Recorded my 1st TV show from Win 7 WMC! hnow how do I edit commercials.

[peggypwr1]

Ok I am new to recording off the PC. I recorded some NCAA program off WMC. THe file plays fine in WTV mode. I have tmpgexpress 4.0 and it converted it to an mpg file for me.

What program do you folk use to get rid of the commercials? I'm looking for a program that is of course easy to use and does it automatically. Hell, if its free, even better. Than you for your time.

[usually_quiet]

MPEG2-VCR is easy-to-use and inexpensive ($19 US). It works for both HD and SD resolution US DTV programs. Commercial removal isn't automated, but many find that automated commercial removal isn't right for them.

Free programs to try are Cuttermaran and MPEG2Cut2. If you want to use a free program to automate commercial removal, there is Comskip, which works in conjuction with Cuttermaran.

[Edit]Comclean2 combines both Comskip and Cuttermaran for convenience.

[loster]

You can set comskip to output cut lists for MPEG2-VCR as well as a number of other editing tools.

[Tom Saurus]

Tmpgenc Xpress 4.0 can be used to edit your file as well. When at the Source stage and your adding a file, notice there is a tab that reads "Cut-edit". Just click on "Cut-edit", this is frame accurate, and you just find the beginning of your commercial and mark that spot, and use the "set the start frame" button, then find the end of your commercials segment and use the "set the end frame" button. This segment is highlighted, then you click on the sissors icon and that segment is deleted. You continue like this until all the commercials are gone. You may have to delete a bit at the beginning and end of your video file, to be rid of any extra video footage that doesn't pertain to whatever you wanted to preserve and export. I am sure someone can describe the process, better than I did. There are probably instructions on how to edit in the Help Menu in Tmpgenc Xpress 4.0 It is worth giving this a try, since if it is adequate for your needs, it will mean not having to buy another tool. This ofcourse isn't an automatic process, so it may not be all that appealing after all; but atleast you now have knowledge of another option.

[usually_quiet]

MPEG-VCR and Cuttermaran allow frame-accurate editing and will only re-encode a few frames adjacent to the cuts. This means the edited file is available sooner, and changes to the video are minimized. For some, the major drawback to using Cuttermaran is that it requires you to demultiplex the video and audio before it can edit.

It has been a long time since I tried Tmpgenc Xpress. If Tmpgenc Xpress 4.0 doesn't do smart encoding like the other two programs, it will take longer and will change the video to a greater degree.

[dvdsham]

If you want a precise editing program, I suggest Nero 9 or their new software Nero Multimedia Suite 10. A friend of mine has it on his windows 7 computer and he said that Nero Multimedia Suite 10 is a HELL of a lot better then previous Nero programs. Nero has the world leading burning rom software in the world where all burned off DVD's will work on 95 percent of all DVD players in the world. Nero CD burning also plays on old Stereo CD players from the early 90's where burned off cd's would not play on those old Stereo's. I have been using Nero Software for about 4 years now and I plan on buying the Nero Multimedia Suite 10 seeing that they fixed the Movie maker from crashing.

[usually_quiet]

If you want a precise editing program, I suggest Nero 9 or their new software Nero Multimedia Suite 10. A friend of mine has it on his windows 7 computer and he said that Nero Multimedia Suite 10 is a HELL of a lot better then previous Nero programs. Nero has the world leading burning rom software in the world where all burned off DVD's will work on 95 percent of all DVD players in the world. Nero CD burning also plays on old Stereo CD players from the early 90's where burned off cd's would not play on those old Stereo's. I have been using Nero Software for about 4 years now and I plan on buying the Nero Multimedia Suite 10 seeing that they fixed the Movie maker from crashing.

Some members of this website like Nero for burning discs, but more who have expressed an opinion on the matter prefer ImgBurn. ImgBurn is free and burns DVDs according to spec, which Nero does not do.

Most mass-market editors like NeroVision and Cyberlink Power Producer re-encode the entire clip after editing. That is fine if re-encoding is needed for some reason, but would not be desirable in every case.

They do have their uses, but I'd never use either for snipping out commercials if I did not also want to change the video format or resolution for some reason. Cyberlink's products read DVD-RAM discs better than any other program I have tried, and correctly extracted .m2ts and .mpg files from Windows Media Center ATSC recordings. Nero can sometimes recover video from unfinalized DVDs and some members like it for encoding to H.264/AVC. ...but both are overkill for trimming commercials.

[lacywest]

You already have the program to use to remove the commercials ... tmpgexpress 4.0 ... just use it ... I use it and it works great.