Well guess what?
You're back! Welcome Aboard!
There ain't no "essentially" about it, here. MS-Windows makes it a non-starter, here, period.
When MS-Win7 EOLs in 2020, I'll simply leave the dual-booting laptop be, as I almost never boot it into MS-Windows, anyway. I was going to replace my wife's dual-booting desktop with a Mac Mini, as she needed MS-Win or OS X for her TomTom GPS map updates. But TomTom just informed her the lifetime of her "lifetime of map updates" was up. So no more need for that. I'll be building her a new desktop and she'll be running Linux Mint only.
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I just did some reading on ffmpeg. Nope. Not for me. Barring detailed instructions (do this, then do that) it's not going to be something that will work for me. I downloaded it and started poking around. It's not exactly intuitive and the website assumes knowledge I don't have.
Basically take recordings from the Channels folder, remove commercials, and drop it in the Plex folder. That way all my media is in one place. MCEBuddy was recommended but I don't currently have a Windows computer.
This thread might solve my problem:
I'm not tied to Plex. If i could get the job done in kodi that would work for me.
If you run this command from the 'Terminal' app on the Mac you're running Channels DVR you'll get EDL files created in the folder where the DVR files are stored, and Kodi/MrMC can use those to automatically skip the commercials:
curl -XPUT http://127.0.0.1:8089/dvr/hacks/edl
Thank you! Will try it out.
I'll have to play around with MrMC settings. The edl was created with no problem, but MrMC did not skip over commercials on the first recording I tested. I'm trying another one shortly.
I have this arriving Wednesday along with an 8TB USB 3.0 drive. This should have enough guts to handle MCEBuddy, Channels DVR, and Plex server - correct? That's all it will be used for.
MCEBuddy has a bit of a learning curve. My first test recording didn't mark chapters for Plex to provide thumbnails for. I tweaked the settings and am trying again tonight.
I'm posting this here because the MCEBuddy forums are confusing and people here seem to know what they're talking about. 
I have MCEBuddy configured with
Ad Remover: Yes, Use Markers
Only Detect Ads
C:\Program Files\MCEBuddy2x\comskip\comskip.exe
In one of these threads someone mentioned that if I do that and have the file dropped in Plex I would be able to jump over commercials in Plex using Chapter Thumbnails. The file that is dropped in Plex does not have chapter markers, even though I have that setting checked in Plex.
Is there a setting I am missing?
Probably, but don't quote me on that. I cut ads. I don't mark them, so I have no experience in that area. There also seems to be some enhanced difficulty brought on by Plex:
The forums over there are Discourse (arguably the most user unfriendly forum software in the two universes). If you can't find what you need already posted (very likely) the guys that work there are very helpful.
Also, you may be trying to use a 'paid version' feature in the 'free version'. I don't know that, but you should investigate the possibility.
Thanks for the help. With cutting ads (my preference) you don't get errors where chunks of the show are missing? I believe I remember you saying you had a custom comskip file. Care to share it? 
Why soitenly! (up the page about a mile):
ComcastUSA dot ini is my preferred weapon - after some testing. It may not work as well for you as it depends heavily on content/channel/editing booth idiot level/etc., but there are several there to try out.
The brave traveler can also head on in to an ini file with the Comskip INI editor (in your Comskip folder or the WWW)... abandon hope all ye who enter there (I glanced down at what looked like MILLIONS OF LINES OF CODE, and quickly opted for one somebody already made... I'm old)
I can say the stock INI file is pretty safe as it will err on the side of programming, but you may have to deal with a lot of ads it'll leave behind.
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I too am getting old and forgot that post. Thanks!
FYI I tried this one out and it doesn't work well for OTA prime time network shows. It is also geared towards hour long recordings vs half-hour shows.
Thanks for that. I am only recording prime time OTA shows.
I don't record OTA networks - 'cause none can make it down here in this canyon. I have one lonely, broken down PBS tower that was hit by lightning 4 years ago - works about 1/3 of the time, at 1/8th power. Thank goodness it's only 3 miles from here.
It works OK with HDHR's Premium TV, but I usually stick with History, Nat Geo and yes, a lot of hour shows.
It's very likely you'll have to experiment with everything in the bag. What works/doesn't work for one set of circumstances may work just fine for another. Automatic Ad Removal is NOT a science. It's a hand-grenade solution. Get close and hope for the best. Learn to live with a little failure, or fast forward through ads. Simple as that.
I’m assuming with the data Channels has at its disposal, they may be actually able to create a set of ini files and choose the one that should work best for the program being analyzed.