New to ShowAnalyzer? Start Here

[Jere_Jones]

ShowAnalyzer is an external utility that identifies the location of commercials in recorded shows. It is designed to be a replacement for comskip.

ShowAnalyzer can be run in one of two different modes:

1) Free
2) Normal

The only difference between free and normal is that free does not include any decoders. You have to provide the decoder yourself. The decoders that you will need can be downloaded from the AviSynth Filter Collection(http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterprises/). Download the EvilMPASource by nic(http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterpri...l_20030617.zip) and the Mpegdecoder by nic(http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterpri...l_20030216.zip). Only the version in the Avisynth 2.5 column will work. Place those files in the same directory that contains ShowAnalyzer.dll. Now ShowAnalyzer will work.

When using SA in free mode there are a couple of things you should be aware of:

1) Due to limitations in the audio decoder, do not run SA on a show that is still being recorded (i.e. no live detection).
2) When SA starts, there will be a lot of disk activity while the audio decoder reads the entire file. It doesn't use much CPU for this, but the disk drive will be very busy.
3) After the initial scan, SA will read the file again to decode the audio.
4) After the audio decode, SA will read the file one last time to decode the video.
5) If the first two scans are unacceptable to you, you can remove the EvilMPASource.dll file. However, SA's ability to accurately detect commercials will be handicapped.

If you want to try SA in normal mode, go to http://www.dragonglobal.org/trialrequest.htm and fill in the form. A trial key will be sent to you immediately.

If you want to purchase a normal key and, go to http://www.dragonglobal.org/purchase.htm to see the available methods of payment. If you don't like any of the options, just email me at showanalyzer@gmail.com and we can work out something else. I'm flexible.

Once you have a key (trial or normal), run SAConfig and click on Register under the operations menu. Enter your information and SA's built in decoder will be activated.

Regardless of whether you run SA in free or normal mode, installation and setup is straight-foward. Just make sure that you uninstall any version prior to 0.5.0 before installing the beta. And make sure that you "Save All" in SAConfig before you run SA.

You can download SA directly from http://www.dragonglobal.org/showanalyzer.htm.

Jere

[DudeMaster]

I'd like to use ShowAnalyzer from a command prompt for use with postprocessing.bat for GBPVR software. I'm trying to locate the command line parms docs, but I'm unable to do so....

Secondly, does showanalyzer simply identify commercials like comskip or does it identify AND remove them??

Thanks...

[Jere_Jones]

Like most programs that take command line parameters, a -help option is available that will explain the possibilities.

SA won't remove the commercials, but it will output a variety of files to assist in removing them via other programs.

Jere

[DudeMaster]

Oh... Ok... So it's -- more or less -- the same type of application as comskip. Therefore it should work with comclean (?)...


Thanks for your reply I just received the trial key and if it works out, I'll most certainly register.. It's very reasonable

Thank you
Shannon

[reboot]

Yes, it works with comclean (if you're following the comclean thread at gbpvr.com).

[DudeMaster]

VERY impressive Thanks for all your help It works pretty darn well right out of the box. You have really coded a nice piece of software!!

I do have another question for you... I tried to get a list of commands by typing the -help at the prompt as you suggested, but it only asks for a file to process. I've tried different methods without much success... But -- that's ok.. I'm very happy with the application running the default profile I created!

Ya know -- if you were to encode the commercial slicer into the application, you'd have a really --- all inclusive package that would have an incredible commercial application (not meaning a pun).

I'll play around with it some more, move some funds into my dried up pay pal account and register.

Thanks!!
Shannon

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by DudeMaster

I do have another question for you... I tried to get a list of commands by typing the -help at the prompt as you suggested, but it only asks for a file to process.

Yeah. This is fixed for the next version.

Originally Posted by DudeMaster

Ya know -- if you were to encode the commercial slicer into the application, you'd have a really --- all inclusive package that would have an incredible commercial application (not meaning a pun).

I don't expect this to ever happen. There are too many potential problems (legal and technical) and there are too many programs that already do an excellent job of editing mpgs (VideoRedo is my personal favorite).

JEre

[naln]

Originally Posted by DudeMaster

Oh... Ok... So it's -- more or less -- the same type of application as comskip. Therefore it should work with comclean (?)...


Thanks for your reply I just received the trial key and if it works out, I'll most certainly register.. It's very reasonable

Thank you
Shannon

Hi,
Forgive the newbie question- will this do autocommercial detection via SageTV interface - as comskip has been configured to do? From the first post in this thread- I presume it does. But just want to make sure that it does this automatically (and can be turned on/off via sage). If this has been discussed elsewhere please point me to the thread.

Thanks.

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by naln

will this do autocommercial detection via SageTV interface

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you asking if SageTV can initiate ShowAnalyzer automatically on recordings? If you are, then the answer is yes. You will need to download the comskip proxy and put it in the SageTV directory. Then the STV will behave exactly as if it had called comskip.

Jere

[naln]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

You will need to download the comskip proxy and put it in the SageTV directory. Then the STV will behave exactly as if it had called comskip.

Jere

Yes- that was what I meant. Thanks for the prompt reply.

So if I understand this right- sageTv will autoskip commercials while playing a recorded file- just as comskip presently does?