ShowAnalyzer from Dragon Global is a premium commercial scanning application which was a favorite among Vista Media Center users. When Windows 7 came along and introduced the WTV format it took quite a bit of manual work to get it working for 7MC users however. Not any longer! ShowAnalyzer now has native support for the WTV format and a number of other hot new features as well.

To get the latest version you’ll need to be a registered member of the Dragon Global Forums and download the latest version from this thread. Once installed run the ShowAnalyzer User Interface from the programs menu and you’ll immediately notice the improvements over previous versions.

This revision of ShowAnalyzer comes with a very well done and easy to use interface. Usability has greatly improved over previous versions allowing even novices a reasonable chance of mastering the basics in a mater of seconds. Even better for beginners is the addition of a Directory Watcher service built in.

Inside Tools –> Settings.. you’ll find the option to enable a Directory Watcher service that will monitor your recorded TV folders for new recordings and add them to the process queue automatically. No more fussing with DVRMSToolbox’s FileWatcher service priorities and settings.

Under the Output tab you’ll find the options for processing your recorded TV files including support for DVRMSToolbox’s MCE plugin to support skipping commercials during live TV.

Getting started with a single file or even whole directories is extremely simple. Just open up the File menu and select single file or directory. ShowAnalyzer will add the shows to the queue to be processed and get down to business. Depending on the number of analyzers you set in the Scheduler options you’ll see a number of tasks appear in the Active tab.

Processing a single hour long WTV file took just over seven minutes to complete. A cursory check of the output indicates that the program was fairly accurate in determining the location of commercial breaks as well although some fine tuning may be necessary.

That’s all there is to getting started with ShowAnalyzer with brand spankin’ new WTV support. Be sure to stick around as we’ll most definitely go further in depth with this amazing product in the near future!