H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Here you can ask your questions on how to use Comskip for the detection of commercials. Also questions on how to remove commercials are welcome
sheppy99
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 2:44 am

H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by sheppy99 »

I've been reliably using Comskip with H264 and MPEG2 HD / SD WTV files.
To do this I use DVRMSToolbox to run VideoReDo TVsuite Beta 612 which converts the files to MPEG2 first before running comskip
  • Pros:
    Comskip is much quicker working with MPEG2 than it is on H264, so tuning is much faster once the conversion has been done
    It works with the AAC-LATM sound used in New Zealand and Norway and I think on BBC HD.
    VRD uses all the cores of a multi core processor so it converts H264 quicker than Comskip can read it (don't expect miracles though, H264 is very CPU intensive to decode)

    Cons:
    Only 1 instance of VRD can run at a time using toolbox otherwise it screws up, I control this using a batch file
    You have to buy VRD
    You can't use it on Live TV
    On a Clarkdale 661 CPU it takes just under double the runtime to convert, and scan in the background
Hopefully this helps someone
dbjorck
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:47 pm

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by dbjorck »

Hi!

But don't you lose interactive teletext when converting to MPG?

Brgds

Danny
sheppy99
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 2:44 am

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by sheppy99 »

Dunno, I only use it for ad scanning, once it's done I delete the mpg and use dvrmstoolbox to fast forward the tv
dbjorck
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:47 pm

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by dbjorck »

Aah, smart. I just assumed you converted it, deleted the wtc and watched the mpg. But converting to mpg must take some time?

Brgds

Danny
erik
Site Admin
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Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 3:49 pm

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by erik »

You can use 320x200 output resolution. This reduces the conversion time substantially and its sufficient for comskip
sheppy99
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 2:44 am

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by sheppy99 »

Is that resolution good enough to work with hd logos? So far I've kept it the same.
dbjorck
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:47 pm

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by dbjorck »

Aaah, even smarter! I felt stupid asking as it seemed obvious, but now I don't regret it.

I used to use ComSkip before, but switched to ShowAnalyzer as ComSkip didn't support wtv. But I'm having huge problems with ShowAnalyzer, so contemplating moving back if it works.

Brgds

Danny
erik
Site Admin
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Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by erik »

sheppy99 wrote:Is that resolution good enough to work with hd logos? So far I've kept it the same.
Depending on the resolution comskip will subsample the video for the logo detection.
For HD there is a 4 times subsampling, for 320x200 there is no subsampling.
Of course if the logo is ver faint it may cause problems but its design to work on scaled down video.
Maybe you can test as it saves HUGE processing time.
sheppy99
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 2:44 am

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by sheppy99 »

OK, I'll do a few tests. I've just recorded a problematic clip which will lend itself to this.
erik
Site Admin
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Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by erik »

The first .wtv files have been processed by Comskip.
Still a lot of work to do before release but progress is good.
sheppy99
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 2:44 am

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by sheppy99 »

Very nice! Please let me know if you'd like it testing on wtv hd H264/LATM sound if it can read the sound.
Coyote
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:00 pm

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by Coyote »

Erik, if you need to know more about the WTV container, take a look at VLC's source. VLC recently added support for WTV, and VLC can play every non-copy-protected WTV file I have flawlessly on my Mac.
I personally use ShowAnalyzer for WTV scanning, but that's only because I have a lifetime license from when it was in beta. Comskip needs to support WTV because it is open-source. SA is the only solution out there right now, and it's closed. If SA is abandoned, we're out of luck.
erik
Site Admin
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Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by erik »

Comskip can now scan every WTV file users have send me.
I am having audio/video sync problems I need to solve before beta release
McGiverGim
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:01 pm

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by McGiverGim »

Thanks for the info, Erik. Here we are waiting for your next release :mrgreen:
erik
Site Admin
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Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 3:49 pm

Re: H264 & MPEG2 WTV Support - my reliable solution

Post by erik »

Question:
Would WTV support without LiveTV support be OK?
Not sure I can get LiveTV working as I can not test
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