7. Utilities

One important feature that separates GB-PVR from its competition is its ability to skip commercials. This is done via the ComSkip utility available here. You simply follow the instructions on the ComSkip Wiki page, enable it in the processing tab in the GB-PVR configuration utility and voila! Commercials are automatically skipped. The program is not perfect though. Sometimes it will miss a commercial entirely and sometimes the record time padding catches the ending of the previous show. You used to have press zero (0) then skip right (Ctrl+Left arrow) to skip a commercial, but now it is automated.

Comskip debug window (image courtesy of kaashoek.com)

Many people have devoted countless hours to tweaking ComSkip as perfectly as possible. But it doesn't, always properly eliminate commercials, although it comes pretty close. The way I use ComSkip is to modify the comskip.ini file and configure it to create a "video redo" file to mark off the commercials. I then manually edit out the commercials using a video editor. I use VideoReDo, which costs $50.

If you trust ComSkip to mark off the commercials in your recordings perfectly, you can use Comclean to trim the commercials that ComSkip marked. ComSkip usually comes with a postprocessing.bat file. But if it doesn't, try the alternative download sites listed in the GB-PVR ComSkip Wiki page until you find one that does. You can edit the .bat file to activate Comclean after Comskip has finished; it's pretty simple, you just have to remove the comment you'll find in the file.