[thumbnails] Package to Auto-Generate Recordings Thumbnails

[af123]

thumbnails hooks into the post-decryption hook of the queuing system. Since chaserun decrypts as it goes then the hook never gets called.
Things always get complicated when different optional packages need to interact. Maybe the framework could be extended to allow detectads to flag that it has decrypted something?

That doesn't explain why the genthumbs diagnostic didn't queue these for processing now though.

No, I can't see why it wouldn't. It queues anything which is missing a .thm, has been decrypted and is not a radio recording.

 

[Black Hole]

Maybe the framework could be extended to allow detectads to flag that it has decrypted something?

Seems sensible. If detectads was not operating in chase mode, it would receive its tasks from the task manager queue wouldn't it? In which case it needs to patch up having bypassed the task manager, and inject its output into the same task-scanning process that normally feeds the queue.

No, I can't see why it wouldn't. It queues anything which is missing a .thm, has been decrypted and is not a radio recording.

What would you like me to do to provide debug info?

 

[MymsMan]

Use of Sweeprdr to trigger thumbnail generation may be a workaround but IMHO it is a very elegant and flexible workaround that works today.

I use the flexibility offered by Sweeprdr to use a different (5 second) thumbnail offset for ad detected programs than for other programmes (40 seconds) since they no linger have the preceding ads & trailers so a shorter offset is appropriate.

I could provide a hook mechanism to allow other packages to be called at the end of detectads but that adds complexity to both detectads and the other packages with additional work needed if the thumbnail defaults are to be varied depending on the environment.
At the moment the time I have to work on detectads is extremely limited and I am unlikely to get any chance to do anything this complex in the near future.

 

[Black Hole]

Yes, but you are talking about customising the various parameters in various situations, which is right for sweeper. What I am talking about is an anomaly that the thumbnails package works out-of-the-box for everything unless it's been chase-decrypted by detectads. Which even then wouldn't be too bad if genthumbs was working properly.

Would it be so hard to trigger an auto-processing scan when detectads has finished with a recording?

Maybe thumbnails should run a once-a-day complete scan instead of only relying on the end-of-recording trigger.

 

[Trev]

I use the flexibility offered by Sweeprdr to use a different (5 second) thumbnail offset for ad detected programs than for other programmes (40 seconds) since they no linger have the preceding ads & trailers so a shorter offset is appropriate.

Please share the info how to do this, as I have found that non-detectads programmes have a thumbnail usually for the next program as you have suggested it would. I always run detectads in chaseplay, bookmarking just the end of ads.

 

[MymsMan]

Please share the info how to do this, as I have found that non-detectads programmes have a thumbnail usually for the next program as you have suggested it would. I always run detectads in chaseplay, bookmarking just the end of ads.

What do you have as the thumbnail settings.

Since you are using bookmarks rather than cropping I would suggest 'How many seconds into recording?'= 40 to skip trailers
You could try using 'Use first bookmark if present?' to use the start of programme bookmark where detectads has been run

 

[G4DDS]

Installed this package today but doesn't seem to be working. Left the unit powered up and done three recordings and none have a thumbnail (first one finished over four hours ago).

Tried the genthumbs diagnostic which scanned all the directories but still no thumbnails generated.

Any ideas?

 

[MymsMan]

Any ideas?

Have the recordings been decrypted?

 

[Black Hole]

Do you use detectads?

 

[G4DDS]

Recordings are decrypted (does that automatically with the auto-unprotect package) and I don't have detectads installed.

I also installed undelete and tidyfolders at the same time and those are working fine.

I noticed that there is a queue section which just seems to scan media every 10 minutes; should I see anything here related to thumbnails?

 

[Luke]

Recordings are decrypted (does that automatically with the auto-unprotect package)

If they are decrypted it is not directly due to the auto-unprotect package.
See https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Custom_Firmware_Package_Notes#Auto-Unprotect
What it does do is make decryption possible for HD files by the same means as for a Standard Definition file. What it does not do is the decryption itself.

After the auto-unprotect package unprotects do you have anything in place that then does the decryption?

 

[MymsMan]

Recordings are decrypted (does that automatically with the auto-unprotect package) and I don't have detectads installed.

Do the files have a DEC icon when viewed in the webif?
Auto-unprotect removes the copy restriction on HD recordings (the ENC icon) but does not decrypt the files you need to turn on auto-decrypt to do the decryption - yes the terminology is confusing.

 

[G4DDS]

Do the files have a DEC icon when viewed in the webif?
Auto-unprotect removes the copy restriction on HD recordings (the ENC icon) but does not decrypt the files you need to turn on auto-decrypt to do the decryption - yes the terminology is confusing.

No dec icon. Like you say I have got confused. I thought that as I could download and play HD recordings on my PC they were decrypted, but it seems it is the act of downloading and the DLNA server that decrypts it.

What package do I install to do the decryption? The wiki mentions auto-decrypt but can't see it in my available packages list.

 

[G4DDS]

No dec icon. Like you say I have got confused. I thought that as I could download and play HD recordings on my PC they were decrypted, but it seems it is the act of downloading and the DLNA server that decrypts it.

What package do I install to do the decryption? The wiki mentions auto-decrypt but can't see it in my available packages list.

Found it on the browser. Just enabled recursive auto decrypt and checking the queue I can see it is now working.

Cheers guys for the help

 

[Black Hole]

Things Every... (click) section 5.

 

[andyk]

I've been trying this package.

There's a bug with queuing to force new thumbnails. If you select more than one recording and queue to force an overwrite of the old thumbnail, only the first queue entry has the 'force' parameter added to the command.

Would it be possible to enhance the queue interface to specify where the thumbnail should be i.e. number of seconds into the recording, & implying an overwrite? The 'opt+' interface is very slow and unwieldy for doing this.

Alternatively, could the 'opt+' interface be changed to a) not generate the initial choice of thumbnails (which take forever) b) only generate the single desired thumbnail when the time is specified. I think anyone using this facility is unlikely to use it to hunt for an appropriate image by trying different times when simply viewing the video is so much faster.

 

[andyk]

Ah I see I can set a bookmark to the target place. A bit clumsier than just specifying the time, but better than the current 'opt+' thumbnail interface.

 

[af123]

There's a bug with queuing to force new thumbnails. If you select more than one recording and queue to force an overwrite of the old thumbnail, only the first queue entry has the 'force' parameter added to the command.

Thanks, I'll have a look at that.

Would it be possible to enhance the queue interface to specify where the thumbnail should be i.e. number of seconds into the recording, & implying an overwrite?

You can use sweeper to add recordings to the queue and then specify the arguments as "-force -offset 1234" to specify the offset you want.

 

[andyk]

You can use sweeper to add recordings to the queue and then specify the arguments as "-force -offset 1234" to specify the offset you want.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not a sweeper user, but I thought it was intended to sweep according to rules, rather in response to user commands.

I've only just discovered the ability to specify where you want a thumbnail by setting a bookmark, both for the old 'opt+' interface and the new queue one. Although it's a bit tedious - it would be better to just specify the time when queuing the thumbnail request rather than having to set a bookmark before the queue request - at least it can be done.

I presume that there's a difficulty with the 'queue for' interface in the file browser not supporting provision of a parameter - that function drop down list doesn't lend itself to selecting an integer....

 

[MymsMan]

Not ideal but if you have a bunch of recordings you want to reprocess several recordings with the same offset you could change the default on the settings page prior to queuing them for processed and resetting it after processing is complete.

It would be quite nice to have a parameter field to be able to add extra options to the queued for commands on the browse menu