The Hauppauge HD-PVR device which was originally to be available by March 31st and then "April or May" and now Hauppauge sales is saying the device "should hit the market toward the end of May, early June."  Another tidbit I've picked up is that the HD-PVR will not initially be compatible with Microsoft Media Center, but Hauppauge is working on Media Center support and hopes to have MC support sometime summer 2008.  I'm expecting to see support for this device in both SageTV and BeyondTV since representatives from both of those companies have mentioned the device and seem to understand the extra capability it would bring to their software programs.  The thing that makes Media Center support more difficult is the fact that there is currently no Vista Native support for h.264 which would be required.  My guess is that we'll see h.264 support on Vista Media Center with the next release as they roll out the DirectTV Card support that according to a post on Chris Lanier's blog is rumored to be inching closer along with the codename fiji update.

The Hauppauge HD-PVR is a device that will let us record digital television straight from any component video output like a cable box, satellite box or even that HD  (read more on the Hauppauge HD-PVR recorder here). 

Why is this device so exciting?   Any analog video out of your typical HD set-top box has been termed the "Analog Hole". This term was coined by those in the industry as one way people could get HD content isn't protected from being copied or moved in any way.  The HDMI digital connection that are quickly becoming the standard do protect the content so component out was the only loophole.

Thus far, it has been nearly impossible to record encrypted digital channels (think ESPN HD or HBO etc) to your Home Theater PC unless you have purchased a pre-configured, Microsoft Vista Media Center computer that has CableCard tuner/s pre-installed.  This was expensive and inflexible - especially if you prefer other HTPC programs such as SageTV, Beyond TV, GBPVR, Media Portal, Meedios or MythTV.  With this device, if it works as expected we'll be able to plug it into the outgoing component outputs of any HD device such as a cable box then tune and record that HD content. 

A theory on the many mysteries of the Lost TV Show has been posted on the web that actually make some sense.  The basic gist of it is that everything circles around a time machine and then goes into a much deeper (really deep) explanation for nearly every mystery surrounding the Lost show.  If you're a Lost fan like I am and have the time to kill, check out his website (yes a website just for this theory) and see what you think.  The website is full of photos, timelines, Q&A, rebuttals and evidence. 

 

Lost: A Theory on Time Travel

The site has been dugg a bit much today so if the above link doesn't work try this link which is a mirror of the site

If you're a BeyondTV user you already know that it comes loaded with its own commercial detection they call SmartSkip.  I've used Smartskip with BeyondTV and it works, but its not perfect and what they give you is what you get.  If you want a commercial skipping engine that is constantly updated, more configurable and can run while your still recording the show then I recommend you give the excellent comskip program a try.  I'll show you how to set up comskip within BeyondTV - it's not too difficult and you'll be happy you put in the extra effort.

Comskip is a program developed by Erik Kaashoek.  It's freeware (donations accepted) and its continually updated to work with all of the popular HTPC programs and detect the latest in TV commercial methods.

ADVANTAGES OF COMSKIP OVER SMARTSKIP:

• Commercial detection process is faster
• Commercial detection is more accurate and methods are updated with new version often
• Comskip is very configurable.  Detect only certain channels or shows, detect during recording or after or only during certain times if  you want.

NOTE: This tutorial is for BeyondTV users only.  Please read this post for the tutorial on installing comskip with other HTPC software programs.

INSTALLING COMSKIP WITH BEYONDTV:

1. Download Comskip from here 

2. Unzip Comskip to a directory on your BTV PC.

3. Edit your comskip.ini file (this is where the settings are kept).  I have a copy of my comskip.ini file below with those settings I changed highlighted in bold red:

