Media Browser Theater

[luke823]

Hi,
We (Team Media Browser), have released an alpha of Media Browser Theater. It's a windows-based app designed to browse and play a Media Browser library.

Media Browser is an open source client-server app, and you can read about our project here:

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/MediaBrowser
http://www.mediabrowser3.com/

For Media Browser Theater, the video player is direct-show based and supports LAV Filters, XyVsFilter, Reclock, Madvr & XySubFilter.

There's a long way to go but so far it's been fairly well received. I'm here in hopes of recruiting any potential developers who might have interest in joining the team and helping out.

[luke823]

Here are some screens:

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a23b1ac15b_mbt1.png

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a23ba45a0c_mbt2.png

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a23c4ccc0d_mbt3.png

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a23ce15557_mbt4.png

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a23da218d0_mbt5.png

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a23e2988e6_mbt6.png

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a23ed2b28c_mbt7.png

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a2406380bf_mbt8.png

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/uploads/inline/2/528a253b11413_mbt9.png

[andyvt]

What control methods are supported (RC6, IP, Windows messages)?

How is transcoding performed for mobile playback?

Thanks

[luke823]

This player itself is alpha. Brand new.

The server, as well as our other apps are all in their own stages. Server is stable. Windows Phone and iOS are released into their stores. Android actually will be in the store today. Roku is about a week or two away from store release. Our Windows 8.1 tablet app is about a month away from release. Then we have Media Portal and Xbmc clients in beta stages. So we're all over the place.

The server relies on ffmpeg for transcoding. This particular app (MBT as we call it), is designed to be used within the LAN and access the media files directly in order to avoid streaming through the server. But it can be used to connect to a remote server and stream if desired.

Please let me know if I can answer anything else. Thanks.

[luke823]

Control methods - it supports standard MCE remotes.

Then it can also be programatically controlled using our api, and we have a couple developers working on some interesting things with that (e.g. kinect).

[andyvt]

The server relies on ffmpeg for transcoding.


Sorry, that was a tangent :). I've been looking for a suitable non-CPU based way to do in home mobile streaming. I recently added RTP/RTSP support to QSTranscode (mostly to POC live555 integration), what streaming protocol do you use to provide video to clients. Is ffmpeg used externally or linked in (i.e. could I replace it w/ my own exe)?


This particular app (MBT as we call it), is designed to be used within the LAN and access the media files directly in order to avoid streaming through the server. But it can be used to connect to a remote server and stream if desired.


Thanks. Can we assume that the full suite of madVR's capabilities are supported (or will be). FSE, rate switching, IVTC, etc.

[luke823]

It streams through our web (http) api, however, our clients do their best to avoid encoding whenever possible, using stream copy techniques, and/or streaming the original file when the device can handle it natively. In addition, some of them like Android support external players, which add more client-side capabilities, thus further reducing the likelihood of encoding.

As for madvr, we have not implemented full screen exclusive mode yet, but it is on the roadmap. That's partially why I'm here, to recruit development help. As far as I know, every feature that doesn't depend on FSE should be functional at this stage.

[andyvt]

It streams through our web (http) api, however, our clients do their best to avoid encoding whenever possible, using stream copy techniques, and/or streaming the original file when the device can handle it natively.

I'd love to know more about how this is implemented, but I don't want to derail this thread too much. Is there a place where I can learn more about how you're using ffmpeg to do this? QSTrancode uses ffmpeg front/back-ends (transcoding is offloaded to Intel QuickSync), so it should be relatively easy for me to hook into this.

[luke823]

Yea come talk to us on our forum:

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/

I'll get you into the dev area if it gets too technical for the general population.

[andyvt]

As for madvr, we have not implemented full screen exclusive mode yet, but it is on the roadmap. That's partially why I'm here, to recruit development help. As far as I know, every feature that doesn't depend on FSE should be functional at this stage.

Where do you need assistance?

Oh, one thing that you'll want to be aware of if your UI is WinForm (maybe other .NET techs) based (I couldn't find it in a quick look around) is that it will leak memory each time the refresh rate changes. I never found a way to fix that, so it's probably just something you'll have to code around.

[luke823]

I have to focus my dev time on the more mainstream features, so if somebody wanted to take on exclusive mode that would be fantastic. It's not a matter of turning it on though, that's the easy part. It's recreating all the in-video menus that will increase the effort required.

Or, two other big ones missing from the video player - dvd menu navigation, and loading external subtitle files into the direct show graph. I'm assuming the subtitles will be easy, just haven't been able to find a code sample.

