Ad-Zapper Doesn't make any splits

garou423 · Post by **garou423** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:44 am

I may just be brain-dead, but I can't get ad-zapper to work to save my life.

I'm trying to take a DVD-Compliant MPEG I recorded from TV with my Hauppage-150 & use the ad-zapper feature to (you guessed it) split out the commercials.

From what minimal documentation there was in the user's guide and in the forum, I believe the feature is supposed to leave me with several clips in the multi-trim window that are marked as either "C" for commercial or "P" for program, but all I get is a single clip marked as "P"

I've tried adjusting the sensitivity slider and used 3 different files recorded on different channels & at different qualities, but with no success.

All of the files are in either DVD-Good or DVD-Best quality, although I did notice that one file had a lot of static in it from a bad cable.

System Specs are:
DMF 5 / WinXP Home, SP2 / Hauppage WinPVR-150 / Intel P4 1.8 GHz overclocked @1.9 GHz / 1.5 GB DDR2700 / 400 GB storage (8 GB free on C:, 3 GB currently free on scratch/capture partition) / DVD-RW Drive 1 = Lite-On SOHW-1213S / DVD-RW Drive 2 = Samsung (TSSTcorp) TS-H552U

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:19 am

This is only my opinion and I have yet to try out the Ad-Zapper function but....

As far as I am aware the TV broadcasts do not contain any secret transmission code that state:
Adverts begin / Adverts End.
So (in my opinion) the Ad-Zapper is a glorified 'Split By Scene' function where it is looking for major changes in a scene.

If such a secret transmission code did/does exist I am sure the organisations that pay several thousands of pounds to the TV Companies for them to air those adverts would have a few strong things to say.

If you wish to remove adverts - use the multi-trim function.

tyamada · Post by **tyamada** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:14 pm

I have a Hauppauge PVR-250 and record a lot of video from the Tuner. I have used Ad-Zapper with mixed results, usually I get several C sequences from the two to three minutes of commercials inbetween Program video. I usually get good results from the default setting. I've played with sensitivity slider and get moore C sequences or less. I have noticed when the C frames are shown there are several black frames before the commercial and between and before the program video. If there is a black frame in the program video Ad-Zapper will detect the sequence as a commercial untill there is another black sequence.

I've had Ad-Zapper work 100% removing commercials on quite a few TV recordings, and other TV programs it did a lousy job, I had to edit the video manually.

I don't know why your Ad-Zapper doesn't work at all, send a querry to Ulead.

garou423 · Post by **garou423** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:42 pm

I have noticed when the C frames are shown there are several black frames before the commercial and between and before the program video. If there is a black frame in the program video Ad-Zapper will detect the sequence as a commercial untill there is another black sequence.

This is how all ad-killing products work. When the Master Control Operator at the TV station or Cable Co starts a commercial playing, there's a black gap about 2 or 3 frames long that's caused by either the input switcher swapping from one tape deck to another, or by the commercial tape being cued up a few frames early so the entire commercial plays.

IIRC, some ad-killing products also use a second algorithem where they identify the "bug" (station/network logo) and watch for it to dissappear. Since the "bug" is only present when there is program video (or the occasional teaser), it's slightly more reliable than the black-space method.

In either case, I can manually find the commercials using these methods in the multi-trim window, but one of the reasons I upgraded was for the ad-zap feature.

I was hoping the problem was in the way I did my workflow. Currently I click:

1: New Project
2: DVD -> OK
3: Add Video Files
4: Multi-Trim Video
5: Ad-Zapper
(ad zapper thinks for 1-3 minutes)
6: Ad-Zapper identifies the entire clip as program video & I'm back to manually editing

tyamada · Post by **tyamada** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:49 pm

You might want download the Try Befor You Buy version of Video Studio 10+ and try the Ad-Zapper included in it. It's probably the same subroutine but the VS10+ handles almost every theing differently than MF5.

If the Ad-Zapper in VS10+ works you might want to remove MF5 and reinstall it.