High-Definition video flagging (library filtering/sorting & skin thumbnails overlay)? [Archive]

midgetspy

2008-01-02, 21:18

Hey all,

I have a NAS (Networked Attatched Storage file-server device) with a few hundred movies on it as I store all my media digitally in this one location, and I use XBMC to play them and catalog all in the video library. Recently I have started adding quite a lot of HD (High-Definition) to my movie collection as well, ...high-definition movies which the Xbox obviously cam not play, however I want these movies in the XBMC video library. You see, instead of using XBMC for Xbox to play these high-definition movies I will just play them on my computer, but since the XBMC video library is such an excellent tool to catalog my movie collection I still want to be able to browse them there even if the old Xbox ca not play them.

I would love an option in XBMC that would allow me to 'flag' certain movies as "HD" (and anything not flagged HD would be assumed to be "SD", for Standard-Definition). This way for me HD movies would basically only be listed in the XBMC video library, and if I decided to watch one I wouldn't even bother playing it on the Xbox and instead just watch it through my computer.

Sorting and filtering HD verses SD movies would be helpful too when deciding what to watch. I imagine this will become more and more of a requested feature as HD downloads become more common, at least now that XBMC for Linux/Mac/Windows is maturing, or we can play these HD movies on a PS3, or Xbox360, or whatever other HD playback device one might have that can playback all high-definition video files.

Also, I don't know if it's possible but hopefully this flagging could maybe be automated by the database scanning process in XBMC, perhaps by checking frame width, and mark anything over 719 pixels in frame width as 720p, and anything over 1079 pixels in frame width as 1080p?

Here are a few example screenshots from a MeediOS skin (a skin called "meedioVintage (http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477)") with such HD flags in action:
(as you can see it also have flags for surround sound audio such as Dolby Digital and DTS, with the number of channels)

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3812/meetvuo8.jpg

For more screenshots of this Meedio Vintage skin (http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477) see the MeediOS forum here:
http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477

Another Meedio Vintage skin see the MeediOS screenshot:
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1663/c52ldpa1.jpg

Aeon skin mockup examples with overlays on thumbnails that could be optional if the skinner choose to add them to their skins:

http://nic.wolfeden.ca/tog/tog_2.png

http://nic.wolfeden.ca/tog/tog_1.png

PS! There are several nice ideas for icons sets to suit this that could be found in the MediaPortal forum, see:
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/tvseries_logos-t21816.html

ultrabrutal

2008-01-07, 23:29

With a pixer aspect ratio of 1:1 I guess:

X >= 1280 = HD
Y >=720 = HD

XBMC on Xbox1 plays HD pretty good in MPEG4 format if movie is in OAR (eg 1280x540)

I've wanted this feature for a long time too

Gamester17

2008-01-07, 23:39

X >= 1280 = HD
Y >=720 = HDAn automated resolution scan and "HD" flag sounds like a good idea.

Though I think it could be even better if the flag used a "HD" and "FullHD" logo, and scan:
X > = 1280 = FullHD
Y > =720 = HD

or a "720p" and "1080p" logo but then that would not always be 100% correct if:
X > = 1280 = use the "1080p" logo flag.
Y > =720 = use the "720p" logo flag.

With a visual indication next to the video tumbnail similar to watched and unwatched (or the "HD" logo in the latest Apple Movie Trailers python plugin for XBMC). The horisontal resolution scan would be done at the same time as the automated thumbnail creator in the XBMC Linux port branch, ...of course a new SQL database entry would be needed so users can sort by "720p", "1080p", "All HD Videos", or "All Non-HD Videos" (could also be called "All SD Videos", SD for Standard Definition).

XBMC on Xbox1 plays HD pretty good in MPEG4 format if movie is in OAR (eg 1280x540)MPEG-4 ASP (H.263) that is (like DivX and Xvid), not MPEG-4 AVC (H.264).

HRHD (High-Resolution High-Definition) (a.k.a. HR, HRHDTV, or HR.HDTV) is much better suited for the first-generation Xbox CPU, that is video ripped directly from a HDTV broadcast then downsampled to approximately 960x540 and encoded in Xvidr or DivX (EI. a H.263 derivitive, not a H.264 format):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Resolution_High-Definition

ultrabrutal

2008-01-08, 20:20

An idea... Low, NearSD, SD, HD, HRHD, FullHD:

Low: Anything less than NearSD.
NearSD: A lot of dvd rips have a X resolution of 640 and a pixel aspect of 1:1 plus cropped black bars.
SD: X between 704 and 720 _and_ Y between 480 and 576.
HD: 1280 X and 720 Y. 720 can be less when cropped. OAR is around 540 Y -+ some %.
HRHD: X of 960. Y varies alittle.
FullHD: Anything with 1080 lines (Y). Actually can be less than 1080 when black bars are cropped again. X

More info on HD resolutions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

Should be possible to derive some logic from the wiki and the releases/encodes present to make the flaging.
I guess the scraber can easily take the resolution from simple containers; avi, mkv. DVD might be a little more tricky. The right VOB files should be checked.

Some people might just want (Low,) SD and HD, while others want the detailed flags. I don't know.

Yes I'm talking about DivX and Xvid - not AVC or x264 which is a newer and much more demanding codec.

Another idea... Don't know how usefull.. Frame drops per media center could also be logged in the library and thereby display some sort of indication of the playability of the video.

Gamester17

2008-01-09, 11:47

IMHO that is way too many options which may confuse most users when sorting/filtering.

IMO only the two HDTV flags I suggested should be more than enough; so "HD" (for anything between 721 and 1280 pixels in horisontal resolution) and "FullHD" (for over 720p and close to 1080p) so any video with more than 1281 pixels in horisontal resolution, ...then anything else (with 720 or less pixels in horisontal resolution) should be classified as "Non-HD"

That way the filter would only contain three options:
Non-HD (IE. Standard Definition or less; y < 720)
HD (Any video that is up to 720p and higher horisontal pixel resolution than Standard Definition )
FullHD (Any video that has a higher horisontal pixel resolution than 720p; y > 1281)

My 2 cents

PS! There are some nice icon ideas for this that could be found in the MediaPortal forum, see:
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/tvseries_logos-t21816.html

blittan

2008-01-09, 22:25

To expand this idea:

We could add a custom flag aswell (since i have all my dvd-r offline, but still want them in my movies listing) I have manually created thumbs with a DVD mark on them..

If we added custom overlays, this and more stuff could be adressed with it.. :)

Nick8888

2008-01-10, 02:01

Old Discussions on Offline DVD Libraries (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24443)

Personally all I would want is an option to add "video thumbnail overlays" to distinguish between "sd" "hd" and "dvd" and be able to filter between them like the "watched" "unwatched"

but to be honest I wouldnt use the dvd one anymore as I have ripped all mine to hdd as I wanted them all together. (so just really just one overlay for "hd" and a filter)

SandmanCL

2008-01-10, 09:30

If allowing more flags to be added, I'd love to see one for surround (ac3, dts). Sometimes I'm in the mood for a good movie with surround sound :grin:

lixxbox

2008-01-12, 01:24

Great idea!
In my opinion the icons should show up beside the movie description (in library mode) like in a tv guide, not as an overlay for moviecovers.

Somthing like:

LDTV (low definition)
SDTV (standard definiton)
EDTV (enhanced defintion/ =HRTV?)
HDTV (high definition)

Mono (yes, i have movies in mono ;))
Stereo
AC3
DTS

Subtitles YES
Subtitles NO

would it also be possibe to set a language flag? :p

greetings from germany

lixxbox

midgetspy

2008-01-25, 01:01

IMHO that is too many options which may confuse most users when sorting/filtering.

IMO the two HDTV flags I suggested should be enough; so "HD" (for anything between 721 and 1280 pixels in horisontal resolution) and "FullHD" (for over 720p and close to 1080p), ...then anything else (with 720 or less pixels in horisontal resolution) should be classified as "Non-HD"

That way the filter would only contain three options:
Non-HD
HD
FullHD

My 2 cents

Yay I'm not the only person who would like this feature!! I'm currently using Watched/Unwatched to keep track of my HD movies but this is extremely annoying :-(

Your HD flags need a little tweak I think. It should be:

SD - y < 720
HD 720 <= y < 1080
FullHD y >= 1080

The way you had it, full 720p movies would be classified as Non-HD.

This feature would, for me, be the ultimate way to deal with mixed SD/HD libraries using XBMC (until it can play them back natively on a new platform, hehe).

Thanks,

Nic

Telexen

2008-02-01, 07:50

I'm using XBMC Linux, but I feel this is more of a general XBMC question that Linux specific.

I have a lot of HD rips of movies (x264) and DVD images copied onto my media server and I'm trying to figure out a way to easily tell the difference between them while I'm using Library mode in XBMC.

My problem is that if I use a naming convention like, "Movie (year) [DVD/HD]" then it's VERY difficult to get an accurate movie data from a Scraper (using IMDB)...and I have a lot of duplicate movies (have both the DVD and HDrip listed).

I'm wondering if there's a way to create another movie group in Library mode. I know that it splits videos into Movies, TV Shows, and Music Videos...but it would be nice if I could create an "HD Movies" category as I would a source in File mode (and put the HD movies in a different directory). However, I don't mind leaving them all in the same directory if someone knows a way to name them to tell the difference that wouldn't affect Scraper data lookups.

Thanks for any help.

Coco

2008-02-01, 07:54

If you have the HD version why do you want to bother with the lower quality version?

There isn't anyway to do what you want right now, as far as I know. Also since HD content doesn't work on the xbox anyways it's unlikely to be a popular request. I am rather confused as to why you don't just delete the DVD version once you've got the HD version though.

Telexen

2008-02-01, 08:00

It's not a huge deal, but I'd still like to be able to have access to the extra/bonus content on the DVD image, as it is a kind of complete library of DVDs on the HDD for me.

However, even if I were to delete the lower quality version (DVD), I still wouldn't have a way to differentiate between which of the movies in the list were HD.

hitman

2008-03-17, 18:32

If you have the HD version why do you want to bother with the lower quality version?

