[mythtv] Commercial replacement instead of skipping

Wed Feb 28 16:03:08 UTC 2007

Doing it automatically would have problems because the commercial 
flagging is not 100% correct.  In fact for a lot of the shows I record 
commercial flagging is only correct probably around 60% of the time. 

Hal Lightwood wrote:
> Great discussion everyone, thank you for all your replies.  Yes, I 
> agree, as most have pointed out, this is not something most Myth users 
> would want as most of us do not ever watch Live TV, including myself.  
> This is only a feature that would be occasionally used for Live events 
> such as sports or awards shows or to allow children to watch Live TV 
> unsupervised without worrying about them being exposed to 
> commercials.  Delaying watching for 10 minutes would be acceptable and 
> you would never "catch up" because it would always be 10 minutes behind. 
>
> Craig, you suggested that this can be done but would require pressing 
> a button to switch back and forth. Ideally it would be automatic, 
> especially if this is being used when children might be watching TV 
> unsupervised, I don't want them to see commercials but I wouldn't 
> trust a 5 year old to actually press the button.
>
> Dave has suggested that the flag at the start of a commercial is all 
> that would be needed thus negated the requirement to run 10 minutes 
> delay as well, does anyone else agree with that?
>
> If this can be done I am prepared to offer a bounty for it as well!
>
> On 2/28/07, *Dave Oxley* <dave at daveoxley.co.uk 
> <mailto:dave at daveoxley.co.uk>> wrote:
>
>     I think there's a trick being missed here. If you're watching live tv
>     and an advert comes on and when it does you hit a button to switch to
>     different content, then this can be used as the flag for the start of
>     the commercial rather than the automated commflag. Well, you may
>     want it
>     to run 3 or 4 seconds either side of when the button was pressed
>     to work
>     out the accurate position, but you certainly won't need the end of
>     the
>     commercial in order to work out (or validate) the beginning of the
>     commercial.
>
>     Dave.
>
>     Craig Boline wrote:
>     > Would either of these concepts solve the issue -
>     >
>     > 1: There could be a way to play mythvideo items, and prior
>     recordings though picture in picture - then switch back when the
>     commercial is over.
>     >
>     > 2: Same sort of idea as above, except the commercial flagger
>     switches back when it finds the end of the commercial. For example
>     - you are watching mythbusters... a commercial shows up and you
>     hit a button on the remote and start watching your other
>     content.  Then the commercial flagger follows behind. As soon as
>     it logs a commercial (begin and end), Mythfrontend notices and
>     asks if you would like to switch back to your mythbusters.  This
>     continues, when a commercial shows up - hit the button - continue
>     where you left off on your alternative content - switch back...
>     >
>     > Thanks,
>     > Craig.
>     >
>     >
>     > On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:23:55 -0800, Brad DerManouelian
>     <myth at dermanouelian.com <mailto:myth at dermanouelian.com>> wrote:
>     >> On Feb 27, 2007, at 3:14 PM, Peter Schachte wrote:
>     >>
>     >>> Brad DerManouelian wrote:
>     >>>> On Feb 27, 2007, at 1:00 PM, Hal Lightwood wrote:
>     >>>>> Hi Brad,  thanks for the reply.  Watching LiveTV with a 15
>     minute
>     >>>>> delay isn't too bad, but do you think we could alter
>     commflag so
>     >>>>> that it could replace the commercials instead of skip them?  If
>     >>>>> commflag takes alot of CPU we'll just make sure we have a
>     very fast
>     >>>>> computer so it can do it quickly.  What do you think?
>     >>>> I don't see the use case here. If you watch the program delayed
>     >>>> enough for the commflagger to do its job, there is no time to
>     watch
>     >>>> something else. It just skips right to the next scene of your
>     >>>> program.
>     >>> I think Hal's point is that by *replacing* commercials with
>     some other
>     >>> equal-length programming while watching, and assuming the
>     >>> commflagger could run
>     >>> at real-time speed, you would be in a steady state.  So you
>     >>> wouldn't have to be
>     >>> 8 minutes ahead for every 30 minutes of program, you'd just
>     have to
>     >>> be far
>     >>> enough ahead for the commflagger's output to be available.
>     >>> Essentially, as I
>     >>> understand the OP, you'd just be watching slightly delayed from
>     >>> real time, and
>     >>> when a commercial came on, rather than skipping over it, myth
>     would
>     >>> show some
>     >>> other programming until the commercial finished.
>     >>>
>     >>> Sounds like a good idea to me.  It would make watching live TV
>     much
>     >>> more
>     >>> palatable if you could be watching some other recording during the
>     >>> commercials.
>     >>>  But I don't think many myth users, and particularly myth
>     >>> developers, use live
>     >>> TV much, so I don't think anyone will be rushing to implement it.
>     >>>
>     >>> Hal, I would suggest adding this to the feature wishlist on the
>     >>> myth wiki.
>     >>> Probably
>     >>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Feature_Wishlist_%
>     >>> 28Frontend_Addons%29#LiveTV_.2F_View_Recording
>     >>>
>     >>> would be the most appropriate place.
>     >> I understand his intent, I just don't understand how it would even
>     >> possibly be implemented considering the fact that the comm flagger
>     >> takes into account both what it sees at the start and end of a
>     >> commercial break to determine if it's a valid commercial break. If
>     >> you run it real-time, there's no end yet, so it would never
>     tell you
>     >> there is a commercial until it was over. Even if you could somehow
>     >> predict that your commercial start flag is valid without seeing the
>     >> end of the commercial, you'd then need a way to pick what to watch
>     >> while the commercial was playing. Seems like a whole lot of
>     work just
>     >> to avoid not waiting a little while longer to watch your program.
>     >>
>     >> I guess I'm just confused why people still insist on letting
>     program
>     >> directors control their personal time. I don't even think about
>     what
>     >> time programs are on any more. I just watch when I feel like it.
>     >>
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