Resume & Program Descriptions not Working

[marvin-miller]

Hi Folks!

I have a bit of an odd issue that I'm hoping someone can help shed some light on.

I use Windows 7 with a Colossus so it records .WTV in H.264

I have a program called VAP that watches the Recorded TV directory and then uses Comskip to scan for commercials and then, once it's built a list of commercials it calls Video Redo to do both a QSF and Cut operation on the files. It then moves the files onto a Series disk or a Movies disk.

If that sounds familiar to DVRMSToolbox etc, it is. Same thing, just a better way to do it. In fact, if you have Video Redo I'd highly suggest checking out VAP - it's unreal. Anyway...

The thing is, resume never works on the processed files. Also, program descriptions never work on the Movies unless they are played. Then you can see the description etc.

If I look at the files in Windows Explorer and set it to show Program Description, the metadata is all there. This makes me wonder why Media Center doesn't show the description on recorded and processed movies. If I copy the movie back into Recorded TV then it does show the description. My guess is that resume would probably work too.

So it seems that if I leave programs in the Recorded TV directory, all is well. But if I keep my movies on a different disk, and then tell Media Center to use that location when it looks for movies, I loose out.

Does anyone know what I mean? Or better yet, how to fix it? I'd love to see my processed movies with album art and descriptions and the whole nine yards just as I see them in the guide. Is that possible?

[adam1991]

You say "resume never works". What are you setting as the output of Video Redo?

[CyberSimian]

It then moves the files onto a Series disk or a Movies disk. ... The thing is, resume never works on the processed files.

In Vista, WMC stores the information about recordings in a file called "recordings.xml". This file contains all of the details about recordings that reside in the "Recorded TV" folder. For series recordings, this file also contains details of episodes that have been recorded, watched, and deleted (the details are retained even though those files are no longer present in the "Recorded TV" folder).

The problem is that "recordings.xml" is also the place where WMC stores the resume point for partially-watched recordings. When you move a recording to a different folder, WMC deletes the details of that recording from "recordings.xml", and this of course includes the resume point. If you then watch that recording from its new location, it will start playback from the beginning. In addition, there is nowhere for WMC to store the resume point if you stop watching that recording partway through.

Win7 WMC uses a different repository in place of "recordings.xml", but I believe that it uses the same logic (so will exhibit the same behaviour with regard to the resume point).

Also, program descriptions never work on the Movies unless they are played.

With recordings that reside in "Recorded TV", WMC shows the programme information for the recording with the focus when you browse through the list. With files in other locations, you must press the INFO button on the remote control and then select "Programme Information" to see the programme info. (I hope that is correct; I used WMC for five years, but am starting to forget some of its operational details!)

Finally, I will mention that MediaPortal (which I now use) does remember the resume point for partially-watched recordings that reside in other folders (in the "Videos" section). Depending on the skin used, MediaPortal can also display the programme info for the recording that has the focus when viewing a list of recordings in the "Videos" section.

Every media center product will have aspects that you like and aspects that you don't like. You need to choose the product that best matches your particular needs and preferences, even though it may not be perfect.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[marvin-miller]

You say "resume never works". What are you setting as the output of Video Redo?

Good question and sorry I forgot to mention it. It's also outputting H.264/WTV so there is no transcoding taking place.

I think CyberSimian has nailed down my suspicions. It's probably behaviour 'by design'. While I haven't tested resume after moving a recording back into Recorded TV I'm quite sure it will work. Processed recordings due appear to have all their metadata intact so I was expecting/hoping for proper Media Center support. I guess that is directory-specific.

It's too bad Microsoft has not chosen to 'open source' Media Center. This would be the smart play and after seeing SageTV do that, I think we're going to see a lot of interesting things coming from that front. I tried to buy SageTV back in '11 but I was about 1 week late, they had just sold to Google and could not sell me the product. In the midst of looking into Media Portal (I think you answered one of my questions over there CS) I found out that SageTV had been released as open source and even had a native Windows installer.

Easiest for me would be remaining with Media Center since I've been running it for about 8 years now but that's dependent on this guide thing being worked out. Barring that, it would either be back to Media Portal (as a new user) or back to SageTV. SageTV is pretty wild, it's where the real DVR heads seem to end up. Either would mean a learning curve though.