I run a mix of XBMC on Linux and XBMC on Xbox in different rooms so I have TV shows which are SD and also HD duplicates for some shows that warrant it all stored centrally. Currently I name HD shows with ".hd." in the filename so I know it's HD. It would be great if the XBMC Library could some kind of checking and perhaps offer the option of playing either version.

jochenz

2008-03-24, 12:49

any new on this feature?

I was thinking of it, but never mentioned it. It would be great though!

midgetspy

2008-03-29, 01:45

Hm I've switched over to XBMC linux but I still want this feature really badly. Any update as to whether a dev wants to make this their pet project or not? Hehe.

spiff

2008-03-29, 13:08

since u ask; no interest from me, this is something i'd consider bloat

Gamester17

2008-04-04, 16:29

Here are a few example screenshots from a MeediOS skin (called "meedioVintage (http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477)") with such flags in action:
(as you can see MeediOS also have flags for high-definition audio such as Dolby Digital and DTS, with channels)

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3812/meetvuo8.jpg

For more screenshots of this Meedio Vintage skin (http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477) see the MeediOS forum here:
http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477

agathorn

2008-04-05, 01:34

I've beenhaving some talks with a few devs about implementing this. Its only in a "what if" stage at the moment, but the proposal is to do a setup whereby we would scan the filename for certain text to indicate media info. This way the addition would be rather "lite" and tottaly up to the user.

SandmanCL

2008-04-05, 02:12

Personally I would prefer to add this information to a .nfo file rather than to the filename itself. That said, if any method was implemented I'd be a happy camper.

agathorn

2008-04-05, 02:18

Personally I would prefer to add this information to a .nfo file rather than to the filename itself. That said, if any method was implemented I'd be a happy camper.

That is an interresting idea. The reason I originally porposed the filename was because 1) It would be quicker to parse and check, and 2) If you get "scene" releases of things like TV shows, that information is already going to be in the filename so it would be automatic. You wouldn't have to do anything at all. I like automatic :) (The song by Ultar Nate is damned good as well but thats a tangent..)

Gamester17

2008-04-05, 14:09

Personally I would prefer to add this information to a .nfo file rather than to the filename itself.I agree. NFO and XBMC's SQL database for videos. :nod:

Nick8888

2008-04-05, 17:12

yeh nfos would be good. and you never know, someone might make a program to autogenerate the nfos in windows.

agathorn

2008-04-06, 03:06

I agree. NFO and XBMC's SQL database for videos. :nod:

Thus depriving people who use File Mode (HERESY!) from taking advantage of it? It also means havign to store more information in the DB. spiff might shoot me :p

Gamester17

2008-04-06, 11:57

Well, NFO would be a nice option but should not really be needed, IMO best would be if XBMC could collect the media-information of each video when it is first scanned into the database (on the initial scan). Media-information such as; horisonatal & vertical pixel resolution, number of audio-streams with the language and type of those streams (DTS, Dolby Digital, 2.0, 5.1, 7.1, etc.), and also number of subtitle-streams and the language of those subtitle streams.

I believe JMarshall quickly looked into implemnting the MediaInfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net) library as a DLL but was unsuccessfull?
http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net

:oo:

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12721MediaInfo library?

See this request for MediaInfo tag reader library for DVDPlayer for more information => http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/3824

MediaInfo supplies technical and can read tag information about a video or audio file containers.

MediaInfo is coded in C++, is cross-platform (Win32 and Linux), open source code (GPL/LGPL dual-license), and can be compiled into a DLL (Dynamic Link Library) or CLI (Command Line Interface).

What information MediaInfo will get from looking at a container:
General: Title, Author, Director, Album, Track Number, Date, Duration, and much more.
Video: Codec, Resolution, Pixel Aspect Ratio, FPS, Bit-rate, and much more.
Audio: Codec, Sample Rate, Channels, Language, Bit-rate, ReplayGain, and much more.
Text Language of Subtitles (SRT, SSA, ASS, SAMI, )
Chapters: Number of Chapters, List of Chapters (names)

Examples of just some of the supported formats:
Video: AVI, MKV, OGM, DV (RAW), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-TS, MPEG-4, WMV, MOV, IFO/VOB (DVD-Video), CDXA (VCD/SVCD), Blu-ray, and more.
Audio: MP3 (Id3v2), OGG, WAV, PCM, RA, AC3, DTS, AAC, M4A, AU, AIFF, WMA, APE/MAC, FLAC, and more.

Checkout the MediaInfo website for more information:
http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net

Source code (and SVN):
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mediainfoGood idea? ???

agathorn

2008-04-06, 23:26

szsori

2008-04-06, 23:33

The complaints raised against such a system was the added time required for interogating each file to get that media info.

Perhaps it could be a per-user setting then, where people could choose if they want speed or completeness of information. If it's painfully slow there's obviously no point, but background scanning of this information using unused cycles doesn't seem like a bad idea.

spiff

2008-04-07, 00:08

this is already semi-implemented in the branch fyi. however it was buggy so it was disabled and i havent seen vulkanr fixing it after that. that is the additional info loading.

midgetspy

2008-04-10, 08:51

I was thinking about this today and realized that the discussion earlier about sorting SD/720/1080 by resolution was really flawed.

Very few 720p movies are actually 720px high because they're not actually 16:9, so if the sorting is done by resolution it needs to be done by width:

SD: < 1280
720: 1280 <= x < 1920
1080: >= 1920

I'm running XBMC linux now so I can play my HD stuff, but I'm still looking forward to this feature a lot!

yazoo

2008-04-20, 23:31

this would be a great addition, I look forward to this being implemented :D

Gamester17

2008-05-29, 02:21

For reference:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=33611Here's the check so there's no misunderstandings:

if (upscale == SOFTWARE_UPSCALING_SD_CONTENT && (m_iSourceHeight >= 720 || m_iSourceWidth >= 1280))

Thus, it is considered SD if height < 720 and width < 1280. If either height >= 720 or width >= 1280 then it will be considered HD.

In your particular example of 960x544, that would be SD. If you actually meant 1280x544 (i.e. a 2.35:1 aspect) then that would be HD.

Gamester17

2008-06-10, 14:59

As another example here are more mockups for how HDTV resolution tags could possibly look in the TV-Show episode information:

http://www.aeoncentral.com/downloads/misc/aeon_epconcept2.jpg

http://www.aeoncentral.com/downloads/misc/aeon_epconcept3.jpg

Note! These are only mockups for the AEON skin by djh_ (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26995) (just as an example how this could be used in the future).

ezechiel1917

2008-06-10, 15:02

I would really love to see this in XBMC =)

I think it shouldn't be parsed from file/dirname, proper method should be an inital scan like Gamester17 suggusted, with an alternative to get data from external nfo.

hitman

2008-06-10, 17:57

Will the future Aeon skin allow selection of either SD or HD versions if both are available on disk?

Gamester17

2008-06-10, 18:29

Will the future Aeon skin allow selection of either SD or HD versions if both are available on disk?That has nothing to do with the AEON skin, it would have to be a new XBMC library filtering feature.

hitman

2008-06-10, 18:35

That has nothing to do with the AEON skin, it would have to be a new XBMC library filtering feature.

Ah, I mis-interpreted your reference to Aeon in your previous post.

Just eager for this feature to be in XBMC, it would round things of nicely for me.

Weavus

2008-06-11, 01:32

Another vote for this feature to be implemented...

dteirney

2008-06-11, 12:58

+1, especially if I could get HD recordings off DVBT via Myth TV added to the TV show library.

umcisou

2008-06-13, 14:37

Hi everybody,

With the same idea, can we imagine logo for language and subtitle ?

It will be very useful for non-english users.

kraqh3d

2008-06-13, 17:16

if the time it takes to query the info from the file during a scan is a concern, it could be done that this information is only available after the item has been played. im pretty sure this is what's done for subtitles.

thenut

2008-06-13, 23:23

I might as well add my desire for this feature since everyone else has. :grin:

Excuse me if this has already been said but I haven't read every single post. :;): If it is to be added, we should come up with a detailed list of everything we wish to be able to query before finalizing anything.

This could include file resolution, audio and video codecs and their corresponding bitrates, # of subtitles and what language they're in, video length, etc. Perhaps we could also add tags to label items that are TV rips, DVD rips, etc. Maybe even specify whether the TV rip was from an HD source, satellite source, etc.

I would not mind having to play the video first for this information to be added to the database. Whether this information could be found using an nfo, the file/ directory name or actually loading the file to fill in blanks such as resolution, etc. You could tell XBMC to play the file and perhaps a small loading screen or message would appear for a few seconds at most and as soon as the actual video playback begins you know all the information has been saved. Then you could stop the video and go back into viewing your media and the appropriate tags will be there.

djh_

2008-06-15, 16:52

I would like to +1 this, with the added option of +100ing it. I'd then like to multiply the +100 by the number of slots I've provisioned in Aeon for using it, bringing the total to around +700. I can go higher if necessary.

SandmanCL

2008-06-15, 22:23

djh: sounds like your math skills are nowhere near your graphic skills :;):

But hopefully you weighing in on this thread makes it reality. And I hope the audio flagging is being considered as well even thought the title of this feature suggestion is video flagging :grin:

djh_

2008-06-26, 14:05

I'm just saying I'd like to see it and could definitely use it, though I appreciate it'll mean a lot of work for the team. So as and when, really.

plooger

2008-07-01, 19:38

The complaints raised against such a system was the added time required for interogating each file to get that media info. I , however, have not personally seen how fast/slow that is so at this timei'm keeping all options open. I will see what I see when I get a chance to sit down and start messing with this.
That's one of the first things I wondered about... but then figured that the "media info" scanning feature could be user configurable (normal or advanced setting) and that the media info scanning could be a separate scanning process targeting entries found in the library (rather than all files), initiated after any library scans and only when XBMC is idle.

Gamester17

2008-07-01, 20:14

Ideas wich could possible make a such scan less intrusive (less noticable for the user):
- it could be made optional.
- the process could be threaded to run in the background in its own seperate thread (on idle).
- it could be made to run only a second loop scan on existing library items like plooger suggests.
- it could feature all of the above.

