session. Another option seemed to be TwinsPlay which has a Session Save feature, but this seemed to crash my computer and kill Windows Explorer so that was out. Another option was SmartClose however, this only managed to save the running programs, but not the actual files those programs had open (so it would save and restore OpenOffice, but not the XLS file that OpenOffice actually had open). So once again, this was no real use. My final option was Microsoft Research’s own GroupBar. Sadly though, this also only saved and restored the running program, not the file that that had open.

So, I am kinda stuck My only alternative is to create a batch file to do this, so I would create a new text file, put in the following commands, as an example:

start /d C:\Windows\System32\ calc.exe
start /d "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" firefox.exe https://www.bankofamerica.com
start /d C:\finance\spreadsheets budget.xls

And then save it as start.bat (thanks to watchingthenet). But this is hardly the best solution. I am sure there is a better solution out there and if anyone knows it, hit me up in the comments (I recon Autohotkey can do this, but I don’t know where to start).

Tags: Hacks, Shortcuts

MediaPortal Comskip and Transcode Bat and Bash Scripts

As I mentioned earlier, I use MediaPortal to record DVB-T broadcasts. As these end up quite big, I then use two scripts to check the recordings for adverts and to transcode the recordings to a mkv file (smaller and better supported).

This solution isn’t very elegant, since it is for my personal setup which is a little unusual, in that the recordings are done via a Windows XP MediaCentre PC, they are then analysed for adverts using Comskip and are then transferred to my Ubuntu-based server, which then transcodes the files to an MKV file and the adds Chapter markers to those MKV files using the file from Comskip. Thus there script is in two parts, one a Windows Bat script and the other is a Ubuntu Bash script.

The scripts are below. First, the Windows Bat script that runs the recorded file through Comskip and then copies it over to the server. Since I wanted to only run one script for all the recordings made in an evening, the script takes the file name from MediaPortal, which passes it to the script after the file is finished recording, using the Comskip plugin. This explains all the weird “Echo” in front of all the terms, since basically it is putting all the commands into another script, which is then run early each morning.

@ECHO OFF
ECHO ECHO.
ECHO Rem Batch commands for %1 START >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO CD "C:\scripts\comskip" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO START "" "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO %%SystemRoot%%\explorer.exe "Z:\" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO ************************** ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO Post Processing started on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO ECHO Starting mpeg2repair %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO mpeg2repairHelper.exe %1 %1-fixed.ts >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO ECHO mpeg2repair finished on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO Comskip started on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO comskip %1 >>"%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO Comskip finished on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "Z:\new_files.log" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO ECHO ComClean started on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO mencoder "%~dpn1.ts" -edl "%~dpn1.edl" -alang eng,nar -noskip -vf harddup -oac copy -ovc copy -of mpeg -o "%~dpn1_clean.ts" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO ECHO ComClean finished on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO New file %1 being moved to Server ^>^> "Z:\new_files.log" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO Tidying started on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO %%SystemRoot%%\explorer.exe "Z:\" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO CD "%~dp1" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO ren *.edl *.ts.edl >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO ren *.txt *.ts.txt >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ren *.chap *.ts.chap >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO Moving Clean TS to Server directory on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO IF EXIST "%~dpn1_clean.ts" del %1 >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO xcopy %1 Z:\ >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO IF EXIST "Z:\%~n1.ts" del %1 >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
REM ECHO xcopy "%~dpn1.edl" Z:\ >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO del "%~dpn1.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO xcopy "%~dpn1.ts.chap" Z:\ >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO TS and others moved to Server directory on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "%~dpn1.PostLog.txt" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO ECHO %~n1.ts moved to Server on %%date%% %%time%% ^>^> "Z:\new_files.log" >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO TASKKILL /IM vlc.exe >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"
ECHO Rem Batch commands for %1 FINISH >> "C:\scripts\comskip\trans.bat"

Thus this script creates the trans.bat file, which is then run via a scheduled task. All the stuff starting with REM are lines that the script no longer uses, but that contain interesting code that might be useful in the future. This includes using a program called mpeg2repair, that was meant to clean the recording in-case there were any errors during transmission, but the program error-ed out too many times. Another line was also meant to use Mencoder to cut the adverts out directly using an EDL file created by comskip, but this resulted too often in audio/video sync problems, I think as a result of the original .ts file having some errors in it, so I REMed out that line as well.

The second script is my Ubuntu bash script, which is run every morning, after the trans.bat script (created by the script above) is run.

