Commercial removal

[MrMad]

Originally Posted by ASiDiE

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.
When it gets to a commercial, it just jumps or skips past it automatically

To me, it could be even simpler, I don't have the need for it to skip automatically. It would be enough if I could just press the "Next chapter" button when a commercial is on its way. That way I could skip back if I notice that comskip skipped too far.

(Even cooler would be to have a comskip feature running in realtime, analyzing the currently playing video stream. That way it could also work while in timeshift mode)

[dubstar]

Excellent thanks, yeah i will post as soon as i get a good result. im sure its just a matter of fiddling with the settings until it finds the com's correctly. However I've got a feeling it will be different for each tranmitter, channel,and country?!!?

This is something that a vast majority of Media Portal members are keen on getting working so I ask if you have had any experience with comclean / comskip please could you post here and hopefully we can get working for those who require it sooner rather than later.

[dubstar]

So I've managed to configure comskip to find all the adverts in a number shows recorded on Five us (A UK channel) and it works well.

I have not tried anymore channels but i will asap. Im stuck for time tonight as im out for my mates leaving do before he leaves for 6 months.

What i want to know is:

1. Is there any way to make comskip select the pre and post recording? as if the adverts were removed at present the recording padding would remain!!

2. Can Media Portal be configured to use the note pad file to skip the commercials? The file is as follows:

FILE PROCESSING COMPLETE 103114 FRAMES AT 2500
-------------------
1 4602
5915 6544
16685 23409
44261 46589
63066 69089
82382 89364
90164 90914
103113 103114

Each nunber represents a frame number and this is the info used by comclean to remove these sectors!!

I believe with move time i could achieve more with this software and configure to work as previously dissgussed.

I will post when i have more progress.

[cowpie]

Originally Posted by MrMad

To me, it could be even simpler, I don't have the need for it to skip automatically. It would be enough if I could just press the "Next chapter" button when a commercial is on its way. That way I could skip back if I notice that comskip skipped too far.

True, in mce2005 dvrmstoolbox's comskip addon, you can disable it by pressing the down button, or enable it by pressing up. I usu. like leaving the tv on while doing dishes so automatic would be my preference

[ASiDiE]

Scanning shows in real time.... now that would be sweet... oh wait... my replay TV already does that. As long as its about 2 minutes behind real time, it will try to cut out the commercials. I would go workout when my show started and then come back and watch all of it commercial free

[Roberdin]

It would make more sense to me if MediaPortal skipped the adverts, rather than the adverts being actually removed from the file. Other than the obvious performance benefits, there is the distinct possibility that ComSkip might screw up. Is this how it works now?

[dubstar]

If any devs are reading this this is what i have found so far...

Com skip can output numerous files including one marking all the commercials as chapters the result is a .chp file and is as follows:

AddChapter(1,Commercial Segment)
AddChapter(4602,Show Segment)
AddChapter(5915,Commercial Segment)
AddChapter(6544,Show Segment)
AddChapter(16685,Commercial Segment)
AddChapter(23409,Show Segment)
AddChapter(44261,Commercial Segment)
AddChapter(46589,Show Segment)
AddChapter(63066,Commercial Segment)
AddChapter(69089,Show Segment)
AddChapter(82382,Commercial Segment)
AddChapter(89364,Show Segment)
AddChapter(90164,Commercial Segment)
AddChapter(90914,Show Segment)
AddChapter(103113,Commercial Segment)
AddChapter(103114,Show Segment)

Can this info be used in MP to 'auto skip' the commercials?

Also comskip has a 'Parallel processing' ability to work with live tv!!! just wonder if this could be applied to MP??

[CodeMonkey]

My guess is you would need two DirectShow filters. The first would interface to comskip and detect the commercials, storing the segment information somewhere. The second would perform the actual skip (automatic or manual could be a configurable option) based on the data generated from the first filter. I believe this would work with playback of saved shows as well as 'livetv' (in quotes because it would have to be timeshifted).

[MrMad]

Yes, it would be very hard to skip commercials in real live TV, you would end up in the future
(Watched the movie "Deja Vu" yesterday. It contained the coolest timeshifting features yet seen, but they didn't have a skip function at all )

[erik1958]

Originally Posted by dubstar

1. Is there any way to make comskip select the pre and post recording? as if the adverts were removed at present the recording padding would remain!!

Yes,
If you pre and post pad with a couple of minutes there are settings like remove_show_before_and_after_current that hint comskip to also remove the previous and next show.
This DOES REQUIRE TUNING!!!!
The broadcasting style does influence which setting works. Sometimes you can simply delete_before_first_commercial and delete_after_last_commercial and if there is only a very short (<30 seconds) break between the shows you need the _before_and_after_ version.

Comskip is design to also be able to run on live tv (set live_tv=1) and it will output the commercials while they are being found.
This is used for timeshifting applications where you still would like to be able to skip commercials (yea, not real real time).
Comskip can generate the .txt (frame numbers) and the .edl (seconds from strat) output variants in realtime
Remember that detection quality is less during live_tv but once the total recording has been processed comskip will look at all its findings again to create the best possible result.

If you do have question on comskip. Mail them to me or post on the comskip support forum because I am not able to follow all fora where comskip is being discussed.