Does the commercial skip feature ever misfire?
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Sure, but you just quick skip back, possibly toggle CA off for that particular show if it's troublesome and . But most of the time it's just great.
It's between 75 and 90% accurate, depending on the program. Shows like Law & Order, 24, and other dramas will sometimes go to black within the show, which can confuse the unit if it's too near an actual commercial break. On those shows, I'll leave it on until it wrongly skips, and then turn it off. Some shows it will either miss a break or note only part of the break.
It's not perfect, but it's real good... good enough that you will not want to use a machine that doesn't have it ever again.
It's not perfect, but it's real good... good enough that you will not want to use a machine that doesn't have it ever again.
Nah, mine workes flawlessly.
CA truly is a beatiful thing.
jleavens decsription is accurate "Not perfect, but real good". On certain shows it just won't work reliably for -- 24 is problematic for me. These are the exeception, not the rule as it works 95%+ accurately in most shows. CA won't work in the first or last few minutes of a program (by design) and it doesn't skip extra long commercials.
When CA fails to work, most of the time it errs on the side of caution and fails to skip a commercial (no big deal) but on the few problem shows with lots of internal fade to black scenes it will occasionally skip parts of the show (you just have to remember to turn CA off for those shows and go back to using your quick-skip button).
jleavens decsription is accurate "Not perfect, but real good". On certain shows it just won't work reliably for -- 24 is problematic for me. These are the exeception, not the rule as it works 95%+ accurately in most shows. CA won't work in the first or last few minutes of a program (by design) and it doesn't skip extra long commercials.
When CA fails to work, most of the time it errs on the side of caution and fails to skip a commercial (no big deal) but on the few problem shows with lots of internal fade to black scenes it will occasionally skip parts of the show (you just have to remember to turn CA off for those shows and go back to using your quick-skip button).
Yeah, I just wish it would skip them super long commercials.
I mean, there are them two hour shout ads for some crap or another. CA misses. Pick up the remote, hit quick skip once, hoping the CA will "catch" 30 seconds later. Nope, they're still shouting at me. Skip. More shouting. Skip. More shouting. Skip. Shouting's done, and all it does is hit the network or program bumper, which CA successfully skips over, back into the show. All 5 seconds of it.
For network TV, without those annoying 2-minute shoutathons, CA works great. For ad-laden cable channels, it's not quite as good.
Sometimes... I mean (and please forgive me for this), I've been watching Earth, Final Conflict on SciFi. Don't ask me why, because I won't have an answer adequate enough to do anything other than to embarass myself further.
Anyway, the ad breaks are bracketed by an EFC still frame bumper. More often than not, the show will hit the pre-break bumper, the CA kicks in, and drops me right into the end of the post-break bumper. Very nice, that.
Much preferable to the normal "press 30-second skip several times, then hit instant replay a few times more" strategy, which itself is infinitely better than the TiVo "watch the commercials at fast scan speed, drop it back to play, only to have the 'autocorrect' feature back me up to the middle of the second to last commercial."
I mean, there are them two hour shout ads for some crap or another. CA misses. Pick up the remote, hit quick skip once, hoping the CA will "catch" 30 seconds later. Nope, they're still shouting at me. Skip. More shouting. Skip. More shouting. Skip. Shouting's done, and all it does is hit the network or program bumper, which CA successfully skips over, back into the show. All 5 seconds of it.
For network TV, without those annoying 2-minute shoutathons, CA works great. For ad-laden cable channels, it's not quite as good.
Sometimes... I mean (and please forgive me for this), I've been watching Earth, Final Conflict on SciFi. Don't ask me why, because I won't have an answer adequate enough to do anything other than to embarass myself further.
Anyway, the ad breaks are bracketed by an EFC still frame bumper. More often than not, the show will hit the pre-break bumper, the CA kicks in, and drops me right into the end of the post-break bumper. Very nice, that.
