This is wild. Ever since I deleted the Recorded TV library on the NAS, using Analyze on HTPC started working to get ad markers and it properly inserts them into the dB meta-data.
No more comskip commercial xml files either.
The only issue I see now is that they aren’t automatically analysed. Programs recorded with Plex’s player or my other DVR, neither of them are doing a commercial scan.
What do you mean you “deleted the Recorded TV library” off your HTPC?
Those are two different actions that have totally different consequences. Understanding what you did can give me an idea what might be the issue. If you deleted the Plex library itself, then perhaps the library was corrupt. Did you create a new DVR-related library and re-scan (analyze) your previously downloaded media, which got com-skip to work?
If you recreated the library, but items are not automatically com-skipping, then check the setting back in my screenshot:
in your Live TV menu. If com-skip is now disabled in the DVR setting, newly recorded files won’t scan automatically after recording. But if you have com-skip enabled in the library level, then you can manually scan for commercials, which you mentioned is happening.
Why would I disable commercial scanning? It’s the entire point of the post here, to try and figure out why it wasn’t working.
Deleted the library ONLY not the files in it.
I promise I know every menu option required to use commercial skipping. The menu in that screenshot has been talked about ’ ad nauseam’ in this thread.
I cannot see your settings. With you doing all kinds of changes and edits, it’s hard to keep track of exactly what you have/haven’t done. All I can do is offer suggestions, and occasionally some recommendations to double-check things. I figured it was possible that the setting in question could - somehow - have accidentally gotten disabled, and I just wanted to prevent a head-slap moment where we left out the blatantly obvious.
Since the only thing is not doing is automatic scanning, I need help with this command please:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Scanner.exe” --analyze-deeply --file “South Park S10E14 Stanley’s Cup.ts” -x
Since it doesn’t scan for commercials right away like it would if I did it on the GUI, it’s going to need some help.
I don’t know what you are trying to accomplish with that command. Are you trying to run com-skip manually by running that .exe? I doubt anything that comes about from running that manually will help to integrate the com-skip markers into Plex.
BTW, did you get the server logs with Verbose logs turned off? That’d probably be the best way to figure out why the server is not running com-skip automatically rather than speculate as I’ve been doing. pshanew sounds willing to review the logs, but turn verbose off first. It’d help to upload a zip of the logs here in case anyone else (devs) happen across it and want to look as well.
@anon18523487 Any thought on why this person’s Plex is not doing Com-skip automatically?
Plex does not scan existing files by default. It only scans as they are recorded. If you want to scan existing files, there is a library level setting for that.
Then hit analyze for the show you want and will start scanning for ads. That command line you entered won’t run the ad detection.
Lowering logging levels requires a Plex server restart.
Indeed 
.
Why do I need to use the GUI? That’s silly. Analyze on command line is different than analyze on the gui? What reasoning could there be for that?
Yes, all recordings are supposed to scan, not just the recorded by Plex ‘from now on’ kinda deal.
Please tell me that there is a type of analyze from the cli that allows me to scan.
This is becoming a giant mess.
I’ve got a log file coming for you.
I have another idea, since it Analyze works from the GUI, can I use a python file to form a request to the Plex Media Scanner to analyze?
I’ll have a look at your logs when I receive them.
Keep this in mind though. Only files recorded by Plex’s DVR will have commercial detection run on them immediately. Anything added outside of that will have to wait for scheduled maintenance, or be manually analyzed. My suggestion would be to wait overnight for maintenance to run and then check on some of your manually-added items to ensure they have commercial markers.
It’s not working that way. Plex recorded files are not scanning at all.
Same URL as yesterday that you have in your PMs. Unless you erased it 
Thanks. Can you point me to the name of a Plex DVR recording name in the file and the time it was recorded?
FYI: Your custom (or a custom) comskip.ini is still being used:
"--ini=D:\PlexData\Plex Media Server\DVR\comskip.ini"
Or, at least one stored in the custom location.
Hot Ones. It should be at the end of the log.
