Find and correct skip markers

Silo is in active development before 1.0. These guides are updated frequently.

Markers tell the player where an intro, recap, credits, or preview starts and ends, so it can offer a skip button. Markers work without setup. Silo installs the TheIntroDB plugin when it starts (if it can reach the plugin catalog), looks markers up there, and detects intros and credits on the server when no online marker of that kind exists.

Choose how markers are found

1. Open Admin > Playback > Settings and find Skip markers.
2. Set Marker source:
   • Online preferred + server detection (the default) uses online markers and detects an intro or credits locally only when no online one is saved.
   • Online providers only or Detect on this server uses one method.
   • Off stops finding markers.
3. With local detection on, choose what it finds with Detect intros and Detect credits. Both are on by default. Credits detection uses more CPU than intro detection. Turning one off keeps the markers it already found.
4. With online markers on, choose whether to Save online markers with Save to library (the default) or Fetch when needed.
5. Leave Find markers on playback on to look for missing markers when someone starts playing an item. With local detection, this uses server CPU.
6. Save, then use Run now on the marker tasks below the settings, such as Sync online markers, to process existing media.

How local detection works

Silo first looks for a chapter in the file named for the intro or credits, such as Opening or End Credits, and uses it when it finds one. Otherwise:

• An episode’s intro comes from the opening audio its season shares.
• An episode’s credits come from the ending audio its season shares and from credit text on a black or plain background, so an episode with no others in its season can still get credits.
• A movie gets credits only, from the picture near the end. This is best effort: some movies get no credits marker, or one that starts late.

Finding credits involves scanning each video near the end, which is a heavy task for the CPU. With Hardware acceleration set up, Silo can do that work on the GPU instead.

Detection workers sets how many seasons or movies are analyzed at once. It defaults to 1; raise it to finish a large library sooner if your storage and CPU have room.

To skip detection for one library, turn off its switch in the library’s Advanced settings: Detect intro and credits markers for series and mixed libraries, or Detect credits markers (best effort) for movie libraries. Movie libraries you add start with it off.

Manage marker providers

1. Choose Marker providers next to Skip markers. It opens Admin > Integrations > Providers.
2. Choose Manage on a provider.
3. Use Get markers from this provider to turn lookups on or off.
4. If several providers are on, set Provider priority under Advanced. A lower number wins when two providers return a marker for the same section.
5. Choose Save, then Test connection.

Providers come from plugins. To share your server’s detected intros with a provider, turn on Allow sharing with this provider; it is off by default. TheIntroDB looks up markers without an account, but sharing needs an API key, which you add on the plugin’s page.

Silo ignores provider credits that don’t fall at the end of the file, such as credits placed on top of the intro, because the player opens Up Next where the credits start. An episode’s credits must start in the last 7:30 of the file or its last 40%, whichever is shorter. A movie’s must start in the last 15 minutes or the last 25%. They must also start after the intro ends and last at least 15 seconds, up to 7:30 for an episode or 15 minutes for a movie. If Silo already saved misplaced credits from a provider, it removes them the next time Sync online markers refreshes that file’s markers. Manual markers stay as they are until you edit them.

Detect markers again for one item

In the web app, an administrator can run local detection again for a single episode or movie, for example after replacing the file.

1. Open the episode or movie’s detail menu.
2. For an episode, choose Re-detect Markers, then Intro, Credits, or Intro and credits. A kind turned off in marker settings can’t be chosen.
3. For a movie, choose Re-detect Credits.

Silo shows Re-detection started and analyzes the item in the background. Manual markers and online markers stay as they are.

Correct a marker

In the web app, an administrator or a user with Marker editing permission can edit markers for movies and episodes they can access in Movie, Series, and Mixed libraries.

To let a user edit markers, open Admin > Users, open the user, choose Access & limits, then choose Edit under Library access. Turn on Marker editing and save. If the user’s access group limits permissions, the group must allow Marker editing too. On an administrator account, only the primary profile can edit markers without this permission.

1. Open the movie or episode’s detail menu and choose Edit Markers.
2. Enter start and end times for the segment, for example 1:30 and 2:45. The end must be after the start. Credits must also fit the same limits as provider credits, or Silo won’t save them.
3. Choose Save.
4. Play that section of the same file and check where the skip button lands.

To remove a marker, use the clear button beside its segment, then choose Save. Silo keeps that kind of marker off the file through later lookups, detection, and rescans, including after you replace the file under the same name. To add it back, enter its times and save again. Other marker kinds and other versions of the title keep their markers. Recent changes in the same dialog shows who changed what, and Admin > Playback > Skip Markers lists recent manual edits across the server.

A saved change applies to everyone who plays that file. Players that are already open pick it up without a rescan.

A manual marker takes priority over online and detected markers, so later lookups and detection don’t replace it. Only another manual edit does.

Chapter images are configured separately in playback settings.