In this thread
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=67579.0 JustinChase very graciously shared his procedure for using Comskip with MC17 (& WMC). It has worked well for him and I believe others. When I tried it I was unsuccessful at getting it to work. The problem ended up being that the Hauppauge HDPVR, probably the Hauppauge Colossus and possibly other hi def 'tuners' put out their video files as .ts with AVC/h.264 encoding. The regular free version of Comskip will process MPEG2 files but not the AVC/h.264 files as they are MPEG4.
What is needed for these files is the Donator Version (Early Access Version) of Comskip. Unfortunately it will not work with the program that JustinChase is using, MC-TVConverter. So I discovered on the SageTV Forum a small program called Comskip Monitor that can be made to work with the Comskip Donators version. It is now working for me on .ts recordings made from our HDPVR in MC17. It is creating the .edl files that MC17 will recognize as commercials to skip.
Below is the procedure that I have used to set this up. It is presented with a few caveats.
1. Comskip Monitor is a small program that was originally developed for SageTV. It was last updated in 2006 and there is no support for it.
2. Comskip Monitor is a Java program and requires JRE 1.4.x or higher.
3. This procedure is not Plug and Play. The person doing it needs to feel comfortable moving files and modifying .ini files and doing other tasks that would probably be considered at the intermediate PC level.
4. Comskip is not perfect. It finds a lot of Commercials but in some cases misses others. I have found some programs it's perfect on and some that it misses most all. In most cases it's somewhere between. With tuning I believe it can be made better.
So with that in mind here it is:
1. COMSKIP INSTALLATION A. Go to the Comskip website
http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/ and do a donation of at least $10.00.
B. You will be emailed a link to Download the 'Early Access' (Donators) version of Comskip.
C. Extract (Unzip) Comskip to a new folder anywhere of your chosing. Name this folder Comskip Donators Version.
D. Open the Comskip ini file for editing. I use the free Notepad++ program (Thanks Justin Chase).
E. At line 6 change Verbose to 0. This will delete the log file at end of processing.
F. At Line 44 change logo_file from 0 to 1. This will delete the logo file at the end of processing.
G. At end add this: default=0. This will have it output only the edl file.
2. COMSKIP MONITOR INSTALLATION (CSM) A. Go to the Sage Forum website
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=138 and download Comskip Monitor. While there make note of their forum thread on the program.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20358&highlight=comskip+monitor B. Extract Comskip Monitor to a new Folder in C:\Program Files you will name Comskip Monitor .
C. Go to your new Comskip Donators Version folder and Copy all the files in that folder.
D. Go to your new C:\Program Files\Comskip Monitor Folder and open it. Do a Paste of the Comskip Donators files from step C to the Comskip 79-76 folder. This will add the required files from the Donators Version of Comskip. Don't worry about it overwriting and leaving some of the old files.
3. COMSKIP MONITOR CONFIGURATION A. In the Comskip Monitor folder double click on setup.bat. A 'cmd' window and browser window will open. Do the following configuration in the Comskip Monitor Browser window.
B. Remove the Directory C:\Temptest.
C. Select the Directory where your recorded TV files are. Put a check in the box then click on 'Add Video Directory'.
D. Click on Cleanup Extensions. Click on Remove by 3)edl
E. If you have a slow processor and or want to limit the hours of the day that Comskip can run click on Configure Exclusion Hours. Configure as needed.
F. Click on Finish Configuration. Then close the Browser Window or tab when instructed.
You are now ready to run this and have it create the edl files for commercial skipping in MC17. When you first run this you may want to consider copying a couple of recordings to a temp file. This way you can be sure that everything is working properly before turning it loose on all your recordings. If you chose to do this just temporarily change the recording Folder in 3.C. above to your temp folder.
4. OPERATION. A. After you completed step 3.F. above Comskip Monitor will be running as a Service. If you should want to stop it go to Start, right click on My Computer, click on Manage. The Computer Management Window will now open. Double click on Services and Applications, then Services. A list of the Services on your PC will appear. Scroll down to Comskip Monitor and click on it. Then click on Stop The Service. When you want it to run again click on Restart The Service.
B. With the Comskip Monitor Service running it will look for new recordings in the folder you specified in 3.C. above. When one appears it will start Comskip. A log file and a Logo file will temporarily be put in your recording folder.
C. Comskip will take several minutes to process a recording. The time is dependent on the length of the recording and your computer speed.
D. When it is done an .edl file will appear. That file contains the time zones that Comskip considers to be commercials.
E. A short time after the .edl file appears it will clear out the temporary log and logo files.
I sure hope that this will work properly for you and would appreciate any feedback. Remember that Comskip is not perfect but can supposedly be improved with some tuning. But it's a real joy to watch a commercial free (or almost commercial free) program.
Rod
Author
Topic: How To For Commercial Skipping of AVC/h.264 Video From HDPVR & Others (Read 6223 times)