2014-09-12, 15:21
I was wondering if there were any plans to add support for commercial skip where the commercials were identified with comskip or other tool
2014-09-12, 17:51
Sure. Just need time (or more programming help 
). Also I never use com skip and scarecrow doesn't either, so we'd need to get up to speed even on just the function side of it. If this is a big one, we can bump it up in priority.
). Also I never use com skip and scarecrow doesn't either, so we'd need to get up to speed even on just the function side of it. If this is a big one, we can bump it up in priority.
2014-09-12, 21:36
Err. What kind of support is wanted? I already have completely automated commercial skipping running quite easily, no changes necessary from PVR.WMC.
Unfortunately there isn't a good free alternative because we're dealing with .wtv files and everyone seems to want to force you to pay for that functionality.
Anyways, this is one way I was doing it very successfully and happily:
1) Buy comskip .wtv donators version ($10 I think)
2) Use Dirmon2 or similar directory watcher utility to monitor and run comskip on the file and create .txt comskip files
3) Profit
Or
1) Pay for MCEBuddy
2) Use MceBuddy with built in free version of comskip (this cuts and/or converts, does not do just detect commercials.. so it's a heavier solution)
3) Profit
If you have questions, speak up maybe I can help.
Unfortunately there isn't a good free alternative because we're dealing with .wtv files and everyone seems to want to force you to pay for that functionality.
Anyways, this is one way I was doing it very successfully and happily:
1) Buy comskip .wtv donators version ($10 I think)
2) Use Dirmon2 or similar directory watcher utility to monitor and run comskip on the file and create .txt comskip files
3) Profit
Or
1) Pay for MCEBuddy
2) Use MceBuddy with built in free version of comskip (this cuts and/or converts, does not do just detect commercials.. so it's a heavier solution)
3) Profit
If you have questions, speak up maybe I can help.
2014-09-12, 21:50
I forgot to mention that, pvr.wmc already has the ability to kick off comskip as a job on a file. Thats through an ini file and I haven't done it myself, but, the info is here somewhere.
If you were really stuck on the being forced to pay thing, you could mess around with converting the recorded .wtv file to dvr-ms since most utilities will work on that natively.
But that will cause more problems you have to solve as far as getting that file to be recognized in the WMC library so that serverwmc can pick it up and so then XBMC can see it.
I'm not sure how that stuff works because I'm a relative newb to MCE in general.
If you were really stuck on the being forced to pay thing, you could mess around with converting the recorded .wtv file to dvr-ms since most utilities will work on that natively.
But that will cause more problems you have to solve as far as getting that file to be recognized in the WMC library so that serverwmc can pick it up and so then XBMC can see it.
I'm not sure how that stuff works because I'm a relative newb to MCE in general.
2014-09-13, 14:17
BlueNote
How do you get XBMC and PVR.wmc to use the commercial location info.
How do you get XBMC and PVR.wmc to use the commercial location info.
2014-09-13, 18:56
It happens automatically as long as your comskip file is the same name and location as your target.
2014-09-13, 22:58
Hmm. THat is definitely not happening. Will investigate
2014-09-16, 03:48
Actually you can use MCEBuddy to just detect the commercials and save the EDL file to be used with XBMC. Enable the option to Skip cutting Ad's in the Expert Settings page. You can even use one of the TS Unprocessed profile if you don't want to convert it (though you will need to join the premium program to convert back to WTV using WTV Unprocessed profile).
(2014-09-12, 21:36)bluenote Wrote: Err. What kind of support is wanted? I already have completely automated commercial skipping running quite easily, no changes necessary from PVR.WMC.
Unfortunately there isn't a good free alternative because we're dealing with .wtv files and everyone seems to want to force you to pay for that functionality.
Anyways, this is one way I was doing it very successfully and happily:
1) Buy comskip .wtv donators version ($10 I think)
2) Use Dirmon2 or similar directory watcher utility to monitor and run comskip on the file and create .txt comskip files
3) Profit
Or
1) Pay for MCEBuddy
2) Use MceBuddy with built in free version of comskip (this cuts and/or converts, does not do just detect commercials.. so it's a heavier solution)
3) Profit
If you have questions, speak up maybe I can help.
