Comskip is included with Channels DVR, but not developed by the Channels DVR developers.
Its results will almost never be 100% accurate and varies by channel, show and day to day.
The issue with Warner Bros. Discovery channels is being discussed here
Well, I can't speak for others, but I have seen none of the issues that you're speaking of.
As others have stated, when it comes to comskip, there are no guarantees there at all. Channels DVR has limited control over that. I have never seen a service that does it perfectly. MCEBuddy, VideoRedo, Plex, Etc.
Compared to other services similar to Channels I think the 2 or 3 people working on this project do a top notch job with their communication to us about our issues and what is going on with the service.
As discussed, comskip is developed outside channels, so your complaint should go to Comskip Support Forum - Index page , if anywhere
Comskip uses some video characteristics to determine when commercials start and end. Channels with news scrollers / scorebars / ads, etc, will need config tweaking to really work reliably, and even that may end up being chasing rainbows.
I long-since gave up on PTI, on ESPN, for example, to ever be reliably comskipped.
You can turn off Comskip for specific shows. I do that for certain shows.
Commercial detection is not stagnant. It is an ever present fight. The entities that make those commercials and pay for the commercials require that the networks and broadcasters make every effort to ensure that those commercials are viewed and recorded. That means the networks and broadcasters are continuously adjusting how they insert commercials to prevent commercial detection. It is surprising that Comskip (which is not developed by Channels) works as well as it does.
Hopefully it's now understood that there is no intentional actions here other than trying to make the best platform for those of us who are cord cutters....well, except in not entertaining multiple requests to have the ability to change the color scheme of the app....but outside of that, there is no intent beyond making the best platform. 
Not really though.
Of course it's not.
It's not.
Personally speaking, I haven't noticed any of that. Thankfully Channels DVR has been running really well for me and I dig in pretty deeply, with all the features, jumping on pre-releases every chance I get. I think the developers do an amazing job with this platform. And it's been fun experiencing it improve even more with every update.
The variances in comskip have been well explained above. As far as corrupted recordings go, hopefully you're able to send logs, because the Channels developers will look into the issue and fix it, as they usually do. But not everyone's experiencing it so it's not always quick and easy to pin down.
3 posts were merged into an existing topic: [ERR] Error during stream M3U-CustomChannel Transcoder Reset: Playlist skipped to a higher sequence
I might just be an outlier here since lots of post seem to defend ChannelsDVR. I also like the app, and my complain is more to encourage the developers to fix core issues, not to put them down.
From a practical perspective, this DVR is a premium solution. It is the Cadillac of DVRs, but it comes at a premium cost as well: its subscription, the FuboTV (or whatever your TV source), the unlimited internet cost (thanks Cox), the NAS/Server required, etc.
Compare that with Discovery+ ad free that is actually cheaper per year than the CDVR subscription is. My corrupted recordings were actually Discover programs. Now I'm watching them on D+ (free trial for 6 months thanks to Verizon). Fox channels, just record them on FuboTV DVR and skip commercials there, same like on CDVR.
My point again is the ChannelsDVR must address its core functionality. Personally I'm not interested in playing the blaming game. I pay for a service and I expect it to work accordingly.
I want to continue to use and subscribe to ChannelsDVR, but if I can't depend on its recordings, and I have to skip adds by hand, then why would I?
No commercial skip is perfect. I came from SageTV and the Channels Comskip is much better. And you can customize it to operate the way you want.
I'm just going to make this my sole response to this thread.
Every issue you have "noted" (or rather, "complained") is something that has been acknowledged from the beginning. Nothing you have stated is new, nor will "encourage" beyond the exceptional steps they are already taking.
A Channels subscription is non-free, and while its service requires a monetary outlay, I'm not sure it rises to the level of "premium" subscription services.
Channels does not require:
Channels will happily use your existing TV antenna to receive free-to-air broadcasts; requires minimal internet connectivity to download guide data; and does not require additional servers, as it can use your existing desktop. (The only additional hardware needed is a network tuner, which requires a one-time ~$100 purchase. Additionally, if you wish to add additional software instead of internet downloads, there are means to use the ATSC broadcast guide data with Channels without requiring any internet connectivity whatsoever.)
If the only content you care about comes from Discovery Networks, then this is something you should consider. However, the "corrupted" issue is not related to Channels, but rather to Discovery and their infrastructure/CDN migration. Assign blame where it is due, and don't conflate correlation with causation.
