[mythtv-users] Transcoded mpeg still has (all?) commercials

[Jeff Jensen]

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Robert McNamara
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 4:18 PM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Transcoded mpeg still has (all?) commercials

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 2:13 PM, Jeff Jensen <jjensen at apache.org> wrote:
> I'm wondering if I am missing a config item to have commercials removed
with
> transcode.  I've seen a few wiki pages on it, the manual, and archive
> emails, and I haven't found (or understood!) what's needed.
>
> I have auto commflagging on, and I can see there are sections flagged via
> the frontend editor.
>
> I also have auto transcode on and it successfully runs.
>
> Some transcode results showed size reduction like "6.4G -> 6.3G", which
> makes me think commercials were removed (perhaps other things can get
> "cleaned up"/removed which would cause a slight reduction in size?).
>
> Is there an item needed to tell transcode to use the flagged sections?
>
>
> I'm using .21 fixes:
> MythTV Version   : 22186M
> MythTV Branch    : branches/release-0-21-fixes
> Network Protocol : 40
> Library API      : 0.21.20080304-1
>

Myth removes sections with cutlists, not commflagging.  To create a
cutlist, start playing the video, press "E" to enter edit mode, press
"Z" to load the commercial flagging as the cutlist, then "E" to exit
edit mode.  A transcode after this will remove the commercials.

You *can* script the loading of the commercials as the cutlist and the
subsequent transcode, but it means writing your own script to do so
using mythcommflag --gencutlist and running mythtranscode thereafter.
It's also generally a really bad idea as nobody likes getting beaten
up when your SO's shows lose a whole segment because commflagging got
it wrong.

Robert



Thanks Robert... not sure how I missed that concept.

We have a Windows machine connected to the TV, and have been using MythWeb
to stream (server is in basement with other equipment).  Currently, don't
have a good mechanism for viewing control (e.g. FF/skip through commercials)
without walking over to PC, so was hoping for removal to solve the need!
We're used to a skip ahead feature on a DVR we have (which I have phased
out), and I haven't learned and setup something yet.

Yeah, I can see the commflagging hiccup causing the SO grief; however I
received the "I thought you said commercials would get removed?" grief  ;-)
My bad for setting expectations :-)

Hmmmm, would it work to just add "--gencutlist" in the config where the
commflag program name is specified?  Must not, or you probably would have
suggested that as an easier option than making my own thing...