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Editing Out the Ads

If you record a programme from a commercial broadcaster such as Channel 4, ITV or E4, you will record the show with the adver breaks included. During playback on your Toppy you can skip through these with the '>>' key, but you might also like to completely remove them. This is especially attractive when you have a favourite show or movie you want to keep on DVD, etc.

It is possible to do some crude editing on the Topfield itself, but you'll soon get frustrated with the inaccuracy and unreliability of the process. Editing on your Mac will give you perfect results every time!

Software Required

For this tutorial we have used:
  • MPEG Streamclip
The ever useful MPEG Streamclip will copy your file to your Mac, do the editing and then copy it back again or you might do an extra step and convert it ready for making a DVD.

Process Steps

Using MPEG Streamclip to neatly edit a programme is a relatively straightforward process. Here are the steps you'll need to follow.

You might like to work on a copy of your file the first time!
  1. Open the programme you want to edit in MPEG Streamclip application. You can either edit from the Toppy directly (by choosing from the Altair menu), or open a saved programme from hard disk. More info on transferring files.

  2. The tools you'll use are all within the 'Edit' menu and can be accessed by keyboard shortcuts. The commonly used ones are I, O and 'Apple-X' to mark 'in points' and 'out points' and to cut the ad.

  3. To cut off excess material from the start of the programme, play the file through to the start point. You can finely adjust your position with the cursor keys. When you have the very first frame of your programme mark an 'out point' and your movie bar should show a dark selection as pictured here... Now 'cut' the excess.

  4. To remove an advert break in the middle of a programme, find the beginning of the ad again getting 'frame accurate' wit the cursor keys. Mark an 'in point'. Now play forwards to the end of the ad break and find the first frame of your programme. Mark and 'out point' and you'll see just the ad break highlighted. You can now 'cut' the ad break.

  5. Repeat the process for all ad breaks and also trim the end of the programme too. Now you can choose what to do with the finished programme; copy back to your Toppy, save to hard disk or convert it ready for making a DVD.