INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Video HOWTO?  (Read 2516 times)

mark_h

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1851
Video HOWTO?
« on: March 27, 2013, 04:46:19 am »

Just getting started with the video side of MC...

Hooking up to an 1920x1080 display through a Lumagen processor.

Essentially I want to be able to hand off all video processing to the Lumagen and have MC just output native formats, eg DVD at 480i, HD at 1080p

At the moment I'm very much out of my depth on MC video support and trying to get up to speed quickly.  Is there a HOWTO anywhere?  The Wiki has some detailed pages I'll take a look at later, but wanted to start with a general overview.  Other suggestions for getting up to speed?

Thanks,

Mark

Logged

6233638

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5353
Re: Video HOWTO?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2013, 08:08:53 am »

I've just had a look through the options in MC18, and it seems that this is not currently possible as there's no way to output unscaled video - aspect ratio correction is always being performed. (MPC-HC has the option to disable it)
This means that even if you were to output a 720x480/576 signal from the PC for DVD playback, the image is going to be scaled in MC. (DVDs are encoded as 720x480/576 and then stretched to either 4:3 or 16:9)

Unless you are watching video type content and not films, you probably don't want to output an interlaced signal from the PC, and are better off having madVR handle it, as it will bypass deinterlacing altogether if the disc is progressive, and you can force film-type deinterlacing if it is not, to avoid cadence detection problems for content that is interlaced. (my experience with the Radiance had it dropping out of film mode too often with PAL content)

I would also suggest that you perform the scaling inside the PC with madVR, as it works in 16-bit internally and has access to the original 4:2:0 data on the disc, whereas Lumagen products only process in 10-bit and have to be sent a 4:2:2, 4:4:4, or RGB signal as HDMI does not allow 4:2:0 transmission, so chroma upsampling must be performed inside the player. I have not done a direct comparison, as the last time I had the Radiance was shortly after its release, but madVR also offers some very good non-ringing scaling algorithms to choose from, which I suspect would rival or surpass the Radiance's scaling. (though I would like per-resolution options, as I prefer SoftCubic 80 for SD, and Jinc 3 AR for HD)
As the Lumagen products only process in 4:2:2 internally, it may be better to output an image scaled to 1080p anyway, to try and mitigate that loss of chroma resolution.

You may want to do color correction inside the Lumagen processor though, as it will have 10-bits of precision being output, whereas the output from madVR is only 8-bit right now, and yCMS could be better. (I only use it for gamma correction, not white balance or CMS)
I would have madVR set up to perform color space transformations though, which is achieved by telling madVR that "this display is already calibrated" to BT.709 - that way you only need to calibrate once as it will convert SD content to BT.709
Logged

mark_h

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1851
Re: Video HOWTO?
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2013, 08:27:02 am »

Thanks for that.  Some very useful information there. 

I'm getting rapidly up to speed with the help of the wiki and forum threads, so this is all very useful.


Logged

bulldogger

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 191
Re: Video HOWTO?
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2013, 04:57:24 pm »

This is a consideration of mine as well. I love the idea of using GPU and madVR for processing but all the high-end video cards are noisy. Something like the Lumagen is silent. I really don't want to buy an external scaler but thus far have not figure out a way to have one that has inaudible fan noise and can do madVR at the highest settings.
Logged

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14236
Re: Video HOWTO?
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2013, 05:11:45 pm »

MC lets you tag files for customisable playback by resolution, bitdepth and refresh rate and we used to use this method prior to the Autiomatic Frame rate system.  When playing a video you can select what setting you want the GPU set to (see pic).  This then writes data to the "Playback Info" field such as "(15:DisplaySettings)(13:720x576x32x50)"  You can then copy these settings to all the similar source videos you want played back using these settings.  MC will revert to the "Desktop" settings once playback has finished.

That said, you would only be bothered if you really can see a difference using the outboard scalar over what you can get from the likes of madVR.
Logged
I'm not a python at JRiver - just another Aussie

RayDiant

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Video HOWTO? Force JRiver Video Engine
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2013, 11:40:15 pm »

My setup has the computer hooked up to my Samsung TV via AMD Radeon card. When I listen to audio (generally FLAC files) I pump it to a Marantz 7004 via DLNA. I used to use an external video player (PotPlayer and KMP Player before that). When I double click on a video it ALWAYS ran using the external player. I found the internal JRiver player just as good and more stable so I changed all the video file associations in MC back to Automatic. If I play some audio to the Marantz then try and play a video by double clicking on it MC tries to send the video to the Marantz and gets confused and locks up for 10 seconds or so.Then I changed the file association of JRiver Video Engine (with Direct Show filters). Same thing.

Is there any way I can force a video (I pretty much play MKVs and AVIs) to play on the JRiver Video Engine when I double click no matter what Playing Now is selected?
Logged

bulldogger

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 191
Re: Video HOWTO?
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2013, 05:53:56 am »

That said, you would only be bothered if you really can see a difference using the outboard scalar over what you can get from the likes of madVR.
It not the quality of the video processing in my case. It's the noise of the video card that is motivating me. In a sound and light controlled room, any  extraneous light or  sound can be distracting. With full light control, just the power on led from equipment will light the projection screen up. It is likewise with sound, in that you can hear nearly all fans in equipment from across the room. The silent graphics cards don't have enough processing power to do madVR at the full settings. I would really prefer to completely avoid the expense of an outboard processor like the Lumagen but so far can not find any cards that are completely silent and at the same time capable.
Logged

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14236
Re: Video HOWTO?
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2013, 06:07:06 am »

Ahhh - I understand.  Can you put the PC in an adjacent room or in cabinet ...or.... just crank the vol up  ;D
Logged
I'm not a python at JRiver - just another Aussie

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 71211
  • where the buffalo roam
Re: Video HOWTO?
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2013, 06:46:25 am »

On our wiki, please see "Zone Switch".
Logged

bulldogger

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 191
Re: Video HOWTO?
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2013, 09:32:11 am »

Ahhh - I understand.  Can you put the PC in an adjacent room or in cabinet ...or.... just crank the vol up  ;D
  ;D Yeah. I am trying to figure out a way to make it happen.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up