ComCut - Automatically clean recordings of commercials

[NiteShdw]

ComCut 1.2 Build 89 Updated 02/17/2008 [Homepage] [Download]

ComCut is an application that will automatically remove commercials from recorded shows and (optionally) replace the original recording with the clean version.

I am ready to release a public beta of this application ComCut (but I'm open to more creative titles). It was written in VB.net 2005, and thus it requires .NET Framework 2.0.

Currently, the program:
1. Checks for a comskip txt file. It can create it if it's missing.
2. Parse the comskip txt file to find commercials breaks
3. Run "mpgtx.exe" (included) or Mencoder 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 or delete it)

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 or to use the Batch Mode feature.

I currently use this program to clean up my recordings so I can watch them through TVersity on my D-Link DSM-320 media player. I can record the shows on my PC and stream them, commercial free, to my TV.

Future plans:
+ Transcode videos to DivX+MP3

[spyder40]

sounds cool and will give it a try. How about adding mp4 640x480 transcode for the iPods as part of the future plans?

[bradmarsh]

Hi,

Looks great but for some reason I cannot get it to run.
I installed all the programs in the GBPVR dir and adjusted the post processing bat but nothing.
I can't get it to run from cmd line either.

Errors saying it cannot find the program when I add the program name to the end of the line...

comcut e:\recordings\dotto tech\dotto tech_2006 ect.mpg

errors?

Thanks for any help.

Brad

[NiteShdw]

Do you have .NET Framework 2.0 installed? If so, check for "error.log" in the same folder as Comcut.

Have you tried running the application by itself (no commandline parameters)? You need to do this first in order to configure it. You need to go through the tabs and configure where each application is located. In the next release, I'll get it to setup defaults for these.

When running with parameters, filenames with spaces need to be enclosed in quotes:

comcut "e:\recordings\dotto tech\dotto tech_2006.mpg"

[NiteShdw]

I've just set up a webpage for the VB applications I've written. You can find it here.

[Arganbright]

It's working great here! It's cutting my MPG's file size down by about 30%
Thanks for this great tool!

[kenmcm]

The concept on this is great. I have a question though. I made it to the last step and what I think I need help with is the specific info required in the postproccess bat. Should it be set up like this for example:

call comcut %1 C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\comcut
:eof

Please let me know. I normally wait until things have been refined but I am quite interested in this and am probably ahead of my abilities at this point. Thanks!

[wannabepvr]

I like the idea of this program - for recordings that I want to keep where I know Comskip has done a good job. I might even use the comskip editor to 'trim' the pre and post padding out.

As such I would be inclined to run this as a separate process manually called . Not from the postprocessing.bat

I wonder it if might be possible to add a 'browse' to the input file in the GUI. and a go button so that it runs from the GUI. Simply as an alternative.

might this work?

[NiteShdw]

The concept on this is great. I have a question though. I made it to the last step and what I think I need help with is the specific info required in the postproccess bat. Should it be set up like this for example:

call comcut %1 C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\comcut
:eof

Where did you put the ComCut files? I'll assume from the above text that you put comcut.exe in C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\comcut. In that case, put:

"C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\comcut\comcut.exe" %1

If you put ComCut in the same folder as GB-PVR, then just put:

comcut %1

If you want to use it by itself, you can still just manually run it with the filename as the parameter. I am working on adding a manual option. I'll probably make it work with single files first and then add the ability to do entire (sub)folders.

[wannabepvr]

If you want to use it by itself, you can still just manually run it with the filename as the parameter. I am working on adding a manual option. I'll probably make it work with single files first and then add the ability to do entire (sub)folders.

Sounds good!