What is the purpose of the EDL/XML files after using MCEBuddy Custom Cuts? Do these two files once created need to be in the same directory of the show itself ?
Thanks
Dan
They tell MCEBuddy where the “cuts” are in the media file. Some media servers, like Emby, I believe, use them to let media player clients skip commercials without modifying the original media file. Plex doesn’t use the EDL/XML files, by the way. This avoids issues with modifying the media files the server uses for a specific player. i.e. one viewer (with their media player client) wants to skip commercials or chapters and another doesn’t, or the media file container format itself does not support chapter or edit marks. If those are not concerns for you, then you can delete them after they’ve been processed.
I defer to Goose if you need to manually add the media file to MCEBuddy’s task list or if Custom Cuts automatically adds the file to MCEBuddy’s queue after it is done. I think it is still a separate step, or you have to setup a profile for MCEBuddy to watch the directory where you are saving the media file with its EDL/XML files.
I guess we wait for Goose to tell us. But when you use MCEBuddy Custom Cuts and you have a cut start and cut end done it will not allow you to go directly to Process with MCEBuddy. It tells you that you MUST save both the EDL/XML first before you can continue on with MCEBuddy. But I was wondering if PLEX uses them and MUST they be in the same directory as the cut file?
Dan
Plex does NOT use them in any way. It does not even use .srt (subtitle) files. It only streams the media file (transcoding for specific client profiles). That’s becoming less of an issue as devices have gotten far more CPU (and even GPU) capability and memory than they used to and playback has consolidated around MP4 (x264) and HEVC (x265), in MP4 and MKV containers.
So I guess when I use MCEBuddy Custom Cuts, just save the EDL/XML files and just move the cut version to where I want it and be done with it correct?
On a side note, I would prefer to let MCEBuddy do all of it for me, and I’m working up the nerve to drive into the comskip.ini file and learn about it. Got any advice about this?
Question: How much do you know about PLEX?
Thanks
Dan
I’ve got a plex pass and pretty much all my content is automated from recording via SiliconDust HDHomeRun tuners (an Extend and a Quattro) and the HDHR DVR. I don’t use Plex DVR, but have used the LiveTV over the interwebs on vacation to watch the local TV back home.
MCEBuddy clips commercials (comskip, no changes to the INI file, trying out HW decoding now) and transcodes everything to HEVC (x265) in MKV containers, then file renaming drops everything right into the right Plex folder. Plex works like a champ. I run Plex and MCEBuddy and the HDHomeRun record engine all on the same i5 Haswell Win10 box. It’s been chugging along for probably 10 years like that just fine (maintaining current versions on everything). Started with Win7 and Media Center and the 1st Gen HomeRun OTA tuners and Kickstarter on the DVR.
Plex for me is pretty much hands off. We watch content on our Tivo Roamio OTA via its Plex app, as well as using KMTTG to transfer Tivo recordings that get fed into MCEBuddy just like the HDHR recordings do.
HDHR is for binge and collection recording, and the occasional stuff we want to keep from the Tivo I just use KMTTG on it and we watch it later on Plex.
I can post my MCEBuddy profile/config, and I’ve posted the file renaming rules I use in other threads.
MMMMM I think you got me beat in more ways than 1. I do have plex pass along with an HDHomeRun FLEX. I live about 8 miles from all stations (ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX). My setup is that from the antenna I have a splitter. One cable goes directly into the TV (for the wife to operate) and the other goes into the HDHomeRun. I run plex from the office on my i9-11900K, with 32GB of memory, and a 850 power supply, and running Windows 11 Pro. I really don’t have my plex setup for remote viewing as my wife and I don’t travel. We live on a farm without horses but with 20 cats that we take care of. So the only chance we have of going out is for dinner at night when they are all sleeping inside the house. No, our house doesn’t smell like cat (before you ask), it’s clean. The channels that I mentioned above are the primary channels we watch. Then you might ask yourself, why do I have all that stuff? Well, my wife and I for the last 12 years have been recording shows that overlay each other. The deal was, if I can figure out how to record TV stations and get NASCAR (which we use sling Blue for), I can do anything I want. For example, on Wednesday nights we watch either Survivor or The Amazing Race, but at the same time Chicago Fire, PD, and Med come on. So we tape those, and then on Saturday (we have Chicago night). During those 12 years, we paid for cable. This last one was Fubo.TV. It was great for the last 5 years, until one day they hit me with a “Regional Sports Fee” and I said “enough” and decided to switch and do my own thing. We also have Paramount Plus (the CBS part of it in case we miss something as well as Homeland, Star Trek, and Seal Team (when it comes back on).
When I would have just PLex taken out the commercials, it was awful. I didn’t know it at the time, and that drove me crazy. So I got MCEBuddy. Well, when I ran that, it didn’t do half bad, but still commercials. So when I started to work with MCEBuddy customer cuts, Works like a charm. But I’m about 75% of where I want to be. I too would like to select a program, tape it, and have all the commercials out of it, and still working on it.
Why do I have such a powerful computer? Well, I play games on it as well as program and do websites to boot. I’m hoping this summer to launch my website. But my website happens to be on my raspberry PI.
I would like the profiles/config you have and the renaming rules that you mention, as I can look at those and see if they would help me achieve 100% or close to 100% commercial-free.