evtEdit for Windows

[JenEric]

more info in previous thread (http://archive.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=326374). I'll follow with a new screen shot post.



[Latest Version is 26a] (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5945417&&#post5945417)


[Edited to point to newest version (Recommend version 13 or greater). Also, previously version 5 was released here.]

[JenEric]

http://home1.gte.net/res04oqz/evtEdit.jpg

[antibody128]

Does this GUI for RTVtools work on Win98? The other 2 GUI's require Win2000 or XP plus .Net and I'm running Win98. Thanks.

oops I see it is one of the 2 that require .net so no go for Win98.:(

[steverap]

Great tool! It's helped me quickly review edit points. However, I do have a suggestion. Could you add a "Do you really want to quit?" message if the program is terminated without generating a new MPEG?

Yesterday I was using evtEdit, and spent quite awhile getting a sporting event edited just right. Since it was a 3 hour recording, it is difficult to double-click on a small segment to review it. So I maximized the screen to make the horizontal graph slightly larger. I was then closing several other programs that were running by clicking the X in the top right corner, and inadvertently lost all my edit points!

[antibody128]

Another Win98 question. I see that you can install .net 1.0 on Win98. Is there any other reason why this would not work on a Win98 machine? Is there anyone using this GUI on a Win98 machine?

[JenEric]

Originally posted by steverap
Could you add a "Do you really want to quit?" message if the program is terminated without generating a new MPEG?

I felt for you and made it so.

[JenEric]

Okay, so apparently the "Selected mpeg" textbox disappeared in Version 6. Here's the fix. Apparently I'm taking "release often" to heart.

[JenEric]

Originally posted by steverap
Since it was a 3 hour recording, it is difficult to double-click on a small segment to review it.
New version adds keyboard control, so you don't have to use mouse pointer to select tiny segments:

8th Alpha (Dec. 2, 2003)
---Added Keyboard Commands:
------ A - Add
------ R - Remove
------ < - Choose Segment to Left (or Mouse Back Button)
------ > - Choose Segment to Right (or Mouse Forward Button)
------ P - Play Segment

[tarfin]

I d/l'ed this along with the dos tools that it uses for the first time last night and I must say kudos to both you and Lee for the effort. I ran an episode of Family Guy through it and it seemed to remove all the breaks where the commercial was. One quirk I noticed which may be my machine is the progress bar on WMP shows the show as half way done when it is in reality at the end. Also besides Womble, is there a good/free editor for lopping off the last few seconds of a clip/movie that is the start of a commercial? Maybe I'm not using the tools to their full extent, but this would be a great help.

Thanks,
Tim

[antibody128]

Still no word on whether Win98 running .net 1.0 can run this program?

I must confess that, assuming failure, I've been too lazy to "just try".

[JenEric]

antibody128:
I will assume success for you. Just try. :)

tarfin:
You can lop off seconds with evtEdit using the Segment End Time "-sec" button. [I've noticed rtvedit seems to only split on like the half second for me (even though I'm inputting it to the millisecond) which can leave commercial flashes. I don't know if you get the same results using VirtualDub and the -t1 flag, but know that it does have to find the nearest primary frame or something.] You may be looking for VirtualDub (http://virtualdub.org/) or reVue (http://inside.drexel.edu/ksb/revue/). I don't know about your WMP issue.

[antibody128]

Thanks for "assuming success" for me. You were right Win98 with .net v1.0 runs evtEdit for Windows like a charm.

I played with it for about 15 min and was very impressed. I haven't tried ReVue yet (it specifically says .net 1.1 - so no Win98), but I have little or no need right now for the playback function so this evtEdit for Windows is just perfect for me. Thanks.

[JenEric]

9th Alpha (Dec. 12, 2003)

---Autorun rtvConvert option
---"Add all segments" menu option
---Output filename displayed
---Fix "overwriting" from moving back to original directory.

[Dogtown2]

JenEric-

Thanks for all the improvements. You have moved ahead as far as I am concerned for the convert interface. I have but one last request... is there any way to build in a batch converter. I would love to set up a dozen or so files at once and then have them all get edited and converted over night. Get up in the morning at you are all ready for the DVD creation process...

Let me know what you think.

-DT

[dszlucha]

As always, excellent utility. I have a couple of requests. I have a situation where evtEdit can't edit a show because the 'evtDump' generated file only has a single Axxx:xx.xxx. This seems to happen alot for me with shows off the Disney channel (which is digital on my cable system). The behavior is that evtEdit show the segment length as 0 and it can't be changed.

Second, I would like to see a +0.5 sec and -0.5 sec since I frames are down to the 1/2 second.

Thanks.

David

[skleiser]

Originally posted by JenEric
New version adds keyboard control, so you don't have to use mouse pointer to select tiny segments.
This has been working pretty well for me - except that with tiny segments, I can't always tell if they are green or red! Could you possibly add an indicator for the current segment? And maybe allow this indicator to be changed (red to green to red) if necessary.

Originally posted by dszlucha
As always, excellent utility. I would like to see a +0.5 sec and -0.5 sec since I frames are down to the 1/2 second.
I agree (on both counts!)

Thanks for all your work!
-steve-

[JenEric]

10th Alpha (Dec. 15, 2003)
--Shift key allows for half second adjustment
--Can add segments to show where no fades were found
--Took off warning message when splitting segments
--Added delay start (with batch processing in mind)
--Made running synchronously with other instances okay (for batch processing)
--Added "Delete Selected .mpg group" menu option


Dogtown2:
--There is now a "Batch" tab on Options page. It allows for a delay from when you hit Go. Hitting Go after setting each one up and then opening up a new instance would stagger the jobs in my view. Also changing the delay time would do so. If not, I'm hoping they're able to run together anyway. I've tried it with 2, good luck with 12. I'm sure you'll let me know.

dszlucha:
--I hope this hooks you up as well.

skleiser:
--If you can't see them, they're probably red. :) I had considered this, but figured what you wanted them to be was more important than what they were. We'll see.

[dszlucha]

Thanks. Is there any way to add additional segments?

[JenEric]

You probably know you can add additional segments with the middle mouse button or +.

If you mean at the end, I suppose you'd have to move the 2nd to the last segments end time out.

If you mean to tack on a new clip, then no, that'd have to be done seperately.

[Dogtown2]

Thanks JenEric, I will get a few more movies recorded this week so I can try the time delay method this weekend. I will let you know how it goes.

-DT

[dszlucha]

Originally posted by JenEric
You probably know you can add additional segments with the middle mouse button or +.


Doh! I guess I should RTFM :D. Thanks, I'll give it a try.