[andyvt]

Or, two other big ones missing from the video player - dvd menu navigation, and loading external subtitle files into the direct show graph. I'm assuming the subtitles will be easy, just haven't been able to find a code sample.

If you're using the OOTB DVD navigator, you should be able to use the code from EVRPlay (http://sourceforge.net/p/babgvant/code/HEAD/tree/EVRPlay/) as a sample. It's pretty straight forward.

Subtitles will be more difficult because of all the different formats. I don't think I've ever played with that.

[luke823]

Thanks. I have sample code for dvd menus and I'll also review that. I just haven't been able to allocate time for it yet.

For subs - wouldn't the combination of lav splitter and xyvsfilter be able to understand the various formats? Or are you saying we would have to parse them ourselves and pass the data to the renderer? If it's the latter, we would just start with srt and add more over time.

[andyvt]

For subs - wouldn't the combination of lav splitter and xyvsfilter be able to understand the various formats? Or are you saying we would have to parse them ourselves and pass the data to the renderer? If it's the latter, we would just start with srt and add more over time.

I forgot about that :). I think that should work (may have to have a look if I get some time). It's an interesting problem.

[ddjmagic]

Interface looks very nice :)
I'm guessing this can be setup to use an external player for 2D/3D ISO's etc, if preferred?

[luke823]

Yes, and we can actually mount the iso internally so there's no need to fuss with third party mounting software.

[ddjmagic]

Yes, and we can actually mount the iso internally so there's no need to fuss with third party mounting software.

Thanks, that sound great - is there, or will there be an option to manually select the external player when required (similar to XBMC "play using" option)
For example by default it will use the internal player and try and play the main movie playlist from the BD, but if and when needed the external player can be launched to view menu's/special features (This is how I use XBMC/TMT currently)

[luke823]

right now you setup the external player configuration for specific kinds of files, and then it always gets used. the ability to pick a player on the fly is an interesting idea and can be added later.

[ddjmagic]

right now you setup the external player configuration for specific kinds of files, and then it always gets used. the ability to pick a player on the fly is an interesting idea and can be added later.

Cool, its a great option, as you can skip all the annoying stuff and go straight to the movie automatically when using the internal player, but then if you ever want to view the special features/menus, you just manually pick the external player.

Any chance of adding support in the future for reading the correct playlist from a "disc.inf" file that AnyDVD creates on the root of the Blu-ray Disc?
Currently I believe only JRiver supports this, but it can be a very useful feature.

[luke823]

that would be a while because there's a lot other more important things to do first. that's why i'm here to try and recruit. right now we just pass it to lav filters and it decides what gets played, which truthfully i think is the best approach.

[ddjmagic]

I've asked multiple times, but nevcairiel hasn't been interested in adding that feature to LAV so I doubt it will ever happen there (Slysoft can find the playlist better than LAV) anyway thanks for the answers - I definitely will be trying the various MB apps out, they look promising :)

[nevcairiel]

I've asked multiple times, but nevcairiel hasn't been interested in adding that feature to LAV so I doubt it will ever happen there (I think hes too 'proud' because Slysoft can find the playlist better than LAV) anyway thanks for the answers - I definitely will be trying the various MB apps out, they look promising :)

I would implement it, if they actually exported the information on all discs, and not just those discs with that special copy protection (that name i forgot), which is apparently never used in europe and as such i never had a disc with it.

[andyvt]

Where is the code for this project?

[MSL_DK]

Here: https://github.com/MediaBrowser/MediaBrowser.Theater

[luke823]

The video player is in this project:

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/MediaBrowser.Theater/tree/master/MediaBrowser.Theater.DirectShow

DirectShowPlayer.cs

[andyvt]

The video player is in this project:

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/MediaBrowser.Theater/tree/master/MediaBrowser.Theater.DirectShow

DirectShowPlayer.cs

Thanks. I had some time over lunch to take a look at it. It looks like you have it mostly wired up. I messed with it a bit to prefer LAV, wire the graph explicitly to keep out unnecessary filters and only load the EVR if madVR won't. Where should I send the patch?

[luke823]

Great, thanks. Just submit a pull request.

[andyvt]

Great, thanks. Just submit a pull request.

Done (I think, not real handy w/ git :)).

[luke823]

what happened to the formatting in the file?

https://github.com/babgvant/MediaBrowser.Theater/commit/5309e7de67258c43abee15f3d6c0990ef8fc0f6f

are your formatting settings not set to defaults? i'm unable to see what the changes are because of this.

[andyvt]

Not sure. I just edited the file in VS2012. I should be able use WinMerge to try again.

[andyvt]

What line endings do you use? When I open the file VS complains that it isn't consistent.

[andyvt]

Looks right now. UNIX line endings.

