Getting Comskip Setup

[Athfar]

Ok I have setup Comskip about a year ago and I am going to give it a shot again now that i have a better PC.

Can anyone redirect me to a Guide for setting comskip up with SageMC (or SageTV if the STV isn't relevant)?

Do I need some other STVi for SageMC (I notice it does have an option for comskip)? Also, I don't necessarily need all the options that are available in the SageMC Video Tools right now (otherwise I would use that)...

Thanks!

[MeInMaui]

SageMC has support for .txt and .edl comskip files built in. Once you have either comskip or Show Analyzer generate the file, SageMC will detect it and allow you to either manually or automatically skip the commercials.

If you are going to use comskip, I have heard good things about using Comskip Monitor (available in the External Plugins and Utilities section). If you are going to use Show Analyzer I would suggest setting it up with Dirmon2. Both of these are available from dragonglobal.org.

Either way, I recommend you set it up to generate .edl files. These give much more accurate results in SageTV than .txt files.

Aloha,
Mike

[Athfar]

I got Comskip setup with Dirmon2 and it is generating .txt files. What exactly are the advantages of .edl and how can I use them with SageMC?

There are all these options to enable and disable comskipping during viewing and what not but I don't think they are doing anything.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by Athfar

I got Comskip setup with Dirmon2 and it is generating .txt files. What exactly are the advantages of .edl and how can I use them with SageMC?

There are all these options to enable and disable comskipping during viewing and what not but I don't think they are doing anything.

The .txt files list the commercial boundaries using the frame number. This requires sage to convert to the time by using the expected framerate. This always results in innacuracies.

The .edl files list the commercial boundaries by using the time so that no further conversions are required. This gives much more accurate results. SageMC will automatically use the .edl file if it is available. If both .txt and .edl are available, then the .edl file will be used.

You can enable/disable automatic skipping globally (in Settings >> SageMC >> Enhancements >> Comskip) and then for any individual favorite, you can override the global setting and disable the autoskip. During playback, you can also bring up the options menu and enable/disable autoskip for that particular recording. (this setting will revert to the default at the next viewing)

If autoskip is enabled, it means that you do not have to pick up the remote to skip a commercial block. It will be skipped automatically. If autoskip is disabled, then you can still manually skip by pressing the right/left arrows (this must be enabled in the settings) or programming dedicated buttons on your remote for commercial skipping and linking them to the Custom4 and Custom5 commands.

The next version of SageMC cleans the autoskip settings up a bit by having a global enable/disable setting, and then an enable/disable/use global setting for each favorite.

HTH

Aloha,
Mike

[Athfar]

So "Background Commerical Proessing" means the processing of the .txt or .edl files? I guess that is what always confused me.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by Athfar

So "Background Commerical Proessing" means the processing of the .txt or .edl files? I guess that is what always confused me.

Yes, that is correct. Before Dirmon and comskip monitor, this was one of the only ways to kick off a comskip process on a file automatically. It is generally not recommended anymore, but it is left in because some people still use it.

Aloha,
Mike

[garyellis]

I've used Comskip for a while..yesterday I installed the latest version of Sage 6.3 and then I installed the dynamic custom menus and the comskip play back plugins...

I made sure comskip was enabled in the setup...but, when I play a video that I know has a comskip file (edl and txt)...nothing shows up on the play back timeline...It always showed the commercial spaces in darker green before...

Did I forget some setting or something?

Thanks,

Gary Ellis

[nyplayer]

Make sure you downloaded the latest Comskip STVI there were changes to it to make it compatible with the latest SageTV release.