Commercial removal

[dubstar]

Will the final release of the tv server feature in built commercial removal?

I have been having wet dreams of recording films and finding them relocated in my films folder with the coverart.tbn next to it!!

This feature is availible in myth and i was wondering what the possibilities of porting it over to out beloved Media portal??

[mPod]

ComSkip support is already included since months, never tried it, tho.

[dubstar]

I never knew. Is there a wiki or any documentation on how to use it with MP?

[reagan+carter]

I took a quick look in the wiki trying to find such a doc but it seems not to be there. If you eventually figure out how this thingie works please fill in the wiki by all means!

[mPod]

Originally Posted by dubstar

I never knew. Is there a wiki or any documentation on how to use it with MP?

AFAIK nobody has documented such yet. So the floor is yours, as the above poster already implied.

[ASiDiE]

I have not tested this out yet, but this is pretty much how it works. You set up comskip to remove commercials within recorded shows. You would probably need to test this out on a couple of shows already recorded to see how well it works. Once you get this all set up and have created a Bat file to run the jobs they way you want them too, then you can set it up to work for the TV server. Basically the only thing that the TV server does when you enable this feature is run the bat file after the show is done recording. Everything is pretty much handled with comskip. I am going to assume that you would want to have comskip edit the file and then rename it the same thing as the original and then delete the original. The only problem with that, is if it doesn't work correctly and cuts out part of your show.

What I would really like to see in the future is the ability to have MP read the small comskip files and then jump when it needs too. First, you would want to have the ability to turn it on or off in a global setting and then for each show. So when I show records, comskip will create it's little text file and MP would be able to read it. When it gets to a commercial, it just jumps or skips past it automatically. If you notice that is did not work correctly, you can then turn it off for that show and watch the whole thing with commercials. This way you are not left hanging when comskip misses a commercial or cuts out your show.

For me, it's not about saving space for my recording... it's about quickly moving around the commercials without having to pick up the remove to do it. I think this is still a major feature missing from MP right now.

I currently own a replay TV and this is one feature that I show off to friends that really makes the replay TV unit stand out. I had some friends over for a football game and the game had already started. We turned it on and started to watch the game. I knew a commercial was coming up and I said watch this. Showing them that I didn't have the remote in my hand.... the commercial came and was skipped automatically. I looked at them with a smile on my face.... and said... "pretty sweet huh?" Replaytv is the only PVR that had this feature, until they got sued over it.

Another benefit is that you would save time by not having to edit the video file. Comskip could run, create your jump file and then be done.

Something to think about.

[dubstar]

Took the words straight out of my mouth. I use to use dvr-ms tool box package with mce to do this but it was so unreliable that i use to loose half of a recorded before i had even seen it!!

The video redo features are pretty advanced, however not open source!!

This is something that would add another dimension to the Media Portal experience!!

[Roberdin]

There is a comskip check box on the Recordings tab in the TV Server configuration dialogue.

[dubstar]

Does any one have any config settings they can post? Im quite keen on getting this working properly, as it would save so much time doing it all manually.

[Ralph]

You may would like to start with this :
How-To use Comskip to cut out commercials via MediaPortal

It's based on an older version of Comksip but it still works.
You just need to set the path to the comclean.bat in tvserver setup.

After recording MP should start comclean.bat automatically and comskip is doing the rest.

Please keep us informed, if it works.

Regards
Ralph