pyTivo Discussion Forum

wgw · Joined: 06 Jan 2008 Posts: 262

Kevin,

Your admin plugin works so amazingly well, and makes it so easy to view and modify config settings. Because of that, I was thinking it would now be a good idea to just go ahead and add audio_fr, audio_codec, video_fps, and even video_codec as separate config settings in the pytivo.conf file. That way the user can modify all parameters in the ffmpeg string on the fly without having to deal with or touch the bulky ffmpeg_prams statement.

For example, rather than modifying ffmpeg_prams when I want to force -acodec ac3, it would be easier to just enter "-acodec ac3" in a web admin box labeled audio_codec, and then do a soft reset. Then when I'm done, delete the contents of audio_codec to let pyTivo return to using the default settings. To do this with the current web admin, you have to delete %(audio_codec)s from ffmpeg_prams, replace it with -acodec ac3, then go back and re-enter %(audio_codec)s. Or to use a special framerate when 29.97 does not work well for a batch of files, one could just enter 23.98 under video_fps, and then delete it when finished transferring them. The same for audio_fr.

Since pyTivo already deals with these parameters in one way or another, I think it makes sense to just go all the way and add a conf parameter for every setting within the ffmpeg string and be done with it.

Would you be willing to add these settings as "known" parameters in the web admin tool if I modify pyTivo to look for them in the config?

krkeegan · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:14 pm Post subject:

Yes yes of course. And by no means do I claim ownership of the admin plugin. Just like everything else in pyTivo feel free to modify away.

I think what you are suggesting makes sense maybe the ffmpeg_prams should only reference other parameters. Ie. there shouldn't be any behind the scenes calculation of the settings.

So this would mean that things like height, width, audio bitrate, video bitrate should all remain because the reference other settings in the pyTivo.conf file.

However, audio_codec and others could be pulled out into their own settings.

It seems to make more sense, at least at first.

Glad you like the web admin plugin. It seems to make editing the pyTivo.conf file much less intimidating. The settings.tmpl file is a little unwieldy with all the <DIV>s and Javascript, but it provides a decent user interface.

wgw · Joined: 06 Jan 2008 Posts: 262

I'm pretty much finished making the mods, except for updating the admin plugin setting.tmpl file. That looks like a real bear to update.

I renamed ffmpeg_prams to ffmpeg_tmpl because I think it makes more sense that way. And I reallocated ffmpeg_prams as a field for users to enter additional raw ffmpeg commands that are appended to ffmpeg_tmpl. Or I could keep using ffmpeg_prams as the template, and create a new parameter for raw input. But either way, any existing ffmpeg_prams line will crash the program until the old ffmpeg_prams is removed or replaced.

The new ffmpeg_tmpl is "%(video_codec)s %(video_fps)s %(video_br)s %(max_video_br)s %(buff_size)s %(aspect_ratio)s -comment pyTivo.py %(audio_br)s %(audio_fr)s %(audio_ch)s %(audio_codec)s %(fmpeg_prams)s %(format)s"

The idea is that this template would hopefully never have to be modified or replaced again by the user in the conf file due to future updates because each setting has it's own parameter in the conf file/web admin. Where ever possible, the user supplied entry overrides the pyTivo default. For example, if the user enters "ac3" in the audio_codec field, pyTivo will no longer check the codec of the source and automatically use acodec copy when the audio is compatible.

wgw · Joined: 06 Jan 2008 Posts: 262

Updates are complete and repository has been updated.