[luke823]

i'm on visual studio 2012 defaults.

[luke823]

Thanks, got your update. i'll do a quick test at lunchtime and then merge it. did you test madvr both on and off? also with both just do a quick test of resizing the window and making sure the video still scales.

[andyvt]

I didn't realize xyVsFilter needed to be b/w the video decoder and the EVR for it to work. That has been fixed.

[GREG1292]

Just want to say thanks for the Media player:goodpost:
Played around last night and for the most part easy to setup. What impressed me the most was the phone app with IOS 7.
smooth as silk.

[luke823]

Glad to hear that Greg, and by the way, Android went live in the store last night:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mb.android&hl=en

It will hit the amazon store later this week. Then the Roku app will be in it's store shortly after that.

[luke823]

Andy - the changes have been merged. It all seems to be working fine. Thanks for your help.

[andyvt]

Andy - the changes have been merged. It all seems to be working fine. Thanks for your help.

Thanks. Can you point me towards the menus that will need to be altered to support FSE?

[luke823]

well it's not a matter of altering them, it's a matter of implementing them from scratch for FSE. The current menus are built using wpf overlays. FSE will require madvr's drawing api where you can render shapes and bitmaps. I have sample code from another .net-based madvr player I can send you, if you want to proceed.

Or, there might be some smaller "wins" we could go after first - like external subs, perhaps a refresh rate change option (or should that be left to madvr settings?). A couple people have requested that the application remember which monitor it was on, etc.

[andyvt]

If you can send the madVR API e.g. I'll have a look.

Does xyVsFilter also load external subs or do you have another filter in mind (IIRC MPC-HC has one)?

In the long term it's probably best to manage refresh rate changes yourself, but that will require UI to support it. In the short term probably easiest to just let madVR handle.

[KeyserSoze17]

Being intimately familiar with the Full Screen Exclusive "sample code" you're referring to, I'd recommend incorporating an XML file to reference the size and position of the graphics etc so that your themes can change the XML file without you needing to change the underlying code.

[luke823]

Being intimately familiar with the Full Screen Exclusive "sample code" you're referring to, I'd recommend incorporating an XML file to reference the size and position of the graphics etc so that your themes can change the XML file without you needing to change the underlying code.

Any interest in jumping on and helping out?

[andyvt]

Can you give me a hint at where the FullscreenVideoTransportOsd is drawn in? Also, have you noticed a little blue rectangle in the top left corner of the video window during playback?

[luke823]

it's all wpf controls. i don't think you're going to be able to use any of it. But look in the default theme project / Resources.

Also, i haven't noticed that but the changes i made to put the video player on it's own thread probably have a few defects that needs to be worked through. So it wouldn't surprise me.

[andyvt]

it's all wpf controls. i don't think you're going to be able to use any of it. But look in the default theme project / Resources.


Thanks. I don't want to reuse it, just trying to figure out how to turn it off :).

It looks like there's a window overlaying madVR so it won't flip into FSE. Is the OSD the only overlay?

[luke823]

I don't think you need to worry about the internal osd. once you get into FSE, it will be on top of everything else so the internal OSD will never be seen. The internal osd should be used in all cases except FSE, including madvr without FSE. So if anything then perhaps I can give you a method to hide the window overlaying the video player.

[andyvt]

The problem is that madVR will switch out of FSE (or not switch at all) when it detects UI on top of it or an attempt to draw UI over it. I'm not sure what the exact mechanism is yet (should probably ask madshi) for how it figures that out.

[luke823]

Ok, no problem. I will get FSE working just to the point that it launches. You can then take it from there and do the menus.

[luke823]

I should have this ready soon. Right now I'm able to get the FSE window to come up, but it quickly hangs. As soon as I work through that you'll be good to start on the FSE osd.

[luke823]

In the meantime, can you look at dvd folder playback? that seems to have been broken since you merged your changes.

Also, if I stream from a url, do you know how I can add custom http headers, such as a user agent? thanks.

[andyvt]

In the meantime, can you look at dvd folder playback? that seems to have been broken since you merged your changes.

Also, if I stream from a url, do you know how I can add custom http headers, such as a user agent? thanks.

DVD folders work in my local branch. I will try with the master branch.

To add a header you will need to implement something in the source filter (assuming that you're using DirectShow). What source are you using?

[luke823]

DirectShow. I just don't have a code sample for it. Thanks, let me know if you can solve dvd folders.

Also, to enable FSE, go here to line 208 and set the false param to true:

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/MediaBrowser.Theater/blob/master/MediaBrowser.Theater.DirectShow/InternalDirectShowPlayer.cs

The window comes up but then hangs the app and it has to be killed via task manager. I'm not sure yet what the issue is but perhaps you can spot it.