Also note that a such scan for high-resolution video files would not be implemnted in XBMC for Xbox but only the other XBMC platforms (XBMC for Linux/Mac/Windows) where the hardware and underlying operating-system have more resources to offer XBMC.

plooger

2008-07-01, 20:43

Also note that a such scan for high-resolution video files would not be implemnted in XBMC for Xbox but only the other XBMC platforms (XBMC for Linux/Mac/Windows) where the hardware and underlying operating-system have more resources to offer XBMC.

This would seem reasonable, though I'd think the "only on idle" feature would provide a suitable workaround for XBMC/Xbox users wanting the scanning to be handled by a single device (the Xbox).

However, I would hope that the Xbox variant would still implement the feature at the display and/or NFO level (perhaps similar to this "supplemental nfo" request (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=30691)), if, in the end, XBMC/Xbox lacks the ability to do the deep media scan, itself.

Further, with the ability to pull this supplemental info from a NFO file paired with the media file, the media info scanning could also be handled by external library utilities (XBMC Media Companion, DVDProfiler, MeD Movie Manager?) or homemade scripts.

Clumsy

2008-07-01, 21:47

I would also want the xbox to be able to handle the scanning. That way, I could keep 2 versions of a movie in the same folder, highdef and lowdef - and filter out the highdef one in the library :)

aaronb

2008-07-02, 02:01

I would also want the xbox to be able to handle the scanning. That way, I could keep 2 versions of a movie in the same folder, highdef and lowdef - and filter out the highdef one in the library :)

I agree. My whole reason for wanting something like this is because I'm not planning on retiring all of my Xboxes, and the WAF takes a hit when she tries to play something in the bedroom and the Xbox locks up because it's a 720p x264 file.

plooger

2008-07-02, 04:13

I would also want the xbox to be able to handle the scanning. That way, I could keep 2 versions of a movie in the same folder, highdef and lowdef - and filter out the highdef one in the libraryThis wouldn't require that the *Xbox* do the scanning, only that XBMC has a way to read-in the detailed media information (like through the NFO files), having been produced by another process, and then act upon the information.

As a short-term solution, adding new db fields and nfo tags would allow the "market" to start developing scripts for populating the info, while the developers could (should they care to) work on making the necessary changes to act on the information. XBMC/Xbox deep-scanning could be added later, relying on manual editing or third-party apps in the short-term.

plooger

2008-07-02, 04:20

p.s. This seems to possibly overlap with the "adult content" flag being discussed over here (http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=195733&postcount=18). (i.e. hide/show entries based on content type or attributes)

Gamester17

2008-07-16, 21:02

As a short term solution/workaround to the issue of detecting high-definition videos maybe scraper support to scan the file-name for "720p", "1080i", and "1080p" could be added to the IMDb and TVDB scrapers, so if the scraper detects that somewhere in the file-name then it assumes the video is of that resolution and enters that information into the database.

Good enough as a workaround? ???

SandmanCL

2008-07-16, 23:03

@Gamester17: I think your solution was suggested previously in this thread. Personally I would prefer that information about resolution audio could be stored read from an .nfo associated with each file.

CapnBry

2008-07-16, 23:31

If you were going to open and read a file, why would you choose to open an .nfo file as opposed to opening and reading the actual file like, oh I dunno, the thumbnail generator does:16:26:02 T:4068 M:904224768 INFO: ffmpeg: Input #0, matroska, from 'C:\Documents and Settings\bmayland\My Documents\DVDs\Hot Rod.mkv':
16:26:02 T:4068 M:904224768 INFO: ffmpeg: Duration: 01:27:57.04, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
16:26:02 T:4068 M:904224768 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264,yuv420p, 720x366 [PAR 186:157 DAR 22320:9577], 23.98 tb(r)
16:26:02 T:4068 M:904224768 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: 0x0000, 48000 Hz, stereoI'll look into it tonight and see what I can come up with maybe.

SandmanCL

2008-07-16, 23:35

CapnBry -- while getting the information from the file itself is possible (although the thumbnail generator doesn't work on the xbox), I think it would be a huge overhead and scanning a music library would take forever. Basing it on the filename or an .nfo would mean that people that aren't interested in this feature wouldn't be affected.

Gamester17

2008-07-17, 11:11

the thumbnail generator doesn't work on the xboxit is not that it doesn't work, it is just that no one has even tried porting it from the linuxport branch to the xbox (trunk) version of XBMC, and like suggested for the thumbnail generator feature; if it is added to the Xbox then it should be disables by default as those users who want it could enable it from the GUI under settings (that way it would not affect people that aren't interested in this feature). Again, it could also be added so it does not do this scan on the the first scraper run when it gathers metadata information online via the IMDb and TheTVDB scraper, but instead it could be made to run a seperate scan after when it is not scraping metadata informartion, ...same goes for the thumbnail generator.

Otherwise I think that scraping the "720p"/"1080i"/"1080p" from the file-name is better than from NFO files, as to be honest, how many people want to sit and create NFO files for all their videos just to add this tag, it would be better if XBMC could handle this automaticly somehow with the user having to create NFO files.

SandmanCL

2008-07-17, 21:21

Otherwise I think that scraping the "720p"/"1080i"/"1080p" from the file-name is better than from NFO files, as to be honest, how many people want to sit and create NFO files for all their videos just to add this tag, it would be better if XBMC could handle this automaticly somehow with the user having to create NFO files.

Fair enough. I can live with both. I tend to rename my files to a 'human friendly' format but I suppose scene releases already have the resolution in the filename so your suggestion makes sense.

That said -- Tell me what the NFO should look like and I'll provide a shell (*nix) script to automatically create an NFO per high-res file. I'm sure someone would provide a windows equivalent as well :)

midgetspy

2008-07-22, 05:20

Well it's been a while but I just wanted to pop in and say that I still want this feature more than any other, I hope some day a decision can be made and a dev will put it in :0) Thanks guys!

harryzimm

2008-07-28, 13:42

Just adding my vote, hopefully we'll see it in the near future.

CapnBry

2008-07-29, 23:18

I've spent some free time over the last week screwing around with this concept. Here's what I've got so far.

Here's what I probe:
Video: stream number, language, codec, format, width, height, display aspect, frame rate
Audio: stream number, language, codec, sample rate, channels

Video's "format" probably isn't useful, it is just the internal format of the video data, e.g. yuv420p. Other than that, this information is remarkably similar to the information already held in memory in the CDVDStreamInfo classes for CDVDPlayer material. What I was thinking for this first stab is to add something like this to IPlayer:
int GetFileStreamCount();
bool GetFileStreamInfo(int iStream, CDVDStreamInfo& pStreamInfo);

I don't know if there's any advantage to creating a new CStreamInfo class that doesn't come from the dvdplayer core. Then way up in application before we do an IPlayer::CloseFile() just see if there is stream info and if there is, copy it to the CFileInfo for the currently playing item. Finally have that object commit the information to the database.

The first question would be, should the StreamInfo be split into multiple tables? At first I thought this would be a good idea but I'm wondering if it would just be easier to pull all from one.

CFileInfo will also need to load this information from the database, just like it does for CVideoInfoTag. Now here comes the big question, how is it exposed to the skins? The issue is that there can be multiple audio and video streams which means the information should probably be flattened for use in list items. How the heck would that work? I mean should there be IsVideoSD IsVideo720 IsVideo1080 to determine if it is HD? The next problem is the audio track info. Being able to display a "Dolby Digital 5.1" logo or something would be nice but that would mean having a list item tag for each type of audio which could get out of hand.

So long story short, that's how it could work as a first attempt. The next step after that would probably be adding it when a thumb is extracted and then on video library scan (correct me if I'm wrong but this doesn't open the file at all currently). What else am I missing here?

Gamester17

2008-07-29, 23:52

@CapnBry, it is probably best if you start a new topic-thread in the development forum (for the platform you develop on) to make sure others developers notice your questions and that only developers answer.

The next problem is the audio track info. Being able to display a "Dolby Digital 5.1" logo or something would be nice but that would mean having a list item tag for each type of audio which could get out of hand.Yes that would probably get out of hand if displayed when browsing, but if it was only accessed from the skin when the user goes under video-info for a specific Movie or TV-Show then it would not be too much as it would only grab and display it for that one item. Like in these pictures: Here are a few example screenshots from a MeediOS skin (called "meedioVintage (http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477)") with such flags in action:
(as you can see MeediOS also have flags for high-definition audio such as Dolby Digital and DTS, with channels)

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3812/meetvuo8.jpg

For more screenshots of this Meedio Vintage skin (http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477) see the MeediOS forum here:
http://www.meedios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1477

kraqh3d

2008-07-30, 00:08

CapnBry,

of course its the same. the debug output you posted earlier comes from the dvdplayer when it interrogates the file. technically a container could have many audio and video streams with differing parameters which could add a lot of complexity to this.

i would just put this information into CVideoInfoTag. but, first, we need to think about what bits of info do we really care about. do we care about the actual resolution or do just want to do things "if (Is720p)"? if we keep the full resolution info, then we need to test these things based on the resolution. standard 720p is 1280x720, but should Xbmc include everything from here up to 1919x1079 (one pixel less than true 1080p)?

then we need to think about the possibility of multiple streams which conflict. do we keep information about them all, or just one of them? if the primary use is an overlay, then we should just keep information about the "best" stream.

the database could be extended with a new table, streaminfo, with columns of "id", "type", "index", and whatever else we want to store such as "videocodec", "colorspace", "height", "width", "framerate", "audiocodec", "samplerate", "audioformat".

type and index combined would reference the items in the video database, ie type=MOVIE, index=1 would be the movie with id=1 in the movie table.

maintaining info for every stream id in the database for every item will greatly complicate things. assuming we dont, and only keep the info from one video and one audio stream, this new table could easily be "joined" during the nav sql query, like this:
join streaminfo where (type=MOVIE and id=idmovie)

then all the info offsets and all the get(SOMETHING)fromdataset functions will need to updated so that this information gets filled into the proper variable in CVideoInfoTag.

kraqh3d

2008-07-30, 00:09

and yes, you are correct, that a scan does not interrogate the file today. however, the first time a video is played, it is interrogated so upon this information not being present, it could be filled in during the very first play.

and i just thought of another complexity... stacks... there's nothing to prevent a user from stacking videos which do not match in video resolution.

