From: dan@netmarket.com (Daniel Kohn)
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 95 18:06:24 PDT
To: pjm@ionia.engr.sgi.com (Patrick May)
Subject: Re: Sex & Crime TV filter
Message-ID: <v02120d1aac432e074238@[172.16.1.244]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At 8:50 PM 07/31/95, Patrick May wrote:

>     My dim memories from a project I did for Sony a couple of years
>ago are that commercials are separated by a fixed number of black
>frames and some, at least, have tracking information encoded so that
>advertisers can monitor how often they are played.  I'll try to dig up
>more info.

From: dfitzpat@interserv.com
      Wednesday July 26, 1995 -- ShopTalk

- --

NEW VCRs TAKE ON COMMERCIALS POINT-BLANK

                        By Jonathan Takiff
               Philadelphia Daily News Staff Writer


Already besieged by Washington politicians over the content of TV
programming (and threats of a show-blocking chip), television
broadcasters are about to be hit with another whammy.  This time it's
VCRs that automatically blank out commercials.

Next month, Thomson Consumer Electronics will introduce two RCA brand
videocassette recorder models that eliminate almost all the commercials
during the playback of a recorded program.

As fast as you can say, "We'll be back with stupid pet tricks, tonight's
Top Ten list and our special guest Madonna," the VCR will go into hyper-
drive and zip through two or three minutes of commercials.  During the
interruption, you can choose to see a solid blue screen on the TV
or the commercials zipping by in the rapid scan mode.

Most human operators working a remote control during a commercial break
tend to over-run the ads and plow into the show, forcing the fastidious
amongst us to then back up (yawn) the tape into the end of the last
advertisement.  But RCA's commercial-free VCR hits the brakes and
resumes play at just the right second.  At least it did in a recent
demonstration I got of the machine.

Thomson is promising "90 percent accuracy" in eliminating commercials --
and just commercials.  Sorry, the special circuitry doesn't work at all
on show breaks that are 30 seconds or less in duration.  And in case you
were worried, the recording is not tampered with in the least.  Should
there be adverts you do desire to see, or (Heaven forbid) the VCR scans
past something important, the commercial-jump mode is defeatable at any
time.

When the feature is set in the manual mode, the user initiates the
skipping process by a single button pressed on the remote control.

Most important, this technology is stupid-proof.  That is, it literally
runs itself and doesn't affect the way you tape a program.  Simply set
the timer (or hit the one-touch record button) as normally.  After a
show is recorded, the VCR checks to see if another taping session has
been programmed to start immediately.  If not, the deck will
automatically rewind the tape and then search through the recording for
signs of commercial breaks.

Actually, the VCR is looking for "rapid shits in programming matter and
brief screen blackouts that indicate advertising," explains Randy
Staffs, manager of VCR product management for Thomson.

Where it senses a commercial clump, the VCR makes an electronic notch on
the tape at the beginning and end of the segment.  Later, these notches
will cue the VCR to fast-scan over the segment.

Originally announced two years ago for an add-on black box product
(Arista's Commercial Brake) that got lots of ink but never came to
market, Thomson has "considerably refined the [skipping] technology" it
has licensed from Arthur D. Little Enterprises, Staggs says.  "We've
changed all the algorithms [computer formulas] used for spotting the
commercials."

Thomson has exclusive rights to make commercial-free VCRs at least
through the end of the year.  It's producing the decks under guarded
conditions, Staggs says, "to hold onto our trade secrets for as long as
possible."

You'll find the commercial skip feature in RCA's hi-fi VR678HF ($499)
and four-head monaural VR542 ($399) VCR.  Both also boast VCR Plus+
programming and compatibility with the RCA Digital Satellite system.
The models should hit dealers' shelves in late August or early
September.

P.S.  Staggs claims these VCRs are "specially programmed" to not skip
past commercials for RCA products.  We think he's kidding.

$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$
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                                                           dan