Feature request - option to select PVR_EDL_TYPE_SCENE instead of PVR_EDL_TYPE_COMBREAK

[Kirtlander]

Commercial marking and skipping is one of the most compelling features of MythTV. Its ability to accurately mark every break, however, is less than stellar, given the plethora of broadcasters and their desire to have their commercial/advert content seen.

Kodi's default behavior for commercial skips when an EDL is present is to warn, then skip. There appears to be no way to disable automatic skipping behavior. On occasion, this will skip commercials at the end of the show and brief program content without the ability to skip back. This frequently occurs with some US programming where there will be a final minute long or less program conclusion followed by teasers for the upcoming episode. Missing this is quite upsetting since you basically miss the conclusion of the program.

The MythTV default behavior is to mark the commercial breaks, but not automatically skip, permitting the viewer to use the up/down navigation keys (or whatever mapping you prefer) to skip to the next mark. If the mark goes farther than you think it should, you can just skip back. Some argue that the same could be done for Kodi's default behavior; however if the skip was at the end, you are out of luck. You also need to be holding the remote to be able to respond to the erroneous skip in a timely fashion. I personally find MythTV's opt-in behavior much more appealing since if we do nothing, we will miss no programming. I can always grab the remote and skip if I choose. If the commercial break takes you to the end of the show or if there are no more breaks, MythTV will tell you as much and not do anything so you don't miss any content.

It would seem to me that Kodi with the pvr.mythtv addon could replicate MythTV frontend behavior by using the PVR_EDL_TYPE_SCENE marker type in place of the PVR_EDL_TYPE_COMBREAK. This could even be a selection in the addon configuration. The current options for "Enable commercial skips (EDL)" are: Always, Dialog, Never. This option could be renamed "Commercial mark action (EDL)" and its options could be Skip commercial, Mark scene, Dialog, and None.

[janbar]

Interresting. I was t able to get time for the month. Soon I will make a patch for you to test the behavior.

[Kirtlander]

I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for the help!

[gregoliver]

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but this is (and one other small thing - recording a series) are the only reasons I have not switched from MythTV frontend to Kodi for everyday use.

I do not mind rewinding when the skip is broken due to MythTV's detection not being foolproof, but at the end of the recording (like Kirtlander mentioned) when it skips to end of playback and stops playback automatically, it is a pain. I would prefer MythTV-like handling where I am notified, and if I press the skip button it skips, but the warning is the key. For instance if it tells me there is a 6 minute break, more than likely it is incorrect and I just skip forward manually. If I am at the end of a show (say 6 minutes remaining) and I see the commercial popup for a 6 minute break, but I know the show is not finished, I could just not skip that commercial knowing I will see the end.

I know Kodi does not have a button for skip EDL, so I am unsure what options could be put in to do this. I would imagine this is more in the Kodi PVR code than this client, but I am unsure. It seems Kodi's forums are in migration to a new provider, so I cannot do more research currently.

Thanks,

Greg

[janbar]

Hi Greg, yes it is a feature or improvement request for kodi itself. Unfortunately from the addon I can't control the playback. Playing a show the addon can only provide the stream and no more.
We could propose to update pvr api to add call to check if show ended.

[usamitysam]

I'm bumping this Issue as a vote for improvements in this area. Mythtv commercial skip is very very useful, if imperfect. The additional of a key for skip now or undo skip are very useful features to have while playing. As well as a constant rule not to skip if near the end of the stream.

Mythtvfrontend key bindings that would be useful to port to the plugin

End or Z | skip to next commercial break marker
Home or Q | skip back to previous commercial break marker

[b-pass]

Kodi has the ability to disable automatic skipping using the action/key name "ToggleCommSkip".

Kodi does not currently support changing the default from being "on" at the beginning of the recording to being "off". So if you want it off, you have to press the button at the start of every recording. If you want to change this, that'd have to be an issue or PR for kodi itself. The closest the addon can come is what it already does where it can prompt you at the start of a show to ask if you want it to give the commercial information to kodi.

Also if you want to configure End/Z/Home/Q you can do that in kodi's keymaps already, use PreviousScene/NextScene

[iticory]

I just came here to say that I really like this new functionality. It's working well for me. Thank you! :)