Topic: Display Settings for Movies (Read 8963 times)

NickF · « **on:** December 20, 2011, 01:51:19 pm »

I am gradually committing to using MC as my video player, being totally convinced on audio, but am having problems with getting the player to switch to the correct frame refresh rate, depending on the media type. I have set up the appropriate settings in "Display Settings" but it is somewhat inconsistent in its behaviour. It always gets Blu-ray rips right, very rarely NTSC DVD rips and never PAL DVDs. So what is going on? What is the decision based on? Is it inspection of the media itself or is it based on tags? If it is tags, how do I inspect them and can I change them?

Nick.

Matt · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2011, 04:13:32 pm »

It uses the FPS field.

You can use Library Tools > Update Library (from tags) if you have blank values.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2011, 04:14:05 pm »

Check your files to see if the FPS is stored properly for each movie. Go to Standard View >Video >files and add the FPS column if it is not already shown. Also, do you have "enable automatic display switching" checked at Tools>options>Video>Display Settings?

NickF · « **Reply #3 on:** December 20, 2011, 04:36:05 pm »

Thanks guys. The FPS info was missing for most of the files. I did the update from tags and this has solved the problem.

What I don't understand is why wasn't the library populated with this originally. Have I got something set up wrongly?

Nick.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2011, 04:44:31 pm »

I don't know for sure - but possibly under Tools>Options>General>Importing & Tagging you need to check the box for "Update Tags when the File Info Changes".

Matt · « **Reply #5 on:** December 20, 2011, 04:49:00 pm »

Quote from: NickF on December 20, 2011, 04:36:05 pm

What I don't understand is why wasn't the library populated with this originally. Have I got something set up wrongly?

We didn't used to get the FPS reliably (like when you imported the files), but should now.

NickF · « **Reply #6 on:** December 20, 2011, 05:34:17 pm »

Quote from: CountryBumkin on December 20, 2011, 04:44:31 pm

I don't know for sure - but possibly under Tools>Options>General>Importing & Tagging you need to check the box for "Update Tags when the File Info Changes".

This was checked OK so it must be something else. Most of these were imported prior to MC17. I will test for new imports.

Nick.

JustinChase · « **Reply #7 on:** December 20, 2011, 10:40:55 pm »

this thread got me checking my files, and I had 176 with no FPS info, so I updated library and 16 still have no FPS, all wmv files FYI.

But, I also noticed I have several repeating frame rates in the FPS column (41 in total), for example

23.98
23.98
23.98
23.98
23.98
24
24
...
29.97
29.97
29.97
29.97
30
30
30
...

I'm guessing the window is rounding, but the internal precision is better/different. I suppose it would be better to show the extra precision, I'm not sure how else one could see it otherwise, or if it matters too much. Consolidating the rounded version in the view might be good too.

maid · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2011, 02:02:50 am »

How does one find out what refresh rate the TV is?

Do I set the display to 1920x1080 with the tv refresh rate?

NickF · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2011, 02:12:24 am »

Quote from: maid on December 21, 2011, 02:02:50 am

How does one find out what refresh rate the TV is?

Do I set the display to 1920x1080 with the tv refresh rate?

Most modern TVs will accept a number of different refresh rates. There will be an upper nd lower limit. What is important is to have the refresh rate in the graphics card set to the same as the playing media or a multiple thereof. This Display Settings feature in MC allows you to select the right refresh rate for each type of movie.

The dimensions selected in Display Settings do need to match your TV so, if that is a True HD TV, 1920x1080 is right and this is selected with Display Settings.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2011, 02:18:13 am »

What do I set the other numbers after the 1920x1080x?x?

NickF · « **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2011, 02:48:42 am »

Quote from: maid on December 21, 2011, 02:18:13 am

What do I set the other numbers after the 1920x1080x?x?

Choose 32 for best colour definition then the last number is the frame rate. So, for example, for a PAL DVD which would have been filmed at 25 frames per second (yes, I know the purists will say they are actually filmed at 24 frames per second!) choose 1920x1080x32x50. Remember to also check "enable automatic display switching" in Tools>options>Video>Display Settings. The graphics GPU will upscale the size and double the refresh rate to meet this spec to give you smooth playback. The next step is to use Video Clock in MC or Slysofts's ReClock.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #12 on:** December 21, 2011, 03:13:06 am »

sorry to be a pain but what about ntsc and film?

NickF · « **Reply #13 on:** December 21, 2011, 04:07:08 am »

Quote from: maid on December 21, 2011, 03:13:06 am

sorry to be a pain but what about ntsc and film?

Film should be 1920x1080x32x24 and NTSC should be 1920x1080x32x59.

I'm not sure how you can tell that these are working other than by seeing an improved smoothness of movement in the video. I use PowerStrip and have a setting to display changes in refresh rate for a few seconds. This gives reassurance that MC is doing its job.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #14 on:** December 21, 2011, 04:11:08 am »

Yes my movies are not that smooth but thats probably because i did not understand theses settings.

Why is there two film listed do i set both the same? Also what is the default?

NickF · « **Reply #15 on:** December 21, 2011, 04:40:38 am »

Quote from: maid on December 21, 2011, 04:11:08 am

Why is there two film listed do i set both the same?

This is a complex subject and purists will go to great lengths to set up their PC graphics refresh rates to exactly match the frame rate of the movie or video source. Movies these days are shot at 23.976 fps so some will attempt to fine tune the graphics refresh rate to exactly match this. It looks as though MC is providing the option to have an exact setting for "film" and an approximate setting of 24 fps. If you look at these options in Display Settings, you will see these two numbers against the two "film" options. If you use a product like ReClock or VideoClock, it will resolve the small difference between the true film frame rate and the chosen PC refresh rate, provided this difference isn't too large. So I use 24 for both of these settings and let ReClock do the fine tuning.

The default is the rate you want MC to switch back to when the video play is stopped. Depending on where you live and what other apps you run on your PC, this might be 50 or 60. I live in the UK and our TV is 25 fps. So my default is 50 (double 25). In the US, the default desktop refresh rate is usually 60.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #16 on:** December 21, 2011, 04:37:46 pm »

mmm all very complex.

I set these up last night and watched a movie that was very jumpy therefore I had to untick the automatic refresh rate and then it all played well.

It was an AVI with 23.98 FPS. ?

Do I need to change the refresh rate in my Nvidia GForce 9500GT?

NickF · « **Reply #17 on:** December 22, 2011, 08:13:06 am »

MC should make the change of refresh rate for you automatically when it inspects the FPS setting for the media. These resolution and refresh rate options are usually available from Windows so you shouldn't need to go into NVIDIA Control Panel. If having the auto refresh rate change checked made the jumpiness worse, it suggests that you may have the wrong setting.

Did you check that MC has the right fps value in its library - see the advice from Matt and CountryBumpkin earlier in this thread.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #18 on:** December 22, 2011, 05:52:29 pm »

I am totally confused. my FPS are set in the library. Jumping is worse with these settings set.

Is there anything in the Wii to read?

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #19 on:** December 22, 2011, 06:28:56 pm »

You may want to check/change the setting for "Hardware Accelerate Video Decoding when possible" under Tools>Options>Video. One of my HTPCs won't play with it checked, the other won't play properly with it unchecked.

maid · « **Reply #20 on:** December 22, 2011, 08:35:45 pm »

ahh I will try that tonight

maid · « **Reply #21 on:** December 23, 2011, 05:27:16 pm »

Hi, took this off Hardware Accelerate Video Decoding when possible put back all the display setting and the jumping is back.

Help somebody??

NickF · « **Reply #22 on:** December 24, 2011, 03:11:23 am »

Whilst this video is playing, change MC to windowed so that you can see some of your desktop then right click and select NVIDIA Control Panel. Select the change resolution option and see what refresh rate NVIDIA is set to. It should be 24. If not, MC is setting the wrong rate. If it is 24, the problem isn't the refresh rate.

Are you using Red October HQ? Even though my processor and GPU are reasonably good, the HQ option causes some jumpinesss for me.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #23 on:** December 24, 2011, 03:38:12 am »

I am using Red October standard.

I hve tried your suggestion but Nvidia constantly crashes so cant do the test that you have suggested.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #24 on:** December 24, 2011, 06:19:53 am »

Maybe faulty nVidia drivers. Try reinstalling latest drivers and see if that solves the problem. Also, most likely you will want "Hardware Accelerate ..." turned ON. I was just suggesting you try it both ways (I think it was my on-board HD2000 gpu that didn't like it turned on).

NickF · « **Reply #25 on:** December 24, 2011, 06:25:15 am »

I agree with CountryBumpkin. Best to get NVIDIA stable before you try anything else.

You can also check current frame refresh rate from Windows - right click on desktop and choose Screen resolution. Click the link for advanced settings and select the Monitor tab. This will give the current rate.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #26 on:** December 24, 2011, 05:12:37 pm »

the refresh rate is 50hertz.

If I use the auto frame rate I get jumpy videos.

