INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 17 => Topic started by: jmone on March 10, 2012, 07:09:21 pm

Title: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 10, 2012, 07:09:21 pm
I am very excited!  After years of workarounds this just works.  ;D I've only just starting testing and most of this for me with be on BD and I will use it for two main purposes:
1) Movies (Alternative Endings, Extras etc)
2) Music Video (separating out each "Track" like with a CD and CUE files)

First impressions:

Movies:   The Auto Create BD/DVD Title Particles creates a new entry in the DB for each Title on a BD Disc with the the same meta data for the original title with a new "Name" based on "Original Name - Title 1..2..3..etc"
- Meta data like Compression, Dimensions, etc are just copied and are not re-read so in many cases these will be wrong.  An "Update Library from Tags" will then correctly update these fields but I notice that the file type is then changed from "bdmv" to "mpls" and the Filename now points to the actual MPLS ... which may or may not matter in the handling of particles but it certainly breaks the "Stacks" as they are now independent files (One for Matt?)
- You can then manually tag, name, coverart each of these new particle you want to keep and delete the rest

Overall - Works perfectly for simply creation of multiple entries based on the Title List (? on the "Update Library from Tags" issue).
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 10, 2012, 07:18:47 pm
Music Video:  The "Create Particle" diag box is ideal for this as you can Name each "Track" and put in the playback range if you happen to have this from another source.  This allows you to make a track for each song that you then need to manually add additional meta data like "Track #".  Couple of suggestions to this diag box
- Create Particle for each Chapter.  Instead of manually creating all (say) 22 particles for each track, can there be another option to create a Particle for each chapter (like with the BD/DVD title creator).  This way the user then need to just rename the tracks to the correct song title as the playback range is correct.  MC already has this data exposed as a part of the Chapter selector (which is where I currently get the data from).

Overall:  Great first cut but a third radio button under playback range (eg Play entire file, Play only this range, Create particle for each Chapter) would really speed up the process of creating a single particle for each track.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 10, 2012, 07:20:08 pm
Meta Data / YADB:  I don't know if you want to start collecting the metadata that people enter for this stuff to make look ups better
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jgreen on March 10, 2012, 09:03:00 pm
IMO, they should call this feature "jmone", without whose pioneering investigation there would be no particles.  Danke!!

Testing-wise, I found MKV video works best by far, followed by AVI.  I have not yet seen direct rips of DVDs (.ifo) work reliably.

No matter what format, it takes a brief bit for MC to chew on the particle, and then it is off to the races!!

Dialogue box is OK, but could be better.  I don't see this as an "expert" feature, I think there are a lot of people who would want this.  A little more 'splaining in the dialogue box, particularly as regards Playback Range, and I think you'll find a lot more people stepping up.

Moi, I've already got Lance cued up for all the epic rides, and David Byrne, Louise Ciccone and Declan MacManus are all ready to be P-parsed.  Let the bits begin!!
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 11, 2012, 01:28:45 am
Thank JG ...and here was I thinking it was all getting a bit booring late in the MC17 dev cycle!

Coverart:  I like how the default is to copy the coverart but I would also like to be able to generate / assign separate Coverart (as I do now) to the Particles, eg:
- Movies (Playlists): You may want to see in T'View different coverart to distinguish between Alt endings, or specials etc
- Music Video Tracks:  Currently I have the std downloaded coverart for the entire music video, but for each tracks I have a screen shot of the tracks itself.  The issue can be in TheaterView if it is the one coverart for all 22 tracks it kinda looks jarring with all the icons being identical.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: Sandy B Ridge on March 11, 2012, 03:31:49 am
  I have not yet seen direct rips of DVDs (.ifo) work reliably.

I'm actually quite excited about particles! Once DVD chapters work reliably, I wonder if it would be possible to have LAV/MadVR for playback since the partices will be a subset of the VOB file and (hopefully) not require the MS DVD Navigator with it's Macrovision problem.

I can then stop moaning about the lack of MadVR for DVD! Yay!

SBR
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 15, 2012, 05:53:46 pm
Given the experimental nature / dev I've not used the Particles feature outside of testing.  Any hints on:
1) Will Particles stay, and then
2) Will the format in the DB be reset
3) Will any new features be added (eg create by chapter).

