Ad removal

Free-to-air recordings come with their ad breaks. Freetvarr can find those breaks, and optionally cut them out, using comskip (an ad-detection tool) and ffmpeg, both bundled in the Freetvarr Docker image. Ad removal is off by default. Detection is sometimes wrong, so Freetvarr keeps the original of every cut.

WARNING

Detection accuracy varies channel by channel, because every broadcaster cuts its breaks differently. Set a series to DETECT mode first, and check the breaks Freetvarr reports on the RECORDINGS tab before you switch the series to CUT.

Turn it on

In Freetvarr, turn on ad removal in SETTINGS → AD REMOVAL, then press SAVE SETTINGS. Then, on the SERIES tab, press EDIT on each series, pick a mode under AD REMOVAL, and press SAVE. Ad removal runs only when both the SETTINGS switch and the series mode are on.

Modes

• DETECT leaves the video as it is. It saves where the breaks are against the recording, and in a .edl file beside the video (for example Show - S01E02.edl next to Show - S01E02.ts). Use it to check how accurate comskip is on your channels, or to skip the ads instead of cutting them.
• CUT removes the breaks by copying the video across untouched (no re-encoding; the output stays .ts) and keeps the original as <file>.ts.orig.

Skip instead of cut

A cut that goes wrong loses part of the show. A skip that goes wrong costs nothing (you rewind). DETECT gives you skips in the players that read the .edl file:

• Kodi skips each break once, by itself, when it plays the video from your library folder. Rewind to watch a break.
• Jellyfin needs a plugin that reads .edl files (e.g. EDL to Media Segments), then shows the breaks as commercials you can skip.
• Plex, VLC, and Infuse do not read .edl files. Plex skips ads only in recordings made by its own DVR. For these players, use CUT.

Freetvarr's own player also reads the .edl file. While you watch a recording inside a break, a SKIP AD button appears at the bottom right of the picture. Press it to jump to the end of the break. Freetvarr never skips by itself. A recording with no .edl file, or one cut by CUT mode, shows no button.

If you rename or move a video by hand, rename or move its .edl with it. A later CUT or a scan that finds no breaks deletes the .edl.

Backups and retention

Every cut keeps a .ts.orig backup for a window you choose (ad_original_retention_days, default 7), then the cleanup after each sync removes it. If a cut goes wrong, rename the .orig file back over the cut file to recover the original.

The comskip.ini

Freetvarr ships a comskip.ini tuned for Australian free-to-air, the author's own channels. It is an example, not a requirement. To use your own, put a comskip.ini in the /config bind mount (${CONFIG_PATH}/freetvarr on the host). Settings shows which file is in use.

Cost and gating

Scans work the CPU hard: budget roughly 30 minutes per 75-minute recording on NAS-class hardware (the author's measurement on a dual-core Celeron; faster CPUs finish sooner). Scans run at low priority, so imports still run at full speed. For a CUT-mode show, Freetvarr removes the TVHeadend copy only after the cut passes its checks, so a failed cut leaves the original in TVHeadend.

Cuts snap to keyframes, so a second or two either side of a break is expected. The full pipeline (verify-then-swap, keep-segment maths, crash recovery) is in the deep dive.