[dlfl]

Download or see complete readme description and instructions ***here***.

Note: With ver. 0.80 now supports TV Suite 4 with MPEG4 outputs and profiles. See **this**.

WHAT IS IT?

A free utility program for TiVo-to-Go (e.g., TiVo Desktop or TiVoPlaylist) users who use VideoReDo (Plus or TV Suite) for editing transferred TiVo files. It runs on a Windows computer with VideoReDo (VRD) and TiVo Desktop installed (for registry settings only). TVAP detects TiVo files being transferred and, when transfer completes, it automatically and silently runs VideoReDo processes on the files as configured by the operator in the program GUI. QuickStream Fix (QSF) and/or Ad Detective scans ("Ad Scans")may be run. Optionally, all three file types (.TiVo, QSF outputs and Ad Scan outputs) are moved automatically to specified folders after processing is completed, or the original .TiVo file is deleted. Output file types of MPEG2 (.mpg), DVD-VOB (.mpg), DVR-MS (.dvr-ms), TS (*.ts) and TiVo (.tivo) are supported. ALL configuration is via the GUI - NO MANUALLY PREPARED
CONFIGURATION FILES ARE REQUIRED!

You can also select a .TiVo file and click a button to launch the "normal" (interactive GUI) version of VideoReDo (Plus or TV Suite) with the file loaded. This allows you to set Ad Detective parameters or just to preview the video (or anything else VRD can do).

Several metadata items are read from the TiVo files (e.g., Description, Genre, Subtitle/Episode, Episode #, Movie Year, Recording Date/Time). These are displayed by right-clicking on the file in the GUI file list and some of them are inserted in DVR-MS output files. pyTivo metaData files are automatically generated and paired with output MPEG2 files.

TVAP will run a batch file of your creation after processing each .mpg, .dvr-ms or .ts file -- this is typically used to run HandBrake to create a .mp4 version.

You can configure to produce a project (.vprj) file with automatic (Ad Detective or ComSkip) cuts as your output file. TVAP remembers this and displays a status of "AWAITING CUTS" for this video. Then if you later review this project and save it with your modified cuts, TVAP will automatically call VRD to produce the final edited output video with YOUR cuts. For videos that are awaiting cuts the "Run VideoReDo" button will load the project file, ready for you to review and modify the cuts.

You have the option of using ComSkip for commercial detection instead of the VideoReDo Ad Detective.

Read the "Things to Know" section and the Change Log at the end of the TVAP-readme.txt file for more details.

THE BOILERPLATE:

VideoReDo is a trademark of DRD Systems, Inc.
TiVo is a trademark of TiVo, Inc.

TVAP is free and is not an official product of either VRD or TiVo, neither of which are providing
support for it, nor do they officially endorse it.

FEATURES:

- GUI Selection of VRD operations: Default and individual settings for each TiVo file. Specific files may also be "blocked", so no processing occurs.

- GUI selection of whether DVD-VOB, MPEG2, DRV-MS or TiVo output file format is produced.

- GUI selection of whether Ad Scan produces only the project (.vprj) file or
automatically applies the cuts to produce a final edited output file.

- On first startup, reads the Desktop TiVo transfer folder from the Windows Registry. If not detected, prompts the operator to select the folder to be monitored.

- Can launch independent GUI version of VideoReDo with TVAP-selected .TiVo file loaded.

- Totally automatic operation with real-time configuration allowed.

- Status of all .TiVo files in the transfer folder and all configuration settings,
are maintained in an XML data file between program runs, automatically updated on startup.

- Maintains and displays a log file of processing actions.

- Shows file name, current processing action, and progress bar for VRD processes and file moves.

- Many tooltip hints.

- Does not modify Windows Registry.

- TVAP is lightweight: Uses less than 20MB of memory exclusive of VRD requirements. Uses less than 1% of processor time when just monitoring for .TiVo transfers.

- Minimizes to system tray.

- File Folder in .vprj file created by Ad Scan is automatically modified if the scanned file was moved by TVAP (otherwise the .vprj file cannot be opened by VRD).

- For mpeg2 outputs, automatically generates a text metadata file that will automatically be used by pyTivo transcoding server (http://pyTivo.armooo.net) to attach metadata to files served back from pc to TiVo.

- For mpeg2, TS or dvr-ms outputs, if you place a batch file named TVAPpostProcess.bat or TVAPpostProcess.cmd in the final destination directory TVAP will run the batch file upon completion of VRD processing. The filename WITHOUT the extension and without the path is passed as the argument to this batch file. No configuration is necessary -- if the batch file is there it will be run.

- Integrated option to use ComSkip for commercial detection.

HOW TO GET IT:

VideoReDo has graciously allowed me to host the program on their FTP site. Point your browser to ftp://upload:[email protected]/VRD Add-Ons/TiVo-VideoReDo-AutoProcessor/

Click on the TVAP-readme.txt file to learn more, then click on the latest Windows installer file (setupTVAP###.exe) to download it -- the readme file will be installed in the installation folder.

