Showing all but selected clips

This section of the documentation will teach you to:

Access the DVD from within EFR Aid
- The manner of accessing the DVD in order to define a clip differs from the manner of accessing a DVD in order to watch it.
Get into the main title of the DVD
- You must get into the main title of the DVD (which is usually but not always Title 1) in order to start defining clips.
Define a clip
- The controls in EFR Aid allow you to define any section of the film as a clip. In this case, you will be defining clips that you do not want to see.
Fine tune the clip
- You may make adjustments to the start and stop points of the clip in order to get the skipped clip just right.
Add notes to the clip
- Notes can be added and a color may be assigned to the clip. Clips are assigned colors to distinguish which clips should be played and which clips should not. Clips to be skipped are assigned the color red. Clips that some users may find offensive can be assigned the color yellow.
Save the clip
- Once the clip is ready, you will save it to the cliplist. The clips in the cliplist show up in the clips window. Once the clips are in the clips window, they may be saved to a text file called a segmentation file.
Preview the skip you have created
- The EFR Aid controls allow you to fill in all of the clips around the clip you would like to skip. This allows you to see how the film will play without the skipped clip. If you are not pleased with the skip you have created, you may continue fine tuning the skipped clip.
Export the cliplist as an EFR file
- In order to be able to create a playlist that can be run in the EFR Video Player, you will need to export your cliplist as an EFR file. An EFR is an xml file that defines all of the clips in your cliplist, the names of the clips, and other important data.
Create a playlist from the EFR file you created
- Using CDL builder, you can compile your EFR file to a playlist that the EFR Video Player can run.
Run the playlist in the EFR Video Player
- The CDL file you create with CDL Builder tells the EFR Video Player which clips to skip as the film is playing.

Accessing the DVD

How to access the DVD in order to start defining clips

The method for accessing the DVD in order to define clips is different from accessing a DVD in order to simply watch it.

Insert the DVD into the drive. Windows may ask you what you want to do with the inserted DVD.
Attention: If your DVD automatically starts playing in a program on your computer, exit that program. Only one program has control of the DVD at a time. It is important to exit any other DVD programs so that EFR Aid can take control of the DVD.
Select Take no action.
Open EFR Aid.
Attention: Before starting to define your clip, it is important to check that there are no processor-intensive programs running on your computer. DVD playback (within any program) normally requires all system resources. It is a good idea to only have EFR Aid and your internet browser (to display this documentation) running on your computer while using EFR Aid.
Within EFR Aid, in the Video Source drop-down menu, select your DVD drive.

The DVD is now being controlled by EFR Aid.

Getting into the main title

Before you can define clips, you must get into the main title of the DVD.

If the previews cannot be skipped by pressing the main menu button, use the chapter skip button to get to the main menu.
Note: The domain status is displayed in the navigation panel below the title information. You must be in domain 4 in order to navigate the DVD. Some DVDs are programmed to prohibit the skipping of previews to jump directly to the menu.

Note: You can also drag the slider to the end of the slider bar to access the main menu.
Use the DVD menu options to begin playing the film.
Note: You need to get into the main title (which is often, but not always, title 1) before defining clips. The main title must be in domain 4 in order for clips to be defined.

Defining a clip (to skip)

The EFR system allows you to decide where the clip will start and where it will end. A clip can be as long or as short as you like. A clip may be more than an hour or just a few seconds long. The chapters and scenes that already exist on the DVD do not limit you as you define clips. Your clips may span the chapters or scenes of the DVD without a problem. When customizing a film to exclude certain parts, clips are defined in order to tell the EFR system what segments of a film should be skipped.

Before defining clips to skip, you should have an idea of the parts of the film you would like to skip. If you are skipping a part of the film that is visually offensive, you may want to get a sense for where you would like the skipped clip to start and end from audio queues in the film. With good audio queues for the start and stop points of a clip, the visuals are no longer important and you can temporarily blank the screen by pressing Blank at the top of the EFR Aid window. This allows you to set the start and stop points of the skipped clip without having to watch the offensive material repeatedly. If the audio of the clip you want to skip is offensive, you can watch for visual queues and press Mute to avoid hearing the audio during any additional passes needed to definine the clip. Noting audio and visual queues will assure that once you actually define the clip, the start and stop points will be close to where you want them and the clip will need less fine-tuning.

Use the buttons in the navigation panel or the slider to get to the point in the film where you want the skipped clip to start.
Press the Set Start button in the clip definition panel.

The start point can also be set manually by entering a frame code in the text box below the Set Start button.
Define the stop point of the clip:
1. Navigate to the point in the film where you want your skipped clip to stop.
2. Set the stop point of the skipped clip using the Set Stop button or the text box below it.
Important: With the start and stop points set, the clip is defined but not saved. The next section of the documentation provides instructions for saving clips and clip lists.