[danfriz]

Help!! Whenever I try to view a segment (like via the 'Commercials' button this message (details) pops up:

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentException: The path is not of a legal form.
at System.IO.Path.nGetFullPathHelper(String path, Char[] invalidPathChars, Char[] whitespaceChars, Char directorySeparator, Char altDirectorySeparator, Boolean fullCheck, String& newPath)
at System.IO.Path.GetFullPathInternal(String path)
at System.IO.FileInfo..ctor(String fileName)
at evtEdit.Form1.PlayPlayList()
at evtEdit.Form1.PlayAll(String AddsOrDeletes)
at evtEdit.Form1.btnPlayAllAds_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 1.0.3300.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.3705.288
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/microsoft.net/framework/v1.0.3705/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
evtEdit
Assembly Version: 1.0.1444.24511
Win32 Version: 1.0.1444.24511
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Dad/Desktop/Dads/downloads/evtedit_10/evtEdit.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 1.0.3300.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.3705.288
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.windows.forms/1.0.3300.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.windows.forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 1.0.3300.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.3705.288
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system/1.0.3300.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 1.0.3300.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.3705.288
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.drawing/1.0.3300.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/system.drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
Assembly Version: 7.0.3300.0
Win32 Version: 7.00.9502
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/microsoft.visualbasic/7.0.3300.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/microsoft.visualbasic.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just in time (JIT) debugging, the config file for this
application or machine (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the machine
rather than being handled by this dialog.

[Iteki]

Originally posted by danfriz
Help!! Whenever I try to view a segment (like via the 'Commercials' button this message (details) pops up:

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentException: The path is not of a legal form.
at System.IO.Path.nGetFullPathHelper(String path, Char[] invalidPathChars, Char[] whitespaceChars, Char directorySeparator, Char altDirectorySeparator, Boolean fullCheck, String& newPath)


I get the same message....

PIV 1.8GHZ
512 MB RAM
160 HD
WinXP

[fliegsc]

I had this same problem (JIT message). When I cleared the message (clicking on clear, okay, cancel, or something like that) everything seemed to always work. In my case it had something to do with opening the mpeg viewer (Windows Media Player). When I cleared the check in "Use default mpeg viewer" and pointed it to the location of mplayer2.exe (C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\mplayer2.exe in my case) everything worked without a message afterwards.

BTW - I love evtEdit!

[danfriz]

Thanks, specifying the path (vs using the default checkbox) did the trick.

[danfriz]

When doing a 'check segment' commercials, how do you correlate what is being viewed with the segment graphic? i.e. how do I find where the wrong transition is counted as a commercial?

THANKS

[tluxon]

I've been so comfortable using the RTVedit/RTVconvert/Womble method, I haven't had a chance to give this a whirl. Now that I loaded it up, I see it doesn't like using PowerDVD. What players are recommended to use with evtEdit?

Thanks,

Tim

[edit] - Okay, I got it going with Media Player. Is there a quick and easy way to rtvedit the whole file, commercials and all?

[edit2] - Nevermind, I got that too - Edit->add all segments.
Wow, this is pretty cool! Thanks!

[danfriz]

Another question: One file has no identified commercial breaks, but I want to manually specify the sections I want to skip. How do I subdivide or add segments?

[JenEric]

Originally posted by danfriz
When doing a 'check segment' commercials, how do you correlate what is being viewed with the segment graphic? i.e. how do I find where the wrong transition is counted as a commercial?

THANKS

I think the new version will help you out.

11th Alpha (Jan. 10, 2004)
-Delete key deletes mpegs
-Plus key on keypad splits segments as well
-Can adjust countdown timer in real time
-Cancel on countdown timer actually cancels
-Added a couple error checkers
-Relate validation video time info to evtEdit segments

[danfriz]

Very Nice! The time markers in the 'ribbon' correlate nicely with the time display in my player.

Great tool, great support. Thanks!
Dan

[Wasatch Rider]

Problem: I copied a 2hr home video onto my replay at medium quality. Then I downloaded it to DVArchive. When I ty to run it through EVTEdit it shows up as a 33 minute video. DVArchive and the replay I recorded it on list it as 120 mins and 2 hrs respectively. How do I get EVTedit to recognize the whole thing?

[skleiser]

Originally posted by Wasatch Rider
How do I get EVTedit to recognize the whole thing?
This sounds like the same problem I have had with a couple of longer recordings.

I added an edit point near the end, and then changed the Segment End Time of the newly created segment to be very close to the actual end (it will let you keep adding time via "+ min" (use shift and then "+30m" a couple of times) even though it initially says its shorter.

The reason for the new edit point is that the LAST edit point End Time is "End", and you can't add time to that!

BTW: something I noticed with long recordings is that I could fine tune the skipped commercials using "Check Segment: Both" and find that the final video was not exactly as I had tuned. So for each segment, when I thought I was done, I went back and did a "Check Segment: Complete", which WAS an acurate indication of what the generated new mpeg would look like, so I retuned based on those results.

[JenEric]

Yeah, evtEdit doesn't know much about the actual video, only what the rtvtool evtdump tells it from the .evt. If there is no fade info, it just guesses that the show is an hour. If there is fade info, it tacks 3% onto the last fade for the rest of the show.

Your difference between checking "both" and "complete" surprises me, unless it's because "both" uses the "proximity from fade" setting and "complete" doesn't.

[Wasatch Rider]

skleiser,

I tried what you said but the real difficulty is that I gave you an incomplete description of my problem.

Not only does it show the time as 33 min 22 sec, that's all of the video it shows. The last 1 hr 26 min 38 sec, are missing. It is not just a time reporting issue.

It plays fine when viewed with "Intervideo Win DVD". All 2hrs of it. I'm stumped.

[skleiser]

Originally posted by Wasatch Rider
Not only does it show the time as 33 min 22 sec, that's all of the video it shows. The last 1 hr 26 min 38 sec, are missing. It plays fine when viewed with "Intervideo Win DVD". All 2hrs of it.
It appears that Intervideo is showing that the last 1:26:38 are NOT missing, so it MUST BE a time reporting problem, no?

You said you tried what I suggested. What happened when you tried to extend the End of the new next-to-the-last segment?

[Wasatch Rider]

It reported The time for that segment increased by 1hr 30min but it still had the same content as before. the missing video has never been viewable using EVTedit.

[skleiser]

Originally posted by Wasatch Rider
It reported The time for that segment increased by 1hr 30min but it still had the same content as before.
I'm assuming you did a "Check Segment Complete" and the result was not 90 minutes - so, I've got to say that I'm stumped too! Sorry ...

[JenEric]

I'd guess there was a problem with the .mpg that the rtvtool rtvedit can't get past. Try generating the new mpeg without autorunning rtvconvert. That should allow you to see any messages rtvedit is generating.

How long does WMP show the .mpg to be. I'm guessing it might be more particular than Intervideo and perhaps choke on the same thing.