2014-09-16, 09:04
yeah just to quickly chime in, I looked at adding EDL support to the addon but then realised that we basically already had it, because we are just pointing XBMC at an SMB:// path to a file, if there is an EDL file there correctly named, then XBMC already handles the EDL data and will skip commercials etc for you. So basically we had nothing to do in the addon to enable it. As for how you produce the EDL file containing the cut points for the commercials (or transcode/re-encode the WTV file to cut the ads out altogether) I'll leave it to the guys that are actually using these tools to keep providing guidance/info
2014-09-19, 16:17
It would be awesome if someone could put together a guide on how to set up comskip and mcebuddy for use with serverWMC and XBMC
2014-12-03, 07:00
Not to bring this up again, but I'm looking into this and am not sure what solution is better?
Why should I buy MCEBuddy over comskip or vise versa? What one is working well today with no issues or is easyer to use?
comskip = $10
MCEBuddy = $25
Why should I buy MCEBuddy over comskip or vise versa? What one is working well today with no issues or is easyer to use?
comskip = $10
MCEBuddy = $25
2014-12-03, 07:33
Here is my setup:
I have MCEBuddy configured to move/rename recordings and run comskip at 12:00am everyday. I have it setup so that it does the comskip in place and does not edit the recording. It just creates an edl file which tells xbmc where the commercials are. This requires the donator version of each product for the following reasons.
The pay version of comskip will operate on wtv files directly. Without it, MCEBuddy must remux the file to mpeg4, comskip the remuxed file, then convert back to wtv (unprocessed). This works but it would not always complete during the 12-5am window when it was allowed to run. I made three changes to the default comskip.ini:
1. edl_skip_field=3 //Tells comskip to use commercial marker in edl file
2. output_edl=1 // Tells comskip to generate output edl file
3. padding=1 // Tells comskip to pad 1 second before and after commercials.
The donator version of MCEBuddy is required for the "Option under Conversion Task -> Advanced Settings ->Expert Settings to Skip remuxing. DO NOT USE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY SURE." Another nice to have is the "Added option not to overwrite destination converted files in Conversion Task -> Advanced Settings -> Expert Settings -> Do not overwrite files." This is needed in case a show is interrupted during recording. I also have "Option under Conversion Task -> Advanced Settings ->Expert Settings to Skip copying original file. DO NOT USE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY SURE." checked. I don't remember if this was an option in the free version.
I suppose you could do all this with comskip alone but it would be pretty difficult.
Let me know if you have more questions.
I have MCEBuddy configured to move/rename recordings and run comskip at 12:00am everyday. I have it setup so that it does the comskip in place and does not edit the recording. It just creates an edl file which tells xbmc where the commercials are. This requires the donator version of each product for the following reasons.
The pay version of comskip will operate on wtv files directly. Without it, MCEBuddy must remux the file to mpeg4, comskip the remuxed file, then convert back to wtv (unprocessed). This works but it would not always complete during the 12-5am window when it was allowed to run. I made three changes to the default comskip.ini:
1. edl_skip_field=3 //Tells comskip to use commercial marker in edl file
2. output_edl=1 // Tells comskip to generate output edl file
3. padding=1 // Tells comskip to pad 1 second before and after commercials.
The donator version of MCEBuddy is required for the "Option under Conversion Task -> Advanced Settings ->Expert Settings to Skip remuxing. DO NOT USE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY SURE." Another nice to have is the "Added option not to overwrite destination converted files in Conversion Task -> Advanced Settings -> Expert Settings -> Do not overwrite files." This is needed in case a show is interrupted during recording. I also have "Option under Conversion Task -> Advanced Settings ->Expert Settings to Skip copying original file. DO NOT USE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY SURE." checked. I don't remember if this was an option in the free version.
I suppose you could do all this with comskip alone but it would be pretty difficult.
Let me know if you have more questions.
2014-12-03, 08:00
You don't need mcebuddy to do that. I've had both setups, and currently using dirmon2 and comskip donators ver. If there's a need I can elaborate but I don't have time right this second. There's any numberof utilities to watch directories and launch comskip. And even pvr.mce can launch it although in an unfriendly manner.
2014-12-03, 08:54
(2014-12-03, 08:00)bluenote Wrote: in an unfriendly manner.
Im interested in what makes the ExternalActions unfriendly for you... If you have any suggestions for improvements etc Id like to know
2014-12-08, 10:01
(2014-12-03, 08:54)scarecrow420 Wrote:(2014-12-03, 08:00)bluenote Wrote: in an unfriendly manner.
Im interested in what makes the ExternalActions unfriendly for you... If you have any suggestions for improvements etc Id like to know
I'm risking looking like a fool here, because it's late and I haven't looked at this in a while, but from what I recall the config is in the .ini and not very user friendly. I know I looked at a description of how to do it and opted for other methods, so maybe I just didn't give it a chance. No offense right