Much preferable to the normal "press 30-second skip several times, then hit instant replay a few times more" strategy, which itself is infinitely better than the TiVo "watch the commercials at fast scan speed, drop it back to play, only to have the 'autocorrect' feature back me up to the middle of the second to last commercial."
Well, I think my assessment is that commercial skip is only about 60% accurate. There are some shows, like 24, where it never seems to work, and will skip big chunks of the show. Some other shows, it works most of the time, but occassionally will skip part of the show. It's great when it works correctly, but I've had enough problems with it that I think it is about equal in hassle-value to using the 30 second skip button in combination with the instant replay button.
Quote:
I love CA even with it's flaws. For the most part it works great. Here's a tip I use for problem shows like 24: Leave CA off, then when you get to a commercial turn it on. It takes a couple seconds but CA should do the skip. Then turn it off again for the show. This prevents the early skip, which seems to happen to me a lot in 24.
| Originally posted by Robbo When CA fails to work, most of the time it errs on the side of caution and fails to skip a commercial (no big deal) but on the few problem shows with lots of internal fade to black scenes it will occasionally skip parts of the show (you just have to remember to turn CA off for those shows and go back to using your quick-skip button). |
I agree. No matter the number of times it misfires on me, I'm still absolutely thrilled by the number of times it works flawlessly.
Besides, my wife has just about pushed the QuickSkip button through the back of the remote....
Besides, my wife has just about pushed the QuickSkip button through the back of the remote....
Commercial Advance is great. I first got it on a ProScan VCR about six years ago. I've gotten a few more VCRs since, and they've all had the feature. Some implement it poorly though -- JVC is particularly bad (they don't mark timer recordings until you turn the VCR on again, and you only get blue screen during the FF, no video).
Because the Replay records shows separately, one thing you don't get to appreciate is skipping from the end of (say) Gilmore Girls to the actual start of Smallville without lifting a finger. But other than that, a disk-based PVR is an even better platform -- no waiting and no tape/belt/head wear marking the tape afterward.
The one way they could improve CA on the Replay would be to automatically and temporarily ignore the CA marking when skipping back right after it has skipped over what it thinks were commercials. In other words, make it easier to correct when it overshoots. CA could then re-enable once it reaches the original point. Right now, when you skip back, it skips back over what it thinks were the commercials, so you have to turn it off manually, and you can't turn it back on until you've gone past the point, or it will skip.
//Ken
Because the Replay records shows separately, one thing you don't get to appreciate is skipping from the end of (say) Gilmore Girls to the actual start of Smallville without lifting a finger. But other than that, a disk-based PVR is an even better platform -- no waiting and no tape/belt/head wear marking the tape afterward.
The one way they could improve CA on the Replay would be to automatically and temporarily ignore the CA marking when skipping back right after it has skipped over what it thinks were commercials. In other words, make it easier to correct when it overshoots. CA could then re-enable once it reaches the original point. Right now, when you skip back, it skips back over what it thinks were the commercials, so you have to turn it off manually, and you can't turn it back on until you've gone past the point, or it will skip.
//Ken
Have they fixed the bug where when you use #-quickskip it toggles the CA back on if you've turned it off?
Meaning, you start a show that was recorded with CA default on, then you decide to turn it off (say 24) then you do a 3 minute quickskip (3 then QuickSkip) and all of a sudden you are back in CA on mode.
This is why I don't use CA at all. It skips too much, and then when you want to go back 1 minute (1 then instant replay), it turns CA back on and leaves you back where you were before. Annoying as heck.
Buffy reruns on FX also have big CA problems. But then FX is way too dark on TWC NYC anyways...
Meaning, you start a show that was recorded with CA default on, then you decide to turn it off (say 24) then you do a 3 minute quickskip (3 then QuickSkip) and all of a sudden you are back in CA on mode.
This is why I don't use CA at all. It skips too much, and then when you want to go back 1 minute (1 then instant replay), it turns CA back on and leaves you back where you were before. Annoying as heck.
Buffy reruns on FX also have big CA problems. But then FX is way too dark on TWC NYC anyways...
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