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Hi! I've been trying to get this working for a bit, but hoping someone who has done this before can give me a simple step by step explanation on the setup.  I need to have the dtb to convert all newly created shows to either xvid or mpeg format (it's for my portable player, archos 420).  I set up the action/profile to check if filesize !=0 to convert to wmv (just for example).  I see in the destination directory file gets created, but it's rather small and I'm unable to even view it. 

Basically, I'm not sure if what I have done is proper, i just would like a 1,2,3 on what I need to do to make the filewatcher covert all shows that it finds in the recorded tv directory to a specific format (and if they are already converted to just ignore those files).

Thanks in advance! 

First, you don't (normally) have to worry about FileWatcher reprocessing shows.  FW only processes a file when it is created, and in most cases that happens only once.

Second, take a look at jelwood's mencoder thread.  His modifications to mencoder let you convert from DVR-MS directly into XviD.  You can create a profile that simply takes the input file and calls mencoder (via RunExternal action) passing it the following argument:

"%InputFile%" -quiet -profile Xvid-fast -o "%InputFile%.avi" 

That's the simplest way. 

Hi. Thanks for quick response.  I'm not at all sure how the profiles are executed. Meaning, say I'll get the mencoder installed and configured as per the link you mentioned.  then even if i create a profile that executes mencoder with the string you specified, where do I make it so that this is done automatically on any files located in my recorded tv folder?  or do I have to run something manually to get this working?!

thanks! 

FW only works on files as they are created.  For your existing files, you can search for a batch file on this site that will run a particular profile against all files.

For new files, just change the profile used by the "Every File" PC to the profile you just created.  That's it! 

Thanks again.  so to recap:

1) install mencoder

2) install wincodecs32

3) create profile to run external action with the param string you gave me (i assume this one is just for the low quality, fast xvid conversion)

4) edit Every File PC to use this new profile.

 This should then convert all new files/shows I record to this format (am i correct to assume it will not delete/affect the actual source file?)

Thanks!
 

See comments. 

vt100:

Thanks again.  so to recap:

1) install mencoder SORT OF - download jelwood's mencoder from this site (DO NOT USE THE "OFFICIAL" MENCODER RELEASE

2) install wincodecs32 NO - you don't need this

3) create profile to run external action with the param string you gave me (i assume this one is just for the low quality, fast xvid conversion) YES - see the OFFICIAL mencoder profile thread for more options

4) edit Every File PC to use this new profile. YES

 This should then convert all new files/shows I record to this format (am i correct to assume it will not delete/affect the actual source file?) CORRECT

Thanks!
 

I have done as you indicated.  I don't know if the param string you provided is not correct or there's something else. I've checked the output dir where the files suppose to be created as well as the actuall Recorded TV directory and there are no files with avi extention there.  I double checked the profile to make sure it points to correct executable, etc...

Any suggestions on how I can debug this issue or some logs i can check to determine if it will work.  One more thing, In the profile manager I moved the new profile i created (i did not just Every File profile because it's responsible creating skip commercials xml's) and moved its priority to the very top.

thanks again! 

One thing that was wrong in the param string was the space you have between the Xvid -quick (I looked at the config of mencoder and the profile was called Xvid-quick) so that was one issue.  I was able to manually get mencoder to convert the dvrms file to xvid using your string just replacing the params for file source and destination with actual names.  When I updated the profile in the Profile Editor to fix the connection string it still did not work on any new recordings I have setup for this test.  I thought maybe the issue is that FileWatcher is having issues launching the mencoder.exe for some reason.  I mean I browsed to the path where it is located when creating the profile so the path should be correct.  Could it be a permission issue?  Any other suggestions will be appreciated!

Thanks! 

vt100:

One thing that was wrong in the param string was the space you have between the Xvid -quick (I looked at the config of mencoder and the profile was called Xvid-quick) so that was one issue.  I was able to manually get mencoder to convert the dvrms file to xvid using your string just replacing the params for file source and destination with actual names.  When I updated the profile in the Profile Editor to fix the connection string it still did not work on any new recordings I have setup for this test.  I thought maybe the issue is that FileWatcher is having issues launching the mencoder.exe for some reason.  I mean I browsed to the path where it is located when creating the profile so the path should be correct.  Could it be a permission issue?  Any other suggestions will be appreciated!

Thanks! 

Could you post the exact command line you have in the RunExternal Action?  Also, what other actions do you have configured in the profile?

vt100:

One thing that was wrong in the param string was the space you have between the Xvid -quick (I looked at the config of mencoder and the profile was called Xvid-quick) so that was one issue.  I was able to manually get mencoder to convert the dvrms file to xvid using your string just replacing the params for file source and destination with actual names.  When I updated the profile in the Profile Editor to fix the connection string it still did not work on any new recordings I have setup for this test.  I thought maybe the issue is that FileWatcher is having issues launching the mencoder.exe for some reason.  I mean I browsed to the path where it is located when creating the profile so the path should be correct.  Could it be a permission issue?  Any other suggestions will be appreciated!