[atlantica]

I've been using evtEdit for about a week now and for the most part I like the tool and it works well, but I've had had it delete my original mpg files twice. The first time, it was no big deal. It wasn't a critical file. The second time (just now) it was a critical file (Eagles victory over the Packers). Here's what happened:

- used evtEdit to view some of the blocks and change some some of the red blocks to green and vice versa.
- when I was done and ready to create a new mpg, it said it couldn't find the source file.
- sure enough the files are gone (.mpg, .evt, and .ndx) and nowhere to be found on my system

I know this is "pre-release" software and in hind-sight I probably should have backed up the files myself before using evtEdit, but has anyone else seen this, and better yet can my files be recovered?

[JenEric]

Originally posted by atlantica
Re: HELP!! My mpg got deleted!

That's sure not acceptable! Backing up these big video files can get a little impractical. I've definitely tried to be careful when moving or deleting anything.

What settings were you using? I know I've been caught when I chose "Overwrite" and the tools choked on my mpeg.

I can't tell what could have happened from your description. Was the "can't find source file" an evtEdit generated message?

I'll look into it more, and you could try searching your hard drive for all files over a gig. And all .mpgs. And all files that start with the same name that that mpeg had.

Anyone else that this has happened to, let me know. You can PM me if you want.

Can't believe it deleted the Packer loss after what they did to my Seahawks.

[atlantica]

Originally posted by JenEric
That's sure not acceptable! Backing up these big video files can get a little impractical. I've definitely tried to be careful when moving or deleting anything.

What settings were you using? I know I've been caught when I chose "Overwrite" and the tools choked on my mpeg.

I can't tell what could have happened from your description. Was the "can't find source file" an evtEdit generated message?

I'll look into it more, and you could try searching your hard drive for all files over a gig. And all .mpgs. And all files that start with the same name that that mpeg had.

Anyone else that this has happened to, let me know. You can PM me if you want.

Can't believe it deleted the Packer loss after what they did to my Seahawks.

Here's some more info:

1. I was pretty much using the default settings. My "edited mpeg options" is set to "Backup and Overwrite Original" and "New Name Addition:" is set to "_backup". [Note: In hindsight, this doesn't seem to be a safe setting and I will change it to "Leave Original" from now on...]
2. "work directory" was set to "F:\Temp". The F: drive had 19GB of free space. The MPEG file that I was editting was about 8GB.
3. I had "use same directory as input file" checked under the "output directory tab".
4. Under the "Batch" tab, I have a delay of zero minutes set.
5. After doing my editing using evtEdit, I hit the bit "Generate New MPEG with rtvEdit" button. A console window popped up and displayed:

F:\Temp>"C:\Downloads\ReplayTV\RTVTools\rev4\bin\win32\rtvedit.exe" "F:\Temp\evtEditIn_3928.txt"
Can't open file F:\DVArchive\Local_Guide\NFL Football - NFC Divisional Playoff- TBA at Philadelphia Eagles.mpg

F:\Temp>pause
Press any key to continue . . .

6. I did a search on all my hard drives for nfl*.mpg with no luck. I did notice that there are the following three files in f:\temp:

evtEditPlayClip.bat
evtEditPlayClip.evt
evtEditPlayClip.ndx

[Wasatch Rider]

JenEric,

WMP shows it as a 2:00hr video and will play the whole thing. I don't get it. I also tried ReVue and it said it was a 2hr video but when I converted it I had only the 1st 14 minutes left. I'm really stumped.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only Seahawk fan! Next year watch out!

[atlantica]

Originally posted by atlantica
Here's some more info:

<snip>

6. I did a search on all my hard drives for nfl*.mpg with no luck. I did notice that there are the following three files in f:\temp:

evtEditPlayClip.bat
evtEditPlayClip.evt
evtEditPlayClip.ndx

BTW, here's the contents of evtEditPlayClip.bat (in case that might help figure this out):

FF:\DVArchive\Local_Guide\NFL Football - NFC Divisional Playoff- TBA at Philadelphia Eagles.mpg
TF:\Temp\evtEditPlayClip.mpg
A179:22.435
D179:32.435
A192:53.713
D193:03.713
E

[JenEric]

atlantica,
Those files are left over from what looks like previewing the 1st and last 10 seconds of some segment. If the next thing you did was hit "Generate mpeg", the error message you saw happens before evtEdit does any type of moving or deleting of files. Is there anything else you did in between those acts?

Like maybe your kids are playing with the replay in the other room and deleting DVArchive shows? I don't know. I'm grasping at straws now, but it seems like the filename is not too long, I haven't had trouble with dashes in filenames, but I think other people have. It sounds like usually this is working fine for you, which makes it a really difficult problem to troubleshoot. Anything similar about the other show you lost?


Wasatch Rider,
The rtvtool rtvedit, which reVue uses as well, does seem to have a problem with it. I'd try to see what message it's giving, but I don't know what you'll really be able to do about it.

[Wasatch Rider]

JenEric,

I did the edit and it came up with multiple stream errors & unsupported streams (02 and B2). I don't know what this means but I'm sure it's not good.

Both of these videos are VHS tapes of some old super 8 home movies. The quality is poor and there is no sound. I think this must have some how confused the ReplayTV. When I use programs (like WMA and InterVideo WinDVD) that don't care about .ndx or .evt file it playes the way it should. Is there a program (Womble?) that will take the mpeg file and change it to an authorable format, without using the .evt file for reference?

[atlantica]

Originally posted by JenEric
atlantica,
Those files are left over from what looks like previewing the 1st and last 10 seconds of some segment. If the next thing you did was hit "Generate mpeg", the error message you saw happens before evtEdit does any type of moving or deleting of files. Is there anything else you did in between those acts?

Before I hit the "generate mpeg" button, I spent about an hour viewing segments (using VLC) and properly marking the commercial vs. real program content. I also had DVArchive running in the background, but I wasn't doing anything with it. One strange thing that happend prior to hitting the button (and I can't remember if it happened just prior, or if I still did some viewing of segments using VLC after that) was that I started up a Windows Explorer window. I then browsed to the directory where the mpeg file was located. Then strangely, while I was just sitting there viewing the screen, Windows Explorer spontaneously closed and evtEdit was given focus. Whatever caused that to occur could be related to this problem.

Originally posted by JenEric
Like maybe your kids are playing with the replay in the other room and deleting DVArchive shows?

I do have a network set up with my ReplayTV (a 5508) and 3 other PCs running DVArchive (my PC, my son's, and my daughter's). No one was using the 5508 at the time (and it was turned off). I talked to my son and he was downloading a show directly from the 5508 to his PC via DVArchive. This shouldn't have affected anything on my PC. I don't think anyone was deleting any shows at the time via DVArchive.