Pending the answer I'll either start using them or wait!

Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: JimH on March 15, 2012, 06:17:39 pm
1.  Yes
2.  No
3.  Maybe

Right now, it can split both DVD's and BD's automatically.  But maybe you meant something else.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 15, 2012, 07:04:38 pm
Thanks Jim, and Yes I mean an option like the current "Split by Title" but "Split by Chapter"  so you can extract a single Particle per Music Video Track.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: JimH on March 15, 2012, 07:06:12 pm
Thanks Jim, and Yes I mean an option like the current "Split by Title" but "Split by Chapter"  so you can extract a single Particle per Music Video Track.
Could you do that now with a time range?  Or do you mean an automatic way to split a music video?

How are the chickens doing?
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 15, 2012, 07:21:49 pm
Yes - an automatic way to split a Music Video.  With the current Diag box you can do it manually but it is time consuming to get all the Playback Range info and enter it one at a time where MC already has this (see CS.JPG).  I currently print screen this then use the info to manually type the data back into MC when creating the track. 

I was thinking an Automatic Way to create all the tracks (see pic), where MC would create a new Particle for each Chapter and populate the Playback Range from the Chapter Start-Stop times then all the user needs to do is delete the unwanted Particles the rename them and add a Track #. :) (see PPC.JPG)

Thanks
Nathan

PS - Chooks have just had their first molt but are now back laying.  Good news is V3 of the Chook shed has managed (so far) to keep out the snakes, foxs, dogs, and bush turkeys.  Another neighour seems to have also got chooks but as they let them free range during the day I'm not sure they will have them for long!  How are your going?
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: JimH on March 15, 2012, 08:01:58 pm
My chickens are imaginary now.  Maybe some day I'll be able to face the bloodshed again.

Was that your house on Pix01 where they took down huge trees with big machines and brave men?  I ask because I notice they were driving on the wrong side of the road.

http://www.pix01.com/gallery/11945F16-2830-4639-BB56-8C597C5292EE/Trees_Go_Bye_Bye/
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 15, 2012, 08:21:51 pm
Not our part of the world (wrong trees).  One comment was CP&L (California / Central / Carolina / Canadian Power & Light maybe??)



Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: MrC on March 15, 2012, 08:40:13 pm
I'm guessing South Carolina.

Southern Crane
Carolina Power & Light
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: rick.ca on March 15, 2012, 10:45:37 pm
Maybe. Carolina Power & Light (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Power_%26_Light) is "Known locally as 'CP&L' [as mentioned in one of the photo captions] the company's main operations were in Eastern North Carolina and in parts of northeastern South Carolina and in the Asheville area of western North Carolina." Southern Crane (http://southernindustrial.com/cranes/) is based in North Carolina, but does have one office in Columbia, South Carolina. The logo on the crane matches that one their website. Now we just have to compare aerial photos before and after 06/16/2010 to find some missing trees in a neighbourhood where everyone parts on the wrong side of the street... ;)
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: locust on March 16, 2012, 12:03:57 am
Wait a minute,

Could I use this feature to essentially make chapters in any video file?
If so that'd be really nice.

It's be nice so be able to select a file and be able to specify how many particles you wish to create with and being able to pre set the duration of each particle.

Say you had a 10min clip and you wanted to split it up using 4 particles each 2mins 50secs in length
Particle 1 would start 0-2:49
Particle two would follow on from 2:50-5 and so on.

If you were to add a visual component in the future would also be great so it would be easier to fiddle with the duration values. So you would see a timeline with the start and end markers of each particle and be able to just click and drag them to change them
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: MarkCoutinho on March 16, 2012, 06:29:02 am
This stuff is a great feature. But... It would be great if it would be possible to export such a particle as a different file. Very useful for i.e. extracting songs from a music video as separate files.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jgreen on March 16, 2012, 06:03:44 pm
Particles are like "Chapter Excerpts" that link back to the original media file.  What particles will do is give you the ability to play (and tag) these excerpts as if they were individual tracks.  As an example, if you have a concert DVD or a music video DVD collection, you can create separate particles for the musical tracks and play them individually, or in a playlist.  I've done this with several of my music DVDs and it works perfectly.  Since I still have the original DVD, I can tag and sort these as music tracks and cue them up accordingly.   