Note: The start and stop points of the clip can be set on-the-fly or while the film is paused. You can play the defined clip with the play button in the Clip Definition panel. Don't worry if your clip is not defined exactly as you would like it. The fine tuning section of this documentation provides instructions for adjusting the start and stop points of a clip (there are alternatives to watching the skipped clip repeatedly).
Select red in the Color drop-down menu.

Note: Assigning the clip the color red ensures that you can easily tell the EFR system it should be skipped.

Saving clips

It is a good idea to save your clip now in order to avoid accidentally changing your start and stop points. This section of the documentation explains how to save your clip to a clip list in the Clips window. You will then learn how to access saved clips in the Clips window in order to modify them.

Save the clip by pressing the Save the current clip button in the Clip Definition panel.

Note: The saved clip will appear a new window called the Clips window. As you continue defining clips in the Clip Definition panel and saving them, they will be added to the Clips window.

Tip: You can fine tune a clip and add notes to it after it has been saved by highlighting selecting the clip and pressing the Edit the selected clip button in the Clips window. After you are done modifying the clip, simply press the Save the current clip button and the clip will be saved to the clip list.
Press the Save clip list button in the Clips window to save the clip to a file.
Note: As you add clips or make changes to existing clips, periodically save them to the file you created.

Fine tuning

Fine tuning the clip is easy with EFR Aid. It should be noted however that because of the limitations of DVD decoders (external to the EFR system), your start and stop points may be slightly different than desired and very minute changes are impossible. This is because the DVD decoders are not able to take the film to a specific frame code in the film. The decoders are only able to take the film to the closest I-frame of the film and therefore making minute changes of a few frame codes may not make a difference in where the clip begins or ends.

Differences in start or stop points of a clip are only noticeable once the frame code you have entered has become closer to a different I-frame and the clip starts or stops there. If you change a frame code and no difference in the clip is apparent, try changing the frame code in small increments until the clip has a noticeable change.

Press the Insert clips to fill all undefined gaps button in the Clips window.
Note:

Even though there are only three clips before your clip and three after, these six clips consist of the rest of the film (whatever is not part of your red clip). EFR Aid inserts three clips in any gap in your clip list. The first clip of each group of three is an "A clip", the second a "B clip" and the third a "C clip". "A" and "C" clips are designed to be very short to facilitate fine tuning a skip.

This will fill in all of the parts of the movie you did not define as clips. The automatically inserted clips will be green. If you have one red clip defined for skipping it will be preceded by three green clips and followed by three green clips.
Click the red Skip Colors check box below the buttons in the Clips window.

Now when you play your cliplist EFR Aid will skip any clips that are red.
Select the green clip that comes before the red clip in your cliplist.
Press the Play the cliplist from this clip onward button.

EFR Aid will now start playing your cliplist starting with the green clip you selected. With the red Skip Colors check box checked, the program will play the short green clip, skip the red clip, and resume playback with the green clip that follows.

You now have a preview of what the skip will look like when you complete your playlist and play it in the EFR Video Player. The brevity of the "C" clips helps you start viewing your preview of the skip a few moments before the skip happens.

If you would like to adjust where the skip starts and stops, follow the remaining directions in this section. These directions will teach you how to adjust the start point of the skip to be earlier in the film but the manner of fine tuning a skip is the same for making the start point later or the stop point earlier/later in the film. If you are satisfied with the skip, continue on to the Adding notes section.
Select the red clip you would like to adjust in the Clips window.
Press the Edit the selected clip button in the Clips window.

The clip information will appear in the Clip Definition panel. The clip is now ready to be fine tuned. If the Edit the selected clip button is grayed out (cannot be pressed), the clip is already ready to be edited in the Clip Definition panel.
Press the down arrow next to the frame code in the Set Start box to make the clip start earlier. Remember that whatever is included in the red clip will be skipped.
Note: This will change the frame code in the Set Start box by a certain increment in order to make the clip start earlier.

Note: You may change the increment for the arrow button frame code changes by going to File > Options... > Navigation and adjusting the Slider Nudge Increment. When changing the increment, remember the DVD decoder limitations noted at the beginning of this section of the documentation (if the increment is small, the arrow button may need to be pressed several times before a change in the clip can be seen).

Important: In addition to using the arrow buttons to adjust the frame code in the Set Start or Set Stop boxes, you can also adjust the frame code manually by typing in a new number or highlighting the last few digits and replacing them.
Resave the clip in the Clip Definition panel. The clip will now be saved back in the Clips window, but in order to see the change you have made to the skip, you will need to remove the auto-inserted clips and then reinsert them. This will adjust the green clips so that they will stop right before your red clip and resume right after the red clip is finished playing.
Continue making adjustments to the red clip until you are satisfied with the skip that is created in the cliplist.
Note: When fine tuning the stop point of a clip, you may find the From text box useful. If you enter 100 in the From text box, and press the play button in the Clip Definition panel, EFR Aid will start playing 100 frames from the end point of the clip. This helps when you are trying to fine tune the stop point of a lengthy clip and you don't want to keep watching the entire clip to see the difference in where the clip stops.

