Anyone having trouble with commercial advance?

Sounds like something has gotten corrupted in your file system. The commercial skip algorithm doesn't skip more than 3 minutes or so (I can't find the document on it any longer). It could be that the .evt file for the show is messed up, but I would definitely check the hard drive using RTVPatch or extract_rtv5...

Henry

Mine refuses to skip on Mythbusters, period. Don't know why. Otherwise, it seems fine.

There are many USB to IDE adapters and enclosures that can do the trick for you. However, some of them don't work, so you might have to experiment...

Also, double check your computers to see if any of them have an IDE connector to run the DVD/CD drive. That's the best place to hook up the RTV hard drive in the first place...

Henry

IME, if your problem is with ONE show, ignore it.

AFAICT, Commercial Advance depends on the 'Black Level' available at the beginning and end of a commercial. IME, it *ALSO* can appear during a show when something (an unlit wall, an unlit person, etc...) moves across the screen causing a GT xx% 'Black Level' (xx=50, 60, ???)

I believe it also depends on the sound level. So, not only does it have to be dark, but it also has to be quiet. So, if you were panning across something dark and there was very little sound, then that would cause it (and does cause it)...

Henry

yeah, I'm not worried. I'm just curious, that's all.

It's flawless with STTNG, for example.

Are you willing to re-image your drive to see if it corrects the problem?

You need to look at his first reply (post# 3)...

I didn't think he should just jump into re-imaging without finding out why first. If there's nothing wrong with the file system, then he can probably just try a factory reset first. If there's something wrong with the file system, while re-imaging will likely clear it up, he will probably continue to have other problems if the hard drive is having problems. So, while re-imaging will almost always clear up these kinds of problems short term, if you want it fixed long term, you need to make sure what is causing the problem in the first place...

Henry

• Can RTVPatch or extract_rtv5 'check' the .evt file?
  - If so, how? (I currently have no PCs up-and-running capable of trying it myself. )
  .
• VLC could probably help by actually playing several 'problem' shows and checking the Navigation -> Bookmarks (IIRC) drop-down.

I guess I don't understand exactly what a Factory Reset will accomplish. In my mind, it will just RESET the unit to NEW settings (default parameters, no shows scheduled, no shows recorded). If a sector on the HDD containing the algorithm for Commercial Advance is corrupt, well...


If I'm going to go through the effort of pulling the drive and hooking it up to a PC to re-image, I'm also going to run a disk manufacturer's 'Bad Sector Check' utility to remove any bad sectors from the pool of available sectors.


Indeed, ctviggen is in a difficult position - currently without access to many of the tools needed to diagnose / repair his problem. Before I would run a Factory Reset on the 'problem' HDD (and lose all my scheduled and recorded shows), I would copy the 'problem' HDD to a new HDD and do the reset there. :thinking:

extract_rtv5 can validate the files, but it doesn't know about .evt files in particular. Since he is having the problem with all his recordings, the validate check would let him know if something was awry with his file system...


If he used the RTV enhanced VLC, which I can't always get to skip commercials. However, your idea makes me think that he could use DVArchive to download a show and then use RTV tools to check the commercial marks and see if they make sense. He could also try playing back the show that he downloaded to DVA to see what happens. He also could try using IVS to download a show and see how it plays back. And, he could send one of his shows to someone else to see how it plays back for them...


If the file system itself isn't corrupt, then it's one of the system settings that is corrupt and a factory reset will clear that up. After all, all that re-imaging will accomplish is to put all the files back and perform a factory reset. If all the files are already fine, then all you need is the factory reset. If the files are the problem, then you need to find out why and can possibly simply re-image to fix the files...


This is where RTVPatch comes into play. Using Backup Source Drive will check the system partition for read errors. It is much simpler and a very nice quick checkout versus the manufacture's tools. If I have bad sectors, while mapping them out will get rid of them short term (they are supposed to map out by themselves while the drive is operating, so you shouldn't need to run the tool) more bad sectors are going to crop up. If I find bad sectors, I replace the drive. Bad sector remapping is great for when a drive is starting to fail and to be able to recover the data. But, continuing to use a hard drive which has failing sectors is just asking for trouble! That's what the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics on the drive are for, to warn you that the drive is sensing that there are sectors going bad. Its purpose isn't to just let you know, it's to warn you to take action. There wouldn't be a lot of point to the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics if you were just going to let the drive continue to run and hope that the remapping is going to take care of all of the problems. In addition, when you use a RAID controller or RAID software, they warn you that a drive is detecting bad sectors so that you can replace the drive as quickly as possible. Again, you don't want to continue to use the drive if it is starting to have failing sectors. The idea of bad sector remapping is a temporary solution until you can replace the drive...

So, using RTVPatch to Backup Source Drive is a very quick and easy way to check the system partition for bad sectors to let you know that the drive is starting to fail...


If he has access to a same size or larger hard drive, that's an excelent idea since performing a factory reset would just be another experiment. If it didn't fix the problem, then he would have lost everything for nothing. Of course, he could also just download all his shows to DVA...

Henry

Side note: When I got ComcastHD I recorded from the HD channels using IRblaster/composite. Comskip never worked whenever I recorded a show off an HD channel.

All SD channels worked fine.

I've since moved and have yet to connect the new box to the Replay. I truly thought after June the networks would letterbox 480 content. Not so, they still cut it off.