OnoSendai

2008-08-05, 17:52

hopefully the stacking problem isn't killing this...

midgetspy

2008-08-07, 01:19

The solution to the stacking problem is pretty easy... just scan one file and use that. If users want their resolutions to be correct they can make sure they stack similar files. Alternately just scan each file in the stack and use the lowest resolution.

kraqh3d

2008-08-07, 06:31

of course. i never said it was a hard problem, just that it added complexity. there are several ways to work around it -- arbitrarily use the first file's resolution, use the lowest resolution, use the highest resolution -- but none of them are "correct". given the size of xbmc's user base, someone is bound to complain that the chosen solution isn't the proper solution.

OnoSendai

2008-08-08, 17:25

could add a checkbox setup under the video info for the stack or in the context menu

kraqh3d

2008-08-09, 08:33

huh?

OnoSendai

2008-08-11, 17:24

if the user hit info on a video, they could select which HD quality setting they wanted... if it needed to be changed... overriding whatever was set automatically by a scan.

MPauley73

2008-08-11, 17:41

I would go with the lower of the two resolutions if there were a difference....

phunqe

2008-08-23, 19:29

Did any kind developer take on this idea? :)

pko66

2008-08-26, 11:30

My (post-atlantis) suggestion is to mark somehow that a video file has (external?) subtitles available; it may be some icon over the thumbnail, or some color change or maybe just some indicator to be handled by the skin...

The flagging could perhaps be extended to show some other info, like watched status, or recent additions to the library, or file less than "x" days old...

kcmoney13

2008-09-11, 17:41

I was a user of media portal a little while back but LOVE xbmc and Mediastream. Does anyone know if there is a way to display an HD icon with the movie so when you are scrolling through the movies you know which ones are HD or not.

The reason for this is I have an XBOX and a HTPC. both are sharing the same files. But i want to be able to tell on my xbox if the movie is HD so I know that it cannot be watched. Does anyone else run into this issue.

Maybe a flag that would see if the folder contains an mkv file or something like that. Anyone have any suggestions.

Thanks Kris

skunkm0nkee

2008-09-11, 17:44

As soon as XBMC makes those details available we'll display those icons but as far as I know at the moment it's not possible (it's been mooted though so it may happen someday)

kcmoney13

2008-09-11, 17:47

thanks skunk I appreciate the quick response. thought it would be a good add to xbmc in general not just mediastream. LOVE the skin though. Puts a sexy look back into a media center thats for sure.

Thanks

Swwethip1

2008-09-28, 17:46

Guys.. is there a way to sort by Bluray and DVD's..

Can we make our own custom categories..

I would like to have my blurays and kids movies under its own category for easy access

I currently switch back to file mode and access my bluray folder.. but would like this access while using libary mode

stanley87

2008-10-06, 07:30

Hi,

Was thinking.
Iv started encoding all my DVDS to avi's and leaving the AC3 5.1 intact.
Would be great if an info label could be added so i could add to a skin a label to tell me which movies have 5.1 etc.

Thoughts?

timdog82001

2008-10-06, 08:49

Actually that would be pretty neat. Its pretty similar to a request from a while back that was pretty popular. The idea for that was to detect Dolby/THX/DTS etc and display the appropriate logos, which would indicate at least a 5.1 or greater audio in most (all?) cases. A combination somehow of these two ideas would be a handy feature to have I think, allowing differentiation between mono, stereo, 5.1, and 7.1 surround, and what format was used for encoding....I may just be thinking of the request for 720/1080 video identification, but I think the problem may have been that it took too long to scan all the video files to determine this kind of info. As is, I believe the library only has to know the filename to determine everything it needs to know. It might be nice to have an option to choose between a standard scan and an in depth scan.

stanley87

2008-10-06, 09:09

I don't think it would take long at all.
It just needs to get the resolution and go from there!
All this info is stored in the file, EG: windows you can right click and have it there.
And, when you play the video, it tells you in XBMC, doesnt it?

stanley87

2008-10-06, 13:24

Didn't notice this thread! haha

How about theres an option in video library setting to enable HD/5.1 symbols. Defaults to off. Then if turned on, and the user updates library, it then gets the info from the files! Adding 400 movies into the db takes ages anyway!

v0lrath

2008-10-08, 11:53

I would kill for this to be implemented... please please please do it!

It doesn't sound very difficult, but what do I know?

Freddo

2008-10-08, 12:55

Just so you know, everytime someone says something won't be difficult the developers push that feature back by 2 months just to spite you all.

vdrfan

2008-10-08, 13:13

Just so you know, everytime someone says something won't be difficult the developers push that feature back by 2 months just to spite you all.

:rofl:

Swwethip1

2008-10-09, 22:14

Any updates on this feature?

Is this planned before RC1 or the next milestone.. i was looking at the tracker but didnt see anything about this..

vdrfan

2008-10-09, 22:41

Any updates on this feature?

Is this planned before RC1 or the next milestone.. i was looking at the tracker but didnt see anything about this..

It's definitely not planned for RC1. Please create a new ticket on the tracker to ensure it won`t get lost.

letsgoridebmx

2008-11-04, 17:16

I'm not a developer by any means, so don't flame me for this...but how hard would it be to see if the extension is .mkv (or something similar) and just append [HD] to the movie title?

skunkm0nkee

2008-11-04, 18:22

Just because the extension is mkv doesn't mean it's HD video?

midgetspy

2008-11-15, 02:00

For anybody who's interested in this feature I made a script to do it for me: http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=39399

It's not particularly user friendly but it works :0)

conners

2008-11-26, 13:14

put hd films into a HD Movies folder or something and then gives you the option to add addition information to movies, such as if the films in HD, what resoluion (720P etc,) this way in library mode the hd logo and information will let people know its in HD not SD.

Gamester17

2008-12-08, 17:03

For anybody who's interested in this feature I made a script to do it for me: http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=39399 It's not particularly user friendly but it works :0)Looks very cool! It would be really great if XBMC had support for HD flagging nativly.

Here is a screenshot of what the result looks like with midgetspy's script in action:

http://www.picamatic.com/show/2008/11/29/01/54/1453551_1920x1080.jpg (http://www.picamatic.com/show/2008/11/29/01/54/1453551_1920x1080.jpg)

SlaveUnit

2008-12-09, 23:13

Yes midgetspys looks nice. As Gamester17 said, it would be amazing to see this natively within xbmc. Would love to see a place where you can specify the details. Even if I had to do it manually without the scanner.

CapnBry

2008-12-10, 16:10

I'm still wondering how this information would be exposed to skinners for displaying the right icons. Doesn't the skinning system only support boolean conditionals for visibility? If you have to make a boolean function doesn't that get out of hand?

ListItem.VideoWidth
ListItem.VideoHeight
ListItem.VideoIs1080
ListItem.VideoIs720
ListItem.VideoIsSD
ListItem.VideoCodec
ListItem.VideoCodecIsH264
ListItem.VideoCodecIsMPEG4
ListItem.VideoCodecIsMPEG2
ListItem.VideoCodecIsVC1
ListItem.AudioChannels
ListItem.AudioChannelsIs8
ListItem.AudioChannelsIs6
ListItem.AudioChannelsIs2
ListItem.AudioChannelsIs1
ListItem.AudioCodec
ListItem.AudioCodecIsAAC
ListItem.AudioCodecIsAC3
ListItem.AudioCodecIsDTS
ListItem.AudioCodecIsMP3
And then a second set for VideoPlayer.* too?

I mean is that the only way to expose the information to the skin?

spiff

2008-12-10, 16:13

you already have comparestring(foo,bar)

so it would be

comparestring(listitem.audiocodec,aac) etc.

that being said, seriously, why somebody would waste time on such a useless feature is beyond me. these are the things i consider BEFORE i encode/obtain in other ways a movie

CapnBry

2008-12-10, 16:57

you already have comparestring(foo,bar)
Sweet that's what I was asking. This makes it cleaner than I was thinking it would be.

CapnBry

2008-12-10, 22:42

Alright so here's phase 1 of this development. I've posted a patch to #5154 (http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/5154) that exports stream information from CDVDPlayer and all of its CDVD*Codec* classes. This allows skins to get at the currently playing Audio and Video Codec, Video Resolution, and Audio Source Channels via the following $INFO labels:
videoplayer.videocodec -> returns h264, mpeg4, mpeg2, etc
videoplayer.audiocodec -> returns aac, dts, ac3, etc
videoplayer.audiochannels -> returns 1, 2, 6, etc
videoplayer.videoresolution -> rather than return the exact resolution this returns "480" for anything less than 1200 pixels wide, "720" for anything less than 1840 pixels wide and "1080" for anything else.

"But Bry", you say, "we want the information in the library, not the player". Well getting that information requires something to export the information. Now that everything exports the stream information, all I have to do is copy the information from the player to some new fields in CVideoInfoTag once the player starts playing and have the VideoDatabase save them. Before I did that, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to get the patch outright rejected.

spiff

2008-12-10, 23:57

the patch is most welcome, don't let my rants hold you back ;)

v0lrath

2008-12-11, 00:01

Great work CapnBry!

I generally have 4 types of movies, so I'd love to see these tags for them:

480p
576p <--- I'd love for this to be used, I have lots of these :)
720p
1080p

480 would be for anything up to 720 horizontal
576 would be for up to 1024 wide
720 for up to 1280 wide
and 1080 for up to 1920 wide

those might need adjusted a little, but i think those are the correct horizontal values

EDIT: @Spiff - The reason I want this feature is because not all my movies are HD and I am constantly replacing old SD encodes. I can't keep track in my head so it would be nice if it showed up in the library. Also, I have multiple versions of some moveis (LotR HD normal edition, and SD extended edition, etc).

Keep it up CapnBry, this is NOT a useless feature :)

CapnBry

2008-12-11, 00:14

Great work CapnBry!
576p <--- I'd love for this to be used, I have lots of these :)

I thought 576p was 720x576?

