Recommend a freeware for removing recorded commercials

[pannayar]

Using dvdshrink, I get VOB files (from by DVD recorder's TV program recording). What would be a quick & simple freeware program to remove/cut out sections (commercials etc) of the VOB. It would be nice if it I dont have to convert the VOB to mpg etc. Sorry if this is a beaten to death topic, my searches did not help me much. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

You can use dvd shrink to cut out and join clips in the reauthoring mode.

There are not that many other free mpg/vob editors, maybe try mpg2cut2 and cuttermaran (requires demultiplex files).

[pannayar]

DVDShrink can only set a start end point and save that section. So If I have 10 commercial breaks that I need to remove, I have to do the process 11 times?

I am trying mpg2cut2 now, seems like it can write the output as MPG only? I am not very knowledgeable about mpg/VOB etc, it just seems to me that since I need to have to have a VOB finally anyway to burn to a DVD, not dealing with intermediate MPGs etc will make life easier.

Thanks.

[Baldrick]

Yep, dvd shrink is not that useful for cutting out several commercials. I don't think you will find any other FREE editor that can output directly to a compliant dvd-video(vob,ifo,bup files, just the vob file is not enough).

You can reauthor the mpg from mpg2cut2 using for example guifordvdauthor. The video wont be reconverted.

[pannayar]

Thats exactly what I tried now, reauthoring the output MPG (which has the unneeded sections removed) with guifordvdauthor. But I get the error / warning "GFD did not find navigation packets in your mpg file (Mux OK = No). This will cause a authoring errror in 99%. To avoid, demux your input..." Dont know what to do

[Bjs]

1: In mpg2cut2

Locate start position of the first part required and hit [
Locate last position of first part, and hit ]
Now, hit the +

Repeat these steps till all required sections have been identified and marked in order.

Then > File > Unmux all clips.

2: Consider besweet to convert the audio to ac3 as this will give more space on the selected media for video.

3: Author the m2v and ac3 streams using either gfd or dvdauthorgui (works and tested)

4: Enjoy

[RabidDog]

Tough luck mate .. maybe you will have to get used to the edit function on your dvd recorder..Failing that Video-redo is cheap and good, and TDA also works well.

[lacywest]

For taking commercials out of a DVD recorded from a a DVD Recorder ... try using a rewritable DVD and then have TMPGEnc transfer it to your PC hard drive as a Mpg-2 File and then ... snip out the commercials.

What about CloneDVD ... I noticed it has some kind of trimming/cutting feature ... never used it though.

[olyteddy]

I generally don't edit out the commercials. I just set a chapter point after each commercial block (in GFD) and use the 'next chapter' button on my remote. I have cut the ads out using AVI DeMux, too. It can read VOB directly and output an MPEG PS or TS ready to author. The downside is it only cuts on I frames.

[pannayar]

That is a very neat trick. Thanks! Specific chapter boundaries are not very important to me & so far I have generally done the auto chaptering every 5 mins just so I can move/skip back & forth faster... I should look into how I can leave all the other 5 min chapter marks unchanged and making specific ones for the long commercial breaks...

[pannayar]

Edit: ignore the post below, the button came alive after I checked the "use timeoffset" box.
Leaving the post here instead of deleting it so that someone else may benefit...


When I bring up visual chapter editor, the "set chapter marK" button is grayed out. So are the "GO!" buttons for chaptering every N mins or N chapters...

Would I be missing a plugin/collateral or something.

[pannayar]

There seems to be varying offsets (sometime a few seconds sometimes 15 seconds) between the point where I set a chapter mark and the final output.

When I first load the VOB in gfd, it says SCR != GOP, ChapEdit may not work properly... what could be the reason? Thanks

[pannayar]

1: In mpg2cut2

Locate start position of the first part required and hit [
Locate last position of first part, and hit ]
Now, hit the +

Repeat these steps till all required sections have been identified and marked in order.

Then > File > Unmux all clips.

2: Consider besweet to convert the audio to ac3 as this will give more space on the selected media for video.

