[jriver]

We're adding support for video playback using DirectShow filters in our software, J. River Media Center. We could use a little feedback.


Several people have asked to be able to build their own "graphs" using DirectShow filters, but I've forgotten why. If you're interested in this, please provide some details.


It may not happen before we release 9.0, but it may be something we can do shortly after that.


Thanks.

 

[salsbst]

Jim,


Sounds good.... "why" is so that people can use the filters of their choice, right? Nobody has to agree with anybody else, everyone gets their perfect combinations. Tweaker heaven. New filter comes out? No need to wait for a MC update, just edit your graph and go!


But.....what about audio filters???? There's an initiative to develop some open-source filters for fine control of audio ( http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=240624 ). For the most part, nobody in that thread is too excited about building a player.... it would be fantastic if these types of filters could be insterted into a graph for MC to play! Fantastic, I say.


Here's hoping!


Regards,

 

[jriver]

Thanks. I'm aware of that thread, but don't always follow the detail.


Our work does include audio. Perhaps I should have said DirectX or DirectMedia or whatever Microsoft is currently calling it.


We're just adding the capability now. It won't be exposed in the user interface right away, but I'm trying to understand what people will want to do with it.


Examples of filters would help.

 

[salsbst]

I'm very happy to hear that music filters are part of your plans! I'm not any kind of authority on DShow filters, but here's what I can recommend:


The video and audio filters from the top 3 DVD players: WinDVD, PowerDVD, Cineplayer. Also there's the nVidia player.


The Elecard demultiplexer is used by the high-definition guys, but I'm not sure if it's that important for viewing, rather they seem to use it to compress HD material into WMV. I'm not sure how useful it is


The ffdshow filter is used by people who can deal w/software processing of MPG and who like to tweak/sharpen/soften their pictures.


The reclock filter is used to keep audio clock from wandering to the point of disrupting video for DVDs.


Then, to state the obvious, there's the DVD Navigator, and the various rendering filters.

 

[jriver]

Thanks, Stuart. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

 

[samgreco]

Jim,


Wow. If you're doing this, you may sway me back to your camp. I looked at your product a while back, but felt it wasn't quite what I was looking for.


But with the WebRemote and DVD playback capabilities, it's going to be hard to stay away.


I like the idea of a unified package for ease of use. The only thing I really didn't like was the interface. I never felt it looked good on my HDTV.


I will watch closely


Sam

 

[Bill Gaw2]

Also set it up to be able to decode external Dolby Digital and Dolby pro logic. Media Center does a great job at doing external video through S-video and composite inputs, but will not allow decoding of the same input audio stream. This is surprising since your product was first used for audio and not video. If this could be done we could throw away our pre-pro's.

Also, one can still not use mor than one of your DSP checkoffs without causing stuttering. This is too bad as your room effectsmode is great, but can't be used together with your graphic equalizer or upsampling without causing stuttering.

Bill Gaw

 

[Eiffel]

Oh the possibilities!


It would be great if we could add support for audio filters to decode DTS, AC3, DPLII, etc. into MC9 so that all these formats could be used to play files and -very importantly!- decode incoming signals via the SPDIF and analog ins... Some people are also working on complex audio filters to compensate for room caracteristics, which could also be used...


On the video side, this would give MC access to improved picture quality (ffdshow post processing, dscaler deinterlacing filters), and even HDTV playback (which could dovetail nicely with the existing playlist concept...)