Thanks! 

I'm not sure what you mean by "Xvid -quick" (with space).  My posting above was for "Xvid-fast" (no spaces) - that's one of the default profiles that jelwood included.

You have to restart the FW service anytime you change a profile. 

Did you try running via the GUI? 

Sorry for the typo, it was Xvid -fast (not quick).  I did not know that I have to restart the FileWatcher after modifying the profiles.  I'll try that tonight and will post my results as well as attempt to run it through gui (not 100% sure where that is in the package, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually).

Another quick question. When i did a manual convert as I mentioned before, the file came out to be almost 2 gigs (form a source of about 9gigs).  What setting/profile can I use for outputing for my portable player (archos)  I've seen a few PSP/IPOD profiles, don't know if they'll work with my setup.  I think maybe psp's will.  I just want the size of the resulting files to be under a gig if possible. 

Also, is there any way to have those files first cropped without commercials and then converted without affecting the source dvrms files? 

Thanks again, you've been very helpfull. 

vt100:

Sorry for the typo, it was Xvid -fast (not quick).  I did not know that I have to restart the FileWatcher after modifying the profiles.  I'll try that tonight and will post my results as well as attempt to run it through gui (not 100% sure where that is in the package, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually).

Another quick question. When i did a manual convert as I mentioned before, the file came out to be almost 2 gigs (form a source of about 9gigs).  What setting/profile can I use for outputing for my portable player (archos)  I've seen a few PSP/IPOD profiles, don't know if they'll work with my setup.  I think maybe psp's will.  I just want the size of the resulting files to be under a gig if possible. 

Also, is there any way to have those files first cropped without commercials and then converted without affecting the source dvrms files? 

Thanks again, you've been very helpfull. 

Actually, if you use the command line below it should work very well for you (no space between Xvid and -fast). 

"%InputFile%" -quiet -profile Xvid-fast -o "%Output%.avi"

I have an Archos as well as this is the profile I use.  Without seeing your whole command line I can't tell for sure, but I'm guessing it isn't actually using the Xvid-fast profile, so that's why the files were so big.  Using the Xvid-fast profile, Mencoder should compress an hour show to roughly 300MB.

jelwood:

vt100:

Sorry for the typo, it was Xvid -fast (not quick).  I did not know that I have to restart the FileWatcher after modifying the profiles.  I'll try that tonight and will post my results as well as attempt to run it through gui (not 100% sure where that is in the package, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually).

Another quick question. When i did a manual convert as I mentioned before, the file came out to be almost 2 gigs (form a source of about 9gigs).  What setting/profile can I use for outputing for my portable player (archos)  I've seen a few PSP/IPOD profiles, don't know if they'll work with my setup.  I think maybe psp's will.  I just want the size of the resulting files to be under a gig if possible. 

Also, is there any way to have those files first cropped without commercials and then converted without affecting the source dvrms files? 

Thanks again, you've been very helpfull. 

Actually, if you use the command line below it should work very well for you (no space between Xvid and -fast). 

"%InputFile%" -quiet -profile Xvid-fast -o "%Output%.avi"

I have an Archos as well as this is the profile I use.  Without seeing your whole command line I can't tell for sure, but I'm guessing it isn't actually using the Xvid-fast profile, so that's why the files were so big.  Using the Xvid-fast profile, Mencoder should compress an hour show to roughly 300MB.

 

I was getting about the same (300GB/hour), but I wanted even smaller (only 2.5" screen on my MotoQ), so I created the following profile:

[Xvid-small]
profile-desc="Xvid/MP3 Small File Size"
lavdopts=threads=2
vf=pp=md,scale=320:-2,harddup
ovc=xvid=yes
xvidencopts=bitrate=264:threads=2
# the next line sets the video to Divx 5 (more hardware players support Divx 5 than Xvid)
ffourcc=DX50
oac=mp3lame=yes
lameopts=cbr=yes:fast=yes:br=48
#DtbExtension=avi

It's about 150MB/hour. 

"%InputFile%" -quiet -profile Xvid-fast -o "%Output%.avi"

I have an Archos as well as this is the profile I use.  Without seeing your whole command line I can't tell for sure, but I'm guessing it isn't actually using the Xvid-fast profile, so that's why the files were so big.  Using the Xvid-fast profile, Mencoder should compress an hour show to roughly 300MB.

I setup an overnight job to convert my 4 hours worth of nba games using the xvid-fast profile, will see in the morning if the 1hour=300 megs will hold up, doubt it though.  I also tried several runs with the param string u specified above, if I just have the %Output% it does not write out the file since that does not produce a proper path.  I've changed that to OutputFile and it produces the output path specified in the GUI version, I guess I need to read on the mencoder params section to get this whole thing converting and outputing to proper folder... I'm sure with your help and my patience I'll get it working over the weekend.  Thanks!