So, I used ‘Tablo Ripper’ to get a show that I recorded and I would like to crop out all the ‘extra stuff’ that just takes up space, like the ad’s. Can anyone recommend a simple, easy to use video editor that will let you cut out the commercials and export to HD quality? What is everyone using anyway?
Tablo Ripper gave me an mp4 file (1920x1080 with AAC stereo) so the editor would have to be compatible with that.
Research MCEBuddy.
Thanks. I was able to get version 2.3.
Few questions though, what detector do I use (Show Analyzer or Comskip) and how do I know it’s doing a good job?
How do I just edit out the ads and don’t have to re encode the entire video? I want an exact 1:1 copy (just without the ads).
Use Comskip
Take a look at the FAQ. There’s a question on using TabloRipper with MCEBuddy along with a “how to” answer to get you started.
PS - MCEBuddy can also adjust the video file settings you were asking about (here) yesterday.
The ‘commercial skip’ on the Tablo removed the ads from a movie that was recorded on ‘Bounce’ and a show that was recorded on ‘CBC’ but what if it was a show from the local PBS station? They don’t have ads, just a lot of talk about asking for donations.
See this blog post…
Specifically…
" However, certain networks, program types, and shows are always ineligible for commercial skip processing including:
- [NETWORK] PBS
- [NETWORK] TVO
- [PROGRAM TYPE] News
- [PROGRAM TYPE] Manual Recording
- [SHOW] American Dad
- [SHOW] South Park
- [SHOW] Family Guy
- [SHOW] The Cleveland Show
- [SHOW] 20/20
- [SHOW] 60 minutes
- [SHOW] Judge Judy (Judy was granted a commercial skip pardon as of September 2019)"
Yes, I do understand now. PBS and TVO are networks that are ran on donations and fundraising so they will fade in/out to and from the show.
Oh well, the time it takes for them to ask for donations would be a good time for a snack or a bathroom break. lol
I like
https://shotcut.org/
It’s not automatic, but I have full control
Unfortunately because of how MP4 works, you can’t just cut out the ads in most cases…a re-encode to ensure that the proper key frames exist is necessary
I have found Avidemux to be very good and easy (once used to it) for cutting - the challenge, as mentioned, is that in 99% of cases you need to re-encode the MP4 file, which takes time. One option, though it’s more involved, is to use LosslessCut (at least for Windows), which can join/merge most MP4 fragement sections even though they aren’t at “key frames” and export in a playable file. (I believe it only remuxes the missing keyframe at the beginning of each section, so preserving quality and time.)
1 Like
I have just found these 3rd party tools for tablo. From this discussion I guess even though I have the commercial skip turned on when the show is recorded, when I export the show using Tablo Tools Export the commercials are still intact?
Yes the Tablo doesn’t actually remove the commercials, the play back just skips them.
Thanks for the quick reply. Too bad the export feature does not exclude the commercials. I have been using MCEBuddy for a long time and will set it up to run comskip on the exported shows.
From what I recall, it creates another playlist - without the commercials. Which could also be exported. The beta testing from the web app was so short, I didn’t have commercial skip long enough to dig into it.
There were some discussion and a bit of R&D. If you can find the playlists on your drive, notice the naming differences, of course you have to have commercial skip. Stream one through a media player… see no commercials? Export it via ffmpeg creating an mp4 - with no commercials.
So, the possibility may exists, but I’m not aware of any 3rd party apps which have the option to export a com skip play list – if this methodology is still available.
1 Like
I considered adding this to APLTablo at one point…so yes, it’s certainly possible…if you trust the ComSkip to export without them.
It looks like they’ve completely overhauled the way the handle this now. There is no longer a separate playlist 
When you request a steaming URL part of the returned JSON includes cuts
"cuts": [
{
"te": 419.414,
"ts": 296.657
},
{
"te": 898.244,
"ts": 753.345
},
{
"te": 1517.02,
"ts": 1329.6
}
],
Believe it’s time end; time start (don’t know why it’s backwards) to skip over the commercials.
I haven’t connect my drive to my PC, there is a 403 - Forbidden file in the pl directory subcc.json, which likely stored this (?) but it’s unconfirmed.
And if any of this is actually accurate is unclear, it’s just a bit a trial 'n error of “what do I really know” stuff.
Your json pretty printer is simply sorting.
that’s not a change, that’s the way it has always been, but there is also a separate Playlist you can get that never plays the commercials, instead of skipping over them, they simply don’t exist.
Back in Jan, I had a discussion about a separate playlist when I discovered a way to get com skip to work in a browser. Those playlist no longer exists as they did then, nor does adding a query to the streaming string. &cc
This is now appears to be outdated info 
If you’re able to export a recording without commercials – that would be amazingly awesome.
Thanks… I did get raw data, you know I had’da see what you meant, and HTTPie seems to want to default sort the data (that’s a bit messed up)
Yea, I went back through that thread and you are correct, it’s not working as it did 8 months ago, probably pulled out of the firmware after we discussed it :)…sad, I was hoping to be able to use this.
1 Like