#!/bin/bash
# Written by FakeOutdoorsman and updated by mysoogal further updated by prupert
# Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported
# http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/deed.en
# trackback http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=960627
echo trans.sh started on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` > /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.ts" >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
chmod -R 777 /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.ts" -exec /home/server/Desktop/handbrake/HandBrakeCLI -i {} -t 1 -c 1 -o {}.mkv -f mkv -e xvid -b 1200 -2  -a 1 -E faac -B 160 -R 0 -6 dpl2 -D 1 -C 2  -v '{}' \; >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
echo trans.sh finished on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
echo attempting to add advert chapter markers on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.mkv" -exec /home/server/scripts/mkvmerge.sh "{}" \; >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
echo advert chapter markers added on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
echo starting clear up on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
cd "/mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/" || { echo >&2 "Source folder not found"; exit 1; } >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find . -type f -name "*.ts" -exec sh -c '[ -f "${1%.ts}.ts.mkv" ]' _ {} \; -delete >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find . -type f -name "*.ts" -exec sh -c '[ -f "${1%.ts}.mkv" ]' _ {} \; -delete >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find . -type f -name "*.ts.mkv" -exec sh -c '[ -f "${1%.ts.mkv}.mkv" ]' _ {} \; -delete >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find . -type f -name "*.ts.chap" -exec sh -c '[ -f "${1%.ts.chap}.mkv" ]' _ {} \; -delete >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.mkv" -exec mv {} /media/video/Video \; >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.edl" -exec rm {} \; >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.txt" -exec rm {} \; >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
echo ts files deleted and moved script stopped on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log

This is run by a cron job every morning. It uses Handbrake to transcode the .ts file to a .mkv file. It then runs a third script (below called mkvmerge.sh) to use mkvmerge to add chapter markers to the mkv file that Handbrake created. Finally, it moves the mkv file to where all my Videos are stored. At the very end, there are some commands to delete the .ts files and the intermediate .mkv files ONLY if the mkv file has been correctly created.

Here is the mkvmerge.sh script:

#!/bin/bash
echo mkvmerge.sh started on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/trans.log
VIDEO=$1
ENC=${VIDEO##*/}
mkvmerge --chapters "${VIDEO%/*}/${ENC%%.*}.ts.chap" "$VIDEO" -o "/mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/${ENC%%.*}.mkv"

This script is called by the main Ubuntu trans.sh script above.

I also have a separate script that I use to transcode the .m2ts files produced by the Sony PS3’s PlayTV program:

#!/bin/bash
echo transm2ts.sh started on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` > /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.m2ts" >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
chmod -R 777 /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.m2ts" -exec /home/server/Desktop/handbrake/HandBrakeCLI -i {} -t 1 -c 1 -o {}.mkv -f mkv -w 720 -e xvid -b 1200 -2 -a 1 -E faac -B 160 -R 0 -6 dpl2 -D 1 -C 2 -v '{}' \; >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
echo transm2ts.sh finished on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
echo starting clear up on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
cd "/mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/" || { echo >&2 "Source folder not found"; exit 1; } >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
find . -type f -name "*.m2ts" -exec sh -c '[ -f "${1%.m2ts}.m2ts.mkv" ]' _ {} \; -delete >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
find . -type f -name "*.m2ts" -exec sh -c '[ -f "${1%.m2ts}.mkv" ]' _ {} \; -delete >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
find /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV -name "*.mkv" -exec mv {} /media/video/Video/TV \; >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
echo m2ts files deleted and moved script stopped on `date "+%m/%d/%y %l:%M:%S %p"` >> /mnt/media/documents/ruperts/TV/transm2ts.log
exit

Because Comskip can’t be run on .m2ts files, I don’t call the mkvmerge.sh script, since there is no .chap file to use.

I would freely admit that these scripts aren’t very user friendly, since they are customised just for my setup. However, if readers would prefer a useful version that was more user-friendly, I could create that. It is possible to convert the Ubuntu Bash script into a Bat script for Windows. However, I don’t think there is any alternative to the mkvmerge file for Windows that the Ubuntu script uses.

Also, sadly, the devs of Handbrake are a little blinkered. They created the CLI interface so you can run Handbrake via the commandline, which is great. The CLI also creates Exit codes, which is very useful for scripting. However, the Exit codes only tell you if the CLI worked correclty, not if Handbrake worked correctly. So if the transcode failes, but the CLI worked corretly, it will exit as if nothing went wrong. Sadly the Handbrake devs don’t see this as a problem. Kind stupid imho, but hey, it’s their loss. Thus, there is no way of telling if the transcode worked correctly or not, the only way to check is to see if the file you want to be created is there…doh!