Topfield 5800/Cut File

Please contribute to the structure content & formatting. (and spelling)

Three new TAPs and a new patch have been written to help split files & remove adverts.

CutFile.tap
snips the recording at each bookmark the resulting file dates are changed to match the time that part started recording the first file retains the original file name subsequent file pieces are called CUT__..rec e.g. CUT_E4_200806031622.00.REC CUT_E4_200806031622.01.REC

Cutting MyStuff merged files
MyStuff maintains the file information in .mei files so using CutFile breaks this at present. Because the files are renamed they will be seen by the new name, but as MyStuff does not read the .rec headers MyStuf will not be able to display any program descriptions etc.

Renaming cut files & updating header information
A test version of mei2archive is available from here which when installed on your system enables CutFile to get mei2archive to rename & update the .rec headers of the newly cut files.

Older versions of mei2archive can be used to manually fix the headers, although if the file is from a merge of a small number of programs the extended header information will contain the other program information already if mei2archive is used in auto mode normally.

JoinFile.tap
will reverse the actions of CutFile and leave the original file (assuming all the parts are still present and not modified). select the section of the original file that still has the original name to start the process.

CutAds.tap
Assumes that the first bookmark is the start of the programme, and then subsequent pairs of bookmarks mark start and end of ads. The ads are cut out to a file suffixed with "-ADS" (and this file will be deleted if it already exists). Both files retain bookmarks at the start of each section (except the start of the ads). A final bookmark may be placed at the end of the program but this is optional in the case where the program goes right to the end of the recording.

There is no undo for CutAds but you could see exactly where it was going to cut by running CutFile first, then JoinFile to undo it.

Where the ads are removed the video may break up for a short time, maybe half a second. this should be considered when positioning bookmarks but will not happen at every cut point.

Bookmark patches
There are 4 development bookmark patches to assist placing bookmarks, they all cause the bookmarks to be added with more precision.

Bm-v1 makes the bookmark appear more accurately to where the green button is pressed

Bm-v2 adds yellow button snapping back to bookmark if it was near, rather than on to next bookmark

Bm-v3 adds play bar does not timeout

Bm-v4 play bar does not time out, green set button causes play position to snap back to bookmark position when near. This enables bookmark position to be crept backwards by repeatedly pressing green, or slipped forward by turning off the bookmark and resetting it a moment later.