Post here or PM me for questions or problems -- BUT please read the complete readme file first, particularly the "THINGS TO KNOW" section.!

I hope TVAP is of some use to you!

 

[windracer]

Sounds cool ... I'll have to try this out.

 

[windracer]

Seems to work as advertised ... if only I could make Ad-Detective more reliable!

 

[dlfl]

Two noticeable improvements (plus minor cleanup):

1. Minimizes to system tray icon. Click icon to minimize/restore program window.

2. Progress bar now active for file moves.

Readme file updated and added Change Log section at end.

 

[dlfl]

Seems to work as advertised ... if only I could make Ad-Detective more reliable!

Dan203 gave TVAP a quick trial and posted on the VideoReDo forum.

One of his comments was:

3) You should offer a way to actually launch VRD from the program so that people can adjust the Ad-Scan variables.

I've had almost no experience trying to tune Ad Detective. I usually let it run and do the cuts interactively. This can be done using the .vprj files automatically generated by TVAP Ad Scans.

Questions I have:
1. Do you agree with Dan203's suggestion?

2. If you adjust Ad Detective in VideoReDo separately (outside TVAP) can/will those settings carry over to when TVAP runs Ad Detective? (It must be either this or else default settings are used for silent operation, I think.)

3. What TVAP functionality for Ad Scan setting is most desirable? Does launching the complete VideoReDo interactive version from TVAP offer significant advantages compared to just running VRD the normal way?

 

[windracer]

Those are all good questions ... I don't know the answers.

Traditionally I have stayed away from Ad-Detective because of its unreliability. It's usually faster for me to scan through a recording and remove the commercials manually instead of fixing Ad-Detective's marks.

I have not put a lot of effort into "tuning" it however. Plus, this is my first experience running it via command-line, so I have no idea if my settings through the GUI are used when your application invokes it.

 

[dlfl]

Those are all good questions ... I don't know the answers.

Traditionally I have stayed away from Ad-Detective because of its unreliability. It's usually faster for me to scan through a recording and remove the commercials manually instead of fixing Ad-Detective's marks.

I have not put a lot of effort into "tuning" it however. Plus, this is my first experience running it via command-line, so I have no idea if my settings through the GUI are used when your application invokes it.

Poked around and found the Ad Detective settings are persistent across different files and different runs of VRD -- which makes sense because I was able to find them all in the Registry! So the settings are global and will be used when TVAP runs ad scans.

Thus it might make sense to be able to launch VRD in GUI mode from TVAP on whatever file is selected, tune or adjust the parameters, then return to automated TVAP operation. I'm guessing this is what Dan203 had in mind.

Of course then you have one-stop shopping via TVAP -- you could use this feature to preview the video and ????

 

[dlfl]

Added ability to launch full-GUI VRD from TVAP with selected .TiVo file loaded.
This allows user to do anything normally possible in VRD, but in particular the
Ad Detective settings can be tuned and adjusted and they then will be used in TVAP Ad Scan processing. (You can also preview the .TiVo file, load another file etc.) TVAP's state doesn't change and it waits for you to shut down VRD before
it will do any auto-processing. See the readme for more info.

WARNING: When I clicked on the ftp link in the first post (repeated here: ftp://upload:[email protected]/VRD Add-Ons/TiVo-VideoReDo-AutoProcessor/ ) I was startled to find it showing the wrong version of TVAP. I had to refresh my browser to get the correct version to show. Don't know what would happen if I tried to download the wrong version, since it actually wasn't there -- I had deleted it when I uploaded the newer version.

 

[dlfl]

No enhancements this time -- fixed a bug that occured if you configured moving .TiVo files to a destination folder.

Download: ftp://upload:[email protected]/VRD Add-Ons/TiVo-VideoReDo-AutoProcessor/

 

[Dan203]

Another suggestion.... Allow selection of output file type. One thing this program might be useful for, other then simply converting files to MPEG, is converting them to DVR-MS. You see in Windows MCE you can play .tivo files without decrypting them, but the FF and RW features are disabled. However if you use VRD to convert the .tivo files to DVR-MS first then they play with full trickplay capabilities. Heck if you wanted to get really fancy you could even use tivodecode to grab the metadata from the TiVo file and then apply it to the newly created DVR-MS, so it would be a seamless transfer from TiVo to MCE Now Playing. I actually considered writing something like this myself, but I just haven't had the time yet and it would actually fit into your program quite well.

Dan

 

[NJ_HB]

I am sure I speak on behalf of the other users who benefit from this when I say THANKS.
Well done. I hope your hard work does not go unnoticed.