No worries, spiff, most the stuff I see requested I squint my eyes and say http://capnbry.net/~bmayland/sa/emot-w-hat.gif to. I think the emblems add a more professional touch to the views, and I had already started on this months ago so I was pretty much obligated to finish it.

v0lrath

2008-12-11, 04:48

I think it technically is 720x576, but 576p has become an encoding standard where an HD rip is scaled down to 1024x576 to save space, but keep it higher than DVD quality.

Doxic

2008-12-11, 09:27

This could include file resolution, audio and video codecs and their corresponding bitrates, # of subtitles and what language they're in, video length, etc. Perhaps we could also add tags to label items that are TV rips, DVD rips, etc. Maybe even specify whether the TV rip was from an HD source, satellite source, etc.

I'm happy to read about this feature and would like to add my oppinion. I also would appreciate quality tags, like mentioned above. But what I really would like to see are language tags... also mentioned a few times, but mostly not considered as important. I'm watching all my movies and shows in English, but because of the fact that I'm living in a german speaking country and not everybody is able to understand a english movie, I've got most of my good movies also in german. Right now I'm not able to use the library function, because there are mostly two icons about the same movie and i had to guess what language it is! That's boring... So I'm labeling my folders as followed:

Amelie (DVDRip Ger-AC3)
Amelie (DVDRip Eng)
Adams aebler (DVDRip Ger)
Jumper (R5 Eng-LD)
...

and scrapers hate me for that ;)

So right now, XBMC is translated to dozens of different languages, but there isn't really a solution for multilanguage-movies (and I would expect that every non-english-speaking-person has exactly the same problem!). I'll give it some thought and will post a suggestion later on, but right now I just wanted to give the input.

CapnBry

2008-12-11, 16:13

I considered that a few months ago when we were talking about storing information about all the streams in a file but it just becomes too complex to be actually usable I think. I wouldn't say it is a priority for this iteration.

goku31640

2008-12-16, 13:17

jochenz

2008-12-16, 18:09

Wouldnt it be much easier if you put an nfo file with maybe some HD Tags?

Example

<movie>
<title>The Dark Knight</title>
<HD>1080p</HD>
</movie>

Or No title tag, and let the xbmc scraper take care of the title so it will just add the 720p after the title of the movie

Example 2

<movie>
<HD>720p</HD>
</movie>

In XBMC it will Show as "The Dark Knight 1080p" "or Batman Begins 720p"

I was going topost just such a thing. I was thinking about scanning the file name for "bluray, 720p of 1080p" and then add these files to a seperate category in the library. This way the files can be found through the original category , like drama, comedie, etc...and through 720p or 1080p, etc.

SlaveUnit

2008-12-23, 23:41

Just curious as to any news on this. Dont mean to pester just wondering.

spiff

2008-12-24, 00:02

there is a diff @ trac so we are much closer..

SlaveUnit

2008-12-24, 02:06

there is a diff @ trac so we are much closer..

Awesome. This is huge for a lot of people I think.

CapnBry

2008-12-26, 18:51

I've got about half of phase 2 of 3 done too but I'm not in any big rush until phase 1 gets committed :)
EDIT: For phase1 picture. This is actually pulling from the file, not just static images. I'm not a good art person so excuse the craptasticness
http://capnbry.net/~bmayland/xbmc/vidinfo_phase1_thumb.jpg

spiff

2008-12-26, 19:17

well, rest assured once we get around to it...

jochenz

2008-12-27, 11:29

well, rest assured once we get around to it...

wow! you guys are really the best. This would be such a nice feature added to XBMC.

CapnBry

2008-12-29, 23:11

Can someone who has some experience with skinning maybe tell me what I'm doing wrong?
http://capnbry.net/~bmayland/xbmc/vidinfo_phase2_wrong.jpg

It shows uses the current item's info for every listitem. I've added this to the CommonListView item and focustedlayout item.
<control type="image">
<posx>430</posx>
<posy>0</posy>
<width>110</width>
<height>30</height>
<texture>720.png</texture>
<visible>stringcompare(ListItem.VideoResolution,720)</visible>
</control>
<control type="image">
<posx>430</posx>
<posy>0</posy>
<width>110</width>
<height>30</height>
<texture>1080.png</texture>
<visible>stringcompare(ListItem.VideoResolution,1080)</visible>
</control>

ashlar

2008-12-30, 13:18

Just discovered this today. And :grin:

Thanks to all developers involved. XBMC really is shaping up.
Thanks again!

BobbyDazzler

2008-12-30, 18:09

As a first post, I must first congratulate all involved for a cracking effort so far. I've just a new house and the living room will be powered by XBMC :)

Since my current setup is an XBox, it'd be great to differentiate SD/HD content and even the H.264 encoded flag (if it makes it... perhaps not) will help me determine the better encoded material from the DivX.

The DTS/5.1 audio would be great too :)

Thanks again for all the work involved.

Just hope a new mac mini is around the corner at MacWorld, since that'll be the centrepiece :)

Rob.

CapnBry

2008-12-31, 05:38

Update, phase 2 of 3 complete pending spiff not making me debug the sqlite library any more!
http://capnbry.net/~bmayland/xbmc/vidinfo_phase2.jpg

SlaveUnit

2008-12-31, 07:13

Very nice Capn! Super happy about the progress being made. Thanks again for your time on this.

quake101

2008-12-31, 15:36

Great work guys! This is an awesome feature! :grin:

blittan

2008-12-31, 16:40

looking good capnbry.

A question though, are you going to add the possibility to add custom flags somehow aswell?

CapnBry

2008-12-31, 16:49

A question though, are you going to add the possibility to add custom flags somehow aswell?
Nope! Actually never even considered that, but it certainly is outside the scope of what I'm doing here. Sorry.

blittan

2009-01-01, 13:40

Nope! Actually never even considered that, but it certainly is outside the scope of what I'm doing here. Sorry.

would be nice to have such an addition, example: when you have offline dvds, same movie with different languages.. maybe something to look into ones this is complete :)

watzen

2009-01-01, 16:08

hey capnbry, played a bit more with your new patch. Got it working quite well with some icons next to the movie names(<info>Listitem.Videocodec</info>).
But as we talked about earlier, the dvd-isos don't work, it doesn't event take info from the intromovie. I tried a bit more with mpeg2 .ts files aswell, and those don't work either. So it may be something with mpeg files?

CapnBry

2009-01-01, 23:50

Oh cool thanks for narrowing it down a bit. I'll check into it tomorrow and see if I can figure out what's going wrong.

watzen

2009-01-03, 00:07

A little taste of what you can do with CapnBry's solutions:
http://84.55.90.88/hdflag.jpg

blittan

2009-01-03, 00:14

looking nice, good job capnbry!

watzen

2009-01-03, 00:21

Well, that's just what I've did with pm3hd. Imagine what real skinners can do. ;)

SlaveUnit

2009-01-03, 04:18

looking very nice...any options with mediastream yet?

watzen

2009-01-03, 09:03

CapnBry

2009-01-03, 15:43

I did track down the problem with the mpeg2 kajigger but don't have a clean solution yet. The problem is that when I check to see if I should write out stream information, everything isn't done being set up yet so there's no information to grab. I'll probably tie the update to the codecfactory or something like that to fix the it but I haven't got a lot of time to work on it so I can't give an eta for that or phase 3.

Like the screenshot Watzen!

Gamester17

2009-01-03, 23:24

here are some logos, in .svg if you want to create your own logos:

http://84.55.90.88/videoresolution720.png
HD 720 (http://84.55.90.88/HD_720_logo.svg)
http://84.55.90.88/videoresolution1080.png
HD 1080 (http://84.55.90.88/HD_1080_logo.svg)
http://84.55.90.88/audiocodecdts.png
DTS (http://84.55.90.88/dts.svg)
http://84.55.90.88/audiocodecac3.png
AC3 (http://84.55.90.88/Dolby digital.svg)Nice! Did you make them of find them? Are there more, like for "Dolby Digital Plus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital_Plus)", "Dolby TrueHD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_TrueHD)", "DTS-ES (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS_(sound_system)#DTS-ES)", and "DTS-HD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS-HD_Master_Audio)"?

...and perhaps also logos to indicate audio channels, like maybe a "DD 2.0" and a "DD 5.1", or easier with separate logos for the number or audio channels ("MONO", "2.0", "4.0", "5.1", "6.1", and "7.1")

watzen

2009-01-04, 00:10

Nice! Did you make them of find them? Are there more, like for "Dolby Digital Plus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital_Plus)", "Dolby TrueHD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_TrueHD)", "DTS-ES (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS_(sound_system)#DTS-ES)", and "DTS-HD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS-HD_Master_Audio)"?

...and perhaps also logos to indicate audio channels, like maybe a "DD 2.0" and a "DD 5.1", or easier with separate logos for the number or audio channels ("MONO", "2.0", "4.0", "5.1", "6.1", and "7.1")

they are partly made by me, the two HDTV logos are the originals but replaced "Ready" with corresponding resolution. The dolby digital was originally a dolby digital plus logo, but I removed the "plus" and made the "digital" bigger. the DTS logo is just cut out from the DTS-HD logo from the wikipedia site.
And regarding "Are there more, like for...", yes, on every page you linked to (except dts-es) there's a logo in .svg(vektor based format).

"DD 2.0" and a "DD 5.1", well the latest patch from capnbry incorporates ListItem.VideoResolution, .VideoCodec, .AudioCodec and .AudioChannels. So you have to separate the images, codec and channels. (which is better)

SlaveUnit

2009-01-04, 00:23

I know the media portal forum they had icons for everything. I will try and dig it out and post links sometime today.

UPDATE:
Here are some to play with. Its stealing but ohh well :)

https://mp-plugins.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/mp-plugins/trunk/skins/Aeon%20Wide/MP-TVSeries/Aeon%20wide%20logos/Logos/Misc/

Here are more in a zip. These might be the same as the link above though.

http://www.team-mediaportal.de/dateien/startdown/321/

Hope these help somewhat. Maybe they just need a resize and are usable here. Thanks again for the work on this guys.

azido

2009-01-04, 02:07

this is going to be real sexy once 3/3 is reached.. thanks capnbry for digging it out! :nod:

CapnBry

2009-01-04, 17:01

watzen

2009-01-04, 17:25

SlaveUnit

2009-01-04, 18:05

Can png files be used or do they have to be svg files? I see watzen is using all svg but capnbry used png in hos coding. Just wondering...thanks.

watzen

2009-01-04, 18:22

you should use png-files when used in the skin(you can't use svg-files in the skin). But I post svg-files because they are a vektor format, which means that they can be scaled to any resolution and then exported as a png.

