Recommendations for commercial skip?

rore

Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:47 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

Recommendations for commercial skip?

#1

Post by rore » Sun Nov 04, 2012 7:35 pm

Any recommendations for commercial skip for Win7MC 64-bit? Should run automatically in the background.

Thanks

Rolf

adam1991

Posts: 2893
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:31 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#2

Post by adam1991 » Sun Nov 04, 2012 7:49 pm

Yes. Google is your friend.

Seriously, while I use ShowAnalyzer, I do so only because (a) it was the ONLY one that worked with Win7 when I started my project 18 months ago, and (b) it's installed, configured, and running hands-off. And it works great.

It ain't broken, so I ain't fixin' it.

But were I to start today, or were I rebuilding things or building my Mark II system (never touch the one that's in place, always start fresh when it's time to replace it) I would jump in with the crowd you're about to hear from and go with Comskip--which is now Win7 compatible, AND is being actively supported.


And BTW, these solutions do not stand alone. They merely look at the show and produce bookmark files of where they think commercials stop and end. The thing that reads the bookmark files and actually tells MC to skip ahead is DVRMS Toolbox (DTB for short). So you'll need both pieces in place and appropriately configured.

User avatar
STC

Posts: 6808
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:58 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#3

Post by STC » Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:03 pm

rore wrote:Any recommendations for commercial skip for Win7MC 64-bit? Should run automatically in the background.
Ignore Adam's first line.
Underneath that gray crusty exterior, he's really okay. :silent:
By the Community, for the Community. 100% Commercial Free.

Want decent guide data back? Check out EPG123

crawfish

Posts: 465
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:16 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#4

Post by crawfish » Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:56 pm

I've always liked the idea, but for various reasons, I've never tried this. From what I've read, it's not 100% reliable, takes a while, and doesn't work at all on protected recordings, which I now have a fair number of thanks to using CableCard and my cable provider being jerks. That last point completely killed any interest I had in this.

For skipping by hand, it is possible to do better than Media Center's 7 second skip back and 30 second skip forward (while keeping them, as they're still very useful of course). I have a row of four buttons on my Sony RM-VL610 remote configured as below in Autohotkey:

Code: Select all

^+F16::
	Send 3^b ; Medium Step Back (30 sec)
	return
^+F17::
	Send ^b ; Small Step Back (7 sec)
	return
^+F18::
	send 4^f ; Commercial Small Step Forward (2.5 minutes)
	return
^+F19::
	send 7^f ; Commercial Big Step Forward (4 minutes)
	return
Pressing a button works immediately and 100% reliably, with no numbers appearing on screen, which occurs when one enters these sequences by hand. I can usually skip a block of commercials with no more than 3 button presses. For example, the Law and Order SVU episodes I watched a couple of nights ago had 3:30 commercial blocks, and two quick presses of the 4 minute forward and 30 second step back buttons took care of them.

My remote is well-suited to this. There is a row of 4 buttons right above the directional pad on my Sony RM-VL610, and I've bound these commands to them left-to-right in the same order as listed above. This works out nicely as there is a row of 4 dedicated skip buttons right below the pad. I have that lower row mapped as 10 minute skip back, 7 second skip back, 30 second skip forward, and 10 minute skip forward. So there's a nice symmetry to it all.

adam1991

Posts: 2893
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:31 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#5

Post by adam1991 » Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:34 pm

don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Auto commercial skip beats any manual process, hands down.

But if your cableco is being jerks about marking everything protected, you have no choice.

Venom51

Posts: 568
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:12 pm
Location: Cumming,GA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#6

Post by Venom51 » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:17 pm

I've used SA and Comskip both to good results. Since SA isn't actively being supported any longer I have moved to Comskip.

rore

Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:47 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#7

Post by rore » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:22 pm

adam1991 wrote:don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Auto commercial skip beats any manual process, hands down.

But if your cableco is being jerks about marking everything protected, you have no choice.
I guess TWC in SoCal are among the jerks?

Rolf

adam1991

Posts: 2893
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:31 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#8

Post by adam1991 » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:25 pm

ANY cableco that takes it upon itself to declare and iplement DRM without any such requirement from the content owner is being, at the very least, a jerk.

RyC

Posts: 724
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:21 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#9

Post by RyC » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:36 pm

I'm using comskip and it works fairly well. It will usually get all of the commercials, or it won't get any (as in the locations will be completely wrong). It only takes about 10-15 minutes to process a 1 hour show on an old Intel Core 2 Duo 2 ghz machine. The donator version of comskip (which is what you want since the free one can't process wtv files) is also threaded so I'm sure it screams on newer processors.

lithium630

Posts: 633
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:00 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#10

Post by lithium630 » Mon Nov 05, 2012 12:52 am

I used Showanalyzer in the past but could never get it perfect. It's too bad Jere Jones disappeared off the face of the earth. I had high hopes for the long promised update with schoolhouse.

werds

Posts: 495
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:35 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#11

Post by werds » Mon Nov 05, 2012 4:05 am

On average how often does it not work correctly? I always looked at doing this but because mot users would state something about how it is not extremely reliable in terms of getting it right I have stayed away. Mostly because I don't want to hear the wife complain if a part of one of her shows is cutoff improperly!

So through personal experience about how often does it not work perfectly and about how bad are the results when it doesn't work perfectly? Also does it save lot of hard drive space or is that a marginal thing?

adam1991

Posts: 2893
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:31 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#12

Post by adam1991 » Mon Nov 05, 2012 5:57 am

If you're the type that thinks the world must be a perfect place, if you think that mis-reading even one commercial block is fodder for an entire blog about how the whole thing sucks, if you like to yell and scream about what I call "first world problems," then don't do it.

It's right about 90%+ of the time, and I think I'm being conservative here. Night and very darkly lit scenes are difficult for the algorithms, as are artsy-fartsy scenes where the director does a bunch of black fades to separate a bunch of short scenes. And informercials--those five+ minute things--are impossible to defend against.

If you have a lot of dark scenes, just turn skip off for that show. That's easy. Infomercials, just hit skip until you're past it.

If it skips past something (and it will now and again), just turn it off, back up, and go on with your life.

It saves no hard drive space.

My wife is perfectly happy with it.

There's a Big Bang Theory in syndication where it reliably misses the tag at the very end. It's the one where Sheldon realizes he's not the center of his group, so he tries to ignore them and create his own group where he is the center. He has party with Stuart, Kripke, and Penny's old boyfriend Zack. He also invites LeVar Burton. The tag at the end of the show has the first three singing karaoke, and LeVar Burton opens the apartment door to see this going on--and says, "Oh, HELL no." Well, ShowAnalyzer always, every time, misses the transition from commercial to the beginning of this short bit, and instead sees the brief moment of the apartment door opening as the fade in from commercial.

That's just one example. There's another BBT tag that behaves similarly, every time, guaranteed. It happens.

I've told ShowAnalyzer to behave just like ReplayTV did: the first 2 minutes and the last 2 minutes of every program are to be considered show material, by definition. It made sense to me when I had Replays, and it still makes sense to me.

And I had to do some tweaking for CBS shows, but once someone suggested some changes, I got it nailed down and it's 95%+ good on their primetime stuff. (It's as if someone at CBS is specifically trying to beat these systems.) Out of the box, everyone complains about how ShowAnalyzer handles CBS shows. I'm not sure, but I think ComSkip also requires some tweaking in that regard.

But the CBS special case is the only thing I've done to SA. That is one nice thing about SA compared to ComSkip; SA lets you set up multiple conditional processing rules, while ComSkip doesn't.

bobbob

Posts: 676
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:21 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#13

Post by bobbob » Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:48 am

i would say i'm at about 98% with comskip, maybe one break in one show a week is wrong

gpatlanta

Posts: 247
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2011 10:00 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#14

Post by gpatlanta » Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:49 am

Comskip is working great for me now. It took me a few times tomget it working, but now I can't believe I went without for so long. TWC copy protects everything but network for me and ir is still worth it. The only thing I can say negative is that it makes the fact that my non-networks are copy protected worse since I xan't have com skip on them.

My settings are the suggestions from the comskip preview forums for US.
Greg

Venom51

Posts: 568
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:12 pm
Location: Cumming,GA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#15

Post by Venom51 » Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:32 pm

I can say that for most network shows it's in the mid to high 90's in accuracy. The one I can say without question that it's damn near perfect on is the racing I record on Speed. F1,MotoGP and V8 Supercars are always perfect.

KScott

Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:50 pm
Location: CA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#16

Post by KScott » Wed Nov 21, 2012 7:43 pm

I've installed DVRMSToolbox (DTB) - v1.2.2.5, Comskip81_050 donators version, and DTBAddin - 1.0.0.7 (R3).
I've set them per mike_b's suggestion at the Comskip support forum: http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/viewtop ... 6019#p6019
Windows 7 x64 and Media Center.
I can drop a .wtv on the Comskip.exe and an xml file,etc is generated.
Takes about 9 minutes and the commercials are automatically skipped, also the proper buttons function on my Harmony One.
I can see the DTB addin shown in the media Center GUI.

I can't get the commercial skipping to run automatically.
Another question, would I be correct that it should scan (once working properly) existing recordings and process them as well?

