Hello everybody,

For people who would like to play DVD-AUDIO discs on PC (including watermarked DVD-A):
simple, buggy alpha, but working software player
ShaPLAY (http://rapidshare.de/files/47331468/ShaPLAY_0_5.zip.html)
http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090528/guRb1Rp1aB.png

http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090528/YhxUr1Px5M.png

http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090528/Wr4G7dpLfW.png

I recommend to use ffdshow_tryouts as WAV-decoder and post-processing (not as a default decoder, just installed) - SVN builds (http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/download.php)will be ok.

26/03/09 - UPDATED TO V.0.0.2.3a, readme for this version will be availible tomorow.
Some functional improvements, tested for XP32/MCE2005, Vista32, Vista64.
Working with ffdshow, waveparser or default Windows filter for Wav-files.

02/04/09 - UPDATED TO V.0.3a.

Version numeration changed: v0.0.3.0a -> v0.3a

File compiled as 'Release' for removing debug info/reducing size
[+] Added: DLL-interface support for remotes (open source)
[+] Added: Working RemoteControl.dll example for Microsoft MCE Remote 2.0
[+] Added: OPEN button (select AUDIO_TS.IFO file for start)
[+] Added: STOP button

Fixed: Now you can enter the path to root DVD-A folder, to AUDIO_TS folder or directly to AUDIO_TS.IFO file

Fixed: Possible crash when ffdshow tries to read data after graph end

Fixed: Extended characters limit in edit box for DVDA path

Fixed: Crash at disc eject. But native Windows' message still appears

v0.4a - 13.04.2009
[+] Added: Indicating 0:00 at track startup
[+] Added: Time stamps in extended logging
[+] Added: Autostart of the disc when using Open button
[+] Added: Direct connection to 'DirectSound Renderer', w/o DirectShow-filters
[+] Added: Eject button
[+] Added: Turning on/off DVDA-disc info logging (now on default=off)
[+] Added: Possible to change GUID of DirectShow Renderer (in cfg file)
[+] Added: Simple volume control in DS-graph (logarithmic scale)
[+] Added: Statusbar with some track data, track info is removed from caption
[+] Added: Internal queue for pressed buttons
[+] Added: '<<' (Prev Title) and '>>' (Next Title) buttons
[+] Added: Setting for "Don't resume after Next/Prev"
[+] Added: Tooltips for some buttons
[+] Added: RemoteControl.DLL for MCE now sends CMD_CLOSE by button 'Info'
Fixed: Skip of last 2-3 seconds on some tracks

Fixed: Problem while loading from cfg folder name with spaces

Fixed: Pauses between tracks are minimized (now from 150 to 400ms)

Fixed: CMD_CLOSE from remotes was not working
Fixed: Possible crash with WaveParser+BuildFullGraph

Fixed: Crash on slow CPU when pressing NEXT/PREV

Fixed: PAUSE/RESUME button do not changes state after NEXT/PREV
Fixed: Crash on small tracks (1-2 sec)
Fixed: Crash when pressing Next/Prev several times

v0.5a - 27.05.2009

Fixed: Background colors on some elements

Fixed: Main window customization

Fixed: Added bit/freq info to standard logging

Fixed: Video titles now are skipped now

Fixed: Ctrl-A shortcut now works in edit box

Fixed: 'Enter' key in edit box now starts playback
[+] Added: Separate 'Settings' window
[+] Added: Settings for ReClock support (testing only, use v1.8.4.4+)
[+] Added: New setting: Skip of 166.4/192kHz tracks
[+] Added: Controls for Logging, ExtendedLogging and GUID settings
[+] Added: ISO-images support (EXPERIMENTAL)
[+] Added: Disc information window
[+] Added: New setting: Linearize volume control (default is logarithmic)
[+] Added: Gapless playback of title

Anyone get this to work? Crashes for me.
I only installed the MLP codec from ffdshow.
It does write a log recognizing the disc files.

My Creative player works fine, but tried this out of curiousity.

Anyone get this to work? Crashes for me.
I only installed the MLP codec from ffdshow.
It does write a log recognizing the disc files.

For me it works not perfect but always :)
You don't really need MLP decoder from ffdshow (player does MLP->PCM decoding itself), you have to set "uncompressed" decoder to "all supported":
http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090308/E15zVW9FXN.jpg

And ffdshow info will look like:
http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090308/kymLEliG4x.jpg

If it will not help, I can try to create more detailed log for it.

My Creative player works fine, but tried this out of curiousity.
As I know, your Creative player will not play watermarked DVD-A. Or?

For me it works not perfect but always :)
You don't really need MLP decoder from ffdshow (player does MLP->PCM decoding itself), you have to set "uncompressed" decoder to "all supported":
http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090308/E15zVW9FXN.jpg

And ffdshow info will look like:
http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090308/kymLEliG4x.jpg

If it will not help, I can try to create more detailed log for it.


As I know, your Creative player will not play watermarked DVD-A. Or?

Thanks for responding. I have some friends that could benefit from a software player.

My Creative player plays any DVDA disc, although it has problems with track points on a "continuous" DVDA, but then so does my Oppo.

I have a heavy work schedule for a bit, but I will try your suggestions next weekend.
If you wish to contact me via PM, I will get back with you as soon as I can and we can exchange email addy's if you like.
We need folks that develop solutions for MCH audio, on the PC especially.

So, is this pretty much the only option for playing DVD-A in Vista (rip or disc)? Any chaance it integrates with Vista Media Center? Thanks!

If you wish to contact me via PM, I will get back with you as soon as I can and we can exchange email addy's if you like.
We need folks that develop solutions for MCH audio, on the PC especially.
Hi,
I think it can be more useful if we will discuss the progress in thread. The player is so pre-pre-pre-release, so a lot of people who will try this will have may be the same problems as you. Sharing the solutions will be the best way.


We need folks that develop solutions for MCH audio, on the PC especially.
I do it for myself, but why not to share it with some of you who just wants to play DVD-A? Till now the only ways to play DVD-A (except of HW-players) were PowerDVD, WinDVD and Creative DVD-A player. All of them have limitations. I'm not a senior programmer, but I try to create simple player that can do the only thing - play DVD-A.


So, is this pretty much the only option for playing DVD-A in Vista (rip or disc)? Any chaance it integrates with Vista Media Center? Thanks!

Have you tried it on pure Vista? Is it working ok?
I plan to create "hosted-HTML Application" for my MCE2005 (it must be compatible with Vista Media Center), but I will need somebody for testing in Vista. Will you? :)
I will try to support in this app also DTS, WV, FLAC and APE tracks (but you will have to install also source filters for these formats, not only ffdshow_tryouts).

Well, it appears to be working fine for me.
I've tried it with an ISO of a DVDA mounted in Daemon Tools, as well as a DVDA disc I made with Disc Welder and a commercial DVDA disc in my DVD burner and they all play fine. :)

Thanks much for this tool!

EDIT: I'm using XP SP3, FWIW.

Well, it appears to be working fine for me.
...
Thanks much for this tool!


You welcome!
Still have freezes at end of some tracks (for example, Rob Thomas "Something to be", track 4), will try to fix it in new release.
May be, it will be pre-beta, not pre-alpha :)

Hey this is just great!!! Worked fine on my windows xp machines. Talking Heads "Burning down the house" froze after the first song. But this is a great program for those who don't have a Creative soundcard. I have a Creative soundcard with the dvd-a player, but it won't play the watermarked discs, so this is just awesome. I can't wait until this gets developed more.

Doom9 would be a much better place to develop this program and have the official thread

The link to discussion at doom9 forum:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=145660

Now - obviously, the optimum goal would be for something like MPC-HC to be able to play DVD-A with the full menus and background images

I think, the guys from MPC-HC development team will do the DVDA support in near feature, they have almost everything for it inside MCP-HC right now. Hope, my simple player will be the next step for pushing them this side also, not just video playback.
From my side I will 1) try to fix biggest bugs in this player, without adding more functionality, 2) create a software for integrating it with MCE2005/VMC (I plan also add FLAC/DTS/APE/WV support), 3) may be - dll with open interface, so you can create any GUI-frontend that you wish.

But do you have to set the ffdshow output to 24-bit? Eventually it'd be cool (if feasible) to have no need for ffdshow (like foobar) so that the user doesn't have to worry about configuring that complicated program and just knows that full quality output is given.

In reality ffdshow is not a complicated program for usage. The most settings after installation is turned off, so you just have to set up the mixer. Or just leave it off for one-to-one output.
Here is the screentshot from ffdshow 96000/24bit output for 5.1 disc (it was REM, The best Of):
http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090318/dbUNsEkm1e.jpg

BTW be sure to use the latest MLP decoder as time goes on. It's still being updated at FFmpeg and is not yet finalised.
Will check it after I finish all other issues. So far it works super for me (I mean MLP->WAV decoding).

Have you tried it on pure Vista? Is it working ok?
I plan to create "hosted-HTML Application" for my MCE2005 (it must be compatible with Vista Media Center), but I will need somebody for testing in Vista. Will you? :)

I would definitely like to give it try. Free time is a bit limited right now with a one-month old at home. As soon as I have an hour to spare, I'd love to give it a try.

Well, how do we know that? I haven't contacted the guy(s) at MPC-HC, but it's been a full year since they've had all the resources for it. And actually, in my limited understanding of it, I think it would take a fair bit of new code to add it to MPC-HC.

MPC-HC team has lot to do with new things like API or MLP/TrueHD support or DXVA support for G45 and so on. I hope, that they at least plan to support DVDA. Of course, the guys have to implement a lot of code, but mommyman left us very clear code, even I (not a senior programmer, without any knowledge of QT programming or DVD-A!) was able to make small player...


Also, MPC-HC is not updated that often, so I don't know when we could count on them doing anything soon....

This statement is wrong, sorry. Take a look:
http://www.xvidvideo.ru/content/view/7/17/
More than 60 (!!!) builds only during year 2009!

The sources of each MPC-HC build are availible from official sourceforge website (http://mpc-hc.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/mpc-hc/), for binaries I use this site (http://www.xvidvideo.ru/content/category/1/1/2/).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ShaPLAY UPDATED TO VERSION 0.0.2.2a. PLEASE USE THE LINK AT TOPIC START.

UPDATED TO VERSION 0.0.2.3, LINK IS ABOVE.

A lot of changes inside, visual and functional.
The new version (0.0.2.3) has some imrovement for finally fix the frrezes at some tracks end. Can somebody report that it still happens?

Thanks for doing all this. I tested it on the Pink Floyd DSotM 4 channel DVD-A and it worked great. Now I will go look for some content at the local used disk joint and see what I can find! I am really glad someone finally got around to putting something like this together.

UPDATED TO VERSION 0.0.2.3, LINK IS ABOVE.

A lot of changes inside, visual and functional.
The new version (0.0.2.3) has some imrovement for finally fix the frrezes at some tracks end. Can somebody report that it still happens?