Originally posted by JenEric
I don't know. I'm grasping at straws now, but it seems like the filename is not too long, I haven't had trouble with dashes in filenames, but I think other people have. It sounds like usually this is working fine for you, which makes it a really difficult problem to troubleshoot. Anything similar about the other show you lost?

Unfortunately, I can't remember anymore what the other show was that got deleted. I've only been using evtEdit for about a week now. I edited around 10 mpegs, with 2 being deleted mysteriously. Could running DVArchive in the background have something to do with it? Also, I noticed that when I view a segment in evtEdit that the VLC window doesn't close after viewing. After viewing multiple segments in a row, I usually wait until about 10 copies of VLC have accumulated before I close all of them as a group and continue on. Not sure if I closed all the copies of VLC before I hit the "generate mpeg" button or not. Could this have something to do with the problem?

[JenEric]

I can't see anything you're doing that would be related. That explorer crash I think is pretty common and has been discussed in other threads. Anyway, it sure shouldn't be related. I doubt multiple VLC sessions would be related either, although it's outputting to the same file, so I suppose the old sessions would be invalid. I wonder if there's a setting or parameter to open .mpgs in the current instance like WMP does?

[antibody128]

Wasatch Rider

I've made DVD compliant videos from VHS transferred from Hi8 recordings and it was quite the task. The problems come from evtedit which gets hung up on errors from the VHS to replaytv transfer. I found that evtedit chopped up my recordings at these errors instead of the cut times I wanted. Or it would not cut where I wanted because of errors. I had to go through and cut before/after every one of these errors. I don't recall but I thought I had some success by running rtvconvert first then rtvedit and then rtvconvert again. Good luck.

[Dan the Man]

In my first attempt at using EvtEdit for Windows, the same thing happened to me....my video files were deleted.
I edited the file, changed the classification and length of a few blocks and clicked the button to run EvtEdit. It came back with an error indicating it couldn't find the files. I checked the directory and they were gone.
Then when I double clicked on one of the segments (the same segments I had just been working on) it gave an error too.

So something happened when I clicked evtEdit that deleted the files.

[atlantica]

Originally posted by JenEric
I can't see anything you're doing that would be related. That explorer crash I think is pretty common and has been discussed in other threads. Anyway, it sure shouldn't be related.
That's the first time I've seen Windows Explorer crash like that. It just closed without any warning. Also, I may have been mistaken when I said earlier that evtEdit was given focus. It may have been DVArchive. Anyways, could you point me to the other threads that discuss this problem with Windows Explorer crashing like this?
Originally posted by JenEric
I doubt multiple VLC sessions would be related either, although it's outputting to the same file, so I suppose the old sessions would be invalid. I wonder if there's a setting or parameter to open .mpgs in the current instance like WMP does?
Sometimes, I've also noticed that when I go to view a segment with VLC, that the video doesn't start. It rarely happens, but when it does, I simply close that instance of VLC and try again and it works fine. I've also wondered if there was an option in VLC to open a new mpeg in the current instance. Maybe someone else reading this thread knows???

Anyways, in the meantime I'm going to be much more careful when using evtEdit. Not that I know that evtEdit was directly responsible for my mpg getting deleted. It could have been rtvEdit, DVArchive, VLC, XP, or something else. Just to be safe, when I'm doing editing I think I'll copy my .mpg, .evt, and .ndx files to a work area and edit them from there. Thanks for your help and I'll let you know if I see the problem again.

[atlantica]

Originally posted by Dan the Man
In my first attempt at using EvtEdit for Windows, the same thing happened to me....my video files were deleted.
I edited the file, changed the classification and length of a few blocks and clicked the button to run EvtEdit. It came back with an error indicating it couldn't find the files. I checked the directory and they were gone.
Then when I double clicked on one of the segments (the same segments I had just been working on) it gave an error too.

So something happened when I clicked evtEdit that deleted the files.

Well, at least I'm not alone... To help us try to figure out what is causing this, I would wonder:

1. Were you running DVArchive in the background?
2. Are you using VLC to view segments in evtEdit?
3. Did you have any copies of VLC left open when you hit the "generate mpeg" button on evtEdit?
4. Are you using NTFS or FAT as your file system on disk that the files reside on? (I'm using NTFS)
5. How big was the mpeg you were editing? (mine was around 8GB)

JenEric, I just thought of something that maybe you could answer... Remember I said that all 3 files were deleted (the .mpg, .evt, and .ndx). That makes me think VLC is not the culprit (it only knows about the .mpg). DVArchive is a suspect (if somehow a "delete" in DVArchive was initiated, it would delete all 3 files). But I wonder if rtvEdit is really a suspect, based on the fact that all 3 files got deleted. When evtEdit spawns off a copy of rtvEdit to do its thing, does rtvEdit use all three of the files? If not, I would think evtEdit is the suspect.

[Dan the Man]

[i]1. Were you running DVArchive in the background?
2. Are you using VLC to view segments in evtEdit?
3. Did you have any copies of VLC left open when you hit the "generate mpeg" button on evtEdit?
4. Are you using NTFS or FAT as your file system on disk that the files reside on? (I'm using NTFS)
5. How big was the mpeg you were editing? (mine was around 8GB)
[/B]

1. I suspect I was running DVArchive in the background....in fact...I'm pretty sure I was. I will try to recreate tonight.

2&3. I was not using VLC, and I'm pretty sure I didn't have any media windows open when I did the evtEdit.

4. NTFS

5. 850 megs.

[JenEric]

This post and previous ones talk about windows explorer crashing (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2975899#post2975899).

I'm afraid it does have to be suspicious, but from what you guys are describing I don't see when it could be doing it. It sounds like it's happening right away just after you hit the "Generate .mpg" button and rtvedit starts before evtEdit really does anything.

Since it sounds like you're actually gonna be testing it, here's a new version that logs whenever it deletes or moves anything.

[Cubfan]

So how do you make evtEdit just run the tools on the whole file, rather than trying to edit segments out? Surely there's a little checkbox or something that I'm missing that will not force me to unselect (make green) all those little slices if I want to use Womble to edit out the commercials later.

No matter what I've tried, I always seem to miss a little sliver that gets taken out (that I don't want deleted in the edited final product).

[atlantica]

Originally posted by JenEric
This post and previous ones talk about windows explorer crashing (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2975899#post2975899).

I'm afraid it does have to be suspicious, but from what you guys are describing I don't see when it could be doing it. It sounds like it's happening right away just after you hit the "Generate .mpg" button and rtvedit starts before evtEdit really does anything.

Since it sounds like you're actually gonna be testing it, here's a new version that logs whenever it deletes or moves anything.

JenEric,

Thanks for pointing me to the explorer crashing thread. I skimmed it and it looks like it offers some theories about the cause. Anyways, not sure if it is related to the file deletion problem I'm having with evtEdit/rtvEdit or not...

