[mythtv-users] V-Chip decoding WAS: Commercial Flagging, what are the best

[Kevin Kuphal]

David Rudder wrote:

> This is a pretty off-the-wall suggestion.  Is there anyway to detect 
> V-Chip signals?  I know within the US, all broadcast and cable shows 
> have a V-Chip signal, but it's turned off during commercials.  This 
> would be a 100% reliable way of detecting commercials, but I have no 
> clue whether the signal could be picked up by myth.
>
> I would be ironic to have something good come out of V-Chip, eh?

I've modified my Myth source to decode the V-Chip XDS information and I 
can say that this assumption appears to not be true.  It looks like the 
rating (say: TV-PG for a Discovery Channel show) remains the same 
through the entire recording.  I've also looked to see if the Program 
Type code exists and, at least for me, doesn't as this might also be an 
indicator that changes with the content (there is a code for Advertisement).

I'll probably post this stuff as a patch to SVN soon just so that the 
framework for XDS decoding is in place but it doesn't, at least on my 
provider, appear to be useful.  It would be interesting to see if others 
see the same results from different cable and broadcast providers.

Kevin

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