Adding notes

Various notes can be added to each clip. None of these notes are necessary. They do however add valuable functionality and versatility to the EFR system. Some of these notes are relavant only to clips that will be skipped.

Name the clip in the clip name text box.
Red should be selected in the Color drop-down menu. Red is used for clips you want the EFR system to skip.
Note: Use the Reason for Color to describe why the clip was assigned the color red (why you want the clip to be skipped e.g. nudity).
Use the Relevance drop-down menu to indicate whether the skipped clip contains audio or video that is relevant to the plot of the film.
Note: The value of the Relevance drop-down menu helps developers determine whether a filler synopsis needs to be created to replace the skipped clip to ensure that the viewer understands the plot of the film.
Use the Annotations field to add any desired annotations to the clip.
Note: These annotations normally show up at the bottom of the screen as the clip plays in a playlist. Because the clip you defined will be skipped, these annotations will not show up when the playlist is played, they will only show up in the file that EFR Aid creates (the segmentation file).
Press the Save the current clip button in the Clip Definitionpanel to resave the clip (with your newly added notes) to the cliplist.

Previewing skips

Make sure all of your defined clips are red.
Select the red skip colors box at the top of the clips window.
Press the fill undefined gaps button in the clips window.
Note: Clips that are automatically inserted by this button can be removed by the button to the right of it.
Select the first clip in the window and press the play cliplist from this clip onwards button.
Note: If the clips need to be adjusted refer to fine-tuning a clip.
The green clips which were auto-filled will play while the red clips you have defined will be skipped.

Exporting EFRs

Exporting EFR files enables you to open the list of defined clips in the CDL Builder

Make sure that you have inserted green auto-fill clips between the red clips you have defined
If you have made adjustments to the red clips you have defined since the last time you auto-filled:
1. Remove the auto-filled clips with the Remove all Auto-inserted Clips button
2. Press the auto-fill button to insert clips into all undefined gaps once again
This ensures that all auto-filled clips are updated to match your changes to the defined clips
Before exporting your clips as an EFR file, always save the cliplist Saving the cliplist allows you to come back and make adjustments to the clips if necessary. After the necessary adjustments are made the cliplist can be exported once again as an EFR file.
When you are finished defining your group of clips for a film, select File > Export Cliplist > Export as EFR (see EFRs and CDLs)

Exporting EFRs (to skip)

Exporting EFR files enables you to open the list of defined clips in the CDL Builder

Make sure that you have inserted green auto-fill clips between the red clips you have defined
If you have made adjustments to the red clips you have defined since the last time you auto-filled:
1. Remove the auto-filled clips with the Remove all Auto-inserted Clips button
2. Press the auto-fill button to insert clips into all undefined gaps once again
This ensures that all auto-filled clips are updated to match your changes to the defined clips
Before exporting your clips as an EFR file, always save the cliplist Saving the cliplist allows you to come back and make adjustments to the clips if necessary. After the necessary adjustments are made the cliplist can be exported once again as an EFR file.
When you are finished defining your group of clips for a film, select File > Export Cliplist > Export as EFR (see EFRs and CDLs)

Creating playlists (to skip)

Using CDL Builder to create playlists

Open CDL Builder
Select Open EFR file from the file menu Once you have opened your EFR file, three check boxes and a plus symbol will appear in the left box.
Because you are selecting clips which will be skipped, click the tab that says VCL View: edit list of blocked clips. A list of all the red clips you defined and the auto-filled green clips will appear with check boxes next to them. This view allows you to select which clips will be blocked.
Check the box next to each red clip.
Press the Automatically Build Default Playlist button

The file should be saved in the data folder within the EFRUser folder by default. Your playlist is now saved and ready to use in the EFR VideoPlayer.

Running playlists (to skip)

Open the EFR VideoPlayer.
Select your DVD drive in the video source drop-down menu.
Use the menu button, skip button, or slider bar to get into the main title.
Pause the film once you are in the main title.
Select Open Playlist from the file menu.
Note: This should open your data folder within the EFRUser folder. If it doesn't open the data folder:
1. Select Set Playlist Folder from the file menu. Navigate to your EFRUser folder and select the data folder within EFRUser. Now when you select Open Playlist from the file menu, you will see the CDL files in your data folder.
Select your CDL file. The EFR VideoPlayer will start playing the film from the first green clip in your CDL file and continue playback skipping all of the red clips you targeted for skipping in the CDL Builder (the red clips have been removed from the playlist). The clip information will appear next to the domain information in the lower panel. You can navigate through the film by using the regular navigation buttons. The jump button allows you to jump to any clip in the playlist. The replay button allows you to replay the current clip.