KScott

Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:50 pm
Location: CA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#17

Post by KScott » Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:02 pm

Well, I've been playing with this for a few days now.
I know yes is the answer to my question about processing existing recordings: Place check mark in box for "process files missing artifacts".
I have changed the 0 to a 1 so Comskip will use DVRMSToolbox.
I've restored a Ghost image and reinstalled 2 or 3 times.
Same thing, DTB File Watcher is running as a service but Comskip doesn't start.
Here's part of a DTBFWService log file:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM : Mode: Service
11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM : Ipc Server Listening on ipc://MEDIA-CENTER:9199
11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM : Tcp Server Listening on tcp://192.168.1.154:9199
11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM : User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM : ProcessExe = DVRMStoMPEG.exe
ProcessArg = /if="{0}" /of="{1}"
OutputDir = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\Output
ProcessDir = E:\Recorded TV
WaitTime = 10
HandleDelete = True
PollTime = 30
LogDelete = False
LogUpdate = False
LogCreate = False
LogCheck = False
QueueUpdates = False
ProcessedFilePrefix = fileprocess
NumWorkers = 1
CleanupDays = 7
IncludeWatchedFolders = True
CleanupExt = txt,edl,log,srt,properties
Port = 9199
WatchFilter = .dvr-ms,.mpg,.ts,.wtv
LogPath = C:\Users\Public\DvrmsToolbox\FWLogs
VideoTypes = .mpg,.ts,.dvr-ms,.avi,.mp4,.mp4v,.wtv,
MinFileSize = 0
MinProcessingInterval = 30
ResetOnDelete = True
WatchRecursive = False
ProcessFilesMissingArtifacts = True
MaxIntances = 5
ArtifactScanInterval = 15
CleanupFilter = _[^_]+_JRSidecar.xml

11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM :
11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM : -------------------------------------------------------
11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM : Start: 11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM
11/24/2012 2:22:28 PM :
11/24/2012 2:22:33 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\2 Broke Girls_KPIXDT_2012_11_12_20_58_00.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:33 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\A Haunting_GRNHD_2012_11_02_18_58_00.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:33 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\A Haunting_GRNHD_2012_11_09_18_58_00.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:34 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\A Haunting_GRNHD_2012_11_16_18_58_00.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:34 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\A Haunting_GRNHD_2012_11_23_18_58_00.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:38 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\American Horror Story- Asylum_FXPHD_2012_10_24_23_00_00.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:38 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\American Horror Story- Asylum_FXPHD_2012_10_25_00_04_01.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:38 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\American Horror Story- Asylum_FXPHD_2012_11_07_21_58_00.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:38 PM : FW Begin Process E:\Recorded TV\American Horror Story- Asylum_FXPHD_2012_11_14_21_58_00.wtv
11/24/2012 2:22:38 PM : PW Exit System.ObjectDisposedException: Cannot write to a closed TextWriter.
at System.IO.__Error.WriterClosed()

What is this "System.ObjectDisposedException: Cannot write to a closed TextWriter.
at System.IO.__Error.WriterClosed()"?
I see a whole mess of those.
The htpc works flawlessly other than this weirdness with commercial skipping software.

User avatar
STC

Posts: 6808
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:58 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#18

Post by STC » Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:18 pm

Are you moving the files out of your recorded TV folder then back in?
That will trigger the file watcher process.
By the Community, for the Community. 100% Commercial Free.

Want decent guide data back? Check out EPG123

barnabas1969

Posts: 5738
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2011 7:23 pm
Location: Titusville, Florida, USA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#19

Post by barnabas1969 » Sun Nov 25, 2012 12:35 am

I get about 90% accuracy with SA on my local broadcast stations. My local channels are not copy-protected from my cable provider... and I also have an antenna and a dual ATSC tuner in my HTPC (OTA broadcasts are generally not copy-protected). I record almost 2/3 of my shows from the local stations... so 2/3 of my shows skip commercials automatically.

All of my non-local stations are copy-protected. These cannot be analyzed for commercial skip. However, several of those recordings come from ShowTime... and have no commercials anyway.

SA can be tweaked to 100% accuracy (without schoolhouse)... but I've never taken the time to do it because it never bothered me enough to make the effort.

KScott

Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:50 pm
Location: CA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#20

Post by KScott » Sun Nov 25, 2012 7:30 pm

STC wrote:Are you moving the files out of your recorded TV folder then back in?
That will trigger the file watcher process.
The File Watcher Service is running.
I get a .vih file created for every tv show on the drive.
I also get a : PW Exit System.ObjectDisposedException: Cannot write to a closed TextWriter. at System.IO.__Error.WriterClosed() for every show DVRMSToolbox tries to run Comskip on.
Comskip never starts, instead the error mentioned is generated.

I can drag the .wtv to the Comskip.exe and that works fine.
In around 8 minutes it's done and commercials are skipped in Media Center.

Problem is DVRMSToolbox doesn't launch Comskip because of error.
It won't work automatically.

I have Comcast, 3 HDHR Primes, and shows that we record are not copy protected.
Last edited by KScott on Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post Reply