SlaveUnit

2009-01-04, 19:20

Ok good to know. Hopefully those links that I posted will give you guys some already completed (just need a resize to fit the skin) logos then.

Gamester17

2009-01-05, 02:29

for 7.1/5.1/2.0/1.0/0 I found these types of icons easy:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/5_1_channels_%28surround_sound%29_label.svg/100px-5_1_channels_%28surround_sound%29_label.svg.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:5_1_channels_(surround_sound)_label.svg)

There's more of those on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surround)(but they're quite easy to make yourself)Cool, however I think I personally prefer only numbers myself, but with the exception of MONO (1.0) I think.

So logos for; MONO, 2.0, 4.0 (for Dolby Pro-Logic), 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 would be great, yes all those :cool:

We will also need different sizes of the logos for each popular resolution (480p/576p, 720p, and 1080p/1080i).

PS! There is an open feature request for SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) support in XBMC Skinning-Engine:
http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/4332
Though no developer have volunteered so far to code that yet.

cold_realms

2009-01-06, 11:15

I am assuming that this is only for library users and there is no way (or plan to make a way) to have this in files view as well....

blittan

2009-01-06, 15:55

this is library only

nekrosoft13

2009-01-06, 16:06

how much longer will the scans take when checking for: video res, audio type.

not sure if this was discussed before, will this also check audio language?

CapnBry

2009-01-06, 16:44

I am assuming that this is only for library users and there is no way (or plan to make a way) to have this in files view as well....
I was thinking it could be extended to be available in file view as well, but there's a fundamental reason why it can't be at this time. I wouldn't rule it completely out for the future though.
how much longer will the scans take when checking for: video res, audio type.
not sure if this was discussed before, will this also check audio language?
I'm not sure what you're asking in the first question. How long does it take to probe a file? Less time than the thumbnail generator. On my laptop a probe takes anywhere from 350-700ms for a mkv with a single video/audio track.

As for saving the language I think that's still up for discussion.

cold_realms

2009-01-07, 03:01

Well it will all be moot (file view vs library) is there was a sort by folder mode in the libarty as gamester suggested in Oct on the boxee forums http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?p=2913

I will have to poke around and see if that was ever implemented as when I move to a PC based XBMC that will be the last hurdle to switching to library vs. file.

Johnkg

2009-01-07, 19:22

I'd love to have Folder view in Library mode. I could then drop Twonky and use the upnp server in XBMC for my dlna devices :nod:

fekker

2009-01-08, 02:35

I love this idea for sure ... I've updated Move Info Plus to output the video details to the .nfo files based off some PM's between me and CapnBry. Here's an output for I am Legend.

http://pastebin.com/f6f045b3f

It reads the data using MediaInfo.dll and, after some more testing to make sure it outputs for the different media types, will create that data when it scans in the movie into MIP.

I have a bunch of icons for MIP included that I created that are specific to tagging images, feel free to use those. These are put into the resources/tagging/default folder in the MIP install directory.

tetsuo55

2009-01-08, 18:27

I would like to request tagging of SD files also.

SD files can have several different resolutions, and more importantly some can be PAL while others are NTSC.

With SD this difference matters less but is still of importance for interlaced content

nekrosoft13

2009-01-08, 18:43

Gamester17

2009-01-09, 01:23

I would like to request tagging of SD files also.For non-HD videos I personally think that a aspect-ratio flag might work good instead, meaning a 'widescreen flag', with overlay thumbnails to show "4:3" or "16:9" on those non-HD videos, ...(and think that safe is to always assume that high-definition files are in widescreen aspect-ratio, as otherwise they are not following the 720p/1080i/1080p standard, so high-def videos do not need an aspect-ratio overlay thumbnail).

Good idea? ???

timdog82001

2009-01-09, 01:28

makes sense to me

Jezz_X

2009-01-09, 01:31

, ...(and think that safe is to always assume that high-definition files are in widescreen aspect-ratio, as otherwise they are not following the 720p/1080i/1080p standard, so high-def videos do not need an aspect-ratio overlay thumbnail).

Good idea? ???

meeeeeeeh (buzzer noise) incorrect Star trek the original series is out on Hidef HD-DVD or Bluray (can't remember which) and is only 4x3

v0lrath

2009-01-14, 22:50

meeeeeeeh (buzzer noise) incorrect Star trek the original series is out on Hidef HD-DVD or Bluray (can't remember which) and is only 4x3

Maybe there could be an option to manually set the flags for videos like these. They are pretty rare, although I do have a couple myself (Pixar short films)

Or they could be detected (this example is for 720) by checking for 1920 > X >= 1280 as well as the rest of the X-values for 1080l etc, and then if it doesn't match any for width, check for 1080 > Y >= 720 ... I hope that made sense.

digitalhigh

2009-01-15, 16:12

CapnBry

2009-01-15, 18:39

Hey guys...can't wait to see this stuff implemented. I'm just curious as to how you were going to store this data after it's scanned. The library?

I ask, because I'd wanted to point out fekker's post where he says he's got the .nfo files set up to keep the resolution and audio stream information with the rest of the video info after being scanned with MIP. Just wondering if this would increase overall scan speed as XBMC would just be pulling another few bits of info from a file it would already be scanning...
It is stored in the database after it is probed and then not probed again unless you hit Refresh from the info screen.

Yes having the information in the nfo file speed it up considerably because it doesn't have to probe the file at all. Was there a question there?

digitalhigh

2009-01-15, 18:49

It is stored in the database after it is probed and then not probed again unless you hit Refresh from the info screen.

Yes having the information in the nfo file speed it up considerably because it doesn't have to probe the file at all. Was there a question there?

The question would have been "Are you going to take advantage of having the information stored in a .nfo file."

CapnBry

2009-01-16, 05:35

digitalhigh

2009-01-16, 14:37

Oh yes then, absolutely, I've worked with fekker and the information in the nfo file supercedes any probing (and in fact no probe will happen if there is information in the nfo that satiates the probe).

Excellent. One less thing I need to do to my collection before the arrival of Stark. :D

skunkm0nkee

2009-01-16, 18:11

meeeeeeeh (buzzer noise) incorrect Star trek the original series is out on Hidef HD-DVD or Bluray (can't remember which) and is only 4x3

If it's 4x3 though, then surely it can't be 720p or 1080p/i since those are 16:9 aspect ratio resolutions? It would probably need a different logo/icon

I think a 4:3 or 16:9 flag for non-HD stuff would be very useful, especially when drawing episode thumbs on screen since at the moment it's a bit of a pain to have areas for the thumbs that are too wide or high, simply because we don't know if it's widescreen or not. (I realise that the thumb MAY not be in the same aspect ratio as the video but at least an assumption I could make if I wanted to)

ashlar

2009-01-19, 15:40

CapnBry, I tried searching the thread (it's long now!) for MediaInfo and came upon a relatively hold post. Is the system you are working on using MediaInfo or a different route? Care to summarize how it will work?

CapnBry

2009-01-19, 19:18

Yeah sure. It does not use MediaInfo, just the ffmpeg wrappers what are already in use for playing files/generating thumbnails. There are two ways it can get the information
1) When a video is played, and there is no "streaminfo" available, it saves the information about the first video and audio stream to the database.
2) The alternative is that you can use the scanner to preload streaminfo for things you haven't played yet. In this case, information about the highest resolution video stream is saved, and the audio stream with the highest channel count. I'm not sure what I'll use to trigger that an item will be background scanned though, because it does take a non-negligible amount of time. That's kinda where I am now with it, but haven't had the energy to work it out yet.

Information pulled:
Video Codec
Video Width -> becomes VideoResolution
Audio Codec
Audio Channel Count

Considering adding these as well:
Audio Language (of the primary audio track)
Subtitle Language (of the first subtitle track)
Video Height -> to calculate VideoAspect

blittan

2009-01-19, 23:32

Considering adding these as well:
Audio Language (of the primary audio track)
Subtitle Language (of the first subtitle track)
Video Height -> to calculate VideoAspect

Would it be too hard to store all audio languages and subtitles, in an array or something, then this could be used on the info screen, but not for creating overlays. Should be nice I think.

Freddo

2009-01-20, 02:00

In this case, information about the highest resolution video stream is saved, and the audio stream with the highest channel count.

Can I please request in cases of multiple 6ch audio tracs the one with the highest bitrate be chosen + detailed? That way my hd-dvd rips that have DTS-MA/dolby trueHD will detail that track by default and ignore the backup AC3 track I put in there as a fallback.

watzen

2009-01-20, 10:55

Can I please request in cases of multiple 6ch audio tracs the one with the highest bitrate be chosen + detailed? That way my hd-dvd rips that have DTS-MA/dolby trueHD will detail that track by default and ignore the backup AC3 track I put in there as a fallback.

I don't think you'll see a difference between DTS/DTS-MA or ac3/dolby true hd. they will all report as dts or ac3.

ashlar

2009-01-20, 13:44

Information pulled:
Video Codec
Video Width -> becomes VideoResolution
Audio Codec
Audio Channel Count

Considering adding these as well:
Audio Language (of the primary audio track)
Subtitle Language (of the first subtitle track)
Video Height -> to calculate VideoAspectThanks for all the info! One thing that I see TV Series (for Media Portal) doing is the ability to indicate a subtitle being available even if it's an external one (.srt, .ass, whatever). Would this be possible?

