p5-Media

Perl modules and scripts for handling the conversion and storage of bulky media files, such as Movies, TV series and more.

Work in progress

This is still a work in progress and a little rough around the edges. Documentation is definitely lacking. An (incomplete) todo list can be found in the file p5-Media.taskpaper.

Rationale

You would use Media if most of the following is true:

• you have a lot of TV/Movies on DVD, or in AVI, MKV, WMV, etc. formats that you want converted to a single format (typically MP4, compatible with iTunes, Apple TV, iPad and iPhone)
• you want to be able to manage the conversions with a queue, using different priorities for different content
• you want encoded files to be automatically added to iTunes for you
• you want metadata such as genre, director and writer pulled from IMDb automatically and added to the converted file
• you want your converted video to be stored in an organised directory structure, such as:
  • /files/tv/House/Season 1/01 - Pilot.m4v
  • /files/movies/Barbarella - X (1968)/Barbarella - X (1968).m4v

Typical use

After ripping a DVD using an application such as RipIt or DVD2One, I run queue <dvdimage> to produce a config file, then edit that to name the Movie/TV show and tweak video, audio and subtitle settings. I then run queue <dvdimage> again to add it to the queue.

Alternatively, if I have an existing video file (such as something previously ripped into another format, or obtained from the internet), I name a directory something suitable (eg. 'House - 1x01 - Pilot') and put the video file inside, then run queue <dirname> to add it to the queue.

Once queueing some jobs, I run encoder. This will poll the queue for jobs and re-encode them. It is a long-running process, so I typically run it under screen. More jobs can be added whilst encoder is running.

If I want to see what is currently being encoded, and what will be done next, I just run queue without any other arguments. If I change my mind about a job, I run queue remove <name> (where name can be a regexp pattern).

If I still have jobs in the queue, but want to stop encoding for some reason, I will run either encoder stop to let the current encode finish first, or encoder abort.

Installing

Media requires HandBrakeCLI 0.9.5, AtomicParsley 0.9.4, aspell and a lot of other perl modules to be installed.

AtomicParsley and aspell are most commonly installed using a ports system, such as homebrew on the Mac.

If you are not comfortable installing perl modules from CPAN, I would unequivocally recommend you do it using cpanminus, which makes it trivial to install CPAN modules. First, install cpanminus:

curl -L http://cpanmin.us | sudo perl - --self-upgrade

then use it to attempt to install Media and all of its dependencies:

sudo cpanm https://github.com/norm/p5-Media/tarball/master

The first time, Media will fail to install as some tests do not pass.

Other things that can go wrong include WebService::MusicBrainz failing to install. This can be worked around with:

sudo cpanm -n WebService::MusicBrainz

(-n skips tests; ordinarily this is inadvisable, but in this case the MusicBrainz module fails its tests quite often because of timeouts on the MusicBrainz site)

Patching IMDB::Film

There is a long-standing bug in the CPAN module IMDB::Film used by Media which means it cannot find ratings/certifications information. If this matters to you, replace the existing certifications method in the Film.pm (found at /Library/Perl/5.10.0/IMDB/Film.pm on a Mac) with:

sub certifications {
	my CLASS_NAME $self = shift;
	my $forced = shift || 0;
	
	my (%cert_list, $tag);
	my $url = "http://". $self->{host} . "/" . $self->{query} .  $self->code . "/parentalguide#certification";
	my $data = LWP::Simple::get($url);
	my $parser = new HTML::TokeParser(\$data) or croak "[CRITICAL] Cannot create HTML parser: $!!";

	while ($tag = $parser->get_tag('h5')) {
		my $txt = $parser->get_text;
		my($country, $range, $has_advisory);
		if ($txt =~ /certification/i) {
			$parser->get_tag('div');
			while ($tag = $parser->get_tag()) {
				last if ($tag->[0] eq 'h3');
				if ($tag->[0] eq 'a') {
					$txt = $parser->get_text;
					($country, $range) = split /\:/, $txt;
					$has_advisory = 0;
				}
				elsif ($tag->[0] eq 'i') {
					$has_advisory = $parser->get_text;
					if ( $has_advisory =~ m{original rating}i ) {
						undef $country; undef $range;
					}
				}
				elsif ($tag->[0] ne 'div') {
					$txt = $parser->get_text;
					if ( $txt !~ m{^\s*$} ) {
						$cert_list{$country} = $range
							if defined $country;
						undef $country; undef $range;
					}
				}
			}
			$cert_list{$country} = $range
				if defined $country;
			$self->{_certifications} = \%cert_list;
		}
	}
	return $self->{_certifications};
}

Slightly altered from code found at https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=65201.

Continuing the Media installation

Once you have patched IMDB::Film, the Media tests will pass and it should install fine.

sudo cpanm https://github.com/norm/p5-Media/tarball/master

If they still fail, please can you send me the log file from cpanm at norm@cackhanded.net. You can install anyway, even if the tests fail with:

sudo cpanm -n https://github.com/norm/p5-Media/tarball/master

Read more

Once installed, more documentation is available:

• perldoc encoder
• perldoc queue
• perldoc Media::Tutorial
• perldoc Media::Config