Yes, when the problem occurs, it happens right after hitting the "generate mpeg" button. You don't see any of the normal rtvEdit generated messages as it parses the "A" and "D" entries in the edit script file.

Since my last post, I've read more about rtvEdit and understand it a little better. It seems that evtEdit is generating the edit script file for rtvEdit. The critical entries in that file that could be coming into play are the "T" and "F" entries. The documentation for RTVTOOLS (i.e. rtvtools.txt) talks about the ability to use "T" and "F" to "rename the source fileset" and later says to "be careful using this since existing files are overwritten". However, it doesn't give an example of this technique. What does rtvEdit generate for "T" and "F" entries for my configuration where I was using "backup and overwrite original"?

In the meantime, I'm going to try to reproduce the problem without changing my configuration and use the version of evtEdit you posted that does logging. I will manually backup my .mpg, .evt, and .ndx files prior to any testing so I don't lose anything. I'll let you know...

[atlantica]

Originally posted by atlantica
In the meantime, I'm going to try to reproduce the problem without changing my configuration and use the version of evtEdit you posted that does logging. I will manually backup my .mpg, .evt, and .ndx files prior to any testing so I don't lose anything. I'll let you know...

JenEric,

I just reproduced the problem!!! I'm collecting the diagnostic info right now and will include it in a follow-up posting shortly...

[JenEric]

atlantica,
Way to go! Before continuing from the rtvEdit pause, if you look in your work directory you can see the evtEditIn_<id>.txt file which will have the rtvEdit parameters. F is the original .mpg and T is a dummy .mpg on the output drive. After that evtEdit renames the original and then the dummy .mpg to the final .mpg. (it does make sure the dummy .mpg does not exist and warns you if the .mpg it wants to rename the original does)

Cubfan,
Under "Edit" menu is "Add all segments" (as hidden in post #27).

[atlantica]

Originally posted by atlantica
JenEric,

I just reproduced the problem!!! I'm collecting the diagnostic info right now and will include it in a follow-up posting shortly...

OK, here's what I did:

1. Downloaded and used Version 12 of evtEdit that JenEric posted earlier.
2. Kept my configuration settings the same (except pointed evtEdit to a new "WorkArea" directory for the .mpg, .evt, and .ndx files.
3. Copied the files for my largest video from DVArchive (Blues Brothers at about 7GB) to this special WorkArea directory.
4. Ran evtEdit and changed a few segments that were incorrectly marked as commercials (red) and changed them to valid content (green), and vice versa.
5. Hit the "convert mpeg" button.
6. Immediately got the following displayed on the console windows that popped up:
----------------------------
F:\Temp>"C:\Downloads\ReplayTV\RTVTools\rev4\bin\win32\rtvedit.exe" "F:\Temp\evtEditIn_3724.txt"
Can't open file F:\DVArchive\WorkArea\The Blues Brothers.mpg

F:\Temp>pause
Press any key to continue . . .
----------------------------
7. At this point I checked my temp directory (i.e., F:\Temp) and found the following files (which are included in the zip file attached to this posting):
evtEditIn_3724.txt
evtEditLog.txt
RunEvtEd_3724.bat
8. I checked F:\DVArchive\WorkArea and it is completely empty (the original .mpg, .evt, and .ndx files were deleted).
9. Inspecting the evtEditLog.txt file, the last line says:
----------------------------
1/13/2004 8:39:13 PM: Deleting F:\DVArchive\WorkArea\The Blues Brothers files. (EditMpeg DMG1)
----------------------------

So it seems to me that evtEdit is deleting the files and it's doing it before rtvEdit even got started.

JenEric, do you need any more info to debug this? I'm going to leave evtEdit at the state it's in for a while (console window still displayed, sitting on a pause) in case there is any other info I can collect for you. I believe if I continue on from the pause, the evtEditIn*.txt and RunEvtEd*.bat files will get deleted.

Let me know...

[atlantica]

Originally posted by JenEric
atlantica,
Way to go! Before continuing from the rtvEdit pause, if you look in your work directory you can see the evtEditIn_<id>.txt file which will have the rtvEdit parameters. F is the original .mpg and T is a dummy .mpg on the output drive. After that evtEdit renames the original and then the dummy .mpg to the final .mpg. (it does make sure the dummy .mpg does not exist and warns you if the .mpg it wants to rename the original does)


JenEric,

Just saw your post, after I submitted mine. I've included the evtEditIn*.txt file in the zip file attached to my previous posting.

One thing I forgot to mention that happened (follows in sequence between steps 5 and 6 from my previous posting):

5.5 Got a dialog box asking if I wanted to overwrite my mpeg file. I hit the "Yes" button. [Note: I didn't think to check at that point before I hit "Yes" if the files were still there. My guess is they were and they got deleted after I hit "Yes".]

[atlantica]

Originally posted by atlantica
...I've included the evtEditIn*.txt file in the zip file attached to my previous posting.

...ooops. I thought it was attached to my previous posting and it wasn't. Just tried again and it seems to not let me attach the file (it's a zip file and I'm supposed to be allowed to post attachments).

Anyone know why I can't post an attachment?

[atlantica]

Originally posted by atlantica
...ooops. I thought it was attached to my previous posting and it wasn't. Just tried again and it seems to not let me attach the file (it's a zip file and I'm supposed to be allowed to post attachments).

Anyone know why I can't post an attachment?

OK, I see what happened now with my attachment. The "Preview Reply" button keeps clearing out my attachment from the form. It should be attached to this posting. Sorry...

[JenEric]

So, I assume you're still on "Backup and Overwrite Original." It appears your "New Name Addition" must be blank. Therefore where it's trying to back up the original is the same place as the original. So it sees the file already exists there and that it won't be able to back it up there. So it asks you if you want to delete it, so that it can.

I'll release a new version after rocking my daughter to sleep that doesn't allow backing up to the original file, or leaving the original and trying to create the new file with the same name (gotta use overwrite mode for that). Either the "New Name Addition" field must not be blank or the output directory has to be different from the original.

[atlantica]

Originally posted by JenEric
So, I assume you're still on "Backup and Overwrite Original." It appears your "New Name Addition" must be blank. Therefore where it's trying to back up the original is the same place as the original. So it sees the file already exists there and that it won't be able to back it up there. So it asks you if you want to delete it, so that it can.

I'll release a new version after rocking my daughter to sleep that doesn't allow backing up to the original file, or leaving the original and trying to create the new file with the same name (gotta use overwrite mode for that). Either the "New Name Addition" field must not be blank or the output directory has to be different from the original.

Yes, I'm still using "Backup and Overwrite Original". However, I do have "New Name Addition" set to "_backup".

So it looks like that's not the problem...

[atlantica]

Originally posted by atlantica
Yes, I'm still using "Backup and Overwrite Original". However, I do have "New Name Addition" set to "_backup".

