External Player

[Ralph's Emby 15]

Last 2 weeks Theater stopped playing my files correctly and is dropping frames like 4 of July, seems is dropping more than playing. Choose to uninstall and re-install Theater now my window logo is huge (when install Theater my Display was set to 1080p), I normally use my 4K Projector... Anyway, because all the frame dropping issue, I just install PotPlayer and at least for my HDR files it seems to do a better Job lately, I went to Theater-> External Player settings and try to add the path for the player but Theater it is ignoring my instructions, selected to force all files and still, it is using MPV as a player. I was searching the Guide (External Player) and can no longer locate the instructions, in case I'm doing something wrong... Can anyone help me with the instructions to add any External Player + How I can reset the Apps, Folder and logs size in Theater, please ?

 

Any help will be highly appreciated.

[Luke 37181]

Hi there, can you show a screenshot of your external player setup? Thanks.

[Ralph's Emby 15]

[Ralph's Emby 15]

@Luke

Hope this helps.

Please, let me know what I did wrong and how to resolve it.

Thanks

[Ralph's Emby 15]

@Luke @cayars

Any updates ?

Hoping will get some guidance soon, do need some and highly appreciate any help.

[sooty234 266]

If you copy that path and paste it into windows explorer address bar, does it take you to the correct location? And the executable is also exactly correct? Maybe post a screenshot of the directory and executable? 

[Ralph's Emby 15]

@sooty234

Just did a test, copy/paste the path into explorer and Yes it did open PotPlayer. Here is also a screenshot of the directory. Hope this helps.

[sooty234 266]

That looks correct. From your description in the first post, it sounds like you installed Theater with a monitor and the projector both connected. Can you try to reinstalled it again, making sure only connect the monitor during install. 

And maybe try the version in this link.

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by sooty234

[Ralph's Emby 15]

Thanks for the reply. To be exact, Yes I do have 2 Monitors, my 65" (3D-1080p LG TV) and my beloved Benq HT3550 (4K/60 HDR).. Yes I had both plugged but the Projector was turned off when I installed again Theater + PotPlayer, so I believe it shouldn't affect anything for the installation and settings.

Will do, reinstall again Theater, question; it is better to unplug and have connected only: TV or Projector ? If Yes, which one ? (for Emby I mostly use the Projector)

Read a little about MPV (understand it is the one it have Theater, currently)  link, seems the main developer is no longer with them, have you guys tried PotPlayer, it have the capability to use all codec and filters; DirectShow/LavFilters, madVR, EVR, AviSynth, H/W and FFmpeg and can be set to use FFmpeg for online , like TV, etc Just saying ;)

Busy now but will add more in my reply and they Why I'm trying to add a External Player + my personal experience with all the players I had tried, I'm not an expert but like to try or play a little bit. Hope to helps.

Your help, is highly appreciated.

[sooty234 266]

Before reinstalling, try the test build first. You can just unzip in its own folder and run it from there. 

A long time ago, Theater used Direct show filters and decoders. And I used them long before that. They were always problematic. Windows updates would often break something. mpv has proven to be much better. I use it as my system player. I've tried PotPlayer, too. I'm not a fan. 

Part of the issue in Theater is that it presently has Electron running on top of mpv for the UI. In the coming months, that will be changed. The test build I pointed you too, has some changes that might help you.

mpv is also cross-platform. Directshow and MadVR etc. are Windows specific. mpv is currently being used in several of Emby's apps, not just on Windows. 

If you need help with troubleshooting mpv/Theater, I can probably help.

[Ralph's Emby 15]

Not sure understand what you meant with the test build, that one is mpv and my Theater is playing the same mpv (newer version, I guess), for the Directshow/ madVR, Yes I know is Windows only, but I use it in Windows only, for any other app, I have the Server. MPV is really good, I haven't found any other player that can downscale/covert from HDR to SDR like mpv but for refinement there nothing better than madVR yet. What I want is to use PotPlayer for several files in Theater and let the rest be mpv,  it's not bad but lately mpv "in Theater" is getting buggy, specially when trying to play HDR or 4K (too many crash). Also the latest version for PotPlayer (I'm just testing), I understand it can be set to use ffmpeg (like mpv) for streaming (live TV) and their codec or madshi for H265 files (i.e.), seems the best of both worlds.

Remember, I did a reinstall for Theater because it was dropping frames (too many), it was impossible to watch any movie, at the same time, after the reinstall, it is way better, just hope I can test with External Player and compare.

Even though I added (as you seen) the External Player, when I load a movie and check the stats, it stated it is mpv who's playing the file, no idea why is not letting potplayer.

Any special thing with the mpv you suggest to test from the link ?? asking because it is mpv but 3 Yrs old, or am I wrong ? (please, let me know)

[Ralph's Emby 15]

@sooty234

Sorry, forgot to tag you in my reply...

[sooty234 266]

Well, first, mpv in Theater can be manually updated just by downloading the latest build and replacing what is in Theater. But, the test build that I linked to already has a much later build than the one in 3.0.11. It also has electron updates and uses libmpv instead of mpv.exe (but you'll need to switch the renderer to GPU if you want HDR passthrough). You're make a few wrong assumptions. I'd suggest trying the 3.0.12 test build and work from there.