Removing commercials from .ts

[Xord]

Hi

I'm new here and I hope this is the right subforum ^.^

I have a problem with my TV-recordings. I want to remove the commercials, but it just don't want to work The format is .ts. I've read alot in this forum, so that's what I've tried so far:

- Avidemux: Cutting out the commercials works well, but the saved video has a really bad sound quality. Very quiet and there is no "depth" in it anymore, even though I saved both the audio and the video as a copy and chose .ts as output format. I don't know why some some audio information seems to the get lost.

- ProjectX: The sound quality just fine, but the video is extremly laggy from the cutting point on.

- Mpg2Cut2: Same problem as ProjectX. I just don't now why I have this lag problem, even though internet folks says this programs are really good.

Perhaps someone knows what's the problem or another good-working, free programm?

Greets,
Xord

[videobruger]

You could try Video To Video. Tools -> Commercial remover

[Baldrick]

ts with mpeg2 or mpeg4/avc video? Check with mediainfo.

And after you used avidemux/projectx/mpg2cut try "remux" your ts with tsmuxer. Add the ts and make a new ts file and see if plays better.

[Xord]

Hi videobruger, thank you for your reply ^.^ I've tried this programm:
- First try: Fail, audio and video was not synchronous anymore
- Second try: Its ok audio is synchronous. There are a few lags, but thats the best try so far

Hi Baldrick
The format is mpeg2, thank you for your hint, I will try this too ))

Edit: Okaaaay, tsmuxer just fixed the lags, but the sound quality gone bad again

[Cwj]

Hi.

There are two programs that I use. Both can be found here.

VidePub and Smart cutter.

VidePub is fast and easy and rarely gives you problems. But is like what happen in sports season, your TV program is split over two or more scheduled other recording timeslots, VidePub can not cut and merge. Then you will need to use smart cutter...
You need both. I have been using Smart cutter for serveral years and VidePub since Feburary. They both have saved me lots of time.

You will no longer need to use convert to this format or that. With both programs, what would normally take you at least thirty minutes to do you will be able to do in a minute or less.

[LMotlow]

VideoReDo TV Suite
TMPGEnc Smart Renderer (MPEG2/MPEG4/H264/MPG/MKV/MP4 = TS, VOB, etc.)

[PuzZLeR]

Exactly what LMotlow prescribed, plus adding Womble MPEG Video Wizard to the choice, which is also an NLE.

All are not free, but not expensive, and very effective, and dedicated to MPEG-2 in that they will not re-encode what does not need to be re-encoded (better speed and full quality).

All are comfortable with MPEG-2 in a TS, however may output only to MPG container (which is fine). If you really want TS in the result, check the settings, or just mux the result into TS with TSMuxer.

[usually_quiet]

Hi.

There are two programs that I use. Both can be found here.

VidePub and Smart cutter.

VidePub is fast and easy and rarely gives you problems. But is like what happen in sports season, your TV program is split over two or more scheduled other recording timeslots, VidePub can not cut and merge. Then you will need to use smart cutter...
You need both. I have been using Smart cutter for serveral years and VidePub since Feburary. They both have saved me lots of time.

You will no longer need to use convert to this format or that. With both programs, what would normally take you at least thirty minutes to do you will be able to do in a minute or less.

Auto commercial detection never works very well, in my opinion, at least not in the USA. I suspect the people who recommend using it must have no idea how much content is missing from their processed video at times. VidePub's commercial detection feature did not change my mind about this. It uses the presence of a channel logo to distinguish the TV show from the advertising. The problem is that large segments (one or more minutes at a time) of the TV show that I used to test VidePub don't contain the channel logo.

[Xord]

I share usually_quiet's opinion, it doesn't work with German TV neither :P but to be fair: the manual setting of the cutting points with VidePub works well, but the generated file is full of lags. After all this tries, I think the problem is with my system. Perhaps its to bad for editing videos.

I can't test the not-free programs. I'm not Scrooge-like, but I've no credit card, no pay pal and no money

[fritzi93]

The only program I've used that had reliable advert detection is HDTVtoMPEG2.
I used it on my HD transport stream captures from a Leadtek Hybrid Cinema card.
Maybe worth a try.

[usually_quiet]

I share usually_quiet's opinion, it doesn't work with German TV neither :P but to be fair: the manual setting of the cutting points with VidePub works well, but the generated file is full of lags. After all this tries, I think the problem is with my system. Perhaps its to bad for editing videos.

