Testers wanted: Smart Prev and Next skipping over adverts

[mrsilver]

Hi there,

Do you want to skip over adverts in a slightly smarter way than just jumping forwards 30 seconds and going back 7 seconds?

I'm planning to release a free executable (complete with source code and GPL licence, so you can go wild with it!) which will cause the Prev (|<) and Next (>|) buttons on a MCE remote control to smartly skip over adverts. Each press initially causes Windows Media Center to jump for a fixed length, until the direction of the jump is reversed. At that point, all subsequent jumps are halved each time until the user reaches the position they want. If either of the buttons are not pressed for 10 seconds, then the jumping resets back to the default.

After some practise, you should be able to jump over any advert break very quickly with only a couple of button presses.

If you're interested in testing it out, shoot me a PM and (as soon as it is packaged up) I'll send you a link to download.

Cheers.

[kmp14]

Mr Silver, that sounds like a pretty interesting project. I assume you know about the Commercial Skiping stuff that already exists using Babgvant's plugin in tandem with something like Kaashoek's ComSkip application? Using those products, skipping commercials is automatic and requires no remote input at all.

[mrsilver]

Hi there. Yes I do, although I've never managed to get it working with UK television channels. Having said that, this was over 4 years ago now so maybe something has changed.

If anyone knows how to configure it so that it does work then I'd love some pointers...

[richard1980]

Commercial skipping software doesn't work with protected content, so there are still some people that would likely be interested in this solution...myself for one.

[sbaeder]

So, for example, I set it at 3 minutes for a jump forward...I hit it 2 times, and I am 6 Min forward, then hit back, and go back 1.5 min, then if necessary, go forward .75 min, then back .375, etc.

i.e. using a "search" like algorithm to keep splitting the chunks in half...Pretty clever...

[mrsilver]

That's the one. I have to admit the idea isn't mine (as I first saw it on the Topfield PVR I had about 7 years ago) but I liked it so much I wanted it on WMC.

I've just found a slight issue in that it doesn't play nicely with MediaBrowser - turns out sending 500 [ctrl] [shift] F jumps WTV recordings 5 minutes ahead but causes MediaBrowser to start doing funny things (namely, jumping forwards and then rewinding backwards slowly) so I'm going to need to work out what key combination they use and then add that in.

[mrsilver]

Okay, some good news. I can now work out how to detect if Mediabrowser (or more specifically ffdshow) is running so I can send alternative commands for skipping.

So I'm getting there, sorry for the delay...

[mrsilver]

And I'm done and it's working!

Unfortunately there are two different executables and you need to select the right one depending on whether or not you're using Mediabrowsers custom player or not, but it seems to work.

If anyone wants to test it, drop me a PM.