NickF · « **Reply #27 on:** December 25, 2011, 04:02:14 am »

Was the refresh rate 50 while you were playing the video? You said the video you were testing had a frame rate of 23.976. Chech the refresh rate while playing this video and the auto select on in MC. Are all of your videos jumpy with MC on auto?

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #28 on:** December 25, 2011, 08:00:53 pm »

Opened Nvidia and the refresh rate was on 50 I have now changed this to 24.

Where do I look to see what the refresh rate is while playing?

Also I noticed the Audi output says 48khz 24bit 2ch Using WASAPI not using enough bits to output input directly.

NickF · « **Reply #29 on:** December 26, 2011, 02:17:58 am »

Both the NVIDIA and Windows methods I mentioned will show the rate while playing. If MC is set to change the rate automatically, you will see that rate in NVIDIA. This should tell us whether it is being changed correctly. We also need to know whether the frame rate data is set correctly for the video.

When you changed the NVIDIA setting to 24 and applied this, did you get the confirmation window pop up and did you confirm? If you do this then play the video with auto select turned off in MC, does the video play smoothly?

Where did you read the audio info from? There are often problems with WASAPI and bit depth. Some sound cards require 32 bit.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #30 on:** December 26, 2011, 05:56:07 pm »

Hi, Checked the frame rate and it does change. I have taken off the hardware accelerate and will check that tonight.

The audio info is on the 3rd button on the right, if you hover over it give the info there.

maid · « **Reply #31 on:** January 01, 2012, 05:02:33 pm »

Bump

I am still having problems with jumpy movies, panning is the worst, it is a long time since I have had them play smooth.

I think I have tried all the different frame rate settings.

I have set my Nvidia card back at the default refresh rate of 50 and I have seen it change rate when playing different frame rate movies, so that part works.

I am getting frustrated with this and have just been putting up with it.

maid · « **Reply #32 on:** January 03, 2012, 09:37:21 pm »

BUMP

Can nobody offer any help ?

NickF · « **Reply #33 on:** January 04, 2012, 01:46:27 am »

I remember you saying that play was smooth if the MC auto refresh rate change was disabled. Is this still the case? If it is, play the movie and, whilst playing, check the rate in NVIDIA control panel or Windows. Check the data in MC for the movie and see what FPS is set there.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #34 on:** January 04, 2012, 11:42:01 pm »

Tried taking display setting off watching Nvidia display nothing changed and now they are still jumpy.
Tried using RO HQ but was getting momentary freeze up.

I would love to be able to watch a video where the panning shots do not jerk.

NickF · « **Reply #35 on:** January 05, 2012, 02:05:55 am »

This certainly sounds like a frame rate mismatch. Because you said that you used to get smooth movement before setting MC to change it, I assumed there was something wrong with the MC setup or the wrong rate was set in the tags for the movie.

I have ReClock installed and this is very useful for seeing what is going on. While the movie is playing, it can show the correct data for the movie and also the rate selected for the graphics card. I suggest you install this to get a bit more information.

Go to the SlySoft forum and look for the ReClock forum. The latest version of ReClock is available there. Install it and leave all the settings at default. In MC, choose Tools>Options>Video and under General video settings select Video mode: advanced custom. Under Custom Setting, at the top drop down, select Red October standard. Click the Add button then near the bottom, click the Type drop down and select Audio Renderer. On the Filter drop down, select ReClock. Now MC will use ReClock. Play one of your movies with MC windowed and look in your system tray for a circular clock face symbol. It may be red, yellow or flashing red and green. Click on this and a window will pop up. At top left, Video Stream, it will show the size, type and frame rate of the video. Across to the right and down a bit, Video hardware, Refresh rate, it will show the frame rate of the graphics card. If it is a 23.976 video, you want the graphics card to be set to 24. If it isn't, you will get jumpinesss. If the GPU is not 24, close MC and use NVIDIA to set the rate to 24. Now play the movie again and open the ReClock window and check again. If the rate is now correct, leave the movie running for a while and watch the System clock correction figure. This will gradually reduce. Ideally, this number should be at 0.17 or less to get perfectly smooth movement but it takes about 2 hours of constant play to get there. Even if you don't use ReClock, it may help find out what is going on.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #36 on:** January 05, 2012, 02:23:49 am »

Quote from: NickF on January 05, 2012, 02:05:55 am

This certainly sounds like a frame rate mismatch. Because you said that you used to get smooth movement before setting MC to change it, I assumed there was something wrong with the MC setup or the wrong rate was set in the tags for the movie.

I have ReClock installed and this is very useful for seeing what is going on. While the movie is playing, it can show the correct data for the movie and also the rate selected for the graphics card. I suggest you install this to get a bit more information.

Go to the SlySoft forum and look for the ReClock forum. The latest version of ReClock is available there. Install it and leave all the settings at default. In MC, choose Tools>Options>Video and under General video settings select Video mode: advanced custom. Under Custom Setting, at the top drop down, select Red October standard. Click the Add button then near the bottom, click the Type drop down and select Audio Renderer. On the Filter drop down, select ReClock. Now MC will use ReClock. Play one of your movies with MC widowed and look in your system tray for a circular clock face symbol. It may be red, yellow or flashing red and green. Click on this and a window will pop up. At top left, it will show the size, type and frame rate of the video. Across to the right and down a bit, it will show the frame rate of the graphics card. If it is a 23.976 video, you want the graphics card to be set to 24. If it isn't, you will get jumpinesss. If the GPU is not 24, close MC and use NVIDIA to set the rate to 24. Now play the movie again and open the ReClock window and check again. If the rate is now correct, leave the movie running for a while and watch the System clock correction figure. This will gradually reduce. Ideally, this number should be at 0.17 or less to get perfectly smooth movement but it takes about 2 hours of constant play to get there. Even if you don't use ReClock, it may help find out what is going on.

Nick.

What is GPU?

NickF · « **Reply #37 on:** January 05, 2012, 03:12:30 am »

Quote from: maid on January 05, 2012, 02:23:49 am

What is GPU?

Graphics Processor Unit - on the graphics card.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #38 on:** January 05, 2012, 03:49:14 am »

I have installed re clock on and played a 23.976 and the graphics card was at 24.

I have also taken of video clock as I believe that will interfere with re clock.

cheers

NickF · « **Reply #39 on:** January 05, 2012, 09:18:23 am »

Did the video play smoothly? If so, and you want to keep ReClock, you will need to set MC to change the refresh rate automatically again as ReClock needs the rate to be close to the rate of the video.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #40 on:** January 05, 2012, 06:08:36 pm »

Yes it was the first time in a while that we have had a smooth movie thank you.

So I know need to set the display again? Is that all what about video clock?

NickF · « **Reply #41 on:** January 06, 2012, 01:18:35 am »

That's good news! Leave VideoClock turned off. In my opinion, ReClock does a better job at the moment.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #42 on:** January 07, 2012, 07:57:45 pm »

Just wanted to say thanks for all your help.

Obviously as yet I have not gone through all of the different movies to see if they work but so far so good

maid · « **Reply #43 on:** January 08, 2012, 05:43:42 pm »

Is it normal for the screen to go black momentarily when closing MC??

NickF · « **Reply #44 on:** January 08, 2012, 05:46:19 pm »

I'm glad it is looking good for you. I'm a bit embarrassed recommending another product! It is a bit frustrating not having found a definite cause. You said that you turned off VideoClock so you presumably had it running when you were having the problems. I have also had various problems with this but don't know why when it clearly works for others. I have had jumpy video and very significant audio delay.

With ReClock, check that you are getting 5.1 sound. I have to set the PCM audio interface to WASAPI, otherwise I only get 2 channels.

Nick.

NickF · « **Reply #45 on:** January 08, 2012, 05:47:48 pm »

Quote from: maid on January 08, 2012, 05:43:42 pm

Is it normal for the screen to go black momentarily when closing MC??

The screen going black may be a consequence of MC changing the refresh rate back to your normal desktop setting.

Nick.

maid · « **Reply #46 on:** January 08, 2012, 07:12:51 pm »

We are getting 5.1 we use WASAPI. We used to use SPDIF but my husband prefers the sound card as there is more to play with in the equalizer.

xplain · « **Reply #47 on:** January 29, 2012, 12:05:03 pm »

I wanted to play with these settings, but I must be missing something

I only have these option to choose

?? x ?? x 32 x 59
?? x ?? x 16 x 59
?? x ?? x 32 x 60
?? x ?? x 16 x 60

What am I missing, why don't I have these other options.

Thomas

glynor · « **Reply #48 on:** January 29, 2012, 12:37:42 pm »

Not all monitors support changing the refresh rate.

Generally you need a fancy or semi-fancy one. My Panasonic VT-25 has a real 24 Hz mode.

xplain · « **Reply #49 on:** January 29, 2012, 12:51:13 pm »

How do I check what my TV supports ?

It's a LG 32LB75, about 4 years old.

Or is it just so, if I can't select these settings in MC, then my TV dosn't support it.

Thomas

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Author Topic: Display Settings for Movies (Read 8963 times)