This works very well. Even has a clock. Cool. Thanks for this new tool.

So, new version is ready - 0.3a.
It does almost everything I need, so functionaly will not be changed deeply in new verisons, only some bugs.
Almost RELEASE.
Enjoy! Now with remotes also :)

There's a few discs that have no watermark that my Creative dvd-audio player refuses to recognize or play, so I tried it with the ShaPLAY and it played without any problems. Very nice simple player that seems to now play everything I throw at it. I love this part in your notes "it is music player, so listen to music, do not look at interface window." :D Thank you again for this player!

Will shaPLAY work if I am using the 7.1 analog connection between my PC and my pre-pro or is an an HDMI connection required?

Thanks.

ShaPLAY will send output data to "Default DirectShow Renderer", so it's up to you how to connect your speakers - directly or via AVR. I have no 7.1 discs for testing, but why will it not work? Try and tell us.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm NOT talking about connecting speakers directly to my PC. I'm asking about the connection type between the PC and the AVR. Does it matter whether this connection is HDMI or analog? Anyway, I'm hoping to find time to try for myself this afternoon.

ShaPLAY doesn't care about physical connections. It will use default DirectSound device (it is set up by Windows) via 'Default DirectSound Render'. It's up to you how you will transport sound - just configure windows to do it (sound card drivers, DirectX, 'Default output device' and so on). So let say, if you hear 5.1 sound now when you watching movie - your system has Default DirectSound device and it must be no any problem.

Great. Thanks. Also, can you clarify... I thougt I read somewhere that dvdaexplorer needs to be installed for ShaPlay to work. Is this so? If so, where can I obtain dvdaexplorer? Thanks.

No, you don't need DVDAExplorer. You have read that ShaPLAY is based on DVDAExplorer sources.

Finally found a few minutes to give ShaPLAY a try today. I did not install ffdshow. I used the default settings of "use default filter" and leaving "Build Complete DirectShow Graph" unselected. Much easier to get working than I had expected! A few notes on my experience:


The first disk I tried was AIX Records' Lawence Jubar Guitar Noir. Worked perfectly.
Metallica Black Album caused ShaPLAY to stop working.
The transitions between tracks on The Beatles Love DVD-A were problematic. I assume this is due to the known bug?
The basic functions of my remote - play, stop, pause, next forward - worked without any configuration needed.


Is there any way to (1) launch ShaPlay from within Vista Media Center and (2) is there any way to navigate the Open command using a remote?

Also, just out of curiosity, is there any benefit to having ffdshow installed?

Thanks!!

Metallica Black Album caused ShaPLAY to stop working.

This album is seems to be encrypted as I know. I also can't start it.

The transitions between tracks on The Beatles Love DVD-A were problematic. I assume this is due to the known bug?

Please describe detailed what is 'problematic' with this disc, I will try to repeat it.

Is there any way to (1) launch ShaPlay from within Vista Media Center

Just read last paragraph in readme and wait a little...

(2) is there any way to navigate the Open command using a remote?

No. May be in future version will be small playlist with navigation from remote.

Also, just out of curiosity, is there any benefit to having ffdshow installed?

Well, ffdshow is a very powerful all-in-one set of audio and video codecs. I recommend it becouse it really stable, open-source and powerful in post-processing (if you need). I have only ffdshow and haali splitter on my HTPC - it is enough for all music and movies. With ffdshow you can also do some difficult things, like switching audio streams and subtitles in mkv/avi files. Try it, it takes couple of minutes for installation and you can uninstall it every moment.

Just for me: Do you have MS MCE Remote or something else but compatible?

With regard to the Love DVD-A... not sure if you have ever listened to this one, but the tracks really flow from one into the next. However, when I play using ShaPLAY, there is this major "chopiness" between tracks. I assume this is being caused by the bug in which the end of sogs gets cut off?

I am currently using a Harmony remote with a standard MCE USB IR receiver. My PC also has a built-in Soundgraph IR receiver that I broke but hope to fix and start using again.

As an FYI, I do not have a keyboard connected to my HTPC. So, my hope is that someday ShaPLAY can be fully navigated with a remote.

Thanks for your work on this!!!

I just listened to The Beatles Love dvd-a (windows xp, ffdshow) and didn't notice any problems except for the 2 second gap in between songs. Some discs are meant to play with gapless playback such as the Love album and Pink Floyd's DSOTM. Is this the problem you're noticing, or is it something else?

Thanks for keeping up the good work.

Any chance you could put together a player for MLP files?
My Creative player will play 5.1 MLP just fine, but when I encode MLP as 5.0 it drops the left rear speaker (a known bug).
Note I'm not speaking about the Creative DVDA player.

I prefer not to encode a LFE track, and let the (hardware) player do it instead. But I have the pc patched to the HT for previewing, as I find it quicker than burning a DVD-RW.

Or, is there a solution out there already?
I've recently checked the VLC & (Hydrogen Audio) Foobar sites and did'nt see a solution there.

Thanks.

Thanks for keeping up the good work.

Any chance you could put together a player for MLP files?
My Creative player will play 5.1 MLP just fine, but when I encode MLP as 5.0 it drops the left rear speaker (a known bug).
Note I'm not speaking about the Creative DVDA player.

I prefer not to encode a LFE track, and let the (hardware) player do it instead. But I have the pc patched to the HT for previewing, as I find it quicker than burning a DVD-RW.

Or, is there a solution out there already?
I've recently checked the VLC & (Hydrogen Audio) Foobar sites and did'nt see a solution there.

Thanks.