Your comments seem to be in conflict. There have been no issues with Channels and its functionality. You have problems with third-party aspects that are outside of Channels' control, yet you are holding Channels responsible. Blame the third-parties for their role.
The recordings are representative of the content it receives. If your TV antenna messed up the reception of a football game, who is to blame: the TV, the antenna, or the broadcaster; chances are you wouldn't blame the TV, which in this analogy is Channels.
Ad detection (as has been noted numerous times earlier in this discussion) is facilitated by a third-party software, and not actually handled by Channels (except in certain situations).
In short, your complaints have nothing to do with Channels itself. Please lodge your complaints with the requisite services.
Good. Let's keep this constructive, not judgmental. It seems that if my use case is different than yours, then my point becomes irrelevant somehow.
I'm not surprised, unfortunately. As explained in previous responses, Discovery is not playing nice right now and the changes they are making in their infrastructure is causing the issues we are seeing.
The CDVR developers have been very open about it and they are working to adapt CDVR accordingly so that it can work with Discovery channels again. Apparently, it's not a trivial fix and will take some time.
Nothing wrong with this statement, it's perfectly fair.
I would be very annoyed if CDVR didn't work because of their faulty software but that's not the case here.
The truth is that TVE streams are not reliable. For me, it has been working fine more times than not so I still continue to use it (and pay for it).
You would get a better experience with an antenna and a network tuner.
I totally understand this. Everybody has their deal breakers and if it is for you, I can't blame you for discontinuing to use it
Maybe suspend your subscription for now and use Discovery+ for a while until the developers here manage to make CDVR work with Discovery's latest infrastructure changes.
Another thing you could try in the meantime as the developers are working on the discovery network channel issues @bozooo ,
And if the commercial detection is driving you nuts, and you do have a discovery + subscription along with channels dvr.
You could use playon.
The channels integration is fantastic.
You can purchase anytime playon credits really cheap 12 cents per show, and have playon record the discovery+ shows and do the commercial detection. Every two hours channels will poll your playon account and download the show into channels. Its very slick. Or you can manually download them through the channels web interface any time.
Obviously its not ideal, but if you already have both that may be a workaroud for you in the meantime, and you can use all the other benefits channels dvr has to offer under a common interface.
Best of luck and let us know
I don't think the issue is your point being irrelevant. Certainly a difference of opinion. My point of view, and others may not share it, is you came in with preconceived notions and made insinuations that tap into the political divide.
That may not have been your intention, but at least for me, that's how it came across. People stepped in and answered your questions, though some had their personal opinion color the response, and the tone has deteriorated from there. Everyone who participated in this thread has had some contribution to it, including me. I try and diffuse through humor, but in some cases that just doesn't do it, so you are now getting my unfiltered view of this thread. I don't have any visions of anyone apologizing to another, but hopefully this can be marked as questions answered and we all move on.
I just let Channels record to a folder on my server, then MCEBuddy grabs the file and runs its comskip and saves the new file in a folder that is access by my Plex player on Roku. 95% or so of the time the comskip works great, ocassionally it misses a segment.
I don't record those, so not sure, but it's possible they are using the New Smart connercial detection. BETA: Smart Commercial Detection for TVE & Pluto If that's the case and it no longer works on those channels, the devs can disable the Smart detection on those channels so the regular comskip detection will be used.
You could test this by rerunning commercial detection (which will use comskip) for one of those recordings and see if it detects any commercials.
The other possibility is comskip is failng for some reason. The only way to tell is examining Channels DVR log and the recording's comskip log.
I think the issue with FOX News is that we are not recording the broadcast stream at least not with HULU live. It is TVE streams and FOX News shows a logo screen in place of the commercials and comskip never seems to pick up on that.
So we never see a commercial mostly just a logo screen and when playing back i just tap fast forward till the recorded show comes back on. I can live with that.
I agree with almost everything [racameron] stated in his post. COMSKIP is for the most part mostly accurate. Sure, sometimes it does not get the commercials of a particular show. I have had that happen. It is not a big deal to use the fast forward button once in a while. But for the most part COMSKIP works pretty well. CHANNELS is a fabulous solution for cord cutters. For a cost of $80 a year (less than $7 a month) it is a great service. It gives you a two week guide with TVE and great DVR recording options. If you have a problem with paying the minimal cost of $80, the I suggest you find another option for your TV programming and good luck with that. CHANNEL's developer are working very hard to improve the software and respond to customer problems most of which are customer created errors. I should know, because I did it and it was my mistake.
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