Also, it is a "non-destructive" edit.  Since DVD video is highly compressed, each time you reauthor it the quality degrades somewhat.  Since particles don't reauthor anything, but simply link back to the original footage, there is no quality degradation, no matter how many particles you create.

As regards Chapters, there is an option in particles to create a particle for each chapter in the DVD, so that instead of a DVD menu you can play the DVD as tracks, and use the MC interface to navigate the DVD.  Again, everything links back to the original. 

IMO, this is really exciting stuff!   
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: gappie on March 16, 2012, 06:10:50 pm
As regards Chapters, there is an option in particles to create a particle for each chapter in the DVD, so that instead of a DVD menu you can play the DVD as tracks, and use the MC interface to navigate the DVD.  Again, everything links back to the original. 

IMO, this is really exciting stuff!   
thanks.. its the reason i jumped back to 17.. particles.. and hearing that it works with chapters is good news..

 :)
gab
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: JimH on March 16, 2012, 06:14:01 pm
IMO, this is really exciting stuff!   
You're still to blame if it goes sour.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: gappie on March 16, 2012, 06:19:17 pm
You're still to blame if it goes sour.
ofcourse you are.. you are the boss!! but it does not make it less exciting.. and it should not make you Friday night less relaxing..

EDit.. that was dumb comment.. i thought 'you' was ment in a general sense or what ever.. especially after reading the 'blowing off thread'.. but apperently you is jgreen himself.. cool. i really need to get my english up a bit more..  ;) as im fighting the new particles now..
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 16, 2012, 06:37:41 pm
This stuff is a great feature. But... It would be great if it would be possible to export such a particle as a different file. Very useful for i.e. extracting songs from a music video as separate files.

Well in theory this is possible as MC also has a Video Conversion feature (Library Tools --> Convert Format) but unfortunately (at this stage) it does not honor the Playback Range so it does not convert just your single "track" but the whole video.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: JimH on March 16, 2012, 06:38:29 pm
Well in theory this is possible as MC also has a Video Conversion feature (Library Tools --> Convert Format) but unfortunately (at this stage) it does not honor the Playback Range so it does not convert just your single "track" but the whole video.
We'll fix that.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: vagskal on March 16, 2012, 06:43:58 pm
We'll fix that.

Would it be possible to have MC make a cue sheet from the metadata entered for particles and store it next to the parent audio file?
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: gappie on March 16, 2012, 06:44:18 pm
ok... i think this is interesting stuff.. there are some first things i dont understand.. why is it under stacks.. stacks >advanced nonetheless... so what have stacks got to do with it.. its more like a cue file? but then with the option to play the whole thing.. right? 

and for it oes not 'see' chapters.. right? i can add them when i 'know' them or am i doing something wrong..

nice though.. and promising..
 :)
gab
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 16, 2012, 06:52:23 pm
Yes - to me it is like a Cue file where you can select to:
1) Automatically generate one particle per title
2) Manually generate them

As per my post a few back it would be great to also have
3) Automatically generate one per chapter
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on March 16, 2012, 06:52:54 pm
We'll fix that.

Thanks Jim.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: JimH on March 16, 2012, 07:00:41 pm
why is it under stacks.. stacks >advanced
It's hidden on purpose until it's a little more polished.
Quote
  what have stacks got to do with it.. its more like a cue file?
We thought it made sense to put the pieces with the whole.
Quote
but then with the option to play the whole thing.. right? 
The whole is the original.
Quote
and for it does not 'see' chapters.. right? i can add them when i 'know' them or am i doing something wrong..
No comprendo.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: gappie on March 16, 2012, 07:01:33 pm
Yes - to me it is like a Cue file where you can select to:
1) Automatically generate one particle per title
2) Manually generate them

As per my post a few back it would be great to also have
3) Automatically generate one per chapter
thanks.. reading jgreens post putted me on the wrong leg.. i though this chapter thing was also included. i did read yours first, but guessing this thread came from the beta board i assumed/hoped it did this chapter part..

it would be great if it would though.. until now i took chapter ogg thingies out of the mkvs, or before merging, which gave me the chapters and renamed them. doing it in mc woul be great!!
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: gappie on March 16, 2012, 07:05:04 pm
No comprendo.
claro.. esta un poco mas complicado..  :P

and i agree.. the whole is the original.. but stacks are a hidden feature for me, and i guess for most.. ive been working with music software that has this way of looking to files, leaving the original and stuff, for a long time, but the original is hard to find, which is also not ideal, but when i make a particle it should not be hidden....
well.. its nice and as always im curious to see where it ends..

Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jgreen on March 16, 2012, 08:11:58 pm
gappie--

Sorry, the "auto create BD/DVD title particles" option doesn't do what I thought.  I hadn't used it when I mentioned it, but trying it now, it appears to be a duplicate of the default function, or else it's a script that's being inhibited by my anti-virus.  Me, I don't want the DVD menus, so I'm not interested in this.

Quoting JimH:  "You're still to blame if it goes sour."

If anyone is still in doubt, I am actually JimH's alter-ego.  They tell me I'm a replacement for the sock puppet that previously served in this role.



Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: rpalmer68 on March 23, 2012, 11:04:25 pm
I'm actually quite excited about particles! Once DVD chapters work reliably, I wonder if it would be possible to have LAV/MadVR for playback since the partices will be a subset of the VOB file and (hopefully) not require the MS DVD Navigator with it's Macrovision problem.

I can then stop moaning about the lack of MadVR for DVD! Yay!

SBR

I was hoping for this too.. but....

I split a DVD into particles and then tried to play a particle, it plays but the video quality is worse than watching the original ripped DVD, and the picture also pixelates up a lot at various stages.

I tried using custom settings to force EVR and the MS DTV/DVD decoder, but even with them the image isn't as good and there is this pixelation that I don't get with the normal DVD graph.

Anybody else seeing this???


The ripped DVD graph looks like this;
Code: [Select]
Filter Graph Info:

    Filter 'JRiver Audio Renderer'
        CLSID: {A4002F8E-510F-442C-8AD3-F9C7B23FB394}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'In'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_IEEE_FLOAT, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'Enhanced Video Renderer'
        CLSID: {FA10746C-9B63-4B6C-BC49-FC300EA5F256}
        Host: c:\windows\syswow64\evr.dll
        Input Pin 'EVR Input0'
            Connected to pin 'Video Output 1' of filter 'Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_NV12, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2
        Input Pin 'EVR Input1'
            Connected to pin 'XForm Out' of filter 'Line 21 Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_AYUV, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo
        Input Pin 'EVR Input2'
            Connected to pin '~Subpicture Output' of filter 'Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_AYUV, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2

    Filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
        CLSID: {E8E73B6B-4CB3-44A4-BE99-4F7BCB96E491}
        Host: C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Plugins\lav\LAVAudio.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'In' of filter 'JRiver Audio Renderer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_IEEE_FLOAT, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'Line 21 Decoder'
        CLSID: {E4206432-01A1-4BEE-B3E1-3702C8EDC574}
        Host: c:\windows\syswow64\quartz.dll
        Input Pin 'XForm In'
            Connected to pin '~Line21 Output' of filter 'Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_AUXLine21Data  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_Line21_GOPPacket, Format type FORMAT_None
        Output Pin 'XForm Out'
            Connected to pin 'EVR Input1' of filter 'Enhanced Video Renderer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_AYUV, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo

    Filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
        CLSID: {A4207487-E7D8-406B-9882-B66370DE2492}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'AC3' of filter 'DVD Navigator'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder'
        CLSID: {212690FB-83E5-4526-8FD7-74478B7939CD}
        Host: c:\windows\syswow64\msmpeg2vdec.dll
        Input Pin 'Video Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Input Pin 'Subpicture Input'
            Connected to pin 'SubPicture' of filter 'DVD Navigator'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DVD_SUBPICTURE, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Video Output 1'
            Connected to pin 'EVR Input0' of filter 'Enhanced Video Renderer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_NV12, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2
        Output Pin '~Line21 Output'
            Connected to pin 'XForm In' of filter 'Line 21 Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_AUXLine21Data  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_Line21_GOPPacket, Format type FORMAT_None
        Output Pin '~Subpicture Output'
            Connected to pin 'EVR Input2' of filter 'Enhanced Video Renderer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_AYUV, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2

    Filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
        CLSID: {A4207487-E7D8-406B-9882-B66370DE2492}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Video' of filter 'DVD Navigator'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Video Input' of filter 'Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO

    Filter 'DVD Navigator'
        CLSID: {9B8C4620-2C1A-11D0-8493-00A02438AD48}
        Host: c:\windows\syswow64\qdvd.dll
        Output Pin 'Video'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'AC3'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'SubPicture'
            Connected to pin 'Subpicture Input' of filter 'Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DVD_SUBPICTURE, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO

While the particle ones is this;
Code: [Select]
Filter Graph Info:

    Filter 'JRiver Audio Renderer'
        CLSID: {A4002F8E-510F-442C-8AD3-F9C7B23FB394}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'In'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_IEEE_FLOAT, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'madVR'
        CLSID: {E1A8B82A-32CE-4B0D-BE0D-AA68C772E423}
        Host: C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Plugins\madvr\madvr.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'LAV Video Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_NV12, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2

    Filter 'LAV Video Decoder (auto-configured)'
        CLSID: {EE30215D-164F-4A92-A4EB-9D4C13390F9F}
        Host: C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Plugins\lav\LAVVideo.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'madVR'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_NV12, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2

    Filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
        CLSID: {E8E73B6B-4CB3-44A4-BE99-4F7BCB96E491}
        Host: C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Plugins\lav\LAVAudio.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'In' of filter 'JRiver Audio Renderer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_IEEE_FLOAT, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
        CLSID: {A4207487-E7D8-406B-9882-B66370DE2492}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Video' of filter 'LAV Splitter (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'LAV Video Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO

    Filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
        CLSID: {A4207487-E7D8-406B-9882-B66370DE2492}
        Host:
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Audio' of filter 'LAV Splitter (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'LAV Audio Decoder (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'LAV Splitter (auto-configured)'
        CLSID: {171252A0-8820-4AFE-9DF8-5C92B2D66B04}
        Host: c:\program files (x86)\lav filters\x86\lavsplitter.ax
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'JRiver DVD Reader'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo
        Output Pin 'Video'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'JRiver Video Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Audio'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'JRiver Audio Monitor'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'JRiver DVD Reader'
        CLSID: {4FFAD452-94A3-4609-A0E9-65959C11DB5F}
        Host:
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'LAV Splitter (auto-configured)'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: fitbrit on March 24, 2012, 12:35:35 am
I'm quite annoyed right now, after trying to use this feature for the first time. It worked as advertised -  I'm frustrated at the authoring of the 2 DVDs from the ABC Australia series "John Safran Vs. God"

Auto-creating particles yielded that Disk one is just two titles - copyright warning and over two hours comprising several episodes from the show.
Disk two however, is a multitude of particles, including the two episodes on the disk and all the extras. This will be great once tagged and with metadata gathered. Now what to do with Disk 1?
Can I split a particle (Title 2) into further particles?
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jgreen on March 24, 2012, 09:56:24 am
Create a single, full-length particle.  Add it to Playing Now.  Also, add the field "Playback Range" to Playing Now.

In Playing Now, scroll through the full-length particle and choose an "in" point.  Enter the playback time shown in Playing Now into th "Playback Range" field.  If you are three minutes and fifteen seconds in, add "03:15" to Playback Range.  Add a "dash" separator (-) also.  Enter your "out" time in the same way.  If you want to play for five minutes, this would be your completed Playback Range field:  "03:15-08:15".

For me, MC needs to chew on it a bit before it will go to the start time.  The first click almost never goes straight to it.  Also, I'm finding that AVI and MKV files cooperate better than IFO files.  Lastly, make sure you give your new particle a unique name. 
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: rpalmer68 on March 28, 2012, 06:16:52 am
Is nobody else seeing quality/pixelation issues with playback of MC created DVD particles?

 
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jgreen on March 28, 2012, 10:20:56 am
No, but shortly after your previous post I started looking for it, and of course I thought I saw it everwhere, even with original files.

There was a short time quite a ways back when it seemed the color was quantizing to reduced bits (pasty faces, flat BGs).  It turned out that my GFX subsys is riotously complex, and may have been telling madVR to use reduced bits.  Later my machine went back to the factory for this very thing, and I haven't seen the issue in months.

