Two of the channels I record from, METV and Heroes & Icons, have a unique first commercial in the programs I record. The first commercial always has a duration of less than or equal to 30 seconds. Since the March changes to commercial skipping, these commercials have not been detected. Even back when they were detected, double tapping forward would go beyond the end of the commercial.
Could you restore the capability of detecting these short commercials? And, could you add the ability to skip only to the end of these short commercials instead of overshooting to beyond the end? ... Or add a setting that would allow this?
There is a 'hack' available if you're willing to try it.
You can override the default Channels DVR comskip.ini with one of your choice (I do this).
Just be aware that comskip is and never will be 100% accurate for all channels.
In order to detect commercial segments of 25 seconds or more (instead of the default 45 or more) you just need to change one parameter in the override comskip.ini file.
min_commercialbreak=45 to min_commercialbreak=25
In order to use this, copy and paste the following (between the ------ lines) into a file called comskip.ini and put it in your Channels DVR data directory. (Note that line terminators in the comskip.ini file are linefeed characters, not carriage return+linefeed, not sure if that matters)
verbose=10
detect_method=123 ;; everything but scenechange
punish_no_logo=0
cc_correct_type_modifier=1
length_nonstrict_modifier=1.5 ;; required before below due to comskip.ini parsing bug
combined_length_nonstrict_modifier=1
min_show_segment_length=222
min_commercialbreak=25
use_existing_logo_file=0
logo_fraction=0.39
delete_logo_file=1
output_vdr=1
output_edl=1
output_ffmeta=1
output_ffsplit=1
thread_count=1
lowres=1
Here is the default comskip.ini that Channels DVR uses (as of version 2019.06.29.0350)
verbose=10
detect_method=123 ;; everything but scenechange
punish_no_logo=0
cc_correct_type_modifier=1
length_nonstrict_modifier=1.5 ;; required before below due to comskip.ini parsing bug
combined_length_nonstrict_modifier=1
min_show_segment_length=222
min_commercialbreak=45
use_existing_logo_file=0
logo_fraction=0.39
delete_logo_file=1
output_vdr=1
output_edl=1
output_ffmeta=1
output_ffsplit=1
thread_count=1
lowres=1
If you no longer wish to use your override comskip.ini file in the Channels DVR data directory, just rename it to comskip.bak or delete it.
Thanks for your reply. I tried doing this, but it didn't work. The comskip.ini that was used is the default version. Perhaps I put my file in the wrong directory. When you write your Channels DVR data directory, do you mean the directory that contains the Databases, Images, Logs, Movies, Streaming and TV directories and a hidden file named .permcheck?
Not that directory. It depends on which OS you install it on.
On my Synology NAS it's in
/volume1/@appstore/ChannelsDVR/channels-dvr/data
If you open your browser on the Channels DVR machine and go here http://127.0.0.1:8089/system
a few lines from the bottom you should see your data directory
in my case it's
pwd: "/volume1/@appstore/ChannelsDVR/channels-dvr/data"
You can also find it in your Channels DVR log http://127.0.0.1:8089/log?n=100000
2019/06/29 15:11:41 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2019.06.29.0350 (linux-x86_64 pid:19080) in /volume1/@appstore/ChannelsDVR/channels-dvr/data
From the log entries, I found that my QNAP NAS starts Channels DVR in /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/ChannelsDVR/channels-dvr/data. After moving my file to that directory, it worked as you said. The two settings I changed from the default file are:
min_show_segment_length=300 ;; for long commercial breaks on GetTV
min_commercialbreak=10 ;; for short first commercial on MeTV and H&I
With these settings, the short first commercial on MeTV and Heroes&Icons, and long commercial breaks on GetTV, are now detected correctly. I found the following web page that defines all of the Comskip configuration parameters here: http://www.kaashoek.com/files/tuning.htm
Even though Channels DVR won't automatically skip a commercial break shorter than 60 seconds, these commercials are now detected correctly. So once I land in one of those commercial breaks, I can skip it by double tapping forward, without overshooting its end.
Aman, when you write app, you mean the Channels DVR client. Yes I see that. However, the shorter commercial breaks are still detected correctly when I change the Comskip settings, and I can skip such commercial breaks by double tapping forward, without overshooting the end.
It would nevertheless make things simpler if Channels DVR could skip commercial breaks as short as 10 seconds, which is how I am now configuring Comskip. Was 60 seconds chosen because it is considerably more difficult to skip shorter commercial breaks? If not, perhaps you could change it. Otherwise, perhaps you could add a Channels DVR setting for skipping shorter commercial breaks.