[hubblec4]

hey luke

is there a chance to support mkv-dvd-menu?
it is a mkv-feature but no splitter is able to support it( at the moment).

[luke823]

We rely on LAV filters entirely for that type of thing. If we're going to start pursuing our own implementations of these kinds of things we really need to add another regular contributor to the team who can take on some ownership of the video player.

[hubblec4]

mmh LAV is all around the world...(it is the best splitter at the moment), but i think nev will never support mkv-dvd-menu.

great pity.

[andyvt]

DirectShow. I just don't have a code sample for it. Thanks, let me know if you can solve dvd folders.

Also, to enable FSE, go here to line 208 and set the false param to true:

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/MediaBrowser.Theater/blob/master/MediaBrowser.Theater.DirectShow/InternalDirectShowPlayer.cs

The window comes up but then hangs the app and it has to be killed via task manager. I'm not sure yet what the issue is but perhaps you can spot it.

I didn't get a chance to look at FSE, but I did get VIDEO_TS working. For some reason that I don't understand the IDvdInfo2 interface stops being valid (is that the same issue you were seeing?). I changed it so that it is no longer assumed to be there, which gets everything going again.

Also made a few changes for supporting DVD menu navigation when not in FSE, but before moving any further we should discuss the best approach. The current implementation exposes the key/mouse events from the hidden window, but that only works when it has focus; which it does not until it's clicked or otherwise selected. Since I don't really understand the larger framework that the DS player exists in I didn't want to start forcing things.

[luke823]

Excellent, thanks. I'll merge them in.

Tell me what you need in regards to input. I assume what you need is the ability to capture mouse and keyboard events from inside the player, is that correct? If that's the case, I'll re-work it so that you can do that and continue on.

[luke823]

nevermind, i think i misread. it sounds like what you need is for the player window to be activated and in focus when navigating to the fullscreen view.

[andyvt]

nevermind, i think i misread. it sounds like what you need is for the player window to be activated and in focus when navigating to the fullscreen view.

Having it in focus is one way to make it work, but not the only way and probably not the best way. The current implementation will only work if it is, but I think it's better to have a unified way to handle/pipeline user input at the application level and let interested handlers subscribe to it because user input can potentially come from many sources (keyboard, mouse, IP control, windows messages, etc.). I don't understand enough about the app's arch to decide where or how to build that though.

[luke823]

ok, i'll look at that. In the meantime, you're able to continue on, right? If such an abstraction is provided it will still require letting the consumer know where they're listening for messages from - for example, you wouldn't want to interpret regular navigation as dvd navigation, so you need to know the messages are coming from the video player.

[andyvt]

Input doesn't really originate from the player, it always comes from the user. It's up to the application to understand the intent of the user and act accordingly. The user input manager can be designed to broker input (e.g. priority pipeline using an "hasbeenhandled" property). The UI should probably get first crack at input and have the intelligence to know if it should handle it (is it on top, active, etc.) then forward anything that hasn't been dealt with downstream to other handlers (e.g. the video player).

[luke823]

Feel free to extend IUserInputManager for this if you like. It's purpose was to abstract user input.

Also minor issue. After merging your changes, if you resize the window during playback it crashes the app.

[andyvt]

Got latest ->
---------------------------

---------------------------
There was an error launching Media Browser: This license has expired on 1/1/2013 and is not valid for use with this release.
Please see servicestack.net or contact team@servicestack.net for more details.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

[luke823]

is that server or mbt?

[luke823]

In any event, try now.

[andyvt]

All good. You should see a pull request.

[luke823]

Sweet, thanks. All merged.

[luke823]

Fyi- there are two new guys besides me who are going to be working on the ui, so development should start to move faster now.

[luke823]

Minor issue spotted - the resize crash is fixed during playback, but still occurs if you resize after playback.

[luke823]

Andy, thanks for your recent pull request. Wondering if you're able to do a little bit more with dvd playback? Also, do you have any thoughts on the reports of random playback failures that we sometimes get? Is there any more work that needs to be done in terms of blocking unwanted filters? Thanks.

[andyvt]

Andy, thanks for your recent pull request. Wondering if you're able to do a little bit more with dvd playback? Also, do you have any thoughts on the reports of random playback failures that we sometimes get? Is there any more work that needs to be done in terms of blocking unwanted filters? Thanks.

Sure, what needs adding/fixing?

Do you know why the playback issues are showing up (are you sure it's unwanted filters)? I can't remember off-hand if all the connections b/w filters are via ConnectDirect or Connect. If it's the first, DS shouldn't try to load anything. It's possible to block filters either via a blacklist or whitelist. If you want to add something like that it's not hard.

[luke823]

Well we are getting some sporadic reports of stuttering:

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/index.php?/topic/3820-like-mbt-but-its-unusable-for-video-playback/
http://mediabrowser3.com/community/index.php?/topic/2517-stuttering-video-on-some-files/

As far as dvd goes, where did you leave off with supporting menus? is that complete? if it's complete then i would say a few things that could be added are:

- ability to load arbitrary external srt into the filter chain
- ability to change display aspect ratio - if you add friendly get/set methods to the player, we'll then add it to the UI
- ability to load ffdshow as a post processor (only post processor). if you were to add this and just have it turned off, we could then add a UI setting to control it

[andyvt]

Well we are getting some sporadic reports of stuttering:

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/index.php?/topic/3820-like-mbt-but-its-unusable-for-video-playback/
http://mediabrowser3.com/community/index.php?/topic/2517-stuttering-video-on-some-files/

As far as dvd goes, where did you leave off with supporting menus? is that complete? if it's complete then i would say a few things that could be added are:

- ability to load arbitrary external srt into the filter chain
- ability to change display aspect ratio - if you add friendly get/set methods to the player, we'll then add it to the UI
- ability to load ffdshow as a post processor (only post processor). if you were to add this and just have it turned off, we could then add a UI setting to control it

Stuttering is probably because we don't explicitly set HWA. If users don't set that themselves it will be an issue on low-end machines. I'll change the player to take a parameter for that and the audio mode (PCM v. Bitstreaming) when I get a chance, but longer term it should be surfaced as a setting in the GUI so users can specify how they want it to work. I think the safest default setting is DXVA Copyback, but those with older Intel GPUs will want to use QuickSync instead for better VC-1 support.

I think we left menus off where the hidden window needs to receive user input from the main window. If that's wired now, then it should work.

[andyvt]

- ability to load ffdshow as a post processor (only post processor). if you were to add this and just have it turned off, we could then add a UI setting to control it

What's the use case for this feature?

[luke823]

What's the use case for this feature?

svp. not high priority at all though.

[luke823]

I've added the two new settings to the configuration screen.

[andyvt]

svp. not high priority at all though.

I think using madVR's smooth motion is a better option. I'll see if it's possible to do a runtime config of madVR like it is with LAV.

[luke823]

I think using madVR's smooth motion is a better option. I'll see if it's possible to do a runtime config of madVR like it is with LAV.

ok. if it's going to cause a major impact to the code then I would say let's not do it, but if it's as simple as adding another filter then go ahead.

[andyvt]

ok. if it's going to cause a major impact to the code then I would say let's not do it, but if it's as simple as adding another filter then go ahead.

Enabling smooth motion is just a setting for madVR. It eliminates telecine judder when playing at non-native-multiple refresh rates. The basic idea is the same as SVP, w/o the unwanted side effects of frame interpolation.

[RetroElectro]

Enabling smooth motion is just a setting for madVR. It eliminates telecine judder when playing at non-native-multiple refresh rates. The basic idea is the same as SVP, w/o the unwanted side effects of frame interpolation.

These are two different algorithms for frame rate conversion that people will have different opinions on. Most high end TVs with FRC have user selectable algorithms to support this. Some content such as CG animation looks better with frame interpolation, but again, it's a user preference. Including the FFDshow filter allows the use of avisynth filters so you can use fk3db for debanding, limited sharpen faster for sharpening, etc.

[luke823]

Hey Andy,
There are some reports with the new changes that decoding isnt' working:

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/index.php?/topic/4160-recent-build-lost-audio

I'm assuming with the new bitstream setting you added that means we're going to have to add more settings in regards to decoding formats. is that correct?

[andyvt]

Hey Andy,
I'm assuming with the new bitstream setting you added that means we're going to have to add more settings in regards to decoding formats. is that correct?

Yes, or make them set it in LAV's config dialog (not ideal but workable).

[luke823]

Andy, good stuff, thanks. We'll check out the new COM registration in your fork and merge it in.

[andyvt]

Andy, good stuff, thanks. We'll check out the new COM registration in your fork and merge it in.

To clarify. The change is to use registration free COM similar to how JMC does it for their "Red October" engine.

[andyvt]

Probably should also point out that the main driver for doing this is the custom EVR presenter developed to enable DXVA2 + subtitles.

[luke823]

Are there any people here with expert level experience with ffmpeg and media encoding in general? I imagine there must be. I'm looking for people who might be willing to spare a little of their time and help with some Media Browser projects. Thanks.