So it looks like that's not the problem...

Maybe this will help understand my configuration. I've attached a zip file for the exported .reg file from HKLM\SOFTWARE\JenEric\evtEdit.

After inspecting all the registry values, I don't see any that are set to "_backup". I'm guessing that "RenameOptionAddition" should be set to "_backup", but it isn't. This is strange because my Preferences screen for evtEdit clearly shows "_backup" in the "New Name Addition" field. I don't know how this happened, but could this be the problem?

[atlantica]

Originally posted by atlantica
Maybe this will help understand my configuration. I've attached a zip file for the exported .reg file from HKLM\SOFTWARE\JenEric\evtEdit.

After inspecting all the registry values, I don't see any that are set to "_backup". I'm guessing that "RenameOptionAddition" should be set to "_backup", but it isn't. This is strange because my Preferences screen for evtEdit clearly shows "_backup" in the "New Name Addition" field. I don't know how this happened, but could this be the problem?

OK, I think I've solved this mystery (and it's hard for me to believe no one else except "Dan the Man" has seen this problem). Here's what I did:

1. Deleted the whole HKLM\SOFTWARE\JenEric key from the registry to simulate a fresh run of evtEdit for the first time.
2. Ran evtEdit (Version 12).
3. The first thing to pop up is the Preferences screen. I saw that "Backup and Overwrite Original" is set and "New Name Addition" is set to "_backup".
4. I hit the "Save" button to accept these default settings (without changing any values on the screen).
5. Then I closed evtEdit.
6. Inspected the registry and found that the HKLM\SOFTWARE\JenEric\evtEdit key and all its subsidiary values are created.
7. Sure enough, "Rename Option" is set to "Backup" and "RenameOptionAddition" is set to blank. [This is seems to be what is causing my original files to get deleted.]
8. Restarted evtEdit.
9. Went to the Preferences screen and selected "Leave Original" and saw that "New Name Addition" got set automatically to "_edited".
10. Hit the "Save" button on the Preferences screen.
11. Closed evtEdit.
12. Went back to regedit and after doing a refresh, inspected the values under HKLM\SOFTWARE\JenEric\evtEdit.
13. Saw that "Rename Option" was now set to "NewName" and "RenameOptionAddition" was set to "_edited".
14. Restarted evtEdit again.
15. Went back to the Preferences screen and changed back to "Backup and Overwrite Original" and saw that "New Name Addition" got set automatically to "_backup".
16. Hit the "Save" button on the Preferences screen.
17. Closed evtEdit.
18. Went back to regedit again and after doing a refresh, inspected the values under HKLM\SOFTWARE\JenEric\evtEdit.
19. Saw that "Rename Option" was now set to "Backup" and "RenameOptionAddition" was set to "_backup". [Bingo!]

So you can see from the scenario above, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary to cause the problem. It looks like simply accepting the default preferences without any changes will cause the problem. In addition, the Preferences screen in evtEdit won't give you any indication that the "RenameOptionAddition" value is blank in the registry (the screen still shows "_backup" as the value of "New Name Addition".

JenEric, this now probably gives you more than enough info to be able to find and fix the problem in evtEdit, but let me know if you need any more info. Like I said in my original post, I do like the software and found it very useful (except for when it deleted my files).:D I probably will continue to use it, but probably will change my configuration to use the "Leave Original" setting to play it safe.

Now anyone know where I can get another copy of that Eagles/Packers game recorded in high quality???:(

[JenEric]

Well atlantica, Great job!

I thought about getting your registry settings initially, but couldn't figure out how to generate it so nicely as you did. You did appear to be on to something, but was I ever surprised when I looked in my own registry and saw the same thing.

Here's the deal: "_backup" is the default, and if it's blank, when the program loads it will be set to "_backup" and everything is peachy.
The problem occurs when you go into the "Preferences" form, to get around updating the option buttons I was going to the registry again, but this time with blank being the default. If you hit "Save", you should be in trouble. This seems to be even back in version 7 and probably before.

I'm surprised too that I haven't run into it. I think the warning message would have kept me from going through with it, but only because I'm familiar with what to expect. Good luck getting the game, i'm truly sorry.

Here's the fix. I've tried to hit it from both the preference's side and the moving into same file side.

[atlantica]

Originally posted by JenEric
I'm surprised too that I haven't run into it. I think the warning message would have kept me from going through with it, but only because I'm familiar with what to expect. Good luck getting the game, i'm truly sorry.

Here's the fix. I've tried to hit it from both the preference's side and the moving into same file side.

I tested out Version 13 and can verify that the problem is now fixed.

No need to apologize. These things happen and shouldn't be surprising to anyone using free software. I will be a little more cautious from now on, but after the Eagles beat Carolina this Sunday and go to the Super Bowl, I won't even remember anything about that other game.

[hijax2001]

[i]Here's the fix. I've tried to hit it from both the preference's side and the moving into same file side. Attachment: evtedit_13.zip
This has been downloaded 32 time(s).[/B]

I've tried to download this twice... It's an empty zip file.

[hijax2001]

Originally posted by hijax2001
I've tried to download this twice... It's an empty zip file.

Nevermind. I figured out that WinZip will recognize it as an empty zip if you click on it in the post. You have to right-click and save as in Windoze...

[Jamy]

I am getting an error when I try to output a file from evtedit. A capture of the error is below.

http://www.livewiregames.net/members/bane/images/evtedit%20error.bmp

Any suggestions on how to fix this? Also when the file is finally output it doesn't appear to have cut the commercials out (although this may be user error )

Thanks

[hijax2001]

Originally posted by Jamy
I am getting an error when I try to output a file from evtedit. A capture of the error is below.

http://www.livewiregames.net/members/bane/images/evtedit%20error.bmp

Any suggestions on how to fix this? Also when the file is finally output it doesn't appear to have cut the commercials out (although this may be user error )

Thanks

I am getting EXACT same error...

Running Win2k, downloaded latest Microsoft .NET and RTVTools Rev4

[JenEric]

Originally posted by Jamy
Any suggestions on how to fix this?


Looks like this error (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2951702#post2951702). Apparently my attempt to catch it may not have worked.

[atlantica]

Originally posted by JenEric
Looks like this error (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=2951702#post2951702). Apparently my attempt to catch it may not have worked.

Yes, I had the same error when I started using extEdit and had "Use default mpeg player" checked. I can click on an .mpg file in Windows and it loads and runs OK. So I don't know why the "Use default mpeg player" setting wasn't working for me.

I worked around it by unchecking "Use default mpeg player" and explicity setting "location:" for my mpeg player (VLC).