detect_method=111
validate_silence=1
validate_uniform=1
validate_scenechange=1
verbose=10
max_brightness=60
test_brightness=40
max_avg_brightness=25
max_commercialbreak=600
min_commercialbreak=25
max_commercial_size=125
min_commercial_size=4
min_show_segment_length=125
non_uniformity=500
max_volume=500
min_silence=12
ticker_tape=0
logo_at_bottom=0
punish=0
punish_threshold=1.3
punish_modifier=2
intelligent_brightness=0
logo_percentile=0.92
logo_threshold=0.75
punish_no_logo=1
aggressive_logo_rejection=0
connect_blocks_with_logo=1
logo_filter=0
cut_on_ar_change=1
delete_show_after_last_commercial=0
delete_show_before_or_after_current=0
delete_block_after_commercial=0
remove_before=0
remove_after=0
shrink_logo=5
after_logo=0
padding=0
ms_audio_delay=5
volume_slip=20
skip_b_frames=1
max_repair_size=200
disable_heuristics=4
delete_logo_file=0
output_framearray=0
output_videoredo=0
output_womble=0
output_mls=0
output_cuttermaran=0
output_mpeg2schnitt=0
output_mpgtx=0
output_dvrcut=0
output_zoomplayer_chapter=0
output_zoomplayer_cutlist=0
output_edl=0
output_edlx=0
output_vcf=0
output_bsplayer=0
output_btv=1
output_projectx=0
output_avisynth=0
output_vdr=0
output_demux=0
sage_framenumber_bug=0
sage_minute_bug=0
live_tv=0
live_tv_retries=4
dvrms_live_tv_retries=300
standoff=0
cuttermaran_options="cut=\"true\" unattended=\"true\" muxResult=\"false\" snapToCutPoints=\"true\" closeApp=\"true\""
mpeg2schnitt_options="mpeg2schnitt.exe /S /E /R25 /Z %2 %1"
avisynth_options="LoadPlugin(\"MPEG2Dec3.dll\") \nMPEG2Source(\"%s\")\n"
dvrcut_options="dvrcut \"%s.dvr-ms\" \"%s_clean.dvr-ms\" "
windowtitle="Comskip - %s" play_nice_sleep=12
play_nice_start=1
play_nice_end=2359

4. You'll now need to download the customprocess.xml file from Snapstream.  This file is used to define the processing tasks to be run on recordings and how & when these tasks are run.  Put the customprocess.xml file into the "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Beyond TV" directory.  If you need more detail on this step read this Snapstream knowledge-base article

5. Download the BTV DLL file ssppcmd.dll from Snapstream and place this file in the "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Beyond TV\Plugins" directory.  If you need more detail on this step read this Snapstream knowledge-base article

6. Edit "CustomProcess.xml" (see copy of the file below) and replace "ENTER THE PATH OF YOUR COMMAND HERE" with the absolute path of an executable that takes a filename as a command line argument.   In our case our command-line file will be called "batch.bat" so if you put it in C:\Program Files\BTVComskip\, you'll make this path "C:\Program Files\BTVComskip\batch.bat"

This executable will then be run on every file generated by Beyond TV.

<CustomTasks>
<Task>
<GUID>531E0175-87F4-4d6f-B464-E603BC641DAE</GUID>
<Priority>Deferred</Priority>
<PropertyCollection>
<Property>
<Name>Command</Name>
<Value>ENTER THE PATH OF YOUR COMSKIP BATCH FILE HERE</Value>
</Property>
</PropertyCollection>
</Task>
</CustomTasks>

This program (batch.bat) is executed for every recording in BeyondTV. Because it is set to Deferred it will execute immediately after a show finishes recording (as long as you have "time constraints" disabled in BTV Webadmin Settings.

EDIT:  Per Snapstreams post-processing steps, if you change Deferred in the Priority tags with Immediate, the script will run regardless of the time constraints.  Thanks to Nick Burns for this reminder :)

7. Download the comskip playback script HERE (created by cmcquistion) [Note: this script is updated occasionally by cmcquistion so be sure and check this thread for the latest updates.

Again, be sure you change the line (in bold) of "Enter The Path of Your Comskip Batch Folder Here" to whatever folder you have the comskip.exe installed to.

@ECHO OFF
::
::
:: Comskip script to commercial detection on Videos, using Comskip
:: (Last Edited 03-22-07)
::
::
SET COMSKIPFOLDER=ENTER THE PATH OF YOUR COMSKIP BATCH FOLDER HERE
::
::
IF EXIST "%~pdn1*log*" DEL "%~pdn1*log*"
IF EXIST "%~pdn1*txt" DEL "%~pdn1*txt"
IF EXIST "%~pdn1*index.dat" DEL "%~pdn1*index.dat"
IF EXIST "%~pdnx1.chapters.xml" DEL "%~pdnx1.chapters.xml"
IF EXIST "%~pdn1.chp" DEL "%~pdn1.chp"
IF EXIST "%~pdn1.vprj" DEL "%~pdn1.vprj"
ECHO .
ECHO Running Commercial Detection, using Comskip
ECHO .
"%COMSKIPFOLDER%\comskip.exe" "%~pdnx1"
::
:: clean up log and txt files
IF EXIST "%~pdn1*log*" DEL "%~pdn1*log*"
IF EXIST "%~pdn1*txt" DEL "%~pdn1*txt"
IF EXIST "%~pdn1*index.dat" DEL "%~pdn1*index.dat"
::
::

