• current commercial thoughts

    From super70s@3:633/10 to All on Fri May 1 21:24:17 2026
    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being
    swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some
    nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could
    scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad
    teeth before or even after they get them fixed.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 18:37:27 2026
    On 2026-05-02 02:24:17 +0000, super70s said:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some
    nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could
    scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    It's not AI. It's just an "old fashioned" CGI crocodile and real actors.



    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad
    teeth before or even after they get them fixed.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The True Melissa@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 10:20:42 2026
    Verily, in article <10t3n8h$1s2pu$1@dont-email.me>, did super70s@super70s.invalid deliver unto us this message:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some
    nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could
    scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad
    teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    The one I hate right now is a windows commercial. An AI woman dances
    around singing about how much she loves her windows, and I'm certain the prompter told the LLM to put extra jiggle in the breasts. She appears to
    have jello in her bra.

    --
    The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From moviePig@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 11:35:54 2026
    On 5/1/2026 10:24 PM, super70s wrote:
    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could scare
    small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Horrifying imagery especially for a crocodile-colored nut.


    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    And, notice the satisfied customers' tightly limited smiles.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BTR1701@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 17:47:15 2026
    On May 1, 2026 at 7:24:17 PM PDT, "super70s" <super70s@super70s.invalid>
    wrote:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some
    nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could
    scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad
    teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see them on streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I watch now, I pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to jump over the
    commercial breaks.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From moviePig@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 14:15:34 2026
    On 5/2/2026 1:47 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 1, 2026 at 7:24:17 PM PDT, "super70s" <super70s@super70s.invalid> wrote:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being
    swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some
    nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could
    scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad
    teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see them on streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I watch now, I pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to jump over the commercial breaks.

    Rather than 'skip', do you mean "fast-forward" or "fixed-hop" feature?
    ...as I'm thinking Tivo (somehow) skipping ads per se would be illegal.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BTR1701@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 19:43:06 2026
    On May 2, 2026 at 11:15:34 AM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

    On 5/2/2026 1:47 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 1, 2026 at 7:24:17 PM PDT, "super70s" <super70s@super70s.invalid>
    wrote:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being
    swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some
    nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could
    scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad
    teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see them >> on
    streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I watch now, I >> pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to jump over the
    commercial breaks.

    Rather than 'skip', do you mean "fast-forward" or "fixed-hop" feature?
    ...as I'm thinking Tivo (somehow) skipping ads per se would be illegal.

    No, with the push of a button it literally jumps over the entire ad break and lands on the start of the show's next segment.

    I'm not sure how it would be illegal. It might violate some kind of
    contractual provision between TiVo and the broadcasters (which it apparently doesn't, or they'd have been stopped long ago), but there's no law I'm aware
    of that prohibits facilitating a person's desire to skip over a commercial break on a recorded show. How would that be legally different than fast-forwarding, anyway? There's no legal distinction between a viewer
    skipping over commercials by holding a button down and one who skips them with a quick press of a button.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From moviePig@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 16:41:11 2026
    On 5/2/2026 3:43 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 2, 2026 at 11:15:34 AM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

    On 5/2/2026 1:47 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 1, 2026 at 7:24:17 PM PDT, "super70s" <super70s@super70s.invalid> >>> wrote:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's >>>> AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being
    swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some
    nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could >>>> scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad
    teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see them
    on
    streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I watch now, I
    pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to jump over the
    commercial breaks.

    Rather than 'skip', do you mean "fast-forward" or "fixed-hop" feature?
    ...as I'm thinking Tivo (somehow) skipping ads per se would be illegal.

    No, with the push of a button it literally jumps over the entire ad break and lands on the start of the show's next segment.

    I'm not sure how it would be illegal. It might violate some kind of contractual provision between TiVo and the broadcasters (which it apparently doesn't, or they'd have been stopped long ago), but there's no law I'm aware of that prohibits facilitating a person's desire to skip over a commercial break on a recorded show. How would that be legally different than fast-forwarding, anyway? There's no legal distinction between a viewer skipping over commercials by holding a button down and one who skips them with
    a quick press of a button.

