Compare Screens -- MediaInfo + FFmpeg + guessit + Auto Crop + Auto Upload + BBCode

A simple Python tool for randomly extracting and comparing frames from two .mkv files (Source & Encode). The script then uploads those screenshots to ptscreens.com and outputs a BBCode file, wrapped in [center] ... [/center] formatting, so you can easily share side-by-side comparisons on "forums".

Features

• Tkinter Dialogs:

  • Pick your Source and Encode .mkv files from GUI file dialogs.
  • Prompt (via a GUI "askinteger" box) for how many random frames to extract.

• MediaInfo for frame count & average FPS:

  • Grabs FrameCount and FrameRate from your .mkv files without relying on ffprobe.

• GPU-Accelerated Extraction:

  • Uses ffmpeg -hwaccel cuda -ss <timestamp> -frames:v 1 ... for fast-seeking random frames.

• Two-Phase:

  • Extract all frames first.
  • Upload them after extraction completes.

• guessit for Subfolder Naming**:

  • Parse the Source filename's "movie name" & "year," creating a folder like:

    .\Screens\MovieName (MovieYear)
    
    

• Wrapped BBCode in [center] ... [/center]:

  • Begins with a heading, SOURCE | ENCODE.
  • Then each line is [url=SRC_URL][img=300]SRC_URL[/img][/url] [url=ENC_URL][img=300]ENC_URL[/img][/url].

Prerequisites

1. Python 3.7+

2. MediaInfo CLI installed and on your system PATH

3. ffmpeg on your PATH (with optional GPU decoding support)

4. pip install -r requirements.txt

   • The requirements.txt should contain something like:

     guessit==3.5.1
     requests==2.31.0
     
     

5. A ptscreens.com (Chevereto) API Key, placed in the script as IMG_HOST_API_KEY.

Usage

1. Clone or download the repository containing this script (e.g., compare_screens_mediainfo.py).

2. Install the Python dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   
   

   OR (Run Powershell as Administrator)

   ./requirements.ps1 
   
   

   OR (Run as Administrator) (Packaged rquirements.ps1, requirements.txt in an exe using pyinstaller)

   AutoInstallRequirements.exe 
   
   

3. Check that mediainfo --version and ffmpeg -version work in your terminal.

4. Open the script, locate the line:

   IMG_HOST_API_KEY = "<YOUR_API_KEY_HERE>"
   
   

   and paste in your actual ptscreens API key.

5. Run the script:

   python compare_screens_mediainfo.py
   
   

6. A GUI window appears, asking you to:

   • Select your Source .mkv file.
   • Select your Encode .mkv file.
   • Enter how many random frames to extract (via a small integer dialog).

7. The script:

   • Retrieves total frame counts & FPS from MediaInfo.

   • Randomly selects the requested number of frames from 1..min(FrameCountSource, FrameCountEncode).

   • Extracts those frames for both Source & Encode.

   • Uploads all the resulting .png screenshots to ptscreens.com.

   • Writes a Comparison_BBCode.txt in .\Screens\MovieName (MovieYear)\ which is fully wrapped in:

     [center]
     SOURCE  |  ENCODE
     
     [url=SourceImageURL][img=300]SourceImageURL[/img][/url]    [url=EncodeImageURL][img=300]EncodeImageURL[/img][/url]
     ...
     [/center]
     
     

   • All screenshots are also saved there as .png files.

Example Output Structure

Screens/
└── MovieName (MovieYear)/
    ├── Source_frame1025.png
    ├── Source_frame27541.png
    ├── Encode_frame1025.png
    ├── Encode_frame27541.png
    └── Comparison_BBCode.txt

Inside Comparison_BBCode.txt:

[center]
SOURCE  |  ENCODE

[url=https://img.ptscreens.com/abc123.png][img=300]https://img.ptscreens.com/abc123.png[/img][/url]    [url=https://img.ptscreens.com/def456.png][img=300]https://img.ptscreens.com/def456.png[/img][/url]
[url=https://img.ptscreens.com/ghijkl.png][img=300]https://img.ptscreens.com/ghijkl.png[/img][/url]    [url=https://img.ptscreens.com/zyx987.png][img=300]https://img.ptscreens.com/zyx987.png[/img][/url]

[/center]

Notes & Caveats

• GPU Acceleration: If you don't have an NVIDIA GPU or -hwaccel cuda fails, remove or replace that parameter (e.g., -hwaccel dxva2 on Windows with certain AMD or Intel drivers).
• Frame Accuracy: For variable-frame-rate files, random seeking by frame index may be slightly off. This script assumes constant frame rate.
• License: This is a personal or sample script. Ensure you comply with ffmpeg's license and MediaInfo's license.

Contributing

• Issues/Ideas: Open an Issue or Pull Request if you find bugs or want additional features (like partial Timestamps or custom naming).
• Testing: We welcome tests on various MKV sources, different GPU acceleration settings, and large frame counts.

Enjoy effortless Source/Encode comparisons, and let us know if you need help!