I know Matt felt that the ifo multistream was a tough nut to particalize, but I can't believe he's actually converting on the fly/sly, I don't see the proc usage.

In my experience AVIs Pplayback smooth as silk; MKVs are fine also unless you happen to mark in too close to a pre-existing chapter (it stutters and/or loses audio). 

Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on April 12, 2012, 06:16:39 pm
I tried both methods of creating particles on a Music DVD and the results were erratic.  I did not see video/audio corruption but the playback was all over the place on some particles (it was like a toddler had the remote control and was FFD / RWD etc).  Very odd and in need of some polish!
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: BartMan01 on April 30, 2012, 11:29:18 pm
Another vote for the option to create particles automatically by chapter, that would be a very useful feature for music video DVD/Blu Ray.  Right now I have to use other tools to rip each chapter to it's own VOB to be able to easily load to play individually.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: johncaul on May 09, 2012, 01:15:53 pm
i love the idea of creating particles- the inability to split up ripped DVDs of TV series into component episodes was the only thing stopping me migrating completely from WMC- WMC in conjunction with my movies does the job perfectly. I've tried particles in JMC and i too have had some odd results. Some episodes get split out with foreign language sound tracks (sopranos) plus i also get the pixelation and degradation in sound quality reported by others (sopranos and boardwalk empire). Although oddly enough it seems to work perfectly with blu rays (game of thrones). Cheers. John
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: JimH on May 09, 2012, 01:38:49 pm
Make sure you have the most recent build available.  It's at the top of the MC17 board.  Right now it's 17.0.147.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: johncaul on May 10, 2012, 02:25:27 pm
Ahhh. Works fine now. Thanks
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: fitbrit on May 10, 2012, 03:48:57 pm
Create a single, full-length particle.  Add it to Playing Now.  Also, add the field "Playback Range" to Playing Now.

In Playing Now, scroll through the full-length particle and choose an "in" point.  Enter the playback time shown in Playing Now into th "Playback Range" field.  If you are three minutes and fifteen seconds in, add "03:15" to Playback Range.  Add a "dash" separator (-) also.  Enter your "out" time in the same way.  If you want to play for five minutes, this would be your completed Playback Range field:  "03:15-08:15".

For me, MC needs to chew on it a bit before it will go to the start time.  The first click almost never goes straight to it.  Also, I'm finding that AVI and MKV files cooperate better than IFO files.  Lastly, make sure you give your new particle a unique name. 

I just saw this now. Thanks for your help.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: syndromeofadown on May 11, 2012, 09:22:29 pm
Is the metadata for particles stored in the library only?

I was trying out particles a while ago, and really like the idea for dvd rips of tv shows.
It seams like all metadata/tags for the particles is stored in the library only. ie. not in xml file.
If this is true the data added to the particles can't be easily transferred to another pc.


Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: BartMan01 on May 12, 2012, 12:43:44 am
Having some weird issues with particles.  Trying to split up a concert DVD by chapter and manually adding the particles one at a time.  It keeps randomly wiping out some or all of the created particles when I add a new one.  I am running 17.0.147.  I was just on particle #17 out of 19 when suddenly they all just disappeared from my 'by location' view.  If I go to the 'video' view they are all still there but with the yellow/red file not found X, and when I try to open I get the 'file not found' error message.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on May 12, 2012, 02:28:12 am
Manually doing it on a BD was fine (but annoyingly slow).  [nag] Would it not be great if JR just added this feature! [/nag]
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: rick.ca on May 12, 2012, 02:48:51 am
It keeps randomly wiping out some or all of the created particles when I add a new one.

Check that the [Filename] is properly recorded when the particle is created. I found this was random but frequent issue some time ago. I don't recall it being fixed. If it's still happening, it might explain why they disappear on you. I don't recall the exact behaviour, but they obviously don't work if the filename is not the same as the subject media file. All I did at the time was delete the particle if the filename was incorrect, and try again.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: BartMan01 on May 12, 2012, 09:19:03 am
Check that the [Filename] is properly recorded when the particle is created. I found this was random but frequent issue some time ago. I don't recall it being fixed. If it's still happening, it might explain why they disappear on you. I don't recall the exact behaviour, but they obviously don't work if the filename is not the same as the subject media file. All I did at the time was delete the particle if the filename was incorrect, and try again.