3: Author the m2v and ac3 streams using either gfd or dvdauthorgui (works and tested)

4: Enjoy

I always get this error in GFD when I try to author using the m2v/ac3 files unmuxed using g2cut2.

(shrink and) mux video and audio files
INFO: [mplex.exe] mplex version 1.9.0 (2.2.7 $Date: 2006/02/01 22:23:01 $)
INFO: [mplex.exe] File c:\Documents and Settings\pannayar\My Documents\clip1.M2V looks like an MPEG Video stream.
**ERROR: [mplex.exe] File c:\Documents and Settings\pannayar\My Documents\clip1.ac3 unrecogniseable!
**ERROR: [mplex.exe] Unrecogniseable file(s)... exiting.

[pannayar]

I generally don't edit out the commercials. I just set a chapter point after each commercial block (in GFD) and use the 'next chapter' button on my remote. I have cut the ads out using AVI DeMux, too. It can read VOB directly and output an MPEG PS or TS ready to author. The downside is it only cuts on I frames.

ok, finally I have been having success with aviDemux (I dont know what that downside of cutting only on I frames means.. I did get a problem when I had tried to cut saying the first frame is not blah blah and then I cut out from the beginning till the next I frame or whatever...)

So this is what I am doing:

1) DVD+RW to hard disk VIDEO_TS using DVDShrink
2) Open the VOB in avidemux (index it) and cut out the commercials
3) Leave setting at "Copy" for both video & audio (so no reencoding) and format to MPEG-PS (A+V). I dont know what PS or TS is, but PS is what it sets to when "auto DVD" was chosen, so I left it like that.
4) Save as a .MPG file
5) Reauthor with GFD

Is there a better way?

The pain for me is: I dont know how to pick how many intermediate .MPG files for reauthoring, or how much shrink to apply to them so it fits a 4.7 GB disc. When I have many titles as VIDEO_TS format, I shrink easily to desired compression using DVDshrink...

Thanks!

[redwudz]

I hate to throw more software suggestions at you but another program to check out is Comskip. It can more or less automatically remove commercials. It requires a MPEG file, so you would have to demux that from a DVD file. I use VOB2MPEG for that. Comskip can be a bit difficult to set up, but if you have a lot of video with commercials, it might be worth a try.

EDIT: I frames are spaced differently, depending on the codec used. For Xvid, it's about every 300 frames by default. If you can only cut on I frames, then that would be the accuracy with that codec. If you re-encode, then you can cut where you want, but you have the quality loss associated with that. MPEGs have a bit tighter spacing.

[usually_quiet]

ok, finally I have been having success with aviDemux (I dont know what that downside of cutting only on I frames means.. I did get a problem when I had tried to cut saying the first frame is not blah blah and then I cut out from the beginning till the next I frame or whatever...)

Cutting on I-Frames means you can't position cuts with more precision than about 1/2 second intervals. (I-Frames occur every 15 frames for MPEG-2, NTSC video plays at approximately 30 frames per second) If you used one of the good non-free editors, or demultiplexed your VOB files and used Cuttermaran, it would be possible to cut on any frame.

Is there a better way?

How many hours of video do you want to put on each DVD? If you generally want to fit more than 2 hours of video on each disc, my suggestion would be to use LP mode to record your programs in the first place, to avoid the need for using DVDShrink to re-encode.

I remove commercials manually using Cuttermaran, so don't ask me for details, but to use free tools for automated commercial removal the work flow would be something like this:

.VOB on recorded DVD ->VOB2MPG -> puts video on HDD as .mpg file
.mpg file->Comskip-> video analysis + cut list for Cuttermaran
.mpg->(demultiplexer of your choice)->.m2V + .ac3
.m2V + .ac3 + Comskip cutlist -> Cuttermaran -> edited .m2V + .edited ac3
edited .m2V + .edited ac3 -> GUIfordvdauthor + ImgBurn -> DVD

Using a non-free editor, VideoRedo would simplify things somewhat, but as usuall free=more steps in the process.