I can't test the not-free programs. I'm not Scrooge-like, but I've no credit card, no pay pal and no money

Your system isn't the source of your problem. Broadcast transport streams are the cause. They contain transmission errors, which most editing software isn't designed to deal with. As a result, there is a loss of synchronization between the audio and video after editing. I tried lots of free software (and some paid programs) before I finally decided that VideoReDo was the only thing that worked reliably. If you can't afford it, you may need to live with the presence of advertising until a miracle free editing program arrives or you save up a little money.

[HarpMaster]

You could try Mpeg Streamclip, a free program that you can download from here. I have used this successfully in the past.

One problem I have found, is that with recordings from digital tv, the frame rate is higher than some programs such as WMP are comfortable with and have difficulty playing.

[Cwj]

As I recall, the gentleman or gentlewoman, said that they wanted a solution that would not entail a great deal of work. I presented one actually a combination of them,VidePub and Smart Cutter. I've been doing this for well over 10 years and have used most of the software. I know what I suggested works. Both programs are cheap and fast. One free the other costs about $50 but you can use it for free, though the free use slaps a brief watermark of the first few seconds of the cut. Both are so worth it.

[PuzZLeR]

As per easy-to-use stuff, I have been using the mentioned products from TMPGEnc, VideoReDo and Womble for many years now. Very easy, and reliable. No, they're not free, but not expensive either.

If wanting something free, I can suggest Cuttermaran. A bit more involved, but does the job. However, it's no longer being developed. Then again, MPEG-2 hasn't changed much since anyway, and likely not in the future, so who cares?

Regarding this "ad detection" stuff, much of it is lame. The whole concept behind it stinks "consumer" solution. It's sold as some convenience, and personally I believe it's for that group that will spend $39.95 on some iPod conversion solution.

1) I have yet to find any ad detection that is reliable. Also, ads got more tricky over the years. And once it's "done", it can be time consuming verifying its work, only to find it screwed up in several places. They may remove actual content as well.

2) If you're not careful with some settings on some tools it can ruin your video.

3) When you get adept with a tool, like those I've mentioned, it's really a breeze to manually remove the ads. I can remove all of them in less than 5 minutes from a complete 2-4 hour sporting event, including the tricky ones.

4)I personally like the flexibility, and the end result, of a manual job - much nicer and smoother. Some places need more than just a "cut", but maybe a cross-fade (especially for the "trickier" stuff mentioned - see #1).

5) A way to raise the probability of accuracy of ad detection is to raise some threshold - but all it does is slow the algorithm to a crawl. (And it's still not 100% accurate in many cases.) You may as well then go back to my point #3 then.

Personally I have a "Hall of Shame" list for this hobby, and ad detection algorithm wares are on that list. If you just want to do something fast, with little regard to quality, just watch the program and delete it, then fine - ad detection may fit the bill.

Also, ad detection is good for avoiding "spoilers" you may be privy to while manually editing.

But I simply can't recommend ad detection for any serious edits or archiving. If you want to keep the program, you're better off doing it all manually, especially if spoilers aren't an issue any longer.

[usually_quiet]

As I recall, the gentleman or gentlewoman, said that they wanted a solution that would not entail a great deal of work. I presented one actually a combination of them,VidePub and Smart Cutter. I've been doing this for well over 10 years and have used most of the software. I know what I suggested works. Both programs are cheap and fast. One free the other costs about $50 but you can use it for free, though the free use slaps a brief watermark of the first few seconds of the cut. Both are so worth it.

Maybe you didn't notice, but Xord (the OP) rejected your solution.

I have been at this for quite a while too, but apparently I'm a little pickier than you are, and have more transmission errors in my captures to cause problems during editing. Software that adds a watermark would not be acceptable to me, even if it is free.

[theewizard]

i use videoredo and its scan feature, it looks for the black between scene changes
but i manually mark what is to be cut and what not, because it will mark some normal scene changes a commercials

there is NO fool proof method of detecting and cutting automatically

the OP has a choice of tools, but there IS work involved to get the desired result

[Xord]

Hi

Thank you for all your suggestions and hints ^.^

This is the best solution for me:
Video To Video with the raw files I recorded with my fastest USB-Stick. It does not work with raw files where I used the pause-function while recording because it causes lags. Its just like usually_quiet said, errors within the file are bad for editing. It only works with flawless files. Video To Video is nice,
because it generates a copy of the original video, with the result that there is no loss of audio information.

[LMotlow]

[EDIT] Never mind.

[n8tvm]

i use videoredo and its scan feature, it looks for the black between scene changes
but i manually mark what is to be cut and what not, because it will mark some normal scene changes a commercials

there is NO fool proof method of detecting and cutting automatically

the OP has a choice of tools, but there IS work involved to get the desired result

I also use VideoReDo with good results. worth the price.