One advantage that Media Center PCs have over their Tivo and DVR brethren is the ability to remove commercials from television recordings. Lifextender is the latest plugin for Vista Media Center that does just that, automatically remove commercials. From Lifextender’s website:
Lifextender is pretty simple. It scans the directory that Media Center records TV to every X minutes for new TV shows. All new TV shows are queued up to be analyzed and scanned for annoying commercials. After a show has been analyzed, a new file is created from the original with commercials cut out, around 3/4 the original size. The original show is then replaced by the new, commercial-free show. Rinse and repeat.
Lifeextender is a great example of the power of plugins for Vista Media Center. Almost any feature you want can be added to media center through free plugins developed by the Vista Media Center Community. Tivo will never have the ability to remove commercials. Too much legal pressure. The plugin architecture for Vista allows any would-be programmer to add that feature for teh community of media center users.
Via Chris Lanier
Wed, Oct 17, 2007
Vista Media Center, Vista Plugins