CapnBry

2009-01-20, 15:04

Would it be too hard to store all audio languages and subtitles, in an array or something, then this could be used on the info screen, but not for creating overlays. Should be nice I think.
It is possible, but it is not on my todo list at all. The storage would have to be normalized into a table (one row for each audio, video, and subtitle stream) which then would not be able to be used in the library list view due to its layout. That means that this could be done in addition to the code I'm adding, not as part of what I'm doing.
I don't think you'll see a difference between DTS/DTS-MA or ac3/dolby true hd. they will all report as dts or ac3.
This is accurate. The codec doesn't know the sub-type so it can not differentiate between the various flavors.
Thanks for all the info! One thing that I see TV Series (for Media Portal) doing is the ability to indicate a subtitle being available even if it's an external one (.srt, .ass, whatever). Would this be possible?
Errr I hadn't thought about it actually. Probably not by me. You people and your subtitles and multiple languages... English, A-#1 Duke of all Tracks.

Freddo

2009-01-20, 20:40

This is accurate. The codec doesn't know the sub-type so it can not differentiate between the various flavors.

That's a shame but totally understandable, I have to be in an extremely small minority by even having tracks like that, can I help by providing some samples for testing to maybe implement this someday or is it something that's not going to be possible.

also, what about 6ch FLAC, is that detected?

CapnBry

2009-01-20, 22:34

That's a shame but totally understandable, I have to be in an extremely small minority by even having tracks like that, can I help by providing some samples for testing to maybe implement this someday or is it something that's not going to be possible.

also, what about 6ch FLAC, is that detected?
It is possible (differentiating say DTS vs DTS eXtreme), but ffmpeg is where we're pulling the info from, so it would have to be exported from there. If you look in the xbmc.log you'll see what I'm pulling:INFO: ffmpeg: Input #0, matroska, from 'C:\Documents and Settings\bmayland\My Documents\DVDs\Competed\Semi-Pro.mkv':
INFO: ffmpeg: Duration: 01:31:24.65, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264, yuv420p, 720x480, 23.98 tb(r)
INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: aac, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16I assume it says 6 channel FLAC in the log right?

Freddo

2009-01-20, 22:51

20:47:30 T:6276 M:722358272 INFO: ffmpeg: Input #0, matroska, from 'F:\Movies\Cloverfield (2008)\Cloverfield (2008).mkv':
20:47:30 T:6276 M:722358272 INFO: ffmpeg: Duration: 01:24:40.54, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
20:47:30 T:6276 M:722341888 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.0: Video: vc1, yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 tb(r)
20:47:30 T:6276 M:722276352 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: flac, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16
20:47:30 T:6276 M:722272256 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.2(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16

Looks like it yeah, I was thinking further to the DTS-MA/Dolby TrueHD detection, can you readback the bitrates for tracks? cos then anything bigger than 1.5mbit DTS must be DTS-MA and for dolby anything higher than 640 must be EAC3 and anything higher than 1.5mbit must be TrueHD, just a thought. Like I said before I understand it's pretty low priority but it would be extremely cool :laugh:

Freddo

2009-01-20, 22:59

Sorry to double post but here's what I get for DTS-MA tracks

20:52:50 T:3672 M:868380672 INFO: ffmpeg: Input #0, matroska, from 'F:\Movies\Wall-e (2008)\Wall-e (2008).mkv':
20:52:50 T:3672 M:868380672 INFO: ffmpeg: Duration: 01:38:41.99, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
20:52:50 T:3672 M:868360192 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x1080, 23.98 tb(r)
20:52:50 T:3672 M:868356096 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: flac, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16
20:52:50 T:3672 M:868352000 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.2(eng): Audio: dca, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16
20:52:50 T:3672 M:868347904 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.3(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16
20:52:50 T:3672 M:868347904 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.4(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16

and EAC-3 tracks:

20:53:35 T:6460 M:867209216 INFO: ffmpeg: Input #0, matroska, from 'F:\Movies\The Mummy (1999)\The Mummy (1999).mkv':
20:53:35 T:6460 M:867209216 INFO: ffmpeg: Duration: 02:04:53.21, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
20:53:35 T:6460 M:867205120 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.0(eng): Video: vc1, yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 tb(r)
20:53:35 T:6460 M:867205120 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: eac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16
20:53:35 T:6460 M:867205120 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.2(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16
20:53:35 T:6460 M:867205120 INFO: ffmpeg: Stream #0.3(eng): Audio: flac, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16

Maybe ffmpeg does distinguish between AC3 and EAC-3 afterall, but reads "dca" for all DTS content (actually it may just be picking up the core track to the DTS-MA) I don't have any native TrueHD tracks around actually but I'll rip one later and check how XBMC detects that if at all.

Gamester17

2009-01-21, 20:04

Maybe ffmpeg does distinguish between AC3 and EAC-3 afterall, but reads "dca" for all DTS content (actually it may just be picking up the core track to the DTS-MA) I don't have any native TrueHD tracks around actually but I'll rip one later and check how XBMC detects that if at all.FFmpeg supports EAC-3/MLP/TrueHD, but it does not support DTS-HD, that must be the reason for it, see:
http://ffmpeg.org/changelog.html

and FFmpeg currently uses libdca for DTS decoding and it does not support DTS-HD neither:
http://www.videolan.org/developers/libdca.html

FFmpeg said they suggest it as a Google Summer of Code project if there where specifications available, see:
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=Talk:FFmpeg_Summer_Of_Code_2009

and the VLC (VideoLAN Client) developers who code libdca don't even have a wiki page for GSoC 2009 yet:
http://wiki.videolan.org/Soc

:rolleyes:

nekrosoft13

2009-01-21, 21:09

could it also detect codec?

here is example

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/3429/coverflowthumbvh9.jpg

natethomas

2009-01-21, 21:22

Whoa! Sorry to momentarily jack the thread, but what skin is that nekrosoft? It looks similar to Aeon, but definitely a little different.

digitalhigh

2009-01-21, 21:58

Whoa! Sorry to momentarily jack the thread, but what skin is that nekrosoft? It looks similar to Aeon, but definitely a little different.

Skin is called "Vintage"...under MedioOS, I think...

CapnBry

2009-01-21, 22:04

could it also detect codec?

I don't know.

Information pulled:
Video Codec
Video Width -> becomes VideoResolution
Audio Codec
Audio Channel Count

Oh wait I do know. Yes it does.

SlaveUnit

2009-02-01, 02:27

Heya CapnBry...just curious as to if this is still in progress or if you have anything new for use to play with? Thanks :)

CapnBry

2009-02-02, 16:08

Nothing to report. I've had some health issues recently so when I go home from work I haven't been able to code.

SlaveUnit

2009-02-02, 17:39

Ohh ok...thanks for the reply. Take care of yourself. Obviously this project is backseat to anyone's health in real life.

blittan

2009-02-02, 20:42

@capnbry: get well!!

tebicenter

2009-02-02, 23:01

I'm posting only to support this great feature. Hope this could be available very soon.

Keep up the good work !

Cheers

kizer

2009-02-02, 23:59

Man i was hoping for something like this jus so I know if I get to use my reciever in 5.1 mode or 2ch and this is awesome. ;)

NotShorty

2009-02-03, 06:31

Feel better, CapnBry!

Indeed, icon overlays for resolution, ratings, and a/v codecs would be awesome!

timdog82001

2009-02-03, 06:38

Agreed. :) This stuff will be great when added to XBMC, but for now, take all the time you need to get better. People have been waiting for many months for this, a few extra days or weeks won't hurt too much.

Freddo

2009-02-03, 20:04

Get well soon Capn'!

mafis90

2009-02-03, 21:20

Is there a standard for the Fileinfos in a NFO File ?

I plan to add the NFO Files into my library.
I found this http://pastebin.com/f6f045b3f in the Thread, but that isn't a standard from the xbmc side or not ?

SlaveUnit

2009-02-04, 00:24

mafis90...this is a very important thread to a lot of people here. DO NOT HIJACK IT. Your questions has nothing to do with anything here. Do some searching and Im sure you will find your answer. Thanks.

timdog82001

2009-02-04, 01:27

calm down, a polite request would have served just as well. He's obviously new here, so no need to rip him to pieces.

SlaveUnit

2009-02-04, 01:39

calm down, a polite request would have served just as well. He's obviously new here, so no need to rip him to pieces.

Yea you are right. Took it too far in a sense.

fekker

2009-02-04, 02:17

Actually his question does directly relate to this thread. :)
In addition, no other posts have been made as to the .nfo's in relation to HD Flagging as it's a work in progress so searching would not have done much on that one.

There's a few new fields i need to add to the .nfo files for HD flagging, the old pastebin is missing those fields, but is valid for how it will be output.

Those are coming with the next round of updates next week to MIP in addition to an updated mediainfo.dll (which is how I generate the data in the .nfo files, and yup, it's different from the xbmc method CapnBry has in place, but we are working out the little things so that the output from my app and .nfo files work with the HD flagging).

These are the additional items.
movie/fileinfo/audio/language - 3 character ISO 639-2 language of primary audio stream (e.g. eng, deu, spa)
movie/fileinfo/subtitle/language - language of subtitle stream

SlaveUnit

2009-02-04, 02:32

OK OK I lose... :)
I am officially a jerk. Just thought it might go somewhere else. I have been watching this thread since the beginning of it and this is the last feature (for now) that I would really love to see. But Im still a jerk...I know.

CapnBry

2009-02-04, 19:36

Thanks everyone for your concern and wishes. I just got a cool brain CT scan this morning so hopefully the doctor will be able to tell if I am experiencing a precursor to acquisition of Super Powers of some sort. I'm hoping my SuperPower will be "the ability to divide by 0" or "the ability to use Microsoft Excel pretty well".

Welp, phase 3 is sort of done but there's a problem. The background thumb loader, which is extended to also probe the file for stream information, seems to have some thread safety issues. It creates a thread for every 5 items in a directory and if you give it a directory with more than a few threads, ffmpeg blows up in the background. If I limit the loader to a single background thread, it works just fine. I'm going to see if I can narrow it down further.

As fekker indicated, I've also added support for primary audio language and subtitle/subtitle language indicator (not for external subs yet). I also want to do presentation aspect ratio since people have asked for it.

