Hello,
Windows 7 Media Center (and OS) is by far my favorite and (knock on wood) the most stable yet.
However the new WTV files killed Lifextender - which means it killed my dream of ever moving past Vista.  Until yesterday (May 29, 2009), I found out that Microsoft in their wisdom, put in a free WTV Converter.

Today at work, I took a 4 hours lunch to write a BAT file to automate this process - forgot to eat any food too :)

What this BAT Files Does

1. Verifies you have the correct Windows with the WTV Converter program
2. Moves the WTV files from the Recorded TV folder to a safe working directory (TV2Convert)
3. Converts the files from WTV to DVR-MS
4. Moves the new DVR-MS files back to the Recorded TV Folder
• Note - This allows any Third Party Program to do their magic with their default settings
5. Moves the original WTV files into a Keep Me Safe Folder called Original-Files
• This protects you from losing a TV Show do to a bad conversion (including Lifextender)
6. Deletes old origianl WTV files based on your criteria
   
• For example - I say keep 2 days worth - just in case - I can alway pull back the WTV file
  
7. Does more :)

In short, you schedule Windows 7 to run this, and then Lifextender after
I have this BAT file running at 1 AM, and Lifextender Running at 2 AM
No more commercials - but again, I have my original WTVs just in case.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD BAT FILE

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A TEXTED VERSION OF THE CODE

As it only took me 4 hours (it's been a while), I can only hope the Lifextender programmer will find it in his heart to do this in Lifextender directly.  I can't promise much as we just had a baby 8 weeks ago, so time is short.  But as I needed this automated, I assume others do to.

Items to verify and/or change in BAT file (just look for these 1 lines)
SET DAYS2KEEP=2 (default is 2 days)

Change Log:
Ver 1.1   06-01-2009  Pulls Recorded TV Path from Registry Now
Ver 1.0   05-30-2009  Created

Future Items
- Most likely will re-write into EXE and have a config file for end user settings
- Possible Vista version as anyone needs a backup before commercial skip program (they all screw up from time to time)

Please post any recommendation or issues.

Hey - Thanks and it works great - WAY simpler than the MANY, MANY steps required to get some of the other methods of skipping going in W7 - Download, edit for proper directories, and run - install Lifextender, set options and you are skipping commercials!!! EASY, EASY, EASY!!! Thanks again!

No reason this should work just as well on Vista with Andy's ToDvrms: http://babgvant.com/files/folders/misc/entry12654.aspx.   

Correct, as there is no WTVconvert.exe for Vista, you should be able to simply change the .exe to use any conversion.  I didn't even think of that.  Once I turn it into a EXE with a config.ini file. I could have a line to which converter (and path).  Then again, I might just keep it as an BAT that can read a config file, this way people with a little DOS background can modify it to their needs.

OK - so this only moves the original files and converts them, then moves the converted files back -correct? I then need to use one of the commercial strippers to remove the commercials??

You are correct - this does not rip out the commercials.  I recommend Lifextender if you are new.
One thing this program also does, is to keep the original files based on your preference (looks for DAYS2KEEP - default is 2).
Every program that re-converts, or takes out commercials screws up from time to time.  There is nothing worst not being able to watch one of your favorite programs that just recorded last night but is corrupt.  This BAT file helps prevent that frustration.

I assume DAYS2KEEP can be set at zero, if thats what the user prefers. I never get hurt with comskip. I changed a few of its setting son my initial install and haven't had to revisit it. Personally, I'm perfectly content tossing the commerical-laden file asap.

To be honest, I never tested it with zero days - however, I am using RoboCopy for this part, which I have a lot of experience with and the /switch I used it should work at 0.  I will try to test.

However you can just remove   /MINAGE: %DAYS2KEEP%     from the last part of this line

ROBOCOPY %TV2CONVERTPATH%\ORIGINAL-FILES\ %TV2CONVERTPATH%\FILES2DEL\ /MOV /MINAGE:%DAYS2KEEP%

For the record, I like some commercials.  But until  they get smart and drop the volume on them, to equal the TV show, I either removed them, fast forward, or simply hit mute.

Having the shows backed up before conversion or commercials being ripped out is critical. For me there is a wife factor - and last year we had an issue on one of her favorite shows, and then this year during the last LOST episode for the session (not good man).  As I have a new 1 Terabyte hard drive - it really doesn't hurt me to keep 2-4 days.  I think we about 30-40 gigs a day .

Anyone got any configurations for comskip that seem to work well they might share?

With the renewed interest in Lifextender I tried it again in RC 7100. I had tried it before in a couple of the beta builds and it kept failing (the event log showed some errors relating to missing files which i assume are present in Vista but not W7) and blacklisting shows. Well, it's doing the same thing for me in the RC... so it's useless to me.

I'm currently using DVRMSToolbox to cut out commercials using a process based on Abuttino's profiles which works VERY well and basically does the same job as Lifextender. I think there is a thread here with the details but there are very detailed instructions on the DTB forum if anybody is having trouble with Lifextender.

I would also recommend trying the beta for Showanalyzer Suite which has native .wtv support. I don't use it full time as it isn't yet calibrated very well for UK transmissions but it works pretty well for the US.

I can only think Lifextender and Comskip have an issue with PAL as you said you from the UK.
In the US - Lifextender is almost flawless.  As most people seem extremely happy with it. 
Not sure how your post has anything to do with my script but that's OK.
Remember you can also use my script in conjunction with DVRMSToolbox with a couple simple tweaks.

For myself, my script with Lifextender has been awesome.  So much so that I have not problem purchasing Windows 7 when it comes out October 24.

mmatheny - you put....
Anyone got any configurations for comskip that seem to work well they might share?

This question should be on it's own thread - however I am interested too.  We have had very little issues with the comskip settings that come with Lifextender, but anything can be improved.  I also was told that different countries need to tweak out their settings for their country.  I think I saw this on the Austrailian green button.  So start a new post on it, update your post here with the link - I would like to monitor it - see what comes out of it.

Dagelus, I haven't tried win7 myself... so excuse my ignornance if I'm way off.

Is there a way in win7 to run a prog in compatibility mode? If so, perhaps thats worth a try with Lifextender. I suppose the issue(s) could also be with comskip/showAnalyzer too.

I agree with ToeKneeC. Your topic is worthy of focused discussion on its own thread.

I have no idea what tweaks I made initially, that I've been so happy with. I guess thats the price I pay for using software that now "just works".

I really like using LifeXtender but it hasn't been so great for me in Windows 7.  I've been using the following batch file to convert the shows to DVR-MS.  However, it seems that LifeXtender wouldnt process the DATE metadata properly.  That would result in my recorded tv shows to not sort correctly in media center. 

Here's the batch file I was using...

move "c:\users\public\Recorded TV\*.wtv" c:\convert\
c:\windows\ehome\WTVconverter.exe "c:\convert\*.wtv"
move "c:\convert\*.dvr-ms"  "c:\users\public\Recorded TV\"
Del c:\convert\*.wtv

any ideas what I'm doing wrong?  Should I be using the better more robust batch file?