Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dgis!generous
From: generous@dgis.daitc.mil (Curtis Generous)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: detecting TV commercials, is it possible?
Message-ID: <3557@dgis.daitc.mil>
Date: 20 Sep 89 12:13:02 GMT
References: <4482@natinst.natinst.com> <78@uwm.edu> <3553@dgis.daitc.mil> <1669@ns.network.com>
Organization: DTIC Special Projects Office (DTIC-SPO), Alexandria VA
Lines: 30

logajan@ns.network.com (John Logajan) writes:
>generous@dgis.daitc.mil (Curtis Generous) writes:
+>> through the user's guide and the principle that it used was that
+>> the _only_ time that a total lack of video signal was present was during
+>> the pause right before a commercial was to start.

+>Having just learned a bit about video editing (for public access cable tv)
+>I would guess that this is a very unreliable way to detect commercials.
+>It is true that you often will see "black" between program and commercial,
+>it is certainly not a requirement -- but worse still is that you might
+>often see "black" between one scene and the next, especially if they want
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    I had argued the same thing with the owner of this box at the time.
    The way he had explained to me was (he was an EE working at a television
    station) was that there is a difference between 'black' as you call it
    during a show and a lack of video that appears between commercials (I guess
    when they switch from one playback machine to another), and that was the
    principle on which this box worked.

+>to highlight a time or location transistion.
+>-- 
+>- John M. Logajan @ Network Systems; 7600 Boone Ave; Brooklyn Park, MN 55428  
+>- logajan@ns.network.com / ...rutgers!umn-cs!ns!logajan / john@logajan.mn.org 

--curtis
-- 
Curtis C. Generous
DTIC Special Projects Office (DTIC-SPO)
ARPA: generous@daitc.mil
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