One major advantage to be had when using a Windows 7 Media Center over your standard cable DVR is the ability to scan and remove commercials from Recorded TV shows. Programs such as Lifextender, which can be setup to use either comskip or Showanalyzer, can arrange for new shows to be scanned and the commercials removed without having to process each file by hand. Unfortunately, Lifextender doesn’t work with the new WTV format so first we’ll need to convert the files using a program such as WTVWatcher.

To get started you’ll need to download and install both WTVWatcher and Lifextender or, if you prefer, we’ve also got a guide on using DVRMSToolbox with Lifextender. Once you’ve got both programs installed you’ll need to setup WTVWatcher to monitor the Recorded TV location. Use the preferences to set the location of your Recorded TV folder, typically C:UsersPublicRecorded TV. WTVWatcher will begin to go to work converting the WTV recordings into DVR-MS files that are readable by Lifextender.

WTVWatcher uses the built-in conversion program provided by Microsoft to convert each WTV file into a DVR-MS file. For even more information on WTVWatcher check out our previous review of this handy little tool right here. Once the files have been converted we can setup Lifextender to automatically scan for and cut commercials from these files. Next, open Lifextender and choose Options by right-clicking the icon in the system tray.

Under the general settings be sure to set the TV Recording path to the same directory as the one you set previously inside WTVWatcher. Also, unless you plan to run the process by hand enable the Automated Library Scanning so that Lifextender will automatically find your new shows for processing. To test your settings you can start a manual processing of the files by right-clicking the Lifextender system tray icon and selecting Scan Media Center Library.

Lifextender’s processing dialog will appear as the program scans each recorded show for commercials. This can take quite a bit of time depending on the length of the show and the complexity of commercial scanning process.

After processing each file will be added to the “blacklist” inside Lifextender’s options. This allows you to check the progress of Lifextender’s processing of files as well as preventing the program from scanning the same program each time the library is scanned for new content. You can find the blacklist under the Options –> Advanced tab. Here you can also add individual files to be excluded from processing, though if you have a certain show or channel you’d like to permanently exclude from processing there is an included Rules feature to allow for easier management.

Unfortunately, there has been some issues reported with Lifextender not accepting the converted files from WTVWatcher and the Lifextender program is no longer in active development. If you experience the same issue your only option may be to use the DVRMSToolbox method in this guide using an alternative program for converting the WTV files to DVR-MS. Also, be sure to drop a line in the comments below with as much detail as you can provide including which version of Windows 7 you’re using, Lifextender log info and anything else noteworthy. Perhaps we can sort out the issue with more information.

For most people, however, this method should provide a simple solution to easy commercial removal from Windows 7 Media Center recordings. Hopefully the future will bring us an alternative to Lifextender and more active development (and hopefully more open source projects as well!).

Source Article:
Using WTVWatcher and Lifextender to Cut Commercials from Recorded Shows

As many former Vista Media Center users know, Windows 7 brought a new format to the Media Center in the form of the .WTV file. This new format is the new standard for recorded TV in Windows 7 Media Center, meaning all recorded TV will now be saved as WTV instead of the former standard DVR-MS. Unfortunately, this also means that programs with a long history of use by Media Center enthusiasts may no longer work with this new format. Luckily, however, Microsoft has been gracious enough to include a utility to convert WTV to DVR-MS through the right-click menu interface but doing all that conversion by hand can be tedious. That’s where WTVWatcher can take some work off your hands.

Sure there are other programs that have done this for a while now such as DVRMSToolbox but for the novice those solutions can be difficult to impossible to setup. For those looking for a simple solution to automatically convert WTV files to DVR-MS, it doesn’t get much simpler than WTVWatcher. To get started visit the WTVWatcher download site which will take you through the user agreement and required software and allow you to download the setup file.

Once installed, WTVWatcher operates as a system tray application with a small notification window to display progress. Upon running the program for the first time the display window will present you the option to set the folder to monitor for new WTV files, just press the button and select the location of your Recorded TV folder.

WTVWatcher also provides a handful of options by selecting the wrench icon at the top of the display window. In the preferences dialog you can set the time to wait before files are processed after completion, icon and display options and whether or not the progress window should be displayed.

Showing the progress window seemed to require the restart of the program, although not mentioned, but once restarted we were able to monitor the progress of the conversions. Taking around 3 minutes on average to convert an hour long HD file with the progress displayed as a simple Windows dialog.

The display window also displays a simple list of actions taken by the program notifying you of the beginning and end of conversions and the current folder being monitored. It’s safe to say that once the program has been setup most users will be setting it to simply minimize to the tray and run in the background however. It’s also important to note that once your files have been converted the original WTV file will be deleted, which is likely the preferred behavior in most cases but there is no option to disable the behavior.

Aside from that small caveat, WTVWatcher performed flawlessly as expected. The program uses the built-in conversion tool to do the conversion from WTV to DVR-MS and simply takes the task of manually selecting and converting each file by hand saving you time. It doesn’t get much more utilitarian than this, WTVWatcher does what it was designed to do well and without any fuss or muss. For those looking to continue using Lifextender in Windows 7 this handy little tool is a godsend.

Source Article:
WTVWatcher Automates WTV to DVRMS Conversion