Commercial skip doesn't work very much

#1

Using Channels DVR server running on macOS (old mac mini), server version is 2026.02.09.1530 (up to date). Also have the Channels DVR client running on Apple TV's. Everything seems to work pretty well except commercial skip. Very occasionally works, mostly doesn't show up and I need to click through the ads manually. Sometime it shows up while I'm clicking through ads, so I have to click through the first few commercials. Also, I don't have a choice of "Automatic", "Skip button", or "Manual", and no "Settings" -> "Playback" in the server, which is where the documentation says that the choice is for commerical skip mode. I find the settings for it in "Settings" -> "Live TV and DVR" in my version of the server.

Wondering what I can do to get commercial skip to run more? Or is this the state of it in the hardware and software configuration that I have? Very disappointing, anyways, expected this to work as well as the rest of the Channels DVR.

#2

Just did some searching around in the log, and found a bunch of commercial detection failures. A typical one is:

2026/04/14 21:00:03.562441 [DVR] Commercial detection failed for NCIS S23E16 SOS 2026-04-14-2000.mpg: exit status 11: Comskip 0.82.011, made using ffmpeg
Donator build
Received signal 11 (Segmentation fault: 11)
Stack trace (most recent call first):
0 comskip 0x00000001025c8e76 comskip + 253558
1 comskip 0x00000001025c8fea comskip + 253930
2 libsystem_platform.dylib 0x00007ff808d3231d _sigtramp + 29

I see 23 of these failures over the period from 3/26/2026 to 4/21/2026. On the other hand, I see 33 instances of commercial detection succeeding over the same time period.

What I haven't done is note when commercial skipping fails, and checking that with the log over a period of time, but isn't a segmentation error indicative of a software bug? That may mean that the code has attempted to address data outside of it's virtual address space, I think, but I could be wrong. Been a while for me :-).

Anyways, this puts a slightly different slant on things :-), since it looks like this could be software bug(s). Or again, is this what I should expect since I'm using a 2018 mac mini (one of the last Intel-based years). The M1-based mac minis started selling around 2020.

#3
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#4

Not sure what I'm supposed to get out of the above posting, That looks like it might be a different commercial skip on macOS Intel problem from what I see. So, unless there has been a regression and that's what I'm seeing, this is a new problem? Assuming that as time goes on the bujild numbers (the last number on the right in the version number, again, my guess), my build is newer than the posted reference.

Or is the suggestion that I find and use the older build? And see what it does?

#5

Update Channels DVR server to the latest prerelease version.
If it happens again submit diagnostic logs from the DVR web UI Support > Troubleshooting and post here

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#6

Sounds like a great idea, but where's the prerelease version repository? I feel like such a helpless person sometimes :-).

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#7

Go to the web admin status page that shows the current version, you'll see a drop down to update and check for stable release or pre-release. Select pre-release and it will update.

The web admin page is at http://<your server IP>:8089/admin/settings/status

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#8

Thanks, that worked. Appreciate it.