    The supposed illegality is a long-held "understanding" I've had, but I
    don't recall whence, and I guess I should reconsider it. Likewise, I
    wouldn't have thought Tivo could offer you an "auto ad-skip" mode, as
    that'd be like vending an edited version of copyrighted material.

    On the technical side, I'm curious how Tivo distinguishes ad- vs. show-footage. I'd hope it's not "guesswork", but the only electronic signature that I'm aware of would be worryingly error-prone.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BTR1701@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 20:43:58 2026
    On May 2, 2026 at 1:41:11 PM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

    On 5/2/2026 3:43 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 2, 2026 at 11:15:34 AM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>
    On 5/2/2026 1:47 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 1, 2026 at 7:24:17 PM PDT, "super70s" <super70s@super70s.invalid>
    wrote:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's >>>>> AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being >>>>> swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some >>>>> nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could >>>>> scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad >>>>> teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see them
    on
    streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I watch now, I
    pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to jump over the >>>> commercial breaks.

    Rather than 'skip', do you mean "fast-forward" or "fixed-hop" feature?
    ...as I'm thinking Tivo (somehow) skipping ads per se would be illegal.

    No, with the push of a button it literally jumps over the entire ad break >> and
    lands on the start of the show's next segment.

    I'm not sure how it would be illegal. It might violate some kind of
    contractual provision between TiVo and the broadcasters (which it apparently
    doesn't, or they'd have been stopped long ago), but there's no law I'm aware
    of that prohibits facilitating a person's desire to skip over a commercial >> break on a recorded show. How would that be legally different than
    fast-forwarding, anyway? There's no legal distinction between a viewer
    skipping over commercials by holding a button down and one who skips them >> with
    a quick press of a button.

    The supposed illegality is a long-held "understanding" I've had, but I
    don't recall whence, and I guess I should reconsider it. Likewise, I wouldn't have thought Tivo could offer you an "auto ad-skip" mode, as
    that'd be like vending an edited version of copyrighted material.

    The shows and the ads have separate copyrights. Toyota owns the copyright on its ad, while Paramount owns the copyright to STAR TREK. So showing a STAR
    TREK episode sans ads would not be an altered version of Paramount's work.

    On the technical side, I'm curious how Tivo distinguishes ad- vs. show-footage. I'd hope it's not "guesswork", but the only electronic signature that I'm aware of would be worryingly error-prone.

    I'm pretty sure they use an AI to scan the episodes and mark the ad breaks.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From shawn@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 16:54:19 2026
    On Sat, 2 May 2026 20:43:58 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
    wrote:

    On May 2, 2026 at 1:41:11 PM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

    On 5/2/2026 3:43 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 2, 2026 at 11:15:34 AM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>
    On 5/2/2026 1:47 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 1, 2026 at 7:24:17 PM PDT, "super70s" <super70s@super70s.invalid>
    wrote:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being >>>>>> swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some >>>>>> nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could >>>>>> scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad >>>>>> teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see them
    on
    streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I watch now, I
    pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to jump over the >>>>> commercial breaks.

    Rather than 'skip', do you mean "fast-forward" or "fixed-hop" feature? >>>> ...as I'm thinking Tivo (somehow) skipping ads per se would be illegal. >>>
    No, with the push of a button it literally jumps over the entire ad break >>> and
    lands on the start of the show's next segment.

    I'm not sure how it would be illegal. It might violate some kind of
    contractual provision between TiVo and the broadcasters (which it apparently
    doesn't, or they'd have been stopped long ago), but there's no law I'm aware
    of that prohibits facilitating a person's desire to skip over a commercial >>> break on a recorded show. How would that be legally different than
    fast-forwarding, anyway? There's no legal distinction between a viewer
    skipping over commercials by holding a button down and one who skips them >>> with
    a quick press of a button.