[Edit] When I searched for information on Comskip, Kiss DejaVu Enc turned up. I hesitate to mention it, because I haven't used it, but it is for batch processing and commercial removal with Cuttermaran and Comskip. If you want to investigate it, and take time to learn it, maybe it could automate more of the process for you.

[pannayar]

oh no
Now my reauthored dvd (VOB -> avidemux/cut -> MPG -> gfd -> VIDEO_TS) has a slip between video and audio. The audio lags the video.

I did not touch any settings related to this (if any). Can just cutting out the commercials in the video cause this? This is disappointing

[lordsmurf]

There's a program that is on Linux, Windows and OS X, but I forget the name. I keep thinking FFMPEG, but that's not it. MPEG StreamClip, maybe? yeah, I think that's it.

I've used it on OS X once or twice, worked great. In Windows, I use Womble or VideoReDo products (not free, but worth the few bucks, for sure).

[pannayar]

oh no
Now my reauthored dvd (VOB -> avidemux/cut -> MPG -> gfd -> VIDEO_TS) has a slip between video and audio. The audio lags the video.

I did not touch any settings related to this (if any). Can just cutting out the commercials in the video cause this? This is disappointing

This is what I am noticing. Even without doing anything, just after opening the VOB in avidemux, clicking on the Audio Tab says:

Track from video: Audio track 0 (AC3 2 channels... 693 ms shift)
Why the heck? The original VOB is just fine. Where can I use this 693 shift to rectify it?

[pannayar]

This simple fix seems to work:

Looking at the main audio track properties, and since it says 693 ms shift, specify "-693" in the shift field (of course remember to enable the check box there) and then convert to MPG.

On a related note, when I encode the audio to ac3, there seem to be two choices AC3 (Aften) and AC3 (lavc) -- I assume these are different encoders, which one is considered better?

Thanks

[redwudz]

Probably Aften. I use ffmpegGUI, but Aften seems to have better results.

[usually_quiet]

This simple fix seems to work:

Looking at the main audio track properties, and since it says 693 ms shift, specify "-693" in the shift field (of course remember to enable the check box there) and then convert to MPG.

On a related note, when I encode the audio to ac3, there seem to be two choices AC3 (Aften) and AC3 (lavc) -- I assume these are different encoders, which one is considered better?

Thanks

If you are using VOB's from your DVD recorder and you plan to author to a DVD, you already have DVD compliant video and ac3 audio. You shouldn't need to encode anything, unless you intend to reduce the size of the video using avidemux instead of DVDShrink. Even so, you would just use "Copy" for the audio. The required audio shift will still be done if you use "Copy".

[pannayar]

Thanks usually_quiet. Yes I guessed that since my source is already a VOB, "copy" option for both audio & video is what I would use. I was playing with re-encoding the audio (from the recorder's 256kbps) to a lower quality since the videos are mostly dialogue oriented...

I see that I am able to reduce the video size - not by reencoding, but just by reducing the bit rate (using a shrink factor in mpeg2-requant option for video) -- I assume thats is what essentially dvdshrink would be doing. What would be considered a minumum acceptable bit rate for 720 x 480 video?

However, the process for fitting two videos into a single disc was a one step process by reauthoring with dvdshrink... Now I have to assume a custom size in advance before encoding to mpg, OR do what I am currently doing whic is: dont shrink anything but simply remove commercials, write to mpg format, reauthor with gfd, get video1 in VIDEO_TS format. Do the same for video2 and then use dvdshrink again to assign the same say 90% shrink to both videos -- a somewhat round about process... I hope I am making some sense...

Thanks again for all the replies & help

[usually_quiet]

What would be considered a minumum acceptable bit rate for 720 x 480 video?

I don't think there is any way to answer that question. It largely depends on personal taste and the subject matter.

Personally, I decided long ago to leave bitrates alone. Editing out commercials saves enough space for me. At $0.25 -$0.30 each, discs are cheap enough. For the amount of authoring I do, 1-2 discs per week, fiddling with video and audio bitrates to squeeze a little more on each disc isn't worth the trouble.