Try the DigionAudio player for MLP playback. Like the Creative player you can make playlists, and no worry about the watermark.

Any chance you could put together a player for MLP files?
No any chance.
Try DigiOn2 as David wrote, or Winamp 5 + MLP plugin. MLP plugin can be downloaded separate, but it can be that it is included already in new versions. Check it.

I just listened to The Beatles Love dvd-a (windows xp, ffdshow) and didn't notice any problems except for the 2 second gap in between songs. Some discs are meant to play with gapless playback such as the Love album and Pink Floyd's DSOTM. Is this the problem you're noticing, or is it something else?

Yup, this is the problem I was referring to.

FYI, I found two more discs that error out in the same way that the Metallica disc did... Fleetwood Mac Rumors and Steely Dan Gaucho.

At first, I liked the idea of having a dedicated DVD-Audio player which is not overbloated:) However its creator insists on not-adding independent buttons for pausing, resuming and stopping the playback. :mad: Besides, it seems that a simple seeking bar, OR the REW + FF buttons, is "too much of an effort" for his limited programming skills. Not to mention that he appears to believe its great application MUST NEED at least a double-core processor && 2GB of RAM in order to use DirectShow properly. :eek:

Will he ever "wake up" ???

At first, I liked the idea of having a dedicated DVD-Audio player which is not overbloated:) However its creator insists on not-adding independent buttons for pausing, resuming and stopping the playback. :mad: Besides, it seems that a simple seeking bar, OR the REW + FF buttons, is "too much of an effort" for his limited programming skills. Not to mention that he appears to believe its great application MUST NEED at least a double-core processor && 2GB of RAM in order to use DirectShow properly. :eek:

Will he ever "wake up" ???
Wow Midzuki, could you be more rude? And on your first post at AVS to boot! If it so easy why don't you quit whining, get off your butt and do it yourself? Or maybe your skills are too "limited"...

At first, I liked the idea of having a dedicated DVD-Audio player which is not overbloated:) However its creator insists on not-adding independent buttons for pausing, resuming and stopping the playback. :mad: Besides, it seems that a simple seeking bar, OR the REW + FF buttons, is "too much of an effort" for his limited programming skills. Not to mention that he appears to believe its great application MUST NEED at least a double-core processor && 2GB of RAM in order to use DirectShow properly. :eek:

Will he ever "wake up" ???

My version of ShaPLAY does have the features Midzuki claims "its creator insists on not adding." I recommend to Midzuki that he/she download the tool and use it. Midzuki will be pleasantly surprised to see there are independent buttons for pausing, resuming and stopping the playback.

I believe its you, Midzuki, who needs to wake up.

@ georgeshannon:

It seems Shadson has sent you a special version of Shaplay.exe via a private message. :rolleyes: The latest version that I downloaded from the filesharing site he indicated does NOT have independent buttons for pausing, playing and stopping
[ "pause" and "play/resume" share the same one button,
whereas the "stop" button does much more than simply stopping the playback ---
--- ABSOLUTELY, CRYSTAL-, -CLEAR ??? ].

@ Sherbona:

Shadson does have been ruder to me in Doom9 than I am being to him in this AVS thread. Yes, I do think that wannabe programmers really deserve some rudeness at times. "Freeware" and/or "open-sourcing" are no acceptable excuses for an intentionally-lousy job.

@ [B]Yes, I do think that wannabe programmers really deserve some rudeness at times. "Freeware" and/or "open-sourcing" are no acceptable excuses for intentionally-lousy jobs.

intentionally lousy jobs? Show me another player out there pay or free that does what his player does. No? Didn't think so. He's made several updates with improvements from the original which was released a whopping one month ago. I don't really understand the hostility. If you have constructive criticism or requests for changes to be made to the player perhaps you should learn how to ask in a civilized way.

@ Sherbona:

Shadson does have been ruder to me in Doom9 than I am being to him in this AVS thread. Yes, I do think that wannabe programmers really deserve some rudeness at times. "Freeware" and/or "open-sourcing" are no acceptable excuses for an intentionally-lousy job.
Oh hush child - lose that sense of self-entitlement already. The reality is that programmers who share their work for free can do whatever they want as far as design and functionality. If you don't like the result then you are free not to use it.

Hard for me to imagine Shadson being rude!

@ georgeshannon:

It seems Shadson has sent you a special version of Shaplay.exe via a private message. :rolleyes: The latest version that I downloaded from the filesharing site he indicated does NOT have independent buttons for pausing, playing and stopping
[ "pause" and "play/resume" share the same one button,
whereas the "stop" button does much more than simply stopping the playback ---
--- ABSOLUTELY, CRYSTAL-, -CLEAR ??? ].

Midzuki,

Check out post #1 in this thread. You can see the buttons you claim are not there. That's the version I have. You need to feel around and see if you're still in bed.

FYI, I found two more discs that error out in the same way that the Metallica disc did... Fleetwood Mac Rumors and Steely Dan Gaucho.
Will try to check this albums, but I need some time for it (I don't have them now). Can you post here or send me as PM log files that were generated when you tried to start these DVDAs? Are they not encrypted?

Wow congratulations Shadson for your nice work!
I just found this thread and I'm amazed that finally someone made a free DVD-A SW player!
It plays wonderfully my original DVD-A disc.
Thanks for your work, and that you shared it, and hope we will see some improvements later. :respect:

And this should be a nice companion to the open source DVD-Audio Tools package!

Hi all,
New version 0.4a is released. The changes log is _HUGE_.

Yeah, that's very great! Thanks really for your work Shadson!
Those are great improvements in the 0.4 version!
The statusbar is very nice!
Now we have Volume Button, and Bit-perfect playback.
BTW in the info text file, in the last paragraph, you're wrong about analog and SPDIF, because bit-perfect playing is important for digital output (SPDIF) and not for those who use analog connection. :D

I can confirm now that Queen - A Night At the Opera tracks are played completely, and not skipping the last seconds. :thankx:

you're wrong about analog and SPDIF, because bit-perfect playing is important for digital output (SPDIF) and not for those who use analog connection. :D
Well, "Ages to live, ages to learn" - proverb in native language.
Are you sure? Ok, understood with SPDIF. And if I use HDMI? :confused:

Well, "Ages to live, ages to learn" - proverb in native language.
Are you sure? Ok, understood with SPDIF. And if I use HDMI? :confused:

I'm not expert in that case, but yeah bit-perfect probably matters with HDMI also, I guess. I leave this question for others.
And for your first question, no, now I'm not sure. Bit-perfect maybe also important for people who use analog, in the sense if they have a good DAC in their soundcard, and they want to be sure that the sound-stream arrives to their DAC is bit-perfect. Then finally they got analog connection, but in this case bit-perfect also counts.
So forget my first comment on this. :D

FYI, I found two more discs that error out in the same way that the Metallica disc did... Fleetwood Mac Rumors and Steely Dan Gaucho.
Got Rumours.
With v0.4a was played perfectly (titles with 12 tracks 6ch MLP 96kHz, 2ch MLP 96kHz, 6ch MLP 48kHz, other titles are UKNOWN). I tried with backup iso image that was done from original DVDA by DVDFab Platinum 5.1.1.0. Image was mounted by Microsoft VCD Control. Sorry, have no original DVDA.
If you are trying to play original DVD-A disc, can you try to extract tracks from it into WAV by DVDAExplorer? I copied from DVDAExplorer part of code for working with 'libdvdcpxm.dll' but never tested it, May be it does matter.

Tomorrow will also try Gaucho, but I think the result will be the same.

The new version is great, Shadson! I'm listening to Stone Temple Pilots - Core right now on my Vista 64-bit machine.

My sound card is an Audigy 2 (originally came with the Creative DVD-A player). Are there any settings that I need to configure in Windows to get the full resolution?

IMPORTANT THING:
It will not be possible to play 176kHz or 192kHz tracks in WinXP - default 'DirectSound Renderer' doesn't support such frequencies. But ReClock does support. Use ReClock as replacement for default renderer.
I am not sure about Vista or Win7. Can anybody check 192kHz tracks w/o ReClock in Vista/Win7?

Try the DigionAudio player for MLP playback. Like the Creative player you can make playlists, and no worry about the watermark.

Ah. forgot about the DigionAudio player. Works fine for MLP playback.
That's what happens when you have too much software. :)

This has made my year! Since upgrading to Vista 64 last January, I couldn't play any of my DVD-A disks because Creative refuses to make a 64bit compatible DVD-Audio player to work with my Audigy 2.

It's bad enough that I can't find DVD-A disks anymore, but I couldn't even play my pile of DVD-A disks, except in lower quality through the regular DVD player. I will be re-acquainting myself with my DVD-A's that I haven't heard since Jan. '08 over the next few weeks, and I'll report any problems if they come up. I noticed a small glitch in one of the tracks on my Sting - Brand New Day disk, but it was like a 1 second dropout, that might have been due to something else.

If one person can create a simple, function DVD-A player in his spare time that works in Vista 64, what the hell is Creative's problem? Kinda sheds light on their integrity as a company.

This has made my year! Since upgrading to Vista 64 last January, I couldn't play any of my DVD-A disks because Creative refuses to make a 64bit compatible DVD-Audio player to work with my Audigy 2.

It's bad enough that I can't find DVD-A disks anymore, but I couldn't even play my pile of DVD-A disks, except in lower quality through the regular DVD player. I will be re-acquainting myself with my DVD-A's that I haven't heard since Jan. '08 over the next few weeks, and I'll report any problems if they come up. I noticed a small glitch in one of the tracks on my Sting - Brand New Day disk, but it was like a 1 second dropout, that might have been due to something else.

If one person can create a simple, function DVD-A player in his spare time that works in Vista 64, what the hell is Creative's problem? Kinda sheds light on their integrity as a company.

I don't want to pound on Creative too much, but yeah, you're right. One more reason I've stayed with XP. (I have two Audigy 2 ZS cards).
The Creative player (the regular one-not the DVDA) plays MLP files, except if there is no LFE track the Left Surround channel doesn't work. How hard could that be to fix?

I downloaded v4a, but Fleetwood Mac Rumors still does not play. The lower status bar just keeps scanning through the number of tracks 1/13, 2/13, 3/13, etc. for titles 1, 2, & 3 of 4. The upper status bar shows the time 0:00/track time for each track as it scans through.

Also, I was not able to play to the Crime of the Century DVD-A that has been discussed in another thread in this forum.

I downloaded v4a, but Fleetwood Mac Rumors still does not play.
Well, I have written already - I don't have original DVDA, but backup iso-image of Rumours played perfectly.
Start DVDAExplorer and try to extract tracks into WAV.
If it works and WAVs sounds good, enable both logging in cfg file (see readme), try to play and PM me both logs.

I downloaded v4a, but Fleetwood Mac Rumors still does not play. The lower status bar just keeps scanning through the number of tracks 1/13, 2/13, 3/13, etc. for titles 1, 2, & 3 of 4. The upper status bar shows the time 0:00/track time for each track as it scans through.