    The supposed illegality is a long-held "understanding" I've had, but I
    don't recall whence, and I guess I should reconsider it. Likewise, I
    wouldn't have thought Tivo could offer you an "auto ad-skip" mode, as
    that'd be like vending an edited version of copyrighted material.

    The shows and the ads have separate copyrights. Toyota owns the copyright on >its ad, while Paramount owns the copyright to STAR TREK. So showing a STAR >TREK episode sans ads would not be an altered version of Paramount's work.

    On the technical side, I'm curious how Tivo distinguishes ad- vs.
    show-footage. I'd hope it's not "guesswork", but the only electronic
    signature that I'm aware of would be worryingly error-prone.

    I'm pretty sure they use an AI to scan the episodes and mark the ad breaks.


    There's a fixed signal that identifies when an ad break starts. One of
    my old companies used that information to input ads into the streams
    the local broadcasters used.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The True Melissa@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 16:59:38 2026
    Verily, in article <10t5nme$2d70g$3@dont-email.me>, did atropos@mac.com deliver unto us this message:
    I'm pretty sure they use an AI to scan the episodes and mark the ad breaks.


    Seems like overkill. Tech for this has existed since at least the 60s.

    --
    The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From moviePig@3:633/10 to All on Sat May 2 17:50:51 2026
    On 5/2/2026 4:43 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 2, 2026 at 1:41:11 PM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

    On 5/2/2026 3:43 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 2, 2026 at 11:15:34 AM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote: >>>
    On 5/2/2026 1:47 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On May 1, 2026 at 7:24:17 PM PDT, "super70s" <super70s@super70s.invalid>
    wrote:

    Has anyone seen this AI pistachios commercial (I sure hope to God it's
    AI and not some crazy daredevil) with a guy in the process of being >>>>>> swallowed by a huge crocodile, he sticks his hand out and gets some >>>>>> nuts before being swallowed whole by the crocodile. This thing could >>>>>> scare small children...

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TUkx/wonderful-pistachios-crocodile

    Another one that gets on my nerves lately are the ClearChoice
    commercials. I don't want to see extreme close-ups of people's bad >>>>>> teeth before or even after they get them fixed.

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see them
    on
    streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I watch now, I
    pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to jump over the >>>>> commercial breaks.

    Rather than 'skip', do you mean "fast-forward" or "fixed-hop" feature? >>>> ...as I'm thinking Tivo (somehow) skipping ads per se would be illegal. >>>
    No, with the push of a button it literally jumps over the entire ad break >>> and
    lands on the start of the show's next segment.

    I'm not sure how it would be illegal. It might violate some kind of
    contractual provision between TiVo and the broadcasters (which it apparently
    doesn't, or they'd have been stopped long ago), but there's no law I'm aware
    of that prohibits facilitating a person's desire to skip over a commercial
    break on a recorded show. How would that be legally different than
    fast-forwarding, anyway? There's no legal distinction between a viewer >>> skipping over commercials by holding a button down and one who skips them >>> with
    a quick press of a button.

    The supposed illegality is a long-held "understanding" I've had, but I
    don't recall whence, and I guess I should reconsider it. Likewise, I
    wouldn't have thought Tivo could offer you an "auto ad-skip" mode, as
    that'd be like vending an edited version of copyrighted material.

    The shows and the ads have separate copyrights. Toyota owns the copyright on its ad, while Paramount owns the copyright to STAR TREK. So showing a STAR TREK episode sans ads would not be an altered version of Paramount's work.

    On the technical side, I'm curious how Tivo distinguishes ad- vs.
    show-footage. I'd hope it's not "guesswork", but the only electronic
    signature that I'm aware of would be worryingly error-prone.

    I'm pretty sure they use an AI to scan the episodes and mark the ad breaks.

    I resorted to Google'S AI:

    "TiVo identifies commercial breaks primarily through a combination
    of human monitoring and automated content recognition (ACR) technology.
    A dedicated team monitors top broadcast and cable networks in real-time, marking the start and end of ad breaks, which allows the "SkipMode"
    feature to immediately jump past commercials once a show is recorded."
    ...
    "While historically relying on manual monitoring, TiVo has shifted
    towards more automated processes, which, while allowing for a faster
    adoption of the technology, can sometimes be less accurate than human
    review."

