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TV commercial automatic muting device design ideas

The_cat

Sep 17, 2015
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First you have to detect the TV commercial ,


"What am I supposed to do drive three quarters of a car" No stupid buy a cheaper one and don't crash it again.


"Ask your doctor" if a television muting device is right for you. Effects may include watching the news on TV in peace without being told to "ask your doctor" for the latest side effects will kill you pills.
 
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The_cat

Sep 17, 2015
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I think building a TV ad detector and muter is possible, one that you can teach.


Either to detect a certain color in a spot on the screen or use the closed caption system or use voice to text software to detect the repetitive TV commercials from hell then transmit the remotes mute signal or simply cut external speakers off.

I would just like to see the device exist.

What do you all think, is this doable ?
 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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I think building a TV ad detector and muter is possible, one that you can teach.


Either to detect a certain color in a spot on the screen or use the closed caption system or use voice to text software to detect the repetitive TV commercials from hell then transmit the remotes mute signal or simply cut external speakers off.

I would just like to see the device exist.

What do you all think, is this doable ?
It already exists. I have software called VideoReDo Plus, which captures ads in a TV recording and automatically marks them for removal. It's a bit hit-and-miss though, so I do it manually. It detects the black frame at the beginning and end of ads, and has adjustable sensitivity. Still triggers on real dark frames within the actual program though.
 

The_cat

Sep 17, 2015
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Check out this too,

Mute Live TV commercial
MuteMagic is an innovative device designed to mute live TV commercial. It is very accurate and works with cable, satellite and alsot digital boxes.


A Composite Video Output (usually a yellow jack located on your set top box, and labeled Video) is absolutely required for this device to function. If you do not have one, this device will be of no use to you.





The logic behind MM

www.mutemagic.com/
 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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Check out this too,

Mute Live TV commercial
MuteMagic is an innovative device designed to mute live TV commercial. It is very accurate and works with cable, satellite and alsot digital boxes.

A Composite Video Output (usually a yellow jack located on your set top box, and labeled Video) is absolutely required for this device to function. If you do not have one, this device will be of no use to you.


The logic behind MM

www.mutemagic.com/
Yep, I figured there'd be a similar thing for live TV. You'll have to think of something else to invent. :D
 

AnalogKid

Jun 10, 2015
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This idea dates back to the 50's in hobby magazines, and devices such as mm have been available since the 70's. Generally speaking, they didn't work well then, and they work less well now.

In the 70's advertisers toyed with putting a code in the vertical interval (part of the non-visible portion of the composit video signal) for each ad so a device could track and log, automatically and unattended, when an ad aired in a market. A problem popped up very quickly - a signal that flagged an ad for logging by a professional could be used to flag an ad for muting by an amateur. The idea died a quick death. Now that programs have all kinds of digital visual effects and much more complex editing, reliably finding an ad in the video stream is almost impossible. The idea that ad blocks are separated by some black frames but scenes within a program segment are not is simply not true often enough to justify paying money.

I have no problem with giving the mm people the benefit of the doubt, that their product is well intentioned and not a scam. But the amount of brain aural/visual/context processing it takes to recognize an ad as an in its first second is *huge*. Basically, the brain identifies a shift in the program's storyline, compares the new storyline to a warehouse of past programs and ads, and determines which category the video/audio fits into. Nothing short of a Cray can duplicate it at a 95% accuracy level.

ak
 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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This idea dates back to the 50's in hobby magazines, and devices such as mm have been available since the 70's. Generally speaking, they didn't work well then, and they work less well now.

In the 70's advertisers toyed with putting a code in the vertical interval (part of the non-visible portion of the composit video signal) for each ad so a device could track and log, automatically and unattended, when an ad aired in a market. A problem popped up very quickly - a signal that flagged an ad for logging by a professional could be used to flag an ad for muting by an amateur. The idea died a quick death. Now that programs have all kinds of digital visual effects and much more complex editing, reliably finding an ad in the video stream is almost impossible. The idea that ad blocks are separated by some black frames but scenes within a program segment are not is simply not true often enough to justify paying money.

I have no problem with giving the mm people the benefit of the doubt, that their product is well intentioned and not a scam. But the amount of brain aural/visual/context processing it takes to recognize an ad as an in its first second is *huge*. Basically, the brain identifies a shift in the program's storyline, compares the new storyline to a warehouse of past programs and ads, and determines which category the video/audio fits into. Nothing short of a Cray can duplicate it at a 95% accuracy level.

ak
VideoReDo Plus doesn't do too bad a job, but certainly nowhere near 95% accuracy. I haven't used their 'Ad Detective' for quite a while, but from memory it was more like 75% to 80%. It definitely helped when manually editing afterwards, having markers to all of the ads, but only because I could go straight to them, then manually edit properly.
 

Tha fios agaibh

Aug 11, 2014
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This one is pretty cool. But you would have to write code for every commercial soundtrack you want to mute.

The idea of muting based on color or sound level does not seem feasible.
 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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Here's a couple of screenshots of the VideoReDo Plus 'Ad Detective' setup screens. Gives more of an idea of their methods:-
Ad Detective 1.JPG

Ad Detective 2.JPG

Display Set Levels.JPG

There's more to it than that, but it shows the basics. Black level works reasonably well.
 

Tha fios agaibh

Aug 11, 2014
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Provided there are not similar dark scenes in the program your watching.

I watch mostly prerecorded stuff on my dvr, so its one push of a button to skip over commercials.

Ps: Old Steve!, You've changed!!
 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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Provided there are not similar dark scenes in the program your watching.

I watch mostly prerecorded stuff on my dvr, so its one push of a button to skip over commercials.

Ps: Old Steve!, You've changed!!
Yeah. It seems that all commercials start with that dark frame, or frames, which is useful, but no matter how well the threshold etc is set in 'Ad Detective, it will always have a problem in that regard.
(And as I just mentioned in another thread, I haven't really changed - my old profile pic was just one I found on the internet, this one is the real me. :D )
 

The_cat

Sep 17, 2015
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Seems to me since ads or the words in ads are repetitive that could be used against them using that speech to text software. Like program it to recognize repetition or just manually tell it what to look for: Via-gra , Ciallis , Humira, Aleve, Toenail ,Cymbalta "ask your doctor", Liberty Mutual , Gieco , Progressive.

I would be perfectly happy just blocking ads for car insurance and pharmaceuticals. Other products I may want to hear about.

The only thing I watch real time is the news.


I bet it would be possible to make a website that transmits the mute signal.

Then you could hire 3 shifts of people to watch and send the mute signal 24/7 for CNN and Fox Ads and sell subscriptions to that for like $5 a month . There are alot of News junkies out there, alot.

All I know is a device to block that wicked bombardment of repetitive irritating ads that worked would sell big time.

Would make someone into a millionaire quick.

 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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Seems to me since ads or the words in ads are repetitive that could be used against them using that speech to text software. Like program it to recognize repetition or just manually tell it what to look for: Via-gra , Ciallis , Humira, Aleve, Toenail ,Cymbalta "ask your doctor", Liberty Mutual , Gieco , Progressive.

I would be perfectly happy just blocking ads for car insurance and pharmaceuticals. Other products I may want to hear about.

The only thing I watch real time is the news.


I bet it would be possible to make a website that transmits the mute signal.

Then you could hire 3 shifts of people to watch and send the mute signal 24/7 for CNN and Fox Ads and sell subscriptions to that for like $5 a month . There are alot of News junkies out there, alot.

All I know is a device to block that wicked bombardment of repetitive irritating ads that worked would sell big time.

Would make someone into a millionaire quick.
You'd still get part of the ad, and the software / hardware wouldn't know when the ad was finished. If it was programmed to mute when it hears keywords, when does it unmute?
I think you're flogging a dead horse. :D
 
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