It is not.  If the original filename is '\\location\folder\filename.mkv' and I create a particle 'foobar', it sometimes saves it as '\\location\foobar\foobar.mkv'. Is replacing both the parent folder and the file name with the name of the particle.

What is weird is that it starts out creating them correctly (was playing them to test), but then as soon as one gets messed up, they all break.

Already a pain to do this one-by-one for 19 chapters - any chance auto create by chapter is coming soon?
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: rick.ca on May 12, 2012, 02:06:33 pm
Quote
What is weird is that it starts out creating them correctly (was playing them to test), but then as soon as one gets messed up, they all break.

That's nasty. I didn't experience that—only the incorrect filename on creation.

Quote
Already a pain to do this one-by-one for 19 chapters - any chance auto create by chapter is coming soon?

I have no idea. I agree it's essential if this is to be of any practical use. And I hope such a function would name them with the chapter names, if any, and otherwise by chapter number. That is, '[Name]: [#]. [Chapter name]' or '[Name]: Chapter [#]'.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jgreen on May 12, 2012, 08:17:08 pm
I have seen the issue that Bartman is citing.  Particles can either immediately go missing, or fairly soon.  Once a particle has been played it seems to "stick".  Funny thing is, considering how fragile a particle is at birth, it seems to be fairly robust when moving files around. 

Best advice I can offer is to immediately rename the particle, overwriting the MC-appended "particle(*)" while keeping the parent filename. 

As I have mentioned, there are still issues with particles.  I'm guessing that JRiver wants to see how customers adopt this new feature before they go to lengths to completely polish something that may be radicaly changed.  Again, this is my "guess".

Other advice is, MKV files seem to work better/more consistently than IFO rips.  AVIs seem to work best of all.

And lastly, I LOVE these darn things!! 

Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: rick.ca on May 12, 2012, 09:11:08 pm
Quote
And lastly, I LOVE these darn things!!

Maybe these behaviours are intentional—to add to the mystique of the feature. The name and strange behaviours give it kind of a quantum physics feel. As in, "Of course you don't see the particle. It only exists when your not looking at it!" ;D
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: johncaul on May 27, 2012, 10:08:25 am
I'm having a problem with particles and associated artwork. If i split a DVD of a TV series into particles and use "get movie & TV info..." the associated art work for each episode is saved as a VIDEO_TS.jpg in the relevant VIDEO_TS file. This means that all TV episodes associated with that folder then pull their art work from the same video_ts file so when viewed in theatre view all episodes have the same art work. Has anyone got any suggestions? Cheers. John
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: johncaul on May 29, 2012, 03:47:04 pm
bump
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: johncaul on June 16, 2012, 11:38:25 am
another bump. I guess this isn't a major issue but it's annoying nevertheless
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: Matt on June 16, 2012, 12:00:41 pm
I'm not really sure how to handle sidecar artwork for particles.  All the particles have the same filename.

Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: rick.ca on June 16, 2012, 03:14:49 pm
Quote
Any suggestions?

I don't know about particles in general. But if these episodes were separate files, they would most commonly be named Series S00E00.ext. If the implied fields have values, you could assume the particles represent episodes and name sidecars accordingly (i.e., using this as the root).

But I think the whole particle system is still too rough around the edges to be relied upon for this sort of thing. I would use something like MakeMKV (http://www.makemkv.com/) to save each episode in a separate file.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: vagskal on June 17, 2012, 01:36:46 am
I'm not really sure how to handle sidecar artwork for particles.  All the particles have the same filename.

Any suggestions?

I suggested this when the particles function was being developed:

Introduce a new cover art option "Always store cover art for particles in a specified folder". For particles always look for cover art first in the specified folder if this option is set, then inside the parent file and as a last resort next to the parent physical file. Otherwise it will be hard to keep embedded cover art in the parent file and different cover art for its particle(s).
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jmone on June 17, 2012, 02:00:13 am
I'm not really sure how to handle sidecar artwork for particles.  All the particles have the same filename.

Any suggestions?

