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Author Topic: LAV filters used by MC  (Read 2161 times)

bogdanbz

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LAV filters used by MC
« on: January 11, 2022, 11:41:00 am »

I noticed that JRiver comes with a bundle of LAV filters which is located in the %APPDATA%\J River\Media Center 28\Plugins\lav64 folder.

I am used to install LAV filters myself, and like to keep up with the nightlies. I also use the beta versions of JRiver MC

My question is: which version of LAV Filters is MC using: the one I installed myself, or the one in the %APPDATA% folder?

In case the one in %APPDATA% is used, is there an official way to make JRiver use the version I installed myself (other that overwriting what is the in %APPDATA% folder, that is)?

EDIT: fixed the folder location
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BryanC

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Re: LAV filters used by MC
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2022, 06:43:25 am »

You can choose a custom decoder chain (Directshow) or overwrite the lav plugins directory if you so choose. Considering that the LAV developer is on the JRiver team it probably isn't worth the hassle though.
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mojave

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Re: LAV filters used by MC
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2022, 09:43:21 am »

You need to go to Tools > Video > General Video Settings > Video Mode and select "Advanced - Custom". Then click "Custom video mode settings." You can set rules that use the LAV Audio Decoder and LAV Video Decoder for all files. This will use the the version that you have installed.

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fitbrit

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Re: LAV filters used by MC
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2022, 12:38:15 pm »

And I assume you are getting "Latest" versions of MC and not beta versions?
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bogdanbz

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Re: LAV filters used by MC
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2022, 01:15:47 pm »

Indeed, I am using the "Latest" settings.

Thank you for your answers, btw !

It seems to me however that if I have LAV filters installed on the system, MC is using them instead of the ones it bundles. I don't know if this always happens, or only when the filters installed on the system are newer than the ones bundled with MC though. I say this because the DV color space conversion to SDR or HDR10 feature is available in the nightlies and not in the MC bundled LAV filters, and that feature works for me so I assume it's using the nightlies I installed.
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Hendrik

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Re: LAV filters used by MC
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2022, 05:40:30 pm »

I say this because the DV color space conversion to SDR or HDR10 feature is available in the nightlies and not in the MC bundled LAV filters, and that feature works for me so I assume it's using the nightlies I installed.

Except no such feature exists, therefor it also cannot work. I think you have misunderstood some upcoming changes or some details about the files you are playing. :)
All LAV does is export metadata, it does not, and will not, perform any conversions (they would be far too costly to do anywhere but in the video renderer). And MC also does not use the metadata (yet), so it would make no difference if its present.

If you don't specify a custom mode as explained above, MC will always use its built-in copy of LAV with no exceptions.
As for the custom mode, I would generally not recommend using it like that, because mismatches in versions can also lead to bugs. If you want to use it to change some settings in LAV, I would recommend using the same version as bundled with MC to avoid that issue.
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~ nevcairiel
~ Author of LAV Filters

bogdanbz

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Re: LAV filters used by MC
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2022, 10:12:22 am »

I did not say that LAV video will do the color conversions. I expect the video renderer to do that, indeed. What I said (more on this in the DV thread here on the forum) is that the metadata will not be sent to the display. And you seem to confirm that in your post now. :)

Still, DV Profile 8.1 mp4 files are color converted to SDR with the correct colors, as can be seen by using the official Dolby files I mentioned in the DV thread. DV Profile 5 files are not, though. And they don't work even when replacing the content of the lav64 bundle with the content of the x64 folder in the nightliies.

I guess the easiest way to use the a different version of LAV filters is to just replace the LAV filters bundle in MC with the one I want used then. This may not work when any COM interfaces are changed in the filters, but that's a rare event anyway. There must be some environment variable that can be defined to make MC use an external set of filters, to help during development, but I guess you don't want to make that one known. :)
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JimH

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Re: LAV filters used by MC
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2022, 10:33:36 am »

I guess the easiest way to use the a different version of LAV filters is to just replace the LAV filters bundle in MC with the one I want used then. This may not work when any COM interfaces are changed in the filters, but that's a rare event anyway. There must be some environment variable that can be defined to make MC use an external set of filters, to help during development, but I guess you don't want to make that one known. :)
In plain language, we don't think you should do that.  Just use the LAV filters that come with MC or risk causing problems.

Maybe you missed the fact that Hendrik (aka nevcairiel) is the author of LAV.
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bogdanbz

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Re: LAV filters used by MC
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2022, 10:43:22 am »

I understood that. And I understand the reason, too. MC's code is written to work with the filters bundled with it, and might not support any new interfaces or changes in behavior in the nightlies. Not to mention the nightlies might have new bugs in them.

I'm not going to report any issues I find using nightlies, no worries there. Though I think in the end I'm going to use the official method described by mojave, to avoid any issues during MC updates.
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