Question about television ads...

[nocturnix]

Okay, I dont know much about cable at all but I think my questions are pretty simple...

Is there any type of signal, or transition sent through the cable lines when the show you are watching stops for an advertisement break?

In other words, would there be a way for software to "sense" that ads have come on, and as soon as they are done, when the program is back on, for it to recognize this?

My question is regarding regular cable, and also satellite. I want to be able to filter out ads WITHOUT missing a beat! Is this possible? Or is there NO way for software to "sense" the difference between say, a football game and a car commercial?

Thanks!

 

[CDH]

I don't think there is a signal as such, but some of the older ReplayTV units used to be able to simply skip commercials. I believe they were sued because this feature was removed from their later models. A lot of DVRs now have 30-second skip buttons. So you can watch the program, get to the commercials, hit the button four, five, or six times, and get on with watching the program.

CDH.

 

[TNGTony]

Welcome to Satelliteguys nocturnix,

The cable channels send a signal to the cable companies for the "local avails". These are spots where cable companies can insert local commercials. It used to be you could actually hear them. They were a quick succession of "touch-tone dialing" sounds (pah-da-papAP!). The tones would happen two to 5 seconds before the commercial avail and at the end of the slot. However, most, if not all, cable channels have gone to a silent cue. I am not certain exactly what the cue is, but it's on line 21 of the NTSC signal.

As far as I know there is no way to detect upcoming the national ads with the signal we receive on cable.

See ya
Tony

 

[nocturnix]

Hmm..dang.

I had an invention that I think could be pretty useful to some business owners. Dang, its too bad this isnt possible.

My question is...If replay TV was able to do it with their replay system, perhaps there still are some ques, wether silent or not that commercials are coming on.

Another question is there any way for a business to request ques or something from their cable or sattellite provider? Even if they paid them to?

 

[TNGTony]

You lost me with the last question. Could you explain what you mean?

See ya
Tony