Deleted the comskip file and restarted the server. 2 recordings (1 partial) scheduled
Let’s wait for the next round of logs then. By default, comskip doesn’t generate and XML output, as discussed above. The fact that it was suggests that output_edlx was set in your custom configuration. This may have been interfering with the generation of the normal EDL file which Plex Media Server expects.
Mar 23, 2023 17:30:00.544 [8884] DEBUG - [Grabber/c3d7f65972c704929034a47d38d71ae84629509d] Updating part with ID=176947 [E:\Recorded TV\Hot Ones (2015)\Season 09\Hot Ones (2015) - S09E02 - Halle Berry Refuses to Lose to Spicy Wings.ts]
Mar 23, 2023 17:34:42.329 [6292] ERROR - [Grabber/c3d7f65972c704929034a47d38d71ae84629509d/AdDetector] EDL file not found at path `E:\Recorded TV\Hot Ones (2015)\Season 09\Hot Ones (2015) - S09E02 - Halle Berry Refuses to Lose to Spicy Wings.edl`
Note its complaint about the missing EDL file. It would be best to get back to a completely stock comskip configuration before going any further; hopefully that’s where you’re at now. Just to be sure, can you supply your default comskip.ini? It’ll be in this path:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Resources
If you installed in the default directory, it’ll be the C: drive; otherwise replace with the correct one. And nix the (x86) if you’ve got the 64-bit version installed.
The comskip.ini file you gave me the other day is in that directory, hold for about 5 minutes and I’ll refresh the logs at the same URL.
Ok, let me know when you’ve uploaded new logs (and what was recorded and when) and I’ll have another look. I’m also seeing if I can reproduce your issue on my test server by enabling that comskip.ini option.
Uploaded with same url
I see a couple of potential candidates. Both were episodes of Storage Wars, and both appear to have been successful. For the first, 1 commercial was found:
Mar 23, 2023 18:25:12.666 [4172] DEBUG - [Grabber/552ffd0c4aa6ff524457bfd01094bb861ed79059/AdDetector/JobRunner] Job running: set "FFMPEG_EXTERNAL_LIBS=\\\\?\\D\:\\PlexData\\Plex\ Media\ Server\\Codecs\\2584b51-4483-windows-x86\\" & "C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Commercial Skipper.exe" "--ini=C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Resources\comskip.ini" "--output=E:\Recorded TV\Storage Wars (2010)\Season 08" -t --quiet "E:\Recorded TV\Storage Wars (2010)\Season 08\Storage Wars (2010) - S08E10 - An Auction Too Far.ts"
Mar 23, 2023 18:25:34.943 [5880] DEBUG - Jobs: 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Commercial Skipper.exe' exit code for process 12504 is 1 (Commercials found)
For the second, it succeeded, but there don’t appear to have been any commercials in the portion recorded:
Mar 23, 2023 18:32:56.702 [1052] DEBUG - [Grabber/0e1333268b43dd2ecc89f2aa2ca7cf0fda2018c9/AdDetector/JobRunner] Job running: set "FFMPEG_EXTERNAL_LIBS=\\\\?\\D\:\\PlexData\\Plex\ Media\ Server\\Codecs\\2584b51-4483-windows-x86\\" & "C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Commercial Skipper.exe" "--ini=C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Resources\comskip.ini" "--output=E:\Recorded TV\Storage Wars (2010)\Season 08" -t --quiet "E:\Recorded TV\Storage Wars (2010)\Season 08\Storage Wars (2010) - S08E08 - Young Gun Old Tricks.ts"
Mar 23, 2023 18:32:58.954 [12248] DEBUG - Jobs: 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Commercial Skipper.exe' exit code for process 12336 is 0 (No commercials found)
Did you check to see if there were commercial markers for the first one? And are you still getting the XML file in the directory beside the media file?
If the above aren’t the correct recordings to look at, please tell me which. There was also an ad detection done for an episode of The Price is Right, but it appears to have been a manually-added file. But, if so, it was successful as well.