Note from the creator of the script:  "For all of these scripts to work, you should NOT have any MPG, TP, or VPRJ files on the root of your video drive. The QSF and CUT scripts actually output video to the root of the drive, as a temporary location. They also check the root of the drive, to see if MPG, TP, or VPRJ files already exist there. This is done as a crude method of determining whether another QSF or CUT job is already running."

Credit to cmcquistion who worked all of this process out and continues to update his thread on the topic here.  cmcquistion outlines a process to include cutting the commercials and fixing OTA recording errors as well, but for simplicity (and the fact I didn't need to do it) I've kept that portion of the process out of this post.

 

If you need further assistance with comskip, head over to the comskip forums.  For help on the Snapstream side of things check out this snapstream forums thread

 

We're down to the sweet sixteen in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  Here's the guide to what games are on with start times.

Day	Time (eastern)	Team	Team
3/27 Thursday	7:10	West Virginia (7)	Xavier (2)
3/27 Thursday	7:27	Washington St. (4)	North Carolina (1)
3/27 Thursday	9:40	Western Kentucky (12)	UCLA (1)
3/27 Thursday	9:57	Lousiville (3)	Tennessee (2)
03/28 Friday	7:10	Davidson (10)	Wisconsin (3)
03/28 Friday	7:27	Stanford (3)	Texas (2)
03/28 Friday	9:40	Villanova (12)	Kansas (1)
03/28 Friday	9:57	Michigan St (5)	Memphis (1)

 

More March Madness:

March Madness TV Coverage Online & Broadcast

March Madness Bracketology - Play Online

March Madness Bracket - Printable Excel Spreadsheet Download

March Madness Map

If you're a TV junkie or even a casual TV watcher, you'll want to check out the TV Status Watch page.  There are running updates for nearly all television shows with information on the number of episodes remaining, whether they are being renewed for next season and when the next episode airs.  Also included are updates on the Last Spring 2008 and Summer 2008 premiers.

The listing was started in response to the Writers Strike and the affect it had on television programming, but by popular demand has morphed into a complete listing of television shows and their current status. 

You'll find the following:

1. Shows with new episodes remaining Spring 2008 & Summer 2008 (and how many)

2. Shows with no remaining episodes but renewed for next season

3. Shows with no remaining episodes but renewal decision is "on the fence"

4. Shows with no remaining episodes and canceled permanently

Read the TV Shows Status Page

Coming soon on this blog you'll see the complete Summer 2008 TV Season Guide as well as the Fall 2008 TV Season Guide so stay tuned.

I thought I'd follow up on the all-day Netflix Outage I reported on Monday.  Because I was one of those whose movie delivery was affected by the outage, Netflix sent me a nice e-mail apologizing and giving me a 5% credit for my inconvenience.  I think it was a nice gesture that is appreciated.

Do you use Comskip for your Home Theater PC commercial skipping?  If so, be sure to check out the latest updates to comskip.  Erik, the developer of comskip has been busy making the comskip program even better - so don't forget to give your thank-you by donating.

Comskip version 0.79.125 - 0.79.114 Includes:

• HDHomeRun tuner improvement - set max_repair_size=0 for HDHomerun recordings.
• HDHomeRun tuner improvement - when a HDHomeRun recording has a track that doesn't include sound, after 50 frames another track is automatically selected.
• High Speed Comskip for HD frames only by setting skip_b_frames=2 (donators only version)
• High Speed Comskip for both SD & HD frames only by setting skip_b_frames=1 (donators only version)
• More efficient transcoding or automatic aspect ration switching during playback - Adding output_aspect=1 to you ini file will instruct comskip to generate a .aspects file. This file lists the input resolution and aspect ratio changes.
• Detection of resolution change for digital recording changes - RESOLUTION_CHANGE (detect_method 8), replaces the unused FUZZY_LOGIC (which is always on). Resolution_change will insert a hard cutpoint when the resolution of a digital recording changes.
• Improved accuracy during reviewing of cutpoints.  Comskip could be up
  to 15 frames off during preview.
• Option for extra speed o