    I'm indeed surprised that all this would escape litigation...



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Ubiquitous@3:633/10 to All on Sun May 3 04:30:42 2026
    atropos@mac.com wrote:

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see them >on streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I watch now, >I pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to jump over the >commercial breaks.

    You silenced the work of hundreds of technicians and actors... those people that slave in the fleshpots of Hollywood to bring you a few moments of happiness and joy, and you cut ?em off with the flick of your wrist!

    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Ubiquitous@3:633/10 to All on Sun May 3 04:30:43 2026
    thetruemelissa@gmail.com wrote:

    The one I hate right now is a windows commercial. An AI woman dances
    around singing about how much she loves her windows, and I'm certain the >prompter told the LLM to put extra jiggle in the breasts. She appears to >have jello in her bra.

    What a strange Microsoft commercial!

    I keep seeing this bizarre one at least once every commercial with
    a bunch old people dressed alike running into or out of a Walmart
    and a bewildered tv report wondering out loud "what's going on?",
    at which point one of the stops to tell her about some lind of
    [scam] gift card from Medicare.

    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Ubiquitous@3:633/10 to All on Sun May 3 04:30:44 2026
    In article <10t5k49$2d70g$1@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    On May 2, 2026 at 11:15:34 AM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:
    On 5/2/2026 1:47 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't see
    them on streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast shows I
    watch now, I pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip feature to
    jump over the commercial breaks.

    Rather than 'skip', do you mean "fast-forward" or "fixed-hop" feature?
    ...as I'm thinking Tivo (somehow) skipping ads per se would be illegal.

    No, with the push of a button it literally jumps over the entire ad break >and lands on the start of the show's next segment.

    Wasn't there a lawsuit over someone having a "skip commercials" feature?

    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Ubiquitous@3:633/10 to All on Sun May 3 04:30:45 2026
    In article <10t5nme$2d70g$3@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    On May 2, 2026 at 1:41:11 PM PDT, "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:
    On 5/2/2026 3:43 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    "moviePig" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:
    On 5/2/2026 1:47 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

    I've eliminated about 95% of commercials from my viewing. I don't
    see them on streaming or YouTube and the few legacy and broadcast
    shows I watch now, I pre-record them so I can use my TiVo's skip
    feature to jump over the commercial breaks.

    Rather than 'skip', do you mean "fast-forward" or "fixed-hop" feature? >>>> ...as I'm thinking Tivo (somehow) skipping ads per se would be illegal. >>>
    No, with the push of a button it literally jumps over the entire ad
    break and lands on the start of the show's next segment.

    I'm not sure how it would be illegal. It might violate some kind of
    contractual provision between TiVo and the broadcasters (which it
    apparently doesn't, or they'd have been stopped long ago), but there's >>> no law I'm aware of that prohibits facilitating a person's desire to
    skip over a commercial break on a recorded show. How would that be
    legally different than fast-forwarding, anyway? There's no legal
    distinction between a viewer skipping over commercials by holding a
    button down and one who skips them with a quick press of a button.

    The supposed illegality is a long-held "understanding" I've had, but I
    don't recall whence, and I guess I should reconsider it. Likewise, I
    wouldn't have thought Tivo could offer you an "auto ad-skip" mode, as
    that'd be like vending an edited version of copyrighted material.

    The shows and the ads have separate copyrights. Toyota owns the copyright on >its ad, while Paramount owns the copyright to STAR TREK. So showing a STAR >TREK episode sans ads would not be an altered version of Paramount's work.

    On the technical side, I'm curious how Tivo distinguishes ad- vs.
    show-footage. I'd hope it's not "guesswork", but the only electronic
    signature that I'm aware of would be worryingly error-prone.

    I'm pretty sure they use an AI to scan the episodes and mark the ad breaks.

    If memory serves, there's a cue, like silence and a fade to black that deliminates commercials that they've used for a long time.

    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)