File: README — Documentation for sensible-cinema (0.23.3)

Sensible-cinema [5] allows you to apply pre-programmed delete lists (e.g. Edit Decision Lists [2]) to DVD’s you own.

I.e. you can edit a DVD to “mute out” or skip certain scenes. This allows you to sit back and relax as you watch a more “sensiblized” showing of your DVD.

It is currently in beta, though will always be free software, even after release. It also includes a library of EDL’s that go along with various DVD’s, we need volunteers to help it to grow!

To use, basically install, then insert an original DVD that you want to edited, then run sensible cinema. It will pop up some windows where you choose what to do.

Note: please install from the zip files at sourceforge.net/projects/sensible-cinema/files/ and not from github’s “download” button. See the “install” section, below, for finer grained details.

Sensible cinema basically allows you to create an edited video version of the DVD, onto your hard drive, and you can watch it there. It also has some realtime playback support via the use of EDL playback in some popular video players.

How? Sensible cinema basically takes the original DVD, slices out the bad parts, then combines it back into a new file and gives you the result. It is essentially a linear editor [1] that applies Edit Decision Lists [2] to videos. It wraps a few freely available open source programs [3] to accomplish the editing for you. Note that the process can take several hours, so budget some time for it. It also has a few “realtime viewing” options available, again based on some freely available open source software [3].

On a more moral note, just because an edited video lacks profanity/sex scenes…does not immediately make it an inspiring experience. I’d suggest carefully evaluating your real values/motives, and going with those. Sensible cinema does not a clean movie make of a dirty one. Don’t watch it if it’s not uplifting! Be nice to yourself!

dove.org and common sense media are good references for discovering the “uplifting” level of movies [4]. kids-in-mind.com is also a good reference for profanity levels, though sometimes it misses profanities, and it also lacks timestamps to know when the profanities occur. Hence this project. Also note that even if you happen to have an edited copy of a DVD floating around, if you have kids, chances are they will eventually find (and watch) the unedited originals, so be careful there.

Enjoy your movies!

1: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_video_editing
2: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edit_decision_list
3: mostly GPL programs, see www.gnu.org/licenses/ VLC Media Player, Mplayer/mencoder, ffmpeg, et al.
4: lds.org/library/display/0,4945,161-1-11-1,00.html search for the word “wholesome”
5: Also known to us as “paranoid cinema” (our inside joke :).

Installation ==

Installation and usage instructions available here: rogerdpack.t28.net/sensible-cinema NB that you want to download it sourceforge, not from github downloads.

Creating Your Own Delete Lists, or modifying previously existing ones ==

See the accompanying documentation/how_to_create_your_own_delete_lists.txt file.

Creating an edited DVD ==

I don’t actually know how to do this I’ve never burned a DVD. See also is_it_legal_to_copy_dvds.txt for some caveats you should understand first. Windows DVD Maker might help, www.dvdflick.net might help. iDVD might help on mac. DO NOT MAKE ILLEGAL COPIES OF DVD’s. See is_it_legal_to_copy_dvds.txt.

FAQ ==

How do I watch these on my TV, not just on my computer?
One way is to plug your computer into your TV.

For instance, position a laptop near your TV and hook it in.  Newer TV's support this.
Or buy a very long monitor cord and plug it in from your desktop/laptop.
You could also buy a projector, attach it to your computer, and then use that to watch it.
If you're interested in also being able to "beam" it from your computer to your game console (ex: PS3) ping me--I might have 
something in mind that could help, though hasn't been created yet.  (Playon.tv does something like this, too, but
I might come up with a competitor to it if desired, as the existing one costs money).
You may be able to create your own edited DVD, see section "Creating an edited DVD"
Another good option is to purchase a clearplay DVD player, though you must also retain a subscription for it to work.

I want to give an edited DVD to a friend, how do I do that well?
Give them the original unedited DVD and a link to sensible-cinema’s website.

Caveats ==

NB that “someone” has to first create a delete list, per DVD. If one doesn’t yet exist for the DVD you want edited, you could create it yourself, or employ somebody to create it. Make sure to submit it back to us when you’re done, so that the rest of the users can benefit from it. Fortunately just one person has to do it, once, for everybody to benefit, and the editing process is not too bad.

We also have a subtitle parser which really helps locate profanity more conveniently, so that will help you build your delete list.

Also note that if your DVD has scratches that cause it to skip, the time signatures will be off, so we recommend to always clean your discs first!