[Jamy]

Originally posted by atlantica
Yes, I had the same error when I started using extEdit and had "Use default mpeg player" checked. I can click on an .mpg file in Windows and it loads and runs OK. So I don't know why the "Use default mpeg player" setting wasn't working for me.

I worked around it by unchecking "Use default mpeg player" and explicity setting "location:" for my mpeg player (VLC).

Explicitly setting the play path got the error to go away, but when the file plays it is just a gray screen inside. I am using pwerdvd. Any idea what the grey screen is about?

Thanks.

[terrible_buddhis]

I watch the files in media player with no problems. but when I dougle click on a segment to watch it, it only plays about 4 second.

[skleiser]

Originally posted by terrible_buddhis
I watch the files in media player with no problems. but when I dougle click on a segment to watch it, it only plays about 4 second.
Make sure that "Complete" is selected in the Check Segment area.

[atlantica]

Originally posted by Jamy
Explicitly setting the play path got the error to go away, but when the file plays it is just a gray screen inside. I am using pwerdvd. Any idea what the grey screen is about?

If you are able to open an mpeg in powerdvd and play it fine, my guess is you need to set the "parameters:" field on the extEdit Preferences screen under the "mpeg player" tab to something specific to powerdvd. I'm not familiar with powerdvd, so I can't give you any more guidance than that...

[ReplayLover]

Hi,

(I'm a newbie) I have an eror.

It's like the error above, but intead of it saying "The Path is not of a legal form" refering to the mpeg player, I get "%1 is not a valid Win32 application" when I click on an available show. Would really like to get it to work. Looks great!

I'm running XP home, 64bit AMD, etc...
??

Thanks!

[JenEric]

ReplayLover,

Do you have "Use default mpeg player" checked? If not, what do you have for "location:"? If so, try unchecking and browsing to an mpeg player that you know plays replay mpegs.
Edit: Actually, it seems like you might be getting this error when it trys to run the rtvtool: evtdump. Can you run that manually on your setup? What do you have for "rtv tools location:"?


To whom it may concern,

Here's a new version. Only addition is "Select Inverse" under "Edit" menu. Sorry if it's a day late. ;)

[paynemic]

Newbie here. Trying to use evtedit because the command line is just too much for me ( I know, I'm a windows child). I get these errors and can do basically nothing. Am i forgetting something basic?

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index and length must refer to a location within the string.
Parameter name: length
at System.String.Substring(Int32 startIndex, Int32 length)
at evtEdit.Form1.LoadEvtDataPoints(String DumpText)
at evtEdit.Form1.LoadEvtData()
at evtEdit.Form1.rtbMPEGCollection_SelectionChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox.OnSelectionChanged(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox.WmSelectionChange(SELCHANGE selChange)
at System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox.WmReflectNotify(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0
Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/microsoft.net/framework/v1.1.4322/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0
Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system/1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0
Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.drawing/1.0.5000.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/system.drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
evtEdit
Assembly Version: 1.0.1493.16797
Win32 Version: 1.0.1493.16797
CodeBase: file:///C:/ReplayPC/Local_Guide/evtEdit.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0
Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.windows.forms/1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.windows.forms.dll
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
Assembly Version: 7.0.5000.0
Win32 Version: 7.10.3052.4
CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/microsoft.visualbasic/7.0.5000.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/microsoft.visualbasic.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just in time (JIT) debugging, the config file for this
application or machine (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the machine
rather than being handled by this dialog.

[JenEric]

paynemic,

Looks like it's not getting the rtvtool (http://stargate.logh.net/rtvtools/) evtdump.exe to generate what it expects. I built this version for you to see what, if anything, evtdump is generating when this error occurs.

[paynemic]

I now get a windows popup style error that says the following:

evtdump output:
Usage: C:\ReplayPC\Local_Guide\evtdump <evt-file> [-graph]

Might I just say, for a free software package, I have never recieved such good customer support. Microsoft take note!
Thanks a ton for helping. I LOVE the concept, can't wait to make it work.

Mike

[JenEric]

Okay, I think we verified you got a problem. Guess I shoulda thought to put what's going in as well. Maybe if my first assumption wasn't always "user error," I would have. :)

I'm kinda guessing right now that there's something weird in the .mpg file name, but that doesn't make much sense to me either. We'll see.

What!?! This software's free!?! Guess you missed it when you checked the agreement to be my towel boy. I guess flattery will have to do for now.

This one will should give you the input as well:
Edit: Didn't seem to give you _anything_. Version 14b removed.

[JenEric]

Wait! What am I talking about! Get Version 4 of the ReplayTV Tools (http://stargate.logh.net/rtvtools/). You need this for the -p and -i parameters.

[ReplayLover]

Originally posted by JenEric
ReplayLover,

Do you have "Use default mpeg player" checked? If not, what do you have for "location:"? If so, try unchecking and browsing to an mpeg player that you know plays replay mpegs.
Edit: Actually, it seems like you might be getting this error when it trys to run the rtvtool: evtdump. Can you run that manually on your setup? What do you have for "rtv tools location:"?


To whom it may concern,

Here's a new version. Only addition is "Select Inverse" under "Edit" menu. Sorry if it's a day late. ;)

Hi JenEric, great support thanks much!

I actually tried it both ways (checked & unchecked with a known good player -WM7) and I still get the same error. My tools are located in the same directory as the .mpg files (F:\ReplayTV\Local_Guide) so I don't know if thats an issue?

In rtvconvert.bat I set the rtvtools = F:\ReplayTV\Local_Guide
In rtvedit.bat I set the rtvtools = F:\ReplayTV\Local_Guide

Still the same error. Thanks again!

Thanks!
ReplayLover

[JenEric]

Lover,

I notice my tools are also in the same directory, so you should be fine. I'm not sure what .bat files you're talking about. Try version 14a and see if that gives you more info.

[paynemic]

I seem to be working now. Heres what I did:
1) downloaded the latest tools (thought I already had, but wasn't 100%)
2)Downloaded evtedit 15a
3)moved them to different directories
4) (I suspect this may have been the real killer) --- Deleted my tools files from the windows/system32 directory (I had placed copied there to use the .bat files someone suggested in another thread). I wonder if there was a conflict having them there?
Thanks again for good tools/toys -----Mike

[JenEric]

Good job payn!

Just to clarify and give my view:

It was somehow running an old version because it gave the message:
Usage: C:\ReplayPC\Local_Guide\evtdump <evt-file> [-graph]

instead of what Version 4 gives:
Usage: evtdump [-p<sec>] [-i<sec>] [-graph] <evt-file>

I think your number 1 is what did it for you. Number 4 shouldn't have mattered, since the program does specify to only use the tools where you specify they are.

Anyway, Congrats Mike. Sorry about the nickname. Apparently I'm into going with inside jokes that only I get.

[dniezby]

Is there a manual or something?

How the hell do I used this software?

[DavidEC]

Originally posted by dniezby
Is there a manual or something?

How the hell do I used this software?

I second a request for a better 'DOC' file?!?

Something that uses the 'outline' lay out for the commands...

[ynotme1965]

is there a way to use the edit programs to create segment blocks into seperate files? I have a 2.5 hours video that will not fit onto one dvd. So I am use to using the tools where I can create a set of files for each segment. In Revue you can check a box that will put each segment into a seperate file. Is that possible here?

[famewolf]

I used evtedit under windows to strip out commercials of shows before burning to disk. I recently switched to Linux and am wondering if an equivalent program is available for linux? I know rtvtools runs under linux as well as windows...I also read that Linux has the "Mono project" which has the goal of adding .net to linux although I don't know how functional their version is yet.

[STL]

Originally posted by famewolf
I used evtedit under windows to strip out commercials of shows before burning to disk. Can you please tell me how? I used it today and made all the commercials red and the show content green then hit the "Generate New MPEG with rtvEdit" button and thought it was removing commcercials, but watching the output file proved it did nothing. I think tried the "Run rtvConvert" button but got the same thing? Can anyone point me to some directions on how to use this cryptic program? I feel like I completely wasted several hours today.

From what I've gathered today, there is are not any free software (that really works) that allows one to strip out commcercials from RTV files and then clean the mpg (for DVD authoring). I've been fighting reVue and evtEdit much of the day to no avail, and I am really disgusted (as if anyone couldn't tell).

[STL]

I just realized version 14 is far from the most current. I download the latest (24) and am trying it again, but with the the controls basically looking the same I don't have much faith in it removing commercials. I think I must me missing some step...

[STL]

Like I suspected...it still only removes the leading commercial but leaves all the marked (red) commercials throughout the show.

[JenEric]

Originally posted by STL
...thought it was removing commercials, but watching the output file proved it did nothing.My best guess is that you're not viewing the right output. I think the default is to backup the original show and output over itself. That doesn't made sense as to why it'd only remove the leading commercial. I don't see the error in your process. I don't know what step you could be missing. Actually, just selecting a show and hitting "Generate New Mpeg" button should work. The other steps are optional and just to make sure you're stripping only what you want, where you want.

[antibody128]

I think if you give them a try again I think you'll find that both Revue and Evtedit for windows are actually excellent free programs for removing commercials and cleaning up for DVD. I use EVtedit all the time. My guess it that JenEric is right that you are looking at the wrong output file. The best way to prevent this is to create a completely new output file name in the boxes at the bottom. Also make sure the output directory set in the settings is the same place you are looking for the output file.

Failing these suggestions, You should reply here with more info like your Operating system and source of the original recording (eg VCR or TV).

That reminds me of another possibility. RTvtools rtvedit actually is sensitive to poor quality recordings. Evtedit for windows and Revue both use RTVtools as you know. I've had difficulties using rtvedit on files captured by my Replay from my VCR (and a poor quality tape at that too). If the recording has errors it will skip edit points and not play nice. Well, that's all I've got. Good luck.

[famewolf]

So no one knows of anything comparable for linux? Any chance evtedit will work with the linux mono .net implementation? I'll have to read up what all is needed to install mono and give it a try I suppose.

[STL]

I changed the default setting so I was not overwriting the files, and I know I was looking at the _edit and _edit_cvt extensions and not the originals. I know I couldn't have been looking at the originals because the beginning commercials were indeed removed. I will say I was originally using version 14. After swithcing to the latest (version 24) I just called up the saved evtedit files and tried them again and the commercials still weren't removed. Then I tried remarking everything again from scratch with (with version 24) and it FINALLY worked!

[STL]

I am using a brand new Dell 8400 with Windows XP Home, and the recording is from an over-the-air broadcast using my Replay 5040.

I will admit that evtEdit might be a useful tool (now that it is stripping commercials), but reVue is still useless to me because of the time-skew problem detailed in other threads. Even so, I don't seem to really be getting a "clean" mpeg because my Sonic software is locking up during the transcoding phase (and they claim it is because my source file isn't DVD compliant).

[blizzardo]

evtedit works great! 1 improvement would be to make it easier to select the segments. when working with a 3hr file, a 9 sec snippent is hard to select.

revue didnt work for me.

[hdshark]

evtEdit is great. I found it much more convenient than several frame-accurate MPEG2 editors i tried for editing commercials out of ReplayTV shows.

One new feature that would make commercial editing easier would be +0.5sec / -0.5sec buttons for changing segment begin/end points. There is already an edit option to expand/trim show segments by 0.5sec, but it is difficult to work with for moving just one show segment boundary.

[JenEric]

Originally posted by blizzardo
evtedit works great! 1 improvement would be to make it easier to select the segments. when working with a 3hr file, a 9 sec snippent is hard to select.Good deal. Someone else pointed this out which led to version 8. Shortcuts to cycle through the segments were added, so you don't have to click on each segment.

Originally posted by hdshark
One new feature that would make commercial editing easier would be +0.5sec / -0.5sec buttons for changing segment begin/end points. There is already an edit option to expand/trim show segments by 0.5sec, but it is difficult to work with for moving just one show segment boundary.
The shift button is your friend. :) Hold down shift and watch your dream come true.

[roundtuit]

JenEric,

I love your program.

I think I have noticed a glich, and wanted to ask you about it.

Every so often an mpeg I wish to convert is not complete in the evtEdit menu. When I download the show from DVArchives, it is all there, but when I pull it up in evtEdit, only the first min or so shows up. Any thoughts???

Thanks

[blizzardo]

ok 1 problem.

ran evtedit
no commercials so no new mpeg with rtvedit
renamed the file to _edited
ran rtvConvert
tmpeg dvd author doesn recognize it as mpeg2. :( why? what went wrong?

[davidl340]

Thank you for this tool. I must say that it makes this task much easier and works great!

If you think you can get around to it in the next release, could you make the colors that indicate the choice between the excluded and included video segments user selectable, or one of the two colors a different color. I'm color blind (red/brown/green are my issue) as is 2 of my friends that use this stuff, and we can't tell the difference between the 2 colors unless we're lucky. :o I just figured out they were different colors after I read the instructions after not being able to figure out why some segments were being included in my edited files, seemed random. Turns out if you click on the segments they turn colors and are included, ha.

Thanks again, great work.

[JenEric]

Thanks David!

Here you go. The colors are now user selectable on the "indicator" tab of the "preferences" screen. Good luck!

[icecow]

[QUOTE=blizzardo]evtedit works great! 1 improvement would be to make it easier to select the segments. when working with a 3hr file, a 9 sec snippent is hard to select.

revue didnt work for me.[/QUOTE]

You can contact him here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=595680

[icecow]

If you can think of any suggestions for rtvtools the author can be reached here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=595680