[mythtv-users] commercial flagging idea - commercial"fingerprinting"

[dean collins]

Centralized flagging makes a great idea and whilst a complex project
should be possible.

The musicbrainz reference is a great starting point.

Does MythTV have a centralized bounty system? If so I'll kick it off
with an offer of $100.


Cheers,
Dean 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-
> bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Matt
> Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 5:25 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: [mythtv-users] commercial flagging idea -
> commercial"fingerprinting"
> 
> Hello All, =D
> 
> Sorry this is long:  For the short version, just read the first two
> paragraphs.
> 
> 
>    I had an idea a few months ago, and just thought I'd throw it out
> there.  I think that mythcommflag is getting better and better.
> However, sometimes there are times it'll goof up, and some shows are
> notroriously harder than others to flag correctly by their unique
> filmographic nature(Lost, Law & Order, CSI, etc...).
> 
> How about a method where users can validate mythcommflag's results and
> make that info available to the myth community to strengthen the
> accuracy of commercial flagging by using verified data.
> 
> 
> For example.  You record an epsiode of "Lost".  You let mythcommflag
> run, and it detects commercials 90% correct.  Then you go in and edit
> the recording and import the commercial flags by pressing "Z"... so
> far, everything like normal.  Once the commercial markings are in
> there, you edit them so they are correct (cut off the begining
> commercials before the start of the show, make sure commercials are
> detected correctly, and make sure that there aren't any improperly
> detected cuts in the middle of the show, etc).
> 
> Then, once you have explicitly defined the commercials, some process
> could identify these as " Human Verified to be Correct".  Then, the
> next time a user runs mythcommflag on that episode, the service can
> verify it's results based on those verified results and adjust
> accordingly.
> 
> This is where it gets difficult and several different solutions might
> be available:
> 
> 1) Digital fingerprints - Not sure if you anyone is familiar with
> MusicBrainz (http://www.musicbrainz.org/) or not.  What it does is
> take an mp3 file, analysis it and make a digital finger print of it.
> Then, it sends that fingerprint to a database to compare with other
> fingerprints that people have submitted.  It can then make a
> comparison and correctly identify the file and populate the ID3 tags
> of an otherwise un-identified file.  The more people that ID a file,
> the "smarter" it becomes and the better it can do at identifying
> files.  Once the program has been correctly marked, and some kind of
> "fingerprint" is made from the show, then it could be uploaded to a
> central database where other's can look for that show and episode to
> compare mythcommflag results so that the mythcommflag can do a better
> job based on the verified results sent by users who manually made sure
> the commercial detection was correct.
> 
> 2) Time based - Possibly more difficult, however you have to assume
> that the time of the show between commercial breaks is going to be
> (nearly) identical.  So, in almost the same way, if mythcommflag has a
> false positive for a commercial, it can review what others have
> verified as correct and say "hey, there shouldn't be a commercial here
> because 40 other users say there is a time block of 15 minutes, not
> 7.5 + commericial + 7.5 more, etc.
> 
> 3) Identify individual commercials (not the entire commercial break) -
> Along the same lines as #1, identify specific commercials.  So,
> anytime an acme company commercial is recorded, mythcommflag
> could/would be able to identify it as a commercial soley because it's
> "learned" that it is.  This could possibly have more overhead and
> possibly labor intensive.  With the constant turnover of advertising,
> as well as locally broadcast commercials, it might not be worth it and
> it'd be a ton of information.  However, it could see where this might
> be useful for short teaser clips you see at the begining or the end of
> certain shows or that certain networks frequently use.
> 
> 4) combination of the above - I think if you went with the
> fingerprint, a time based solution would almost be included in that.
> 
> 5) Other - I'm sure others would have other suggestions that might
> work for this.
> 
> 
> I know that this is a centralized approach, but seeings how it would
> be what I call a "bonus" feature, people that don't want to
> participate wouldn't have to sort of thing.  Perhaps their's a
> decentralized approach as well.  Mythcommflag could still work WITHOUT
> this feature, it's just something that can reinforce the accuracy of
> commercial flagging in myth.  I'm also not sure about the legalities,
> PC, etc that a methodology like this would have or Issac's stance on
> the issue as I don't know if it's ever been thought of up to the
> point.
> 
> Anyway, I'm not a developer, nor am I pleading or begging anyone to
> develop this... I just think it sounds cool and if anyone has the
> know-how or if a few developers think it'd be fun to work on it, I'd
> love to help out any way I can.
> 
> So, what do all of you think?  I know it could be a large project...
> 
> Thanks!
> Matt
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