I'm also not happy about how currently it only works in the video library, since the information hangs off CVideoInfoTag, which is only present for items in the library. There's no reason it can't work in the file view too, especially since the thumbloader is going to extract the stream info anyway. Maybe this is phase 4. Didn't I have a phase 4 already? Thinking hurts.

blittan

2009-02-05, 01:16

Good to hear from you CapnBry. I know what you are going thru, am scheduled for a CT scan my self..

Anyways, the external subs thing won't be that hard to add later, since it only requires scanning directorys for specific files.

CapnBry

2009-02-05, 23:10

blittan, maybe you're getting superpowers too! XRay Vision would also be cool but only though one layer of clothes and only when I want it. I don't want to be seeing organs or nude fatties. Either way, hope you feel better too man.

Back on topic, phase 3 patch posted to the ticket. We're almost there!

Nazgulled

2009-02-07, 23:39

I know it has been suggested before but I don't know how the work is going regarding subtitles flagging, so, I'll just give me 2 cents on that matter:

My suggestion is to add 3 logos/flags stating:
- Internal subtitles
- External subtitles
- Internal & External subtitles

Of course, for movies without any kind of subtitles, no logo should be displayed. This is my suggestion because most of the movies I download don't have subtitles and I need to get them, thus the external subtitles logo. Other movies come with internal subtitles (in the case of MKV files), thus the internal subtitles logo. In movies with internal subtitles, some come with an array of languages and once in a while it has the language I need, but most of the time it doesn't and so I have to download the subtitles I want, thus making internal and external subtitles.

I also know it has been mentioned to have audio languages flagging and that it was troublesome because of the many available languages, but, is that really needed? I know that different people have different needs but I hate dubbed stuff, no matter the movie language, I'll ways watch a movie in it's original language and it doesn't really matter which is, if the movie is good and I want to watch it, I'll watch it and I don't care which language it's in. But this is just me, maybe it's really that important for some people, but I just wanted to point this out to see if in a general way, it's really needed or not.

blittan

2009-02-07, 23:47

audio language:
I can think of two scenarios.
1: people who want to have dubbed movies (for whatever reason).
2: Kids, I want to see wheater a movie has my language when my kids are going to watch it.

subtitles:
Just display subtitles, no matter if they are external/internal. Might also be interesting to see what language they are in. I see no real reason for external/internal other than if internal, you might have a chance of downloading a external one in the appropriate language if there isn't an internal one.

Nazgulled

2009-02-07, 23:55

audio language:2: Kids, I want to see wheater a movie has my language when my kids are going to watch it.
Didn't thought about that, too young to have kids :P

Just display subtitles, no matter if they are external/internal.
They matter to me, exactly because what you just said and it was one of my points:

I see no real reason for external/internal other than if internal, you might have a chance of downloading a external one in the appropriate language if there isn't an internal one.
There's your reason :P

I'm going to be honest here... I always try to watch a movie with subtitles in my own language but if I can't find one and I really want to see some movie, I just use the English subtitles, in that case, having internal ones (which normally always have english subs) would be enough. But for my dad, it's not the same thing and I need to have subtitles in the appropriate language. And to be able to look at the library and see if a movie has internal subtitles, external and or both is really useful as I can see which ones I have already downloaded subtitles for.

Znubbis

2009-02-09, 13:59

I like it, i have missed this feature with HD flags in the library :grin:

If you could have a icon for subtitle it would rock even more! When I have friends over who want to have a local subtitle to watch a movie I have to start each movie they wanna see to check if it has a subtitle.

Its kinda off topic but id be happy with just a [sub] icon and some way to activate it if you got a sub of your preferred language on a movie. Could have a flag for it in the nfo file or some way to mark the movie subbed like the "watched" flag.

jeks

2009-02-15, 04:57

So, in the main menu, we can add Movies (SD) and go directly to the library with all your movies SD. Movies (HD) go to the library with HD movies only...
xbmc.activatewindow(videolibrary,moviessd)
xbmc.activatewindow(videolibrary,movieshd)
Something like that... Do you think its possible?

Znubbis

2009-02-17, 10:18

Whats the status on this? Any idea if it will make it to the SVN PPA soon?

Nazgulled

2009-02-17, 14:46

Whats the status on this? Any idea if it will make it to the SVN PPA soon?
What's PPA? :oo:

blittan

2009-02-17, 16:46

it's a package format for linux, distributed from launchpad.net

Znubbis

2009-02-17, 19:50

Aye for Ubuntu and so, im lazy and like the easy way hehe :nod:

I guess Aeon will have support for this when it comes in march.

SlaveUnit

2009-02-18, 17:42

CapnBry,
From your posts in the new Aeon thread I get the feeling this is getting a bit closer to trunking?

CapnBry

2009-02-18, 21:01

I'd say it would be done this weekend but I'm gone from Friday to Sunday so probably next week, depending on how busy work is. (I mean for my submission of a final phase 3, after that it will need to be approved and merged into trunk).

nekrosoft13

2009-02-19, 00:24

from the Aeon thread

Hey a skin that uses hdflagging information, nice! (even if it is only using the filename for now) For the record, you can't have DTS and Dolby Digital in the new system because they are both audio codecs and only the "best" is exported to the skin (the first with the highest channel count). May want to revise the layout to be resolution | acodec | channels.

why? both should be displayed, i understand for some people having one audio is not a issue.

but what if you have movies/tv shows with multiple languages.

i have quite a few movies that have English DTS and for instance Japanesse, Polish, German etc.. Dolby.

SlaveUnit

2009-02-19, 02:02

SlaveUnit

2009-02-19, 02:26

from the Aeon thread

why? both should be displayed, i understand for some people having one audio is not a issue.

but what if you have movies/tv shows with multiple languages.

i have quite a few movies that have English DTS and for instance Japanesse, Polish, German etc.. Dolby.

Id say one thing at a time. Lets get the initial flagging rolling then see if things can be added. I mean first we just wanted the video res and the initial audio track. now people want subs. And now all the audio tracks. Just let the initial one come out first then try to make adjustments is my advice.

midgetspy

2009-02-19, 02:32

I'm totally stoked for this to get into the trunk, thanks CapnBry for your hard work! I wonder if the official PM3.HD will be updated to use this feature?

digitalhigh

2009-02-19, 02:50

Hey man, amazing work. Glad to see things chugging along so nicely.

When this hits SVN, where can I look for documentation as to how to implement this into the skin I'm working on?

nekrosoft13

2009-02-19, 02:57

Id say one thing at a time. Lets get the initial flagging rolling then see if things can be added. I mean first we just wanted the video res and the initial audio track. now people want subs. And now all the audio tracks. Just let the initial one come out first then try to make adjustments is my advice.

that fine, i will keep hoping that at some point this get implemented.:nod:

timdog82001

2009-02-19, 03:35

from the Aeon thread

why? both should be displayed, i understand for some people having one audio is not a issue.

but what if you have movies/tv shows with multiple languages.

i have quite a few movies that have English DTS and for instance Japanesse, Polish, German etc.. Dolby.

But then what do you do from a skinning standpoint when a video has 8+ audio tracks? You have to find a way to make it look good when there is just one and also when there are several tracks. Maybe a tag just for "multiple languages" would work and then you could see more specifics in the video info window....and maybe there would be some way of sorting according to language. I can't think of anyway for that to work offhand except for just making it another part of the library folder structure. Ie, "Genre, Actor, Title, Language," etc

CapnBry

2009-02-19, 17:03

why? both should be displayed, i understand for some people having one audio is not a issue.
http://capnbry.net/~bmayland/xbmc/clutter.jpg
It's just the logistics of placing every bit of stream info in the skin at once can get a bit, well, cluttered. I know everyone in this thread just wants their one extra thing on the screen, but if you add everything everyone wants it just becomes a mess and a huge burden on a skinner.

digitalhigh, here's some preliminary documentation as to what will be available.
ListItem.VideoResolution - the quantized resolution video stream. Options are 480, 720, or 1080.
ListItem.VideoCodec - video codec of the stream. e.g. mpeg4, h264.
ListItem.AudioCodec - audio codec of the stream. e.g. mp3, aac, ac3, dts.
ListItem.AudioChannels - number of channels in the stream. Can be 0 if there is no audio at all.
ListItem.AudioLanguage - language of the audio stream if available. Uses ISO 639-2 three character codes, e.g. eng, epo, deu.
ListItem.SubtitleLanguage - language of the subtitle stream. ISO 639-2. Blank if no subtitles.

Note, each item can be used by itself to return what I determine to be the "highest resolution" stream, or suffixed with a number to get information about a specific stream. For example AudioChannels0 is "highest", AudioChannels1 is first audio stream, AudioChannels2 is second, etc. Note that this feature of exporting multiple streams to the skin is not yet supported, but the information is stored and will be included once the skinning engine supports it

Highest resolution is:
Video - Largest combined resolution (w x h)
Audio - Most channels. In case of a tie, eac3 > dts > ac3 > all else.
Subtitle - The language that matches what is configured in Appearance -> Region -> Language

If you'd like to display a texture representing any of the above items, simply use an image control and set its texture property to the detail you want, and use the prefix/suffix to generate the filename in your skin. For example, if you want video resolution to use your assets named videoresolutionX.png you'd set the texture property like this:
<texture>$INFO[ListItem.VideoResolution,videoresolution,.png]</texture>
Which will use the appropriate videoresolution480.png, videoresolution720.png, videoresolution1080.png or hide the texture if the information is not known.

SlaveUnit

2009-02-19, 17:30

CapnBry,
Is this slated to only work/look correct in PM3.HD or will it work in other skins such as Mediastream :) ?

CapnBry

2009-02-19, 17:40

It works in any skin, which is to say it works in no skins. I'm only writing the ability to see this information. I suck at skinning, as you can see above, so for all my testing I just dump it directly to a string. Once this is in trunk, it is up to the skin people to do their artistic magic.

Maybe once it is done I can take a stab at it, but I was hoping someone else would do that.

skunkm0nkee

2009-02-19, 18:44

This will be great - I'm planning to add this to the new skin I'm working on, Minimeedia (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=44433), and then add it to MediaStream once that's all done.

Can't wait until it hits trunk :grin:

Freddo

2009-02-19, 20:59

Regarding multiple audio tracks/languages, i have no strong opinion either way since I only ever have english, but wouldