Convert ClearPlay filter to EDL

[Brendan Bone]

I don't know if you'd consider this infringement, but it would help
expand the collection of EDLs. Has anyone been able to parse a
ClearPlay filter? (I only use one at my in-laws, and they don't pay
for the subscription anymore, so I don't have any to analyze) And if
so, do we have any hopes of converting them to EDLs?

BTW - It's great that you already have some function of Sensible
Cinema for Netflix, Hulu, etc. Looks like you beat ClearPlay to the
punch (they announced working on it a long time ago).

[Roger Pack]

On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 9:19 AM, Brendan Bone <brendan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I don't know if you'd consider this infringement, but it would help
expand the collection of EDLs.  Has anyone been able to parse a
ClearPlay filter? (I only use one at my in-laws, and they don't pay
for the subscription anymore, so I don't have any to analyze)  And if
so, do we have any hopes of converting them to EDLs?

That's an interesting idea.  In general I try and steer clear of anything clearplay-zy for (perhaps unbiased) legal fears but it might work.

On person that wrote me once that said "so basically you'll be crowd-sourcing the work that clearplay does internally, to locate the bad parts of movies" which may be...accurate.  I don't know.  If there is some converter or other created it would probably have to be used as a plugin or something--I could come up with a plugin framework without too much trouble...that might  have potential.  If you want some other language than ruby it could just call out to an executable I suppose...

https://gist.github.com/52f5c6386fc67e9e6b6b was one fella's work at an "auto-converter" across various EDL formats.

Unfortunately I haven't actually really solidified on the EDL format yet...it's all prototype-y but I'm guessing that mplayer EDL format is pretty standard, or you could use mine.  I'll add it to the todo list to be able to use "straight" edl files.

The reality is that sensible cinema's only "real" contribution would be the EDL library it contains.  EDL *support* per-se is "almost" simple and already readily available (slicing and dicing videos using an EDL...maybe not so much though...mencoder works but seemed buggy at times, so I guess it also has that function).

The good news most recently is that for some movies you don't *need* a previously existing EDL to watch it edited.  You can download subtitles as a file, and use them to parse out profanity, and you might be good to go.  For those with violence or sex scenes though I guess it would need some extra help, obviously...hopefully the "community" would contribute so the rest of us don't have to :) (I once had been hoping to seed the EDL library by employing someone to do it but now I'm thinking I will just let it grow naturally/rely on the profanity finder--after all, I've had a whopping 1 EDL already contributed to me!  The rest are all hand-created.)

BTW - It's great that you already have some function of Sensible
Cinema for Netflix, Hulu, etc.  Looks like you beat ClearPlay to the
punch (they announced working on it a long time ago).

Yeah I think I saw something about some work they'd done that would work with say a table top cable box to filter things but I haven't looked at it...who knows maybe they have something internally I have no idea, just wanted to publish mine early to the world so people couldn't patent some obvious ideas LOL

-roger-

[lane....@gmail.com]

As a long-time ClearPlay customer (7+ years?), I've been waiting for this functionality eagerly -- that is, to leverage my clearplay subscription ($80/yr) to be able to also filter the DVD's that I've backed up, that I stream from XBMC/Plex, and that I stream from Netflix or Amazon.

I understand your desire to avoid legal issues;  however, it seems like a win-win for ClearPlay.  I don't know why they've been so long in getting a Blu-Ray or streaming filter -- I suspect they have legal debts up to their eye-balls from the Content producers coming after them so hard... even if ClearPlay did win.... Perhaps ClearPlay doesn't have the resources to pay engineering salaries, and/or they've not been able to get any traction with content distributors (netflix et al.)

Anyway, it allows ClearPlay to reach more customers because those customers can use the filters more places than just with a ClearPlay player.

I would think that you would be legally safe if you don't directly process the ClearPlay filters (unless they're in a standard format already).  Someone should be legally safe also to create a filter-converter that takes the legitimately purchased ClearPlay filters and converts them to a standard format (which would work in your player).

Seems like all that would be safe.  If I can find time, I might take a stab at it. ...not holding my breath, though.

To be clear, I believe very strongly in ClearPlay and in capitalism, and I want them to be successful as a business because I believe in their product.  I also believe that when someone legitimately purchases a product, they have a right to use it however they want (such as in a different filter handler).  And, even if someone gets this working, I would still keep my subscription active (I don't download movies or music off the internet, because it's not honest -- people who work to create products deserve to get paid for their products).

Best of all, though, would be to see ClearPlay adjust their model and support a project like this, so that they continue to sell subscription based use-anywhere filters, and perhaps they continue to sell their filtering appliance DVD player.