Commercial Detection Experiences

Channels DVR Server
#125

Would also like to know what the plan is.
Only thing I could find in this thread is

Detection is "pretty close", but misses both ways sometimes and other times is spot-on.
For archiving recordings I use the VideoReDo VPrj hack and use VideoRedo to cut and save to archive.
For viewing recordings in a client or web browser, I'm still experimenting with ChDVR comskip automatic...

I agree with others that we need finer control, especially being able to disable comskip on certain channels or disable auto-skip when playing back recordings.

#126

The VideoReDo VPrj hack you mentioned - does that allow you edit the videos and keep them in the Channels db or are you editing and then moving them to Plex or something?

#127

According to other posts from Aman that's possible, but I just move them to another drive.
If you replaced the original file with the cut/shortened one I would assume the autoskip would no longer work correctly.

#128

Thanks for this. I'm new to all this (NAS actually only arriving later this week) so just trying to figure out the best approach to DVR before I start!

#129

Edit Commercials problem.
Not sure if it's working as designed, but when I try to change all commercial segments to show segments in a recording it will not save the changes. Have to leave at least 1 commercial segment in order to save edits.
Screenshot_2019-03-31%20Channels%20DVR

I was attempting to make the show look like it had no commercials, then replace the recording file with my copy that had the commercials cut out, then refresh. I can overwrite the recording, refresh and Channels DVR does see the new duration, but the player still thinks there's a commercial after the end of the now shortened (55 mins 20.01 secs, 3320.01 secs) file.
Screenshot_2019-03-31%20Channels%20DVR(1)

#130

Not sure if this thread is still intended to be posted to, but with the introduction of TVE Iā€™d like to see improvements for commercial detection for the CNN channels. Itā€™s just a placeholder image during the ad breaks, but comskip almost never detects them.

#131

Is it possible to use the edl file and Ffmpeg to make chapter markers that Plex could recognize?

#132

Yeah it's definitely possible (and I used to do it, but haven't done it in a long time since I never used Plex and just used Channels). I could help but it depends on where you're running Channels. If it's Mac/Linux I could help but if it's Windows I'm not a great powershell or batch scripter.

#133

That'd be amazing! I'm running channels on an Ubuntu Brix Mini Computer. Is it possible to use ffmpeg to cut the commercials completely with the edl file or just make chapter markers?

#134

Here's a quick script to add channel markers, move the original into a .trash folder (just in case) and then put the new file in the Channels folder. You just need to modify the top two variables to match where your Channels install is.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/timstephens24/ChannelsEDL/master/AddChapters.sh

I will caveat this: it changes from a TS file to a MKV file (the video remains untouched). @eric would want me mentioning something about it might mess up the adaptive transcoder or some such. It didn't work with the original web streaming but @tmm1 addressed that for me two years (Web transcoding failing - h264 and mpeg2).

For your next question, it's definitely possible to use ffmpeg to cut out the commercials completely if you want. Look into comcut if you want to do that, it does what you want to do. I played around with it a few years ago, but didn't really like cutting the commericals so went with just adding markers.

2 Likes
#135

Wow thanks for the help and the effort! I downloaded the file and updated the file locations via notepad. Just not sure where to upload the sh file and how to execute it via my headless Ubuntu server...

#136

So I just had my first experience since starting my subscription back up and this was my experience:

I recorded 'The Neighborhood' on CBS. The first commercial wasn't recognized and I noticed that there was a big pause between the show and the commercial, to my knowledge there wasn't anything on the screen in the transition. The last commercial brought up the skip button, but it didn't do anything because it didn't recognize the end of the last commercial which again seemed to have a pretty good black transition from commercial to show.

#137

I'm guessing since you said notepad you're using Windows? I'm not the best to answer, but I would guess WinSCP would be a good way to move it over to your Ubuntu server (using your SSH credentials)

#138

Just came across this thread. I've been running into issues with commercials being flagged incorrectly on Fox (The Resident) and ABC (The Good Doctor). It would be interesting if you could feed a bunch of shows to an AI to better detection rates. Commercial detection issues are really the only thing holding me back from fully switching to Channels from Tivo.

Better commercial detection for TVE channels
#139

Iā€™m using channels for the first time using the RPI setup that was just released and the HDHomeRun 4K tuner. I recorded an episode of 911 last night and doesnā€™t appear to be any commercial detection or where it was it was way off even though I had the detection on. Curious if fox programs in general are an issue or the newer tuner. I donā€™t have any picture quality your sound issues with the episode.

#140

Some programs do better than other. Specifically, any kind of crawler at the bottom due to weather announcements or things like that prevent good detection.

1 Like
#141

Commercial detection is not working on some ATSC3 stations.

#142

Ok. Will that change in the future? My test last night with shows across all 4 channels that I think are being picked up on the 3.0 tuner ABC FOX CBS CW didnā€™t detect commercials. I was able to record a show on MyTV channel and it detected the commercial so can see how it would work.

#143

The show specific option for commercial detection is great. Thanks

#144

Commercial detection is confused on several STIRR channels. I guess it is because Stirr when commercial first show STIRR logo then some ads then again STIRR logo then some ads and then rest of the show. it happens usually on channel airing concerts.

If finally TVN start DVBT2 multiplex in my city for testing I can then check recording from private channels