Setup DVRMSToolbox and ShowAnalyzer for Commercial Skip in Windows Media Center (WMC) - Windows 8

UPDATED: Forgot to have ShowAnalyzer run at night to limit CPU usage. Scroll to bottom for directions or check out separate post

To get started we need to have ShowAnalyzer v1.0 (Costs $29.98) installed as well as DVRMSToolbox (1.2.1.7 R1) and the Windows 7 Media Center Addin (1.0.0.9) (note: to download these updated edition for windows 8 you must donate to gain access). Once you’ve got all three installed let’s get started configuring each program.

Start by opening DVRMSToolbox’s DVRMSToMPEGSettings and on the first tab set your preferred Analyzer to ShowAnalyzer. Then switch to the MC Addin tab and make sure that the Commercial Skip option is enabled.


Finally, under the Commercial Skip tab make a note of the Commercial Path so we can setup ShowAnalyzer to use the same path when saving it’s commercial XML files. You also have the option to setup the keys used by the Media Center Addin to skip commercials during playback as well as enabling auto skipping of commercials.



Finally, open up ShowAnalyzer and go to Global Settings –> Directory Watcher


Make sure that the Directory Watcher feature is enabled. Then add directory of your Recorded TV directories to the service.


Next, under the Default Profile -> Analyzer tab make sure that Priority is RealTime and checked.


Then go to Default Profile -> Output. Under Where paste the location of the DVRMSToolbox files being created matches the Commercial Path in your DVRMSToolbox settings from above.

Then open up Windows Media Center and ensure that the DTBAddin is listed and enabled under Settings –> Start Menu and Extras –> Extras Library. Finally, you may want to restart your system to ensure that the newly installed services have been started properly.

HOW TO SCHEDULE SHOWANALYZER TO RUN AT NIGHT

1. Create new folder in C:\ drive. I named it showanalyzer. 

2. Open up notepad application. 

3. Type in      
start C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"Dragon Global"\ShowAnalyzerSuite\ShowAnalyzerMaster.exe




4. Click File Save As

5. Name it start.cmd (make sure to include .cmd at end so you save it as command file and not .txt)

6. Go back to notepad and click File New

7. Type in
taskkill /f /im showanalyzer*



  
 (/f is force command, /im is to select name of process, and the * at the end is used to end all process starting with showanalyzer)

8. Click File Save As

9. Name it stop.cmd

10. For some reason you need administrative privaleges to run the stop command. In order to get around this make a shortcut by right clicking on stop.cmd and selecting Create Shortcut


11. Right click on the shortcut and select Properties


12. Click advanced under shortcut tab


13. Check Run as Administrator Box


14. Now to create the tasks to run at night. Open Task Scheduler


15. Click on Create Task...

16. Name it start sa and check run with highest privaleges


17. Under Triggers click New. Create the schedule you desire to run showanalyzer. I selected every day at 2AM. 


18. Under Actions click New. Find where the start.cmd you created


19. Under Conditions check the box Wake the computer to run this task


20. Under settings you can leave alone. I selected to stop running task if it runs longer than 4 hours but I am not sure if this matters. Click OK


 21. Now Create another new task and name it stop sa. Again run with highest privaleges


22. Under Triggers select schedule to stop showanalyzer. This will depend on how many shows you record nightly. It took my computer about 10 minutes to strip commercials out of 2 concurrent tv shows so I doubled that and figured it would take 25 minutes at max to analyze 4 shows. I would recommend running showanalyzer manually and see how long it takes and find a sweet spot so you get all the shows analyzed everynight. I chose to end at 2:30AM everyday. 


23. Under Actions click New. Find and select the stop - shortcut you created. MAKE SURE TO SELECT THE SHORTCUT SO IT RUNS AS ADMINISTRATOR.

24. Under Conditions I chose to start the task if its idle for 5 minutes so it wont stop showanalyzer in middle of working. I said idle time is 30 minutes. I then checked Stop if the computer ceases to be idle and Restart if the idle state resumes. I also checked Wake the computer to run this task in case computer goes to sleep before process is stopped. (helps prevent showanalyzer running during day)


25. Under Settings I again chose to stop task if longer than 4 hours.


26. All done. Go back to Task Scheduler screen and test out each command. I would open up Task Manager and watch for ShowAnalyzer and ShowAnalyzer Master under processes. They should start up with start command and disappear with stop command.