FR: MBT/Server metadata control of video/audio playback

[Harblar 29]

Hi! I don't know how feasible this would be, but if it could be integrated I think it would be extremely useful to a lot of people.

 

So, what I'm looking for is additional Metadata entries for items that the MBT video player would then look at to determine playback settings. For example:

 

Frame Rate - yes, madvr already auto switches and works great, for BluRay's, but hd-DVDs and DVDs with pull down flags are completely ignored. Being able to specify the frame rate on an item by item basis would save a ton of button presses, and guarantee the optimum playback every time and for every person (because not everyone in the family is going to know how to do that).

 

Preferred audio/subtitle track - this would be extremely handy for anime and foreign film rips. A lot of my anime rips have both English and Japanese tracks. Some shows I prefer dubbed and others I prefer subbed. I know this can be tweaked by manually editing the ifo, but it's a major pain, especially if you ever want to switch it back. Maybe a couple of check boxes on the tv series overview page. Then you could change the default tracks for a whole series worth of episodes with two clicks.

 

Anyway, that's just what I was thinking. Hopefully it won't be too complicated to do. I really think it'd be a great addition! Thanks!

[AdrianW 1053]

I like your default audio track idea.

 

At the moment I use the mkv header editor (from mkvtoolnix) to set the default audio track in the few multiple soundtrack videos that I have.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1150]

Would be pretty complicated with multiple users. What if one person wants the Anime in Japanese with English Subtitles and another person wants English Dubbed with English Subtitles? And the third person wants Dubbed with Japanese subtitles?

 

An upcoming version will allow users to set their preferred language and subtitle selection but it isn't on a series or movie basis.

[Luke 37251]

Multiple users, multiple devices each with their own different requirements, optimizations, etc.

[Harblar 29]

Would be pretty complicated with multiple users. What if one person wants the Anime in Japanese with English Subtitles and another person wants English Dubbed with English Subtitles? And the third person wants Dubbed with Japanese subtitles?

 

An upcoming version will allow users to set their preferred language and subtitle selection but it isn't on a series or movie basis.

  

 

I get what you're saying, which is why I suggested a master selection control on the movie/series overview page. Or add a settings tab that these options would be under. Then have all settings saved under a user specific file so everyone can have their own custom settings. (Not an issue for me as I am the only user on my setup, but I can see where that would be needed.) Also have a settings tab on a single item/episode basis in case not all episodes in a series have their tracks labeled the same way.

 

A global preferred language/subtitle selection is fine and all, but is more or less already available in the lav splitter settings if I'm not mistaken, correct? I just see it as being more useful on a case by case basis.

 

Ultimately, I see it as being more of a power user(control freak) convienence option. Makes things a little easier and more streamlined. In the end it's still not too hard to bring up the info pane and change the tracks manually if needed once the video is playing, but can get old after having to it for 20-30 or more episodes... Maybe just add an option to remember which tracks were selected and played previously (per user) and select those tracks each subsequent time it's played?

 

Multiple users, multiple devices each with their own different requirements, optimizations, etc.

So, are you saying that would be the easy way to do it, or that it would be too complicated to do because of that?

 

What about the frame rate option at least? I see that as being a global setting that would be the same regardless of user.

Just add a "display mode" meta data slot to each movie or tv series meta data allowing the user to specify which display mode to use in MBT. (A MBT only metadata entry. I don't know much about playback on other devices, but believe that is mostly handled by the server transcoding and then streaming the video, correct?)

Example:

Display Mode: 1080P24

Or

Display Mode: 1080i60

Etc...

If the meta data is left blank it defers to madvr's judgement.

 

I've got lots of DVD and HD-DVD rips that utilize 3:2 pulldown. Madvr detects them as a 29.997 frame rate and they end up being somewhat choppy in the playback (more so on the HD-DVD's). If I set the display mode to 24hz they smooth out and look perfect... The only problem is this requires me to pull out the mouse, minimize MBT, bring up the windows display settings, switch the refreshrate, close out the display window, and restore the MBT window. When playback ends I then have to do this again to return everything to normal. That's a major PITA even for me. I gotta figure the average user wouldn't know how and/or want to do that every time they watch a movie. I would also guess they wouldn't be happy with video stuttering either.

 

Anyway, just some features I think would really add to the slickness of the program! Thanks!

[Luke 37251]

The problem is the server is intended to function in a manner independent of the client apps. It would not be wise for us to invest effort into the server for anything madvr-specific (or even windows-specific, in most cases), because that scope is very narrow. This is really the domain of the client apps.

[Harblar 29]

Understood. Was just saying that adding a single line of metadata would be all that was needed on the server side (such as changing the video type from movie, to bluray, to DVD, etc... Allows plugins, such as cover art, to determine the correct box overlay to apply) and then having the client just check for that line of metadata and make the necessary adjustments before starting playback. That way if the client doesn't support multiple display modes that single line of metadata is ignored and/or hidden and has no effect on playback whatsoever. If the client does support display mode switching (such as MBT on windows) then this line of metadata would allow the clients(MBT's) video player to determine settings based off a globally saved metadata entry. Doing so would also allow MBT to have a stand alone method of display mode switching (which would be great for people who don't want to or can't use madvr).

 

All I'm really talking about is one very simple tweak on the server side's metadata editor and giving MBT's video player the ability to automatically control Windows display modes. All other clients would be unaffected by either addition. Hope I'm explaining that ok. Wish I knew anything about programming. I'd love to try working up a plugin! :-)

[Harblar 29]

To illustrate my point this is the only thing I'm talking about doing on the server side of things.

Go from this:

 

To this: