🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Sep03.042045.5095@ecst.csuchico.edu> rmintz@ecst.csuchico.edu (Rich Mintz) writes:
>I'm interested in building a device (or making my 386sx 
>act like one) that will be able to distinguish television 
>commercials from television programs. I've talked to a 
>few people and have heard of a couple of ways it is said 
>that this can be done.
>   Rich -> rmintz@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu

Sounds like a gadget in Carl Sagen's novel "Contact", if memory
serves correctly.
It was called Adnix, and the man who made it became very rich, then the
advertisers figured a way around it, then the man came up with a new
Adnix... until TV finally went bankrupt.

If it is possible for you to tell the difference, then it should be
possible (not cheap) for a machine to tell the difference. You would
probably need to make some sort of neural-network device, which could
learn on its own what type of signal is characteristic of a change
from program to commercial. The current state of this technology
would make this way too expensive, however.

Anything simpler based on a volume level or Closed Captioned signal
would probably be obsolete the day the advertisers heard about it.
And if you do find something that works, you will just end up with
everything being pay-per-view.

I do know of one way that will work, can be built in about an hour,
and will probably be cheaper than any other method:
    Hire someone to push the mute button for you.
    Sorry, I just had to say that ;-)

                                                     --Ken
                                                     --kbk@netcom.com