I'm working on a program in Visual Basic 2005 that will be a front end for removing commercials from recordings. The intent of the program is to be including in GBPVR's postprocessing.bat.
I'm planning on implementing the following commercial removing techniques:
1. Cuttermaran
- Use comskip TXT files to generate a Cuttermaran file, and run Cuttermaran automatically.
- Option to replace the original file with the new one
2. Transcode
- Use VirtualDubMod to transcode the video, without commercials, to DivX or XviD
- Configurable encoding options such as video size, 1 or 2 pass, noise reduction
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, or currently has a good way to remove commercials that they would like to be automated, I would be happy to hear any ideas.
GUI for commercial removal and transcoding
Nice idea.
Set
output_cuttermaran=1
in comskip.ini to generate the cuttermaran file, will save you some work
Do you know the toggle feature in the debug window mode of comskip?
Could it be possible to remote control comskip by sending keystokes to the debugwindow so you can first run comskip in debugwindow mode, then let people review the results using the 't' key to correct any incorrect blocks, then send the 'w' key to write out the corrected results, ESC key to stop comskip and then run the rest of the processing.
Set
output_cuttermaran=1
in comskip.ini to generate the cuttermaran file, will save you some work
Do you know the toggle feature in the debug window mode of comskip?
Could it be possible to remote control comskip by sending keystokes to the debugwindow so you can first run comskip in debugwindow mode, then let people review the results using the 't' key to correct any incorrect blocks, then send the 'w' key to write out the corrected results, ESC key to stop comskip and then run the rest of the processing.
A little progress report. Comcut (I welcome any more creative names) can now run MPGTX.exe for removing commercials (much better/faster than using Cuttermaran). It also generates Cuttermaran and VirtualDubMod encoding files.
Right now, mpgtx support is functional to the point that Comcut can put put in postprocessing.bat and will remove the commercials and replace the original file (and backup the original).
My next priority is to setup transcoding to AVI.
P.S. I'm also open to suggestions on the design of the UI, as well as other features.
P.P.S. Erik, I'm having a difficult time capturing the standard output of Comskip and mpgtx, probably because the way you are displaying the progress. Any ideas how I can capture the progress so I can show a progress bar?
Right now, mpgtx support is functional to the point that Comcut can put put in postprocessing.bat and will remove the commercials and replace the original file (and backup the original).
My next priority is to setup transcoding to AVI.
P.S. I'm also open to suggestions on the design of the UI, as well as other features.
P.P.S. Erik, I'm having a difficult time capturing the standard output of Comskip and mpgtx, probably because the way you are displaying the progress. Any ideas how I can capture the progress so I can show a progress bar?
The comskip output is written to two separate output "streams"
One is the stdout (1) and the other is stderr(2)
I think it is possible to redirect both to a file.
Comskip %1 >>comskip.out 2>>comskip.err
Now comskip.out will contain the text send to stdout and comskip.err will contain the progress information.
For comclean, see the gbpvr wiki
One is the stdout (1) and the other is stderr(2)
I think it is possible to redirect both to a file.
Comskip %1 >>comskip.out 2>>comskip.err
Now comskip.out will contain the text send to stdout and comskip.err will contain the progress information.
For comclean, see the gbpvr wiki
Do feedback if this works (or not)If Comclean does something you do not understand you always can run it from the command line or change the line in PostProcessing.bat into
call Comclean %1 >>Comclean.log 2>>Comclean.err
This will create two files Comclean.log and Comclean.err containing all the information generated by Comclean when running.
I am ready to release my first public beta of this application (ComCut, but I'm open to more creative titles).
Currently, the only thing this really does is (mpgtx.exe and mplex1.exe are included in the download):
1. Check for a comskip txt file; create it if it's missing
2. Parse the comskip txt file to find commercials breaks
3. Run "mpgtx.exe" on the MPEG2 file, joining all the show segments
4. Demux and Remux the resulting stream in order to fix any possible errors (this is required for the file to play on some streaming media players)
5. Replace the original MPEG2 file with the new 'clean' version (save the original as a .original file)
To use, place the following at the end of "postprocessing.bat" (include the full path to comcut.exe):
comcut %1
You will need to run comcut.exe without any parameters in order to adjust the settings and set the paths to the required programs.
Download it here
Currently, the only thing this really does is (mpgtx.exe and mplex1.exe are included in the download):
1. Check for a comskip txt file; create it if it's missing
2. Parse the comskip txt file to find commercials breaks
3. Run "mpgtx.exe" on the MPEG2 file, joining all the show segments
4. Demux and Remux the resulting stream in order to fix any possible errors (this is required for the file to play on some streaming media players)
5. Replace the original MPEG2 file with the new 'clean' version (save the original as a .original file)
To use, place the following at the end of "postprocessing.bat" (include the full path to comcut.exe):
comcut %1
You will need to run comcut.exe without any parameters in order to adjust the settings and set the paths to the required programs.
Download it here
ComCut 1.0 build 9 - Beta 2
I've fixed a few bugs from Beta 1. This version seems to work perfectly in postprocessing.bat. It will cut, demux, remux, and replace the original recording. I also added the option to delete the original file and replace it with the new one.
The next step will be to build in support for transcoding. Does anyone have any preferences on that? I'm currently familiar with using VirtualDub to do the transcoding, but I could use mencoder in the background if that's preferred.
Download
I've fixed a few bugs from Beta 1. This version seems to work perfectly in postprocessing.bat. It will cut, demux, remux, and replace the original recording. I also added the option to delete the original file and replace it with the new one.
The next step will be to build in support for transcoding. Does anyone have any preferences on that? I'm currently familiar with using VirtualDub to do the transcoding, but I could use mencoder in the background if that's preferred.
Download