Motivation ==

The initial motivation for the project was that I dislike deity profanity in movies. And really any profanity is jarring, if you’re not used to it in real life, and can put you a bit on edge when you watch a movie. Also sometimes producers put in certain scenes (read: sex scenes) just to get a desired rating. I don’t want those scenes, but still want to be able to enjoy said movies :)

I once tried Clearplay (a “filter”ed DVD player) but (for me) it didn’t cut it. It costs money monthly (I’m too cheap to pay–and many many other people don’t use it because of this…). Casual users no longer have the option to buy specific “filters” but are obliged to purchase a monthly subscription, so it doesn’t work for many casual users. Their filters sometimes don’t cut out all undesired content (ex: Saints and Soldiers left several profanities in…which wasn’t what I had expected). If your standards differ from theirs, you’re out of luck.

Clearplay apparently also runs a rather confusing subscription policy, or so I’m told [1], and their DVD players that are a bit weak at times [2]. Their DVD players aren’t quite as readily accessible (read: can’t buy them at walmart), nor as cheap to buy as some others. Clearplay also has little community collaboration/review (though you can email them feedback). They also did’t have filters for all movies that I, at times, wanted to watch edited (Condorman and Tron lacking last time I checked…probably because they are too obscure.) If there isn’t one, you basically have to request one and then hope they get around to it. Until then, you are out of luck. They might never get around to it, or it might take a bit longer than you’d hope. Or they might never. Also, some people watch movies only on computer, and they no longer seem to offer a computer player, just hardware players. They also don’t edit streamed online movies either (last time I checked, anyway), nor offer an edited blu-ray player. I also emailed them once (2003?) to inform them I’d be making an open source equivalent, and haven’t heard back, which I assume to mean implicitly they’re all for it (in reality this project is more like in-home cleanflicks than clearplay, anyway) Also clearplay isn’t quite flexible enough, editing out only profanity/sex/violence et al (and based only on their own criteria). Some users may want to, for example, skip the intro’s to specific movies (like older movies with long songs and no content during the intro) because…they want to get to the movie faster.

Or skip commercials in some personal DVD recording. Or use it on their home dvd’s. Clearplay does not allow for any of these.

Also clearplay doesn’t seem to users for example leave comments on their filters, to improve them, etc.

So overall I wanted to build my own that overcame some of these hurdles.

I also wanted to get a prototype out there of some ideas so that others can’t later patent them and pretend that they were first inventors later :)

See also the “Overly Verbose History” section.

1: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YPRW7S/ref=cm_rdp_product

"...I agree that it is not made clear on their website that if you don't continue your membership, you can't continue 
 to use the [previously downloaded] filters"

2: deseretbook.com/ClearPlay-HDMI-DVD-Player-30-Day-Trial-Membership/i/5038491

"We bought a clearplay player about 2 years ago. It worked great, until it just stopped working. I called their support line, 
 and they told us the model we got was defective, and that the new one was much better and we could get it at a discount, but 
 the next one just died also."

History ==

See the file history_and_related_works_list.txt for an overly verbose history. Also see the file change_log_with_feature_list.txt.

See the file history_and_related_works_list.txt

License ==

See the included LICENSE.TXT file for licensing and usage terms (basically it’s released under gplv3). Some other programs are (distributed separately and) used, if present. These are typically released under their own copy of the gplv2 license, though some have differing licenses.

EDL files themselves are released under the Creative Commons License, however. See first also the file “is_it_legal_to_copy_dvds.txt” for more information on legal use in your country.

Troubleshooting ==

See the file documentation/troubleshooting.txt, or contact (see the feedback/development section).

Thanks ==

Thanks to Jarmo for the win32-screenshot gem, the mini_magick gem authors, jruby guys, etc.

The combination of these tools made programming this actually something of a pleasure, and a breeze cross platform. Sensible Cinema leverages code from lots of other projects (see LICENSE.TXT)–many thanks to the authors and maintainers of said libraries, and anybody else I forgot to mention.

Feedback/Development ==

Feedback, including feature requests, comments, etc. all welcome:

Mailing List: groups.google.com/group/sensible-cinema, or just mail to [email protected]

If you’re a developer and want to help out with programmming or look and feel, etc., please do! See development.txt file, and also github.com/rdp/sensible-cinema

If you want to donate something, please consider donating to a charity of your choice.

No really.

Competition/use of files ==

Note that competition/use of files from sensible cinema is welcome!

In fact, the current end goal is to publish the delete lists (EDL’s) to a separate repository with its own API under the CC license, meaning that even “for profit” users can use them for whatever other use they want, hopefully good uses :) More direct direct competitors are also welcome here. I only made this because I had to and nothing like it existed, so if something else springs up, I’m actually happy to use it instead, too.