Detailed Show Options in WebUI

I just noticed there are several additional options under the show settings dropdown in the WebUI (see picture). Settings

I know, I'm a noob. A couple of questions for the experienced users....

  1. If I click on the "Keep Forever" option, does it prevent deleting?
  2. Are there any instructions to reference for the "Edit Commercials" option?
  3. I think I understand what "Refresh Metadata" does, but is there a common use for this?
  4. What does "Regenerate Video Index" do?
  1. If I click on the "Keep Forever" option, does it prevent deleting?

I honestly don't know the exact answer to this one. I'm not sure if it disallows deletion, or only preserves it from automatic deletion when you have various "keep" options enabled.

  1. Are there any instructions to reference for the "Edit Commercials" option?

When you select this option, it presents a window with segments processed by the commercial detection program (comskip). Within each segment, thumbnails are shown, along with why that particular segment was deemed to be a commercial or program. Those sections with a checkmark and green background are the program, and the unchecked segments are commercials. After you have made changes (such as correcting some erroneously flagged commercials), then click save at the bottom. Now when the program is viewed, the new commercial markers are used.

  1. I think I understand what "Refresh Metadata" does, but is there a common use for this?

Maybe not "common", but sometimes the guide data was incomplete when a program aired. Or perhaps the program's poster/image has changed because of a new season. In those cases you can use this option to ensure that the selected episode has the latest/correct metadata.

  1. What does "Regenerate Video Index" do?

IIRC, this is related to transcoding and/or remote streaming. Last year there were quite a few changes made to how remote streaming and transcoding was handled, and this was a way to ensure that older recordings would work the newer features that were introduced. In general, it's not something that you will probably ever need to use.

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Thank you @racameron, this is a very detailed explanation. One follow-up question on the item above. The preview images when editing the commercials are pretty small. I found that it can be hard to tell on some of these if it part of a commercial or advertisement if there are just random people in the background. Is there a way to view that video segment or enlarge those previews?

No. But you can usually use the duration of the segment, as well as why it was marked, as an indicator for its veracity. And since commercial marking is non-destructive, if it's wrong you can just rewind.

Makes sense. To be honest, I have found the commercial skip on Channels to be the best out of any I have tried. I've used Tablo, Plex, and MCEBuddy. Channels seems to be the most accurate by a wide margin. The only reason I even care about this Edit Commercials feature is for Movies I plan on keeping. For all other content, I will do what you noted (just rewind while watching if the skip is wrong). Thanks again for your help.