Is VDub mod suitable for removing commercials?

[DarkMatter]

I've never been real happy with the Cut and Merge tool in TMPGEnc. I have 15 hour-long MPEG2 files with commercials. TMPGEnc's cut & merge is easy enough to use but it is hit or miss when cutting out commercials. I always have to go over it once it's merged to remove a few stray frames. Which means cutting, merging, and multiplexing again. So, I'm thinking instead of taking them out in TMPGEnc and then converting with VDub, can I just batch convert the files to .AVI then edit out the commercials with VDub? The directions in the Guide section for splitting and joining makes it sound time consuming and complicated. But, if it works the first time it's worth it.

Any opinions?

[stephanV]

the best thing to do is: deleting the frames with VDubMod and THEN convert at the same time (so dont save after deleting). always cut in beforehand if you can do that... deltaframes are a b1tch ;)

[DarkMatter]

Now that I've done it, I realize what a stupid question this was. I never want to work with TMPGEnc again! That scene change button is almost miraculous. More precise and twice as fast and easy as TMPGEnc. If the boys can actually come up with a DVD player that will play DivX (and Xvid too I hope), MPEG will never cross my PC again!

How well does VDub capture?

[stephanV]

perhaps you should take a look here (http://www.divx.com/hardware/browse.php?c=1) ;)

People get various results by capturing with VirtualDub... there are also some mods of it though to overcome synch issues. Remember that VirtualDub is VFW based, so WDM drivers will not work with it.

[DarkMatter]

Now that I think about it, it would also negate my hardware encoder and you're right, replacing the wdm drivers would cause problems for sure. Maybe I'll stick to MPEG capture, but do all the prcessing and storage with VDub.

Thanks stephenV.

[PhillipWyllie]

Na, don't capture in MPEG. I'd use an AVI codec like Huffyuv, Virtual Dub's frameserver and TMPGEnc (you'll be able to edit the commercials out frame by frame). In the end you'll have a very good quality MPEG2 file suitable for DVD encoding and you'll never know you capped it off the telly( if you play it on your telly).