Also, I was not able to play to the Crime of the Century DVD-A that has been discussed in another thread in this forum.

I have the original Fleetwood Mac and it played without any problems. The Crime of the Century played fine as well (although my Creative dvd-a player wouldn't play it).

Shadson...

It will be interesting to see where your efforts take all of us. I'm fascinated by the prospect of integrating more features into the PC and protecting user's media library from format wars and hardware obsolescence.

IMO, the PC presents the best prospects of 'futureproofing' for both current media and future development (e.g. OS). Your software helps in both regards and will be appreciated as such.

Have you considered adding your software directly into FFMPEG? The creators have said they would like to be able to play 'everything under the sun'.

As FFMPEG is now considering bluray support, including AACS decrypting, your addition of DVD-A could help make FFMPEG a universal playback system.

Once in FFMPEG, there's no end to the platforms and front-ends that could utilize your software - XBMC would certainly be nice!

Oh my! This is great! Thank you!

One bug I found is that the text does not resize well when Windows is set to large fonts (125% or 150%).

Plays DVD-A, ISO, and AUDIO_TS folders saved on local and remote HDDs. Win7 x64 build 7100.

Keep up the great work!

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3348/shaplay.th.png (http://img521.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shaplay.png)

Have you considered adding your software directly into FFMPEG? The creators have said they would like to be able to play 'everything under the sun'.

As FFMPEG is now considering bluray support, including AACS decrypting, your addition of DVD-A could help make FFMPEG a universal playback system.

Well, everithing is "quite the contrary". Ffmpeg as MLP decoder is a part of DVDAExplorer and - naturally - a part of ShaPLAY.

Well, everithing is "quite the contrary". Ffmpeg as MLP decoder is a part of DVDAExplorer and - naturally - a part of ShaPLAY.

True...

Could that make it easier to move the DVDAExplorer code into FFMPEG? With FFMPEG moving to support Bluray, it's taking them out of the traditional area of 'just codecs'.

Alternatively, the XBMC project (http://www.xbmc.org) could certainly use your efforts!

Shadson does have been ruder to me in Doom9 than I am being to him in this AVS thread. Yes, I do think that wannabe programmers really deserve some rudeness at times. "Freeware" and/or "open-sourcing" are no acceptable excuses for an intentionally-lousy job.
No, you mean that you have been even ruder to him at Doom9 than here. And you promised to leave and never come back at least a couple of times, but couldn't accomplish even that.

Well, I have written already - I don't have original DVDA, but backup iso-image of Rumours played perfectly.
Start DVDAExplorer and try to extract tracks into WAV.
If it works and WAVs sounds good, enable both logging in cfg file (see readme), try to play and PM me both logs.

I can't seem to find the latest version of DVDAExplorer. Do you have a link by chance? Thanks!

I can't seem to find the latest version of DVDAExplorer. Do you have a link by chance? Thanks!

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1180492#post1180492

Shadson,

Have you thought of contributing your code to a project like FFMPEG or XBMC? My vote would be for making FFMPEG capable of DVD-A iso playback as that would enable the same function in many derivative apps...

Even posting the source somewhere would be welcomed...

Have you thought of contributing your code to a project like FFMPEG or XBMC? My vote would be for making FFMPEG capable of DVD-A iso playback as that would enable the same function in many derivative apps...

I think I can do it when I finish the roadmap I planned now - after MCE/VMC compatible plugin. The sources now is incomplete and look ugly.
But it will not help others to implement DVD-A playback - all I did is 'wrapper' with buttons and DirectShow support for whole decoding process that was already done in DVDAExplorer. If somebody wants to play DVDA - it will be more usefull to get DVDAExplorer sources and adapt it to player. The playback subsystem in ShaPLAY will be too different from any other - it is my look on playback, and it is not perfect, not extra-efficient, not extra-clear, not extra-simple. It is just working :)

<snip>... it is not perfect, not extra-efficient, not extra-clear, not extra-simple. It is just working :)

It is also very much appreciated - thank you Shadson!

I just wanted to say THANK YOU again for this great piece of software. I even went out and bought a new DVD-A to celebrate.

If you have not checked it out, take a listen to Blue Man Group - "Audio" (DVD-A). It's a great album!

New Version 0.5a - with gapless playback, ReClock settings and ISO image support. Also some fixes.
I had too less time for testing gapless playback, so it is up to you - use it or not.

thanks for the new version, will give it a try.

Thanks a lot for the 0.5 version, excellent improvements!

It is just working :)
You seem to under-estimate that detail...

Originally Posted by Shadson
It is just working
You seem to under-estimate that detail...

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment that Shadson deserves hyperbolic appreciation for giving us something that "is just working".

The Shadson player is already good, and will only improve whether it's a community or individual effort. If Shadson releases the source code at some time in the future to allow code optimization, FFMPEG/XBMC integration, OS/platform porting, etc then the project can only continue to benefit the DVD-A medium. Likewise, if Shadson chooses to make this his private learning project, then he certainly has found a worthwhile pursuit.

The PC shows it's versatility once again - just add good software. Think of all the shiny discs that can be saved and all the dedicated DVD-A players that don't need to be manufactured - thereby saving all that space in the living room and landfill.

Under-estimating the effect of this software on DVD-A sales and future-proofing would also be easy; I have already favored DVD-A over SACD simply because of DVD-A Explorer, but the Shadson player brings that much more convenience and reassurance.