 

[dlfl]

Now automatically corrects the folder location in a .vprj file created by Ad Scan without auto-cut. Explanation: If you have TVAP move the Ad Scan input file to another directory when completed, then the .vprj file is not correct and you can't open it in VRD -- UNLESS you change the folder location in the .vprj file (third line) to point to where you moved the input file -- which is what TVAP now does!

Download: ftp://upload:[email protected]/VRD Add-Ons/TiVo-VideoReDo-AutoProcessor/

 

[dlfl]

I am sure I speak on behalf of the other users who benefit from this when I say THANKS.
Well done. I hope your hard work does not go unnoticed.

Well, you noticed it! Thanks!

I did this for my own use and decided to share it. However it ended up being a lot more than I originally planned. Just kept thinking of one feature or another that would be desirable.

 

[dlfl]

Another suggestion.... Allow selection of output file type. One thing this program might be useful for, other then simply converting files to MPEG, is converting them to DVR-MS. You see in Windows MCE you can play .tivo files without decrypting them, but the FF and RW features are disabled. However if you use VRD to convert the .tivo files to DVR-MS first then they play with full trickplay capabilities. Heck if you wanted to get really fancy you could even use tivodecode to grab the metadata from the TiVo file and then apply it to the newly created DVR-MS, so it would be a seamless transfer from TiVo to MCE Now Playing. I actually considered writing something like this myself, but I just haven't had the time yet and it would actually fit into your program quite well.

Dan

I'm using the COM interface functions as documented in the VRD help. The FileSaveAsEx function documentation describes only three file types BUT I notice they align exactly with the first three output types in the VRD help:

Program Stream (MPG) - A standard MPEG1 or MPEG2 program stream.

Elementary Stream (MPV) - A demultiplexed version of the output program. Separate audio and video files will be written.

DVD Stream (VOB) - These files are VOB formatted files suitable for input to the DVDAuthor utility. They cannot be used directly on a DVD. They will need to be processed by a DVD authoring utility.

Transport Stream (ts) - Industry compliant Transport Streams

DVR-MS (dvr-ms) - Microsoft Media Center files. Also known as MCE files.

Topfield REC (rec) - Topfield REC format. A transport stream file with a Topfield header

Tivo (tivo)- MPEG

Does this mean I can use 5 and get DVR-MS ? This would be a simple mod I think. Probably would add another "Destination" folder to which DVR-MS could be moved.

I wonder how complicated the tivodecode thing would be? I've heard of it but haven't done anything with it. Need to search forums I guess. What form is meta-data coming out of tivodecode and going into VRD (for DVR-MS)? Text? XML? Helpful hints are welcome!

 

[Dan203]

I'm using the COM interface functions as documented in the VRD help. The FileSaveAsEx function documentation describes only three file types BUT I notice they align exactly with the first three output types in the VRD help:

It is support, but it's not 5. Here is the list...

1 = MPEG Program Stream
2 = MPEG Elelmentry Streams
3 = MPEG Program Stream w/NAV Packets
4 = MPEG Transport Stream
5 = Topfield .rec file
6 = DVR-MS file
7 = .tivo file
8 = DVD Folder
9 = DVD ISO

The last 2 wont actually be supported until the DVD portion of TVSuite is released, but I added them anyway just for future reference.

I wonder how complicated the tivodecode thing would be? I've heard of it but haven't done anything with it. Need to search forums I guess. What form is meta-data coming out of tivodecode and going into VRD (for DVR-MS)? Text? XML? Helpful hints are welcome!

I've played around with tivodecode a bit. It's not the easiest code to work with, as it's all in standard C, but I managed to get it to output the TiVo metadata, which is XML, to an MFC CString object. From that point you could feed it into the MSXML parser and pull whatever data you wanted from it. To add the metadata to the DVR-MS file you would use a COM object called IWMMetadataEditor and it's IWMHeaderInfo interface. There is a great article about this out there called "Fun with DVR-MS" if you're really interested.

Dan

 

[dlfl]

Thanks Dan,

I plan to add the dvr-ms output option and will look into the metadata thing.

 

[Dan203]

What language are you using for this? If it's MFC C++ then I can help you out. If it's something else I might still be able to help you out, but it might have to wait until I have some free time.

Dan

 

[dlfl]

What language are you using for this? If it's MFC C++ then I can help you out. If it's something else I might still be able to help you out, but it might have to wait until I have some free time.

Dan

I'm using M$ VS2005 C# (.NET). I found some Toub (the "Fun with ... " guy) stuff on editing dvr-ms metadata and it already appears to be written in that. Haven't looked at the TivoDecode stuff yet.

I don't know if there's a way to link a MFC-based module into C# .NET code. Will check the help.

 

[Dan203]

I might be able to port my code over to an ActiveX control. If I get some free time I'll give that a shot.

Dan

 

[dlfl]

I might be able to port my code over to an ActiveX control. If I get some free time I'll give that a shot.

Dan

That sounds promising!