automatic commercial skip for mac?

[inextirpable]

is there a customization for the mac that will facilitate the automatic skipping of commercials?

[bcjenkins]

what kind of Mac?

[inextirpable]

macbook pro (intel), and how about for an older powerbook G4

[bcjenkins]

I will see what I can do.

Thoughts:

Use compiled mythcommflag under Fink to generate EDL
Run comskip under wine

B

[inextirpable]

Thanks very much for your thoughts/efforts.

[bcjenkins]

So myth won't work. The comm analyzer is tied to the backend, but the comskip does run fine under OS X using Darwine or Fink.

Credit to OddJob on this one for linux. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22404

Given that it works, how would you like it to work? BTW - Fink performed better than Darwine presumably because it is using a newer Wine Library. However, Darwine is a much easier setup.

Fink:

Comskip 0.79.98, made using:
mpeg2dec-0.4.1-cvs - by Michel Lespinasse <walken@zoy.org> and Aaron Holtzman
The commandline used was:
/Applications/Utilities/comskip/comskip.exe --ini=/Applications/Utilities/comskip/comskip.ini /Users/bcjenkins/Desktop/FostersHomeforImaginaryFriends-Busted-800487-0.mpg

Opening /Users/bcjenkins/Desktop/FostersHomeforImaginaryFriends-Busted-800487-0.mpg
Setting ini file to /Applications/Utilities/comskip/comskip.ini as per commandline
Using /Applications/Utilities/comskip/comskip.ini for initiation values.
0:29:52 - 53735 frames in 156.76 sec (342.79 fps), 1.00 sec (325.00 fps)
53937 frames decoded in 158.43 seconds (340.45 fps)
Commercials were found.

Darwine:

Comskip 0.79.98, made using:
mpeg2dec-0.4.1-cvs - by Michel Lespinasse <walken@zoy.org> and Aaron Holtzman
The commandline used was:
/Applications/Utilities/comskip/comskip.exe --ini=/Applications/Utilities/comskip/comskip.ini /Users/bcjenkins/Desktop/FostersHomeforImaginaryFriends-Busted-800487-0.mpg

Opening /Users/bcjenkins/Desktop/FostersHomeforImaginaryFriends-Busted-800487-0.mpg
Setting ini file to /Applications/Utilities/comskip/comskip.ini as per commandline
Using /Applications/Utilities/comskip/comskip.ini for initiation values.
0:29:54 - 53789 frames in 191.14 sec (281.41 fps), 1.00 sec (256.00 fps)
53937 frames decoded in 192.71 seconds (279.89 fps)
Commercials were found.

B

[inextirpable]

ok, so here's where i confess you are WAY above my head, sorry. I currently am using replayTVs and i am considering a move to SageTV (to record in HD). I'd love to have automatic commercial skip for use with SageTV on a Mac OS platform (intel, although i have only PowerPC at the moment, hopefully i'll be getting an intel based Mac fairly soon). It'd be great if the automatic commercial skip worked the same way as (or better than) it did on the replayTVs (not perfect - but worked most of the time - by detecting momentary black screens, i think). If there was a simple install app - that would be ideal as i'm not one to get into the Mac terminal. Does such a thing exist? Thanks for your patience and help!

[bcjenkins]

I am sorry, I didn't mean to imply it would be ran from the terminal when finished.

I plan on writing this as an application which can be tied to a folder action or it will monitor the directories and scan.

B

[inextirpable]

Many thanks for doing this... you are the MAN!

[procon]

Yes! A comskip folder action would be great. Thanks for using your skills on this one.

[bcjenkins]

So I have an Applescript Application which contains the programs to do this. To use it you can drop a mpeg onto it for scanning. It is currently setup with my comskip ini file (which I didn't put a ton of effort into tuning) If it has any interest for anyone, send me a PM. It is a 65MB download because of the wine package.

B

PS Did I mention I have a 5mb upload? Any takers?

[Diginerd]

Missed this earlier.. Pretty sure you can get this hosted up on the wiki

[bcjenkins]

Not interested in posting it anywhere until it has been tested working for someone using it daily. I don't have a need for this; thought I would bundle it up and share but only ever received 2 responses for download and no feedback from them.

If anyone is interested in being a tester of this, please send me a PM. In its current form it is an application dropplet which will scan mpeg-2 files for cut points using Applescript, Wine, and Comskip. It will output EDL files to the same directory as the original for pickup by the comskip plugins.

I am also open to reconstituting the application into some other input/output mechanism.

B