ComClean cuts file size, but not length....

[jusatry]

Hi all,

So what I would like to do is be able to set a show to record, then have comskip check for commercials, have the commercials cut out and have the mpg file be named something closer to the show's title than Inside The Actors Studio_02390483247398_2389479382793.mpg.

I have installed compskip, comclean and renamerecordings into my gbpvr directory, and my batch file looks like this:

-
comskip %1
call comclean %1
Renamerecording.exe %
-

Comskip appears to be working fine (produces a long log explaining everything about what it did, and created cut points). And comclean appears to have worked (it creates 2 files: Inside The Actors Studio_02390483247398_2389479382793.mpg and Inside The Actors Studio_02390483247398_2389479382793_original.mpg), one of which is 1.98GB and the other is 1.76GB, with the original being larger.

The problem is this: The file lengths are the same, 1:02:54, even though one is allegedly shorter. And the non-original file seems corrupted at points (if you skip into an area where a commercial used to be I think, it freezes up...)

So how can I get comclean to work and produce shorter, workable mpg files? Also, does my batch file look okay? Any other way to do this? I usually find that comskip does well enough that I would rather have to watch 20 seconds of commercials it misses than sit with MPEG-VCR for an hour editing all my shows manually.,.....

Thanks for the help.

[reboot]

Comclean does have some cutting problems, and can generate a file that freezes in some players. It's not perfected yet.
Which version of comclean do you have?
Which version of comskip are you using?
Look in the comclean.bat file, for lines similar to this:

Code:

Rem RENAME the old .mpg file and rename the new one to the old name
move "%~dpn1.mpg" "%~dpn1_original.mpg"
move "%~dpn1_clean.mpg" "%~dpn1.mpg"
REM exit
goto :eof

For renamerecordings to work, it should look exactly as above.

[jusatry]

I think I have comclean 0.0.1, and I have whatever comskip is on the WiKi....what should I have?

I wil check my comclean.bat file for those lines, but that shouldnt affect the cutting, right?

[reboot]

No, but different versions of comclean react differently to different versions of comskip.
For one combination (I forget which), comclean would output a 3 gig "cleaned" file, from a 1.2 gig original!

[jusatry]

where can i find the latest version of comclean? It isnt on the wiki....

[reboot]

Do a search. It's about page 4 on the comclean thread (iirc).
I still use comclean 0.1, with comskip 0.64 or Malore's 0.24, but 99% of my stuff goes through SA now, as I find it more reliable.

[erik]

All versions of comclean can be found at
http://mk.kaashoek.com/gbpvr
They all uses mpgtx to do the real cutting
mpgtx is a gop cutter and it does not update the PTS or the DTS so it cuts very crude but also very fast.
Some players will indeed freeze or go banana's.
Nothing to help here because I can not rebuild mpgtx and I do not want to write a new cutter. (my wife does not complain because our player does not freeze )

[jusatry]

is the general consensus that SA is a better option? Can I use it to cut shows also, like comcutter does?

Thanks!

[erik]

SA works like comskip
It generates the information where to cut. It does not do the cutting itself.

SA seems to work "perfect"for USA/Canada conditions.
My comskip improvements are focussed on non USA conditions, which seem to be different because here SA does not cut perfect.
But I have send my improvements to Jere so he can add them to SA.

[reboot]

SA works on European/Asian stations as well, you just have to tune it completely differently, and set up profiles.
I can suggest some settings for SA if you're interested.
I have a profile that works extremely well on most Canadian stations, and one that works great on FOX, ABC, NBC, Spike, WTBS and a couple of others.