Thinking of getting a Tablo

So to automate the whole operation, Tablo Ripper will monitor the Tablo for new recordings and MCEBuddy can monitor the folder where Tablo Ripper places files to work on them? Is that how one can have a fully automated set of steps from beginning to end?

That’s it. MCEBuddy will do all of it once Tablo Ripper hands off the ripped (concatenated) mp4 file. All that is necessary is to set various settings, set monitor folder(s)/output folder(s), Conskip folder, and about a dozen other necessary settings I’d have to look at again to remember. Once their set, you can assign how much effort you want MCEBuddy to use by allowing anywhere from 1 to 8 concurrent jobs. In Tablo Ripper there are far less settings to contend with. Both Tablo Ripper and MCEBuddy work with a background services that you can enable or disable as you wish.

-Rodger

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@marjamar I’ve tried out the Tablo Ripper/MCEBuddy combo and it takes such a long time (may have been my settings as I have only done it once at MP4 High Quality and using the non-donate version.) But it seems redundant the that Tablo Ripper converts the file to MP4, then MCEBuddy converts it to MP4 again. Is there a way to go straight to the commercial removal after Tablo Ripper retrieves and converts?

You don’t want to re-encode the MP4 file, just smart render it. To do this, you have to select MP4 unprocessed. Anytime you re-encode you lose quality, always. You may not see it always, but it is always lower quality. So obviously the thing to always try and do is smart render, which means it will only re-encode (re-render) portions that have changes in them or need to be re-encoded do to the mechanics of the filetype you are working with.

I think I will post my setup screens here as it might be the easiest way to figure this out for you. If you still have specific questions, it will also help “point the way”, rather then just use words, which often are harder to deal with. Especially if I’m the one talking, HA!

Take a look and see if these help.

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Thanks @marjamar ! That’s a great write up. As I suspected, the non-donate version (2.3.13) does not have the MP4 Unprocessed profile. Guess I’ll pony up the $30.

You’re welcome @TabloTom. Hope it works well and you get what you’re looking for.

-Rodger

And to think I used to cut commercials out manually using MPGCutter. First had to locate the starting frame of the ad, mark it, then advance to the ending frame and so on… Chop, chop. Then do a fade transition in between. Felt like a diamond cutter peering into the stone to slice it.

OSX version that does the same thing…?

MCEBuddy is a Windows program only, as is Tablo Ripper. It might work in a Windows VM running on top of OSX, but I have not tested either of these programs in a virtual environment to know for sure.

-Rodger

@marjamar Does the $30 donated version cover the $10 for Comskip or is that a separate donation that has to be made?

They’re separate and I don’t for sure remember the amounts. Pretty sure it was 30 and 10 though. Also, comskip is a separate website for mcebuddy too.

-Rodger

At higher bit rates I noticed issues with the stick I do not see with R3. I also noticed even more problems with the old R2XSs. IMO the current firmware works best with R3 or better, this includes the current R2 (which is really just a stripped down R3).

The Tablo was really designed and tested on the Roku 3 Model 4200, it works well on it. The Tablo was actually released after the Roku 2 XS and Roku Stick MHL version were already discontinued products.

@marjamar I’ve got the donate version of both MCEBuddy and Comskip and using the “unprocessed” profile it still takes over an hour for a half hour show. Weird thing is, it’s only using 3-4% of my CPU and whether or not I have the hardware acceleration on. I have got to be missing a setting somewhere.

Did you specify the correct version of Comskip in your MCEBuddy setup? Doesn’t matter where you have it, just that you point MCEBuddy to it and not the built-in comskip which is slowed way down. I convert 8 files at a time on my system and an hour show converts in maybe 10 minutes or so. You said you’re using unprocessed profile so only thing rings a bell is to make sure you have and are using the donator version of Comskip.

-Rodger

Point to note there, the free version of Comskip that comes bundled with MCEBuddy slows down processing of MP4 files to 1x (i.e 30fps), so if you have an hour long show it’ll take an hour to scan it. The donator version of Comskip removes that restriction.