Script - RemoveCommercials

The follow script can be setup as a User Job to automatically flag and remove commercials from a recording.

#!/bin/sh
VIDEODIR=$1
FILENAME=$2
# Sanity checking, to make sure everything is in order.
if [ -z "$VIDEODIR" -o -z "$FILENAME" ]; then
        echo "Usage: $0 <VideoDirectory> <FileName>"
        exit 5
fi
if [ ! -f "$VIDEODIR/$FILENAME" ]; then
        echo "File does not exist: $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME"
        exit 6
fi
# The meat of the script. Flag commercials, copy the flagged commercials to
# the cutlist, and transcode the video to remove the commercials from the
# file.
mythcommflag -f $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME
ERROR=$?
if [ $ERROR -gt 126 ]; then
        echo "Commercial flagging failed for ${FILENAME} with error $ERROR"
        exit $ERROR
fi
mythcommflag --gencutlist -f $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME
ERROR=$?
if [ $ERROR -ne 0 ]; then
        echo "Copying cutlist failed for ${FILENAME} with error $ERROR"
        exit $ERROR
fi
mythtranscode --honorcutlist --showprogress -i $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME -o $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME.tmp
ERROR=$?
if [ $ERROR -ne 0 ]; then
        echo "Transcoding failed for ${FILENAME} with error $ERROR"
        exit $ERROR
fi
mv $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME.old
mv $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME.tmp $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME
mythcommflag -f $VIDEODIR/${FILENAME} --rebuild
ERROR=$?
if [ $ERROR -ne 0 ]; then
        echo "Rebuilding seek list failed for ${FILENAME} with error $ERROR"
        exit $ERROR
fi
mythcommflag --clearcutlist -f $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME
ERROR=$?
if [ $ERROR -eq 0 ]; then
        # Fix the database entry for the file
        cat << EOF | mysql mythconverg
UPDATE 
        recorded
SET
        cutlist = 0,
        filesize = $(ls -l $VIDEODIR/$FILENAME | awk '{print $5}') 
WHERE
        basename = '$FILENAME';
EOF
        exit 0
else
        echo "Clearing cutlist failed for ${FILENAME} with error $ERROR"
        rm /usr/video/$FILENAME.tmp
        exit $ERROR
fi

See the discussion tab for tips on using the mpeg2 lossless transcoding.

Please note that this script will save the original file as ${FILENAME}.old. You should periodically remove these files to save space. If you want to remove them automatically, you could use the following command:

find /var/video -name \*.old -ctime 2 -exec rm {} \;

Place this command into a script in /etc/cron.daily or into crontab. This will remove all backup files that are older than 2 days.

Note:

I update this script as I make changes to my own system. You should watch this article so you're notified of changes as they occur. If you do not have a wiki account and do not wish to create one you should check back periodically to get changes.