In /usr/lib64/mysql, there was/is a symbolic
link to libmysqlclient.so.10. So that takes
care of the first step.

Next, I added the following line to the
Makefile:

-L /usr/lib64/mysql \

and issued the make command. Success!

Thanks for the help in getting commercial_cut
to compile. Now I need help with connecting
to the mythconverg MYSQL database.

I tried this command:

./commercial_cut -k -vvv -T "LawfirmCut" /video/2011_20050804200000_20050804210100.nuv

and got a listof the parms followed by this error message

Can't connect to mythconverg MYSQL database

The system is a Frontend/Backend combination.

Could it be that a password is required ?

Thanks again for getting me over the compile
hurdle.

--
MM

After some digging through the mysql
documentation,I went ahead and added
a password to commercial_cut.

Access to the mythconverg database
was successful, with the added password.

But when I tried commercial_cut on a
recorded program that had a cutlist,
I got the following output:
===================================
Running Greg Frost's Crude Commercial Cutter
Verbose output enabled.
Verbosity increased.
Verbosity increased.
arg 0 = './commercial_cut'
arg 1 = '-k'
arg 2 = '-vvv'
arg 3 = '/video/1010_20050802193000_20050802200000.nuv'
Connected to the database successfully!
The start time is Tue Aug 2 19:30:00 2005
The end time is Tue Aug 2 20:00:00 2005
UPDATE jobqueue SET status=4 where chanid=1010 and starttime=20050802193000 and type=1
set jobqueue status to running
Input File Full Path: /myth/tv/1010_20050802193000_20050802200000.nuv
Output File Full Path: /myth/tv/1010_20050802193000_20050802200000.nuv.tmp
SELECT cutlist FROM recorded WHERE chanid = 1010 AND starttime = '20050802193000'
Queried the database successfully!
Result with 1 fields
Cutlist is:
0 - 4450
24654 - 28267
49862 - 53995
Cutlist 0: 0 - 4450
Cutlist 1: 24654 - 28267
Cutlist 2: 49862 - 53995
SELECT mark,offset FROM recordedmarkup WHERE chanid = 1010 AND starttime = '20050802193000' AND type=9
Queried the database successfully!
Result with 2 fields
5 0
<snipped>
Cannot stat file /myth/tv/1010_20050802193000_20050802200000.nuv
===================================

Hmmm. Interesting. It looks like the
recorded programs must reside in a
directory called /myth/tv.

OK. On to further testing.
I'll post the results.

--
MM

Yeah, sorry. The tool was written to work on Knoppmyth (where by default, everyones recordings are stored in /myth/tv). That would probably explain the database connection problem as well. I guess it could query the database to determine the location of the recordings, but it doesnt. Its pretty crude.

Yes, it's becoming a bit clearer that Knoppmyth
is the preferred environment for commercial_cut.

But, Hey! You clearly marked it as "crude",
so there was advanced notification.

It should be possible to create the directory
in which commercial_cut expects to find
files and use a symbolic link to the directory
where they actually reside. I'll try that later
today and see what kind of luck I have.

By the way, thanks for creating the program.
If it works for me, I'll feel very lucky to have
avoided installing something else that has
a (long) list of dependencies.

--
MM

Commercial_cut worked for me, and it was
about as painless an experience as I've had
working with MythTV and the associated
software. Congratulations and ThankYou
to the author.

I hasten to add that I use Fedora Core 3,
not Knoppmyth, and that required me to
edit the source. A password is needed
to access the mythconverg database, and
the directory where the recorded programs
are kept must be substituted in 7 or 8 places
where /myth/tv is hard-coded.

In one of the testcases I've run using
commercial_cut, something a little weird
happened, and I will have to repeat the test
several times to verify what happened.

Briefly, I used commercial_cut to make
a copy of a program that had a cutlist.
The copy was made - no problem.