To an archivist at the Smithsonian 100 years from now, an X86-based DVD-A player might just mean the difference between little kiddies enjoying lossless surround sound, or being subjected to popping, compressed Youtube playback of the Beatles (let's hope for a more benevolent DMCA). Of course, open source would only improve the merits of the Shadson player as an archival choice.

Shadson...without knowing your past or future contributions to humanity, I daresay that this software alone assures that you have a legacy.

Shadson

I'm not sure what's on your roadmap, but I thought to add my $0.02


Artwork integration - make all the .jpg files within the ISO/Audio_TS 'parent folder' viewable from within the player. Player has options to set default to slideshow or cover.jpg presentation.
ISO/Audio_TS scanning - scan a local or remote HDD for DVD-A material and build an index of material. Linking the local index to an internet database would be a logical next step, and could enable artwork download, etc. Anyone know a good internet database for DVD-A material?
Extend Remote API - commands such as CMD_INDEX and CMD_LOAD. CMD_INDEX would return text strings of DVD-A file names, internet database URL's pointing at DVD-A, etc. A simpler extension would be CMD_LOAD, which could accept a parameter such as a File/Folder Location string. For example, "CMD_LOAD C:\DVD Audio\Alexander Nevsky\Nevsky.ISO".
Touch Screen Button layout - nice wide spacing, maybe not such an industrial design.
Make Shaplay a UPNP renderer. This might involve tweaking the Remote API. Would open up Iphone control, etc. The author of XBMC Remote for Iphone (http://remote.collect3.com.au/) has shown a willingness to extend his software to other applications.
Interface with web server - allow control from any browser with a project similar to HTTP-R for XBMC (http://xbmc.denhaas.info/). Not sure if the DLL is the best way to do this...maybe integrating a web server?
Ripping and archiving. ISO/Audio_TS would be preferable.


Of all the above, I think CMD_LOAD would be the most liberating as it would allow other apps/remotes to use ShaPlay in a more sophisticated fashion.

For me, the Holy Grail is a DVD-A player that I can control from a touchscreen. Either a touch screen attached to the PC, or from an Iphone/Nokia N97 while sitting in the Lazyboy flipping through the virtual DVD-A booklet. With a little baby running around the house, it's much more practical and convenient to have the discs and playback machine hidden away with a nice GUI available through a touchscreen.

Can some one confirm that it is possible to output 24-bits 96kHz through SPDIF without conversions to AC3 or DTS?
Is possible to output PCM through USB and after by using an external USB to SPDIF converter to get in to an external DAC?

Can some one confirm that it is possible to output 24-bits 96kHz through SPDIF without conversions to AC3 or DTS?
Is possible to output PCM through USB and after by using an external USB to SPDIF converter to get in to an external DAC?
SPDIF does not have the bandwidth for multichannel PCM.

USB out to multichannel? Depends.

If you're of a mind to wait a year, then there just might be a great USB amp on the market. Forget the need for a DAC.

I meant 24-bit 96kHz two channel (stereo) only, not the MCH. Would be possible to use ShaPlay and get PCM through SPDIF at a full rezolution without convertinfg to DTS or AC3?
Shadson or someone else can confirm please if this would be possible.

I know 24/88.2 can be passed through SPDIF. I don't know anyone who has attempted to pass 24/96 through SPDIF. You could try it and let us know if it works.

24/96 stereo is within SPDIF specs, it works.

I am very sure too that 24/96 stereo is within SPDIF specs, and it works.
It works for SPDIF by itself, but I am worrying if PC would output 24/96 stereo and would not down convert.

Hi, first message here!
Great effort, I played many DVD-A stored in my hard disk and most of them worked fine, both from audio-ts files and from .ISO files. The only one that crashed so far is ELP Brain salad Surgery. I'll let you know when I check all the rest.
I used the provided settings. I read the whole thread, which taught a great deal about MLP/DVD-A etc, but I failed to understand what would be the advantage of setting the player to use ffdshow filter. Can somebody elaborate on that?

Thanks Shadson and all!

does anyone know if there's a chance to finally play DVD-A in full quality on a pc? i'm talking about using GPU's HDMI out to transfer 5.1 96/24 PCM signal to a external amplituner?

um thanks, i was actually hoping for some details, still don't know how it works, first i'm gonna need a soundcard that can handle sending a uncompressed 96/24 5.1 pcm signal to gpu and then i'm gonna need a gpu that can handle sending such signal out, right? any specific hardware?

Shadson,

Thanks for your hard work. Am using version .5A and have played about 20 DVD-A ISO with no problems (opening the ISO in your player without using Daemon). Will continue testing and let you know if their are any problems.

Did notice a MS window bug/problem not connected with the audio design. That is I could not drag and drop an ISO on top of the Shaplay.exe icon or a shortcut to Shaplay.exe icon and get that Iso to play. Instead Shaplay opens up with the last ISO played. Hope this makes sense to you. Most windows objects open and start when you drag them over a program icon.

RARBAR

RARBAR here again. Have not yet found any DVD-A Iso problems (35 tested so for) Great player. As a new member to the forum I read every post here. now I am interested in setting up a remote to my computer to use Shadsons software. I dont have the slightest idea how to do it. Can anyone post links that describe the process. I need to know what I should buy and then how to connect.

Thanks,

RARBAR

now I am interested in setting up a remote to my computer to use Shadsons software. I dont have the slightest idea how to do it. Can anyone post links that describe the process. I need to know what I should buy and then how to connect.

