Tvheadend post-processing scripts

Automatically transcode Tvheadend recording files to smaller video files using the HandBrake command line tool.

Features

• Transcode recording files to MKV or MP4 video files
• Keep or delete recording files after successful transcoding
• Delete kept recording files older than a specified number of days
• Verify transcoded video files using ffmpeg
• Configure HandBrake settings (crop, deinterlace, preset, ...)
• Run transcodings sequentially instead of in parallel
• Run pre-transcoding and post-transcoding scripts

Main scripts

• tvheadend-post-processor.sh

  Transcode a recording file to a video file. This script is invoked from Tvheadend.

• tvheadend-post-processor-batch.sh

  Start or redo transcodings manually from outside Tvheadend. This is not a post-processor script for Tvheadend.

Additional scripts

• examples/my-tvheadend-post-processor.sh

  An example post-processor wrapper script that can:

  • skip post-processing of specific programmes and/or channels
  • set specific post-processing options per channel or a set of channels
  • ...

• examples/pre-scripts.d/10-pre-script.sh

  An example pre-transcoding script.

Dependencies

Common dependencies:

• awk, bash, ffmpeg, flock and getopt (package util-linux), handbrake-cli

Installation

Download the scripts:

git clone https://github.com/willemw12/tvheadend-post-processor.git
cd tvheadend-post-processor

The script(s) to be used by Tvheadend should be accessible to the Tvheadend user, usually "hts" or "tvheadend".

Optionally, copy the relevant scripts to another location, for example:

sudo cp tvheadend-post-processor*.sh /usr/local/bin/

Configuration

Set the post-processor command

From the main page of the Tvheadend's web interface, go to "Configuration" and then to "Recording". Change "View level" to "Expert" or "Advanced". Set "Post-processor command", including at least the following two arguments:

tvheadend-post-processor.sh "%e" "%f"

An initial default configuration file is created by the script during the first post-processing. To create the initial default configuration file manually, run, for example:

sudo -u hts tvheadend-post-processor.sh

The default configuration file location for this user is /home/hts/.config/tvheadend-post-processor/tvheadend-post-processor.conf.

Change the default configuration

Optionally, change some of the settings in the configuration file:

KEEP_RECORDING=no
TRANSCODING_PATH=/path/to/a/writable-folder
# Uncomment to change or rename the video files folder
#VIDEO_PATH=/path/to/a/writable-folder

and/or with command options:

tvheadend-post-processor.sh --no-keep-recording --transcoding-path=/path/to/a/writable-folder "%e" "%f"

Help

For more detailed information, run:

./tvheadend-post-processor.sh --help

and see also the generated configuration file.

License

These scripts are released under GPLv3. See included COPYING file.

Links

The scripts are on GitHub.