How It Works

1. Black Segment Detection (ffmpeg blackdetect)

Uses the ffmpeg blackdetect filter to find near-black segments.
Segments shorter than --black-min-dur are discarded.
Segments separated by ≤ --merge-gap seconds are merged.

2. Commercial Interval Planning

The gaps between black segments are measured.
Gaps between --min-commercial and --max-commercial are classified as commercial blocks.
Everything outside these gaps is considered show content.
Optional pre/post padding extends boundaries for smoother edits.

3. Exporting Media

Individual commercials are exported as separate MP4 files.
Remaining keep segments are concatenated into a clean “show” file.
--reencode ensures perfect frame-accurate cuts when needed.

4. Logging & Diagnostics

detect.json — structured black/commercial/keep intervals
detect.csv — flattened interval table
Optional ffmpeg stderr logs

5. Batch Processing

--input-dir + --glob recursively process entire libraries of recordings.

Program Template

adslicerproxp \
  --input INPUT.mp4 \
  --outdir OUTPUT_DIR \
  --black-min-dur VALUE \
  --pix-th VALUE \
  --pic-th VALUE \
  --merge-gap VALUE \
  --edge-pad-pre VALUE \
  --edge-pad-post VALUE \
  --min-commercial VALUE \
  --max-commercial VALUE \
  --include-black \
  --reencode \
  --dry-run \
  -v

Batch mode:

adslicerproxp \
  --input-dir INPUT_FOLDER \
  --glob "*.mp4" \
  --outdir OUTPUT_DIR \
  -v

Arguments

Input / Output

--input (string, path)
Process a single input video file.
--input-dir (string, path)
Recursively process all matching video files under this directory (used with --glob).
--glob (string, glob pattern)
File-matching pattern when using --input-dir (e.g. "*.mp4", "*.mov").
--outdir (string, path)
Base output directory where per-input subfolders, show files, commercial clips, and logs are written.

Detection Settings

--black-min-dur (float, seconds)
Minimum duration for a detected black segment. Shorter intervals are treated as noise and ignored.
--pix-th (float, 0.0–1.0)
Pixel luma threshold for ffmpeg blackdetect. Lower values = stricter “black” definition.
--pic-th (float, 0.0–1.0)
Fraction of pixels that must be under pix-th for a frame to count as black.
--merge-gap (float, seconds)
Merge adjacent black segments separated by less than or equal to this time gap.

Cutting Behavior

--edge-pad-pre (float, seconds)
Extra padding added before detected boundaries (commercial or show) to avoid cutting too tight.
--edge-pad-post (float, seconds)
Extra padding added after detected boundaries for smoother transitions.
--min-commercial (float, seconds)
Minimum gap duration to classify a region as a commercial block.
--max-commercial (float, seconds)
Maximum gap duration to classify a region as a commercial block.
--include-black (boolean flag)
When present, includes surrounding black segments inside exported commercial clips.
--reencode (boolean flag)
When present, re-encodes segments for frame-accurate cuts instead of using stream copy.
--dry-run (boolean flag)
When present, performs detection and writes logs only — no media is cut or written.

Verbosity

-v (boolean flag)
Enable INFO-level logging.
-vv (boolean flag)
Enable DEBUG-level logging (more verbose output, including detailed ffmpeg commands).

Real World Example

Single-video example:

adslicerproxp \
  -i vhs_capture.mp4 \
  --outdir ./out \
  --black-min-dur 0.15 \
  --pix-th 0.10 \
  --pic-th 0.97 \
  --merge-gap 2.0 \
  --edge-pad-pre 0.25 \
  --edge-pad-post 0.10 \
  --min-commercial 4.0 \
  --max-commercial 185.0 \
  --include-black \
  --reencode \
  -v

Batch example:

adslicerproxp \
  --input-dir /captures/vhs_rips \
  --glob "*.mp4" \
  --outdir /captures/processed \
  --black-min-dur 0.12 \
  --merge-gap 1.8 \
  --min-commercial 5.0 \
  --max-commercial 210.0 \
  -v

Program Output

out/
  <basename>/
    commercials/
      <basename>_ad_0001.mp4
      <basename>_ad_0002.mp4
    show/
      _parts/
        part_0001.mp4
        part_0002.mp4
      <basename>_show.mp4
    logs/
      detect.json
      detect.csv
      ffmpeg_blackdetect.log