[mythtv-users] Commercial detection (was: Re: [Slightly OT] solar power for all our gadgets)

[David Brodbeck]

David Watkins wrote:
>> Some of the things are regional (not too much interest in commercial skipping
>> in the UK for example), but more seem to be individual.
> 
> For whatever reason auto skipping doesn't seem to work here
> 
> .. and maybe the commercial:programme ratio isn't quite so high?

I think it's probably because the commercial flagging is based on a 
bunch of finely-tuned heuristics that guess where programs end and begin 
based on things like black frames, the disappearance/reappearance of 
logos, etc.  It's likely that U.K. broadcasters handle these things 
differently, so the rules that work so well here in the U.S. don't work 
so well there.

It's actually quite remarkable how well it works in the U.S.  I mostly 
only see problems with programs that have a lot of fade-to-black 
transitions.  A&E's show "Intervention" is a good example of one that 
confuses the commercial detection badly.  For those shows I turn off 
skipping or set it to "notify only."