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I am trying to use DVRMSToolbox to cut commercials, then transcode with handbrake. Everthing is working but the mencoder exteral process. The handbrake cli works fine, and if I cut and paste the mencoder line from the DVRMSToolboxGUI output (shown below), Mencoder works fine.

Any know why mencoder won't work within DTB? I saw other post saying that I need to set use the "RunExternalNoStatus" option, but it doesn't seem to help. 

Thanks!

 Steve

Setting Priority = Normal
FileName = c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mpg
InputFile=c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mpg
Processing actions, this may take some time!!
File is not a dvrms-file
Meta data could not be read, some actions may not function properly
Run Profile = test 1
ProcessId = 6108
DvrmsToolbox Version: 1.2.1.6
Throttle DVRMStoMPEG
FWThrottle: c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mpg
WaitTime: 5 PollTime
Waiting to process file
Queue file
Duration = 00:00:01.0210000
Waiting for available worker: 5/2/2009 9:13 AM
Worker allocated: 5/2/2009 9:13 AM
Create a maximum action time of 240 minutes.
Duration = 00:00:00.0010000
Get the value of Context["InputFile"] and set the value of Context["SageEDLFile"]
Context["InputFile"] = c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mpg
Context["SageEDLFile"] = c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.edl
Duration = 00:00:00.0040000
Get the value of Context["OutputFile"] and set the value of Context["OutputFile"]
Context["OutputFile"] = c:\steve\videotest\final\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mpg
Context["OutputFile"] = c:\steve\videotest\final\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mp4
Duration = 00:00:00.0010000
Get the value of Context["OutputFile"] and set the value of Context["CutMpegFile"]
Context["OutputFile"] = c:\steve\videotest\final\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mp4
Context["CutMpegFile"] = c:\steve\videotest\final\KIRO7EyewitnessNews-CUT.mpg
Duration = 00:00:00.0010000
Run c:\mencoder\mencoder.exe "c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mpg" -edl "c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.edl" -noskip -oac copy -ovc copy -of rawvideo -o "c:\steve\videotest\final\KIRO7EyewitnessNews-CUT.mpg" -quiet  sliently
Run c:\mencoder\mencoder.exe "c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.mpg" -edl "c:\steve\videotest\KIRO7EyewitnessNews.edl" -noskip -oac copy -ovc copy -of rawvideo -o "c:\steve\videotest\final\KIRO7EyewitnessNews-CUT.mpg" -quiet

Duration = 00:00:05.0160000
Total Duration = 00:00:06.1530000

Double-check your quotes.  If you copied the arguments from somewhere, it can insert non-ASCII quotes, which hoses mencoder.

 Nevermind - I didn't realize you are the same "Steve" who posted the question (and solution) on my blog. 

 Sorry for the double post. Wasn't sure which was best. (thanks for replying so fast to both!)

 Still having the problem with how mencoder can't seem to do the cuts correctly (now that I have fixed the quotes). From doing more research, it seems like everyone is saying that videoredo plus does a much better job with the commercial cutting. But It seems like you have got it working somehow...

What version are you using?  I am using 1.0rc2-4.2.1.

 I'm using the one bundled with DTB 

"MEncoder dev-SVN-rUNKNOWN-4.2.1-sjl"

Is that the same version??

 No - grab the latest from http://www.mplayerhq.hu/. It should include jelwood's DVR-MS support.

Thanks.

I ended up using videoredo and now everything is working. So he is my final list:

• create "CutInfoFile" context
• Create "CutMPEGFile" context
• Find commercials in file (configured comskip to generate the .Vprj files instead of .edl files)
• Use the vp.vbs script from videoredo to use the .vprj file and create a commercial free "CutMPEGFile"
• Use MediaShrink (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40079) on the "CutMPEGFile" to generate a final .MKV file. MediaShrink is nice because it makes some intelegent decisions based on the type of input file you give it.

So Now I am quite happy. I can take a 2.6 Gig Clean QAM MPEG2 from SageTV and turn it into a commercial-free 200 Meg x264 file with 5.1 sound and good picture quality.

 Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

-Steve

Interesting - I need to give MediaShrink a go.  Thanks for the heads up.