Then, I played the original program (the
one still with the cutlist), entered edit-mode
and deleted the cutlist. After I stopped playing
the program, both the copy of the program
and the entry on the MythTV list of recorded
programs were gone. Hmmm, not what I expected
nor wanted, but it was just a testcase. And, the
original program was still there, available for
making more cutlists, copies, etc., etc.

All-in-all, this first experience with
commercial_cut has been great, a quick,
painless way to extract a clip from a recorded
program, save it away for replaying or whatever.

My thanks again to the author, Greg Frost.

--
MM

So, before this re-editing there were two, but when you exited the re-edit (and presumably didn't delete it) there were none?

Do you have mythfrontend logs (cat ~mythtv/.xsession) of this?




OK, so how was it still there. What made it re-appear?

Were the two files in the recordings directory? (/myth/tv)

Did the recording(s) that disappeared (not sure from your description what actually happened) ever re-appear?

_________________
| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club

Could it have been an Auto-Expire issue?

Here is my output from a NTSC PVR.

Answered above. Later, by looking through the logs,
I found that the copy was deleted because of auto-expire. Specifically, the auto-expire reason was
given as "too many episodes".

I didn't really care this time, because the program being
processed with commercial_cut was only a throw-away testcase.

OFF-TOPIC NOTE HERE: Sorry for the horrible
appearance of this post. I find the user interface
for trying to reply to posts absolutely abominable.

This is another case of the machine trying to be the
master over the user, rather than the other way around.

Why should I try to learn some stupid, complicated
mark-up language, instead of concentrating on the
technical details of the subject matter?

OK, stepping DOWN off the soapbox.

--
MM

Yes, the backend log had an entry that
indicated the copy produced by
commercial_cut had been Auto-Expired
because of too many episodes.

Commercial_cut is quite nice, it works
for me. Thanks for all your help in
getting me over the humps compiling
and using it. And for writing it, too !

--
MM

Hello. I have a quick question. I am having the same problem mwahal had on the 5th post down on page 2. I am using the newest version of commercial_cut and mythtv. I did however install mythtv via a yum repository on Fedora Core 4. I have edited the source to connect to mysql and it does connect to the database initially. The problem is after the tmp file is written. Attached is the output I am getting from the program.

Also, I do have a link from /mnt/media/.tvenc/ to /myth/tv/ I do not believe this to be the problem, but I will change it anyway.

Thanks.

I have a different problem now. I tried a show that was recorded recently as opposed to a few weeks ago. It gets through the query that it stopped at earlier, but now it stops here.



Any ideas? Thanks.

EDIT

I get the problem I had earlier after I run commercial_cut on a program twice. It doesn't matter if I delete the tmp file, so it must be mucking with the DB at some point.

Mikey,

Commercial_cut is nice, but remember that the author tags it as "crude". When I ran into trouble with it,
I began looking into avidemux. Just when I was all ready to compile it for my Fedora Core 3 system, I took one last stab at searching the Internet for an RPM.

What luck ! I found an RPM for Fedora Core 3 that installed cleanly and actually ran
with no problems at all. Now, I've been able to cut up recordings and make music
videos, among other things.

Since you are on Fedora Core 4, you
should now be able to search

http://rpm.pbone.net

and find either or both RPMs for i386
and x86_64 systems.

avidemux was quite a pleasant surprise and I recommend that you at least take a look at it.

--
MM

FWIW,

I've been successfully using a modified version of ccut 0.5 (passing some extra command line options). I think it does an excellent job in cut-n-paste. The problems may also be due to incorrect commercial detection. I've seen that happen when mythcommflag incorrectly marks the commercials begin and end. If that is the case, no matter which commercial cutting software you use, you will have problems.

Another issue is how soon the player you are using can sync between audio and video after the frames are joined.

I'll look into avidemux too and see if it is significantly better than ccut. Can avidemux only for AVI files or also for mpeg2 (and mpeg2-TS) files ?

Thanks

Mudit

Also will avidemux query the myth database to find the commercial being and end frames ? Or will it do its own commercial detection ?
I'm on the avidemux forum but dont see any relationship between avidemux and myth.