If you have original Microsoft Remote - just use it, dll is in the package. If not, you have to create your own DLL for your own remote. Easy for programmer, almost impossible if you are not a programmer. Take couple bottles of beer and find a friend who can ;)

from ShaPLAY_0_5a.txt:
"Tested on XP SP2/SP3 (32bit), MCE2005 (SP2) and Vista SP1 32bit."

need to add: win2000
run ISO's, audio-ts folder or medias(dvd drive) MLP or Waves 24/96, 24/88 5.1 or stereo all day long.
never had problems.

(remember that foobar don't run in win2000)

thanks to the developer :)

Running XP here

If I load file A into the player:
Play it
Then Stop
Then load file B into the
Play it

while playing File B you can not change the name of file A or any name in the path to file A.

The work arround to change file A is to close Shaplayer

So I am guessing that in your code you are not closing file A when file B is added. Since I cant see the code this is just an "educated guess"

I must encourage you to keep up the great work

Thanks,

Bob Russell

Yes, the problem is known to me - file handles are not releasing after STOP.
Will be fixed in next version.

I am using your player with reclock. So far it has played all DVD-A's I have. (64). ISO load works perfectly so far. Sound usiing Shaplayer on my system sounds better than fooplayer,Winamp , and KMplayer (with their DVD-A plugins) I am not sure why. But I think it is may be the Shaplayer reclock connection.
Also the Kmplayer uses the new DVD-A plugin designed for Winamp. KMplayer's last several released versions are unstable (you have to frequently use task manager to kill KMplayer when it locks up) I have not been able to make KMPlayer work with Reclock.
Winamp and Fooplayer play DVD-A but dont sound as good as Shaplayer.

Ran into small problem with Shaplayer that you might want to consider changing in next release. I could not remember the title of the Album ISO I loaded. Could the filename playing be displayed on the screen. I dont think the extension is important. In my system the album title and filename are the same thing. Main screen would be ideal but listing on Disc Info Screen would also be usefull

Thanks for your efforts.. I am enjoying them!!!!

Bob Russell

I am using your player with reclock. So far it has played all DVD-A's I have. (64). ISO load works perfectly so far. Sound usiing Shaplayer on my system sounds better than fooplayer,Winamp , and KMplayer (with their DVD-A plugins) I am not sure why. But I think it is may be the Shaplayer reclock connection.
Also the Kmplayer uses the new DVD-A plugin designed for Winamp. KMplayer's last several released versions are unstable (you have to frequently use task manager to kill KMplayer when it locks up) I have not been able to make KMPlayer work with Reclock.
Winamp and Fooplayer play DVD-A but dont sound as good as Shaplayer.

Ran into small problem with Shaplayer that you might want to consider changing in next release. I could not remember the title of the Album ISO I loaded. Could the filename playing be displayed on the screen. I dont think the extension is important. In my system the album title and filename are the same thing. Main screen would be ideal but listing on Disc Info Screen would also be usefull

Thanks for your efforts.. I am enjoying them!!!!

Bob Russell

I 100 percent agree that ShaPLAY + reclock = much better sound than the other players!

I am having a promlem with slight very slight stutters. Only 1 or 2 times a song. So close to ripping all my discs to PC but I have to solve this issue first! Any Ideas to help solve would be great...

I found stuttering to be connected to CPU load especially when I use any multimedia player (Shaplayer included) and my antvirus software kicks in to do auto scan. Solution - stop other apps from running while using player. Also try installing Shaplayer and reclock on another computer with a faster CPU.

Update on KMPlayer- Finally got reclock to work with it. Shaplayer still sounds best. KMplayer still unstable. KMplayer however does both sound and graphics of most DVD-A isos. Both KMplayer and ShaPlayer Play watermarked and non-watermarked DVD-A's All my Isos play on Shaplayer. About 2% of my ISOs will not play with KMPlayer. Sound forums say KMPlayer codecs downsample and cant be turned off. Perhaps that is why KMPlayer sounds worse than Shaplayer. I have not figured it all out yet. I have no way to measure downsampling and only have my ears.

Hope this helps

How do you play a DVD-A with kmplayer? I cannot figure it out :(.

Look for DVD-A plugin written for WinAmp. Written by Mommyman. Get the latest version (I think there has been one update) Download it - unzip it - copy it into KMplayers plugin folder. Worked immediately. Getting reclock to work with KMPlayer was much more difficult for me. First I got reclock to work with Shaplayer. I followed Shadsons instructions on this message board. They are very accurate. So Reclock was installed OK on my system. Then I googled "KMplayer and Reclock" and found a tutorial on how to set it up. I run XP and the most recent version of KMPlayer and the directions were not perfect for this combination. So it took me some experimentation to make it work. So when KMPlayer plays DVD-A it uses the Reclock Filter, AC3 Filter. I set AC3 filter to pass thru to SPDIF. My amplifyer/reciever has a 24 bit DAC so AC3 filter is set to 24 bit output.

Hope this helps you out. Let me know how this works for you

I found stuttering to be connected to CPU load especially when I use any multimedia player (Shaplayer included) and my antvirus software kicks in to do auto scan. Solution - stop other apps from running while using player. Also try installing Shaplayer and reclock on another computer with a faster CPU.

Hope this helps

I could not get ShaPLAY+RECLOCK to stop stuttering. I am running a 3.0ghz single core with 1.5gigs of ram and Revolution7.1. No antivirus on Vista. It only does it every 2-3 min.

I ended up going with foobar2000 and WASAPI and it sounds just as good...The player has more options so it is an improvement.
If I can get Winamp sounding as good as SHA or FOO I will go that direction but until then it's foobar.

I have to manually change the sample rate depending on the recording in my revo7.1 but it's worth it to bypass the windows mixer crap!