Append the uniqueDB ID to the coverart file name
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: torpadal on September 25, 2012, 03:49:01 pm
I just tried this functionality now in ver.  17.0.186. I used AnyDVD HD to copy a BlueRay and a DVD with TV series on. It worked fine on the BlueRay but when I tried to play a particle of the DVD MC crashed. Any hints on why?
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: jgreen on September 26, 2012, 10:03:20 am
Did you try repeating the process with the DVD?  Make sure you have deleated all the bad particle bits first, and be sure to give your new particle a unique name. 

Did you create the particle from a specific episode, or try the entire DVD folder?

Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: torpadal on September 26, 2012, 12:13:40 pm
thanks for the reply. I did the same with the DVD as the BlueRay. The top file of the stack (the whole DVD) plays ok. Problem with all stack members. I have also tried to rename the stack members.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: torpadal on October 10, 2012, 09:14:58 am
Could you please see if you can reproduce the error I get?

- Use AnyDVD HD 'Rip Video DVD to Hardisk' to rip a DVD with a TV series on.
- Find the ifo file created (VIDEO_TS.dvd) in JRiver MC.
- Right click on this file and choose 'Stacks / Advanced / Auto Create BD/DVD Title Particles'.
- This creates several files with unique names.
- If I try to play the ifo file (says 'This is the top fie of a 6 item track' when hovering over it), it works fine.
- If I try to play any of the other files created, JRiver MC crash.
- I have now tried this method on several DVDs with the same result every time.
- I have also used the same method n a few BlueRay discs and that workedfine.
JRiver MC ver.17.0.186
 
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: BartMan01 on October 29, 2012, 07:51:17 pm
Is there anyway to have separate cover-art for each particle?  I've given up trying to play back DVD titles ripped to MKV files (MC has major stuttering issues with these on some of my systems), and have started just using full disk structure copies (MC doesn't stutter with these).  The problem is that several of the DVD's are multi-title disks where there are multiple DIFFERENT movies or TV shows on the same disk.  It looks like the DVD shares the same coverart for all titles on the disk, and I can't figure out how to make them match the actual movie or TV special represented by the particle.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: mojave on October 30, 2012, 11:30:00 am
Find the coverart you want online and copy the URL.
Right click the particle and go to Cover Art > Paste from Clipboard.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: BartMan01 on October 30, 2012, 12:53:00 pm
Find the coverart you want online and copy the URL.
Right click the particle and go to Cover Art > Paste from Clipboard.

I know how to assign cover art, the problem is that the particles all still appear to be sharing the same cover art.  So if a DVD has 2 different movies or shows on it, the last particle to have cover art assigned replaces the cover art for the other particles.

Two examples would be:  How the Grinch Stole Christmas/Horton hears a Who.  The Steve Martin collection with 'The Lonely Guy' and 'Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid' on the same disc.

I did have the separate titles ripped to separate MKV files, but MC doesn't handle MPEG2 in an MKV container properly on all of my systems.  Trying to use full DVD copies and particles (since this does not seem to be a problem for MC on any of my systems), but I can't assign unique cover art for each title.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: mojave on October 30, 2012, 01:45:46 pm
Earlier I created 1 particle of Wrath of the Titans to see if its cover art could be different than the original. It was. I now created another particle so I have the original and 2 particles. The cover art is different for all three in Standard View. In Theater View the cover art is different when browsing. However, if I select the first particle its cover art changes to that of the second particle. When unselected it reverts back to the cover art that I have assigned it. Are you getting the same behavior?
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: BartMan01 on November 01, 2012, 09:54:00 am
Earlier I created 1 particle of Wrath of the Titans to see if its cover art could be different than the original. It was. I now created another particle so I have the original and 2 particles. The cover art is different for all three in Standard View. In Theater View the cover art is different when browsing. However, if I select the first particle its cover art changes to that of the second particle. When unselected it reverts back to the cover art that I have assigned it. Are you getting the same behavior?

Is it a DVD or BluRay?  With DVD's, I can assign different cover art to each particle.  Each assignment replaces all previous assignments, but does not cause the created thumbnail to refresh right away.  As soon as the thumbnails refresh, they are all the same cover art.

I think the issue is that MC is still using the file name for cover art filename of DVD particles instead of a mix of filename and title number.
Title: Re: Particles: Testing and Feedback
Post by: mojave on November 01, 2012, 11:29:32 am
It is a Blu-ray. I just checked the particles again and they still have different cover art showing. You could post this as a bug in the latest build thread.