GT Swagger has a much much more elegant solution:
I think he uses a Hauppauge Colossus (or something like that) with MythTV and then MKVToolnix to completely bypass the remux process. I think MythTV does the commercial removal automatically. Like I said, he's a rock star. I'm hoping to learn Linux well enough some day in order to duplicate his production as it's a lot better and easier than my process in the end.
Edit: If you are who I think you are, I owe you a Georgia Ticket...
I'm running MythTV and Linux. Capture hardware is an Hauppauge HD-PVR 1414 (the one sold for console capturing purposes). I have a Hauppauge HVR-1600 as well, which I use for old analog capture (VHS) as well as its remote control and IR blaster to control the cable set top box. The HD-PVR does all the modern heavy lifting. I punch out through the analog loophole and capture at 1080i with DTS 5.1.
MythTV automatically commercial flags. It is about 90% accurate. It has a simple and intuitive interface to check the flags and modify them if necessary.
From there I use a perl script which takes the native MP4 made by the Hauppauge, simply switches out the container to Matroska, and then pulls the cut timecodes out of MythTV and dices/splices/combines and spits out a final commercial free file. The Matroska container allows you to cut/combine/etc WITHOUT having to transcode so long as the audio and video bitrates/size/etc match.
So I can spit out a mastered file in just 5 minutes, because all the encoding is done on the fly by the HD-PVR, and I am merely changing up the container and cutting out parts.
FWIW I'm using Charter Cable. Other MythTV users near me report that Charter is running non-restrictive flags over CableCARD on everything except subscription channels (HBO, Showtime, etc). So I *could* switch to a CableCARD based solution, but I do NOT LIKE being at the total mercy of the cable provider and their stupid flags. I'd rather punch out over analog and do what I darn well please. The only downside is with CableCARD you can record several channels at the same time, whereas with the HD-PVR you will need a set top box for every n number of channels you wish to simultaneously record. Also, Charter in my area long ago went full DSV delivery of *all* channels. So you have to use Charter equipment (and pay the monthly lease on it) for the CableCARD to properly request and negotiate to the Charter Digital Switched Video equipment.
Basically, instead of running fiber, cables will add capacity over their existing copper by NOT SENDING channels down the last mile. If nobody is watching a channel, it is dropped from the line at the nearest major junction box, possibly even further up stream. This means you, Joe Consumer, are now REQUIRED to lease equipment from the cable company to do anything. Can't tune basic anymore without a set top box? Congrats, you have DSV in your area.
So yea ... Linux + MythTV + Hauppauge HD-PVR + Hauppauge HVR-1600.
CS 4 LYFE. DO YOU EVEN LINUX BRAH?
For those who want to sample some goods from the GTVA ... here's some of the FSU related releases that have come out:
Football - 2015 - FSU - SportsCenter Early AM
http://hugefiles.net/wd9wzdgczd4s
Football - 2015 - FSU - College Football Final
http://hugefiles.net/ec42bgq67jzj
Football - 2015 - FSU - Wyoming-Boise Halftime
http://hugefiles.net/7f85xih3shx9
Football - 2015 - FSU - ESPN CrunchTime
http://hugefiles.net/nlgfvdfvdlpy
Football - 2015 - FSU - SportsCenter AM
http://hugefiles.net/0v0383p79f7q
NOTE: Because these are 1080i native captures, you *will* need playback software that can deinterlace on the fly during playback such as VLC. If you're using Linux and have mplayer and a nVidia graphics card, just do this: mplayer -fs -vo vdpau:deint=3
The game is still in the pipe (adding re-air of first drives that were not broadcast originally because TEXAS TECH PASSES TOO #^%@#$^! MUCH). GameDay 360 and GT FB Report are also coming.
If you want to know where the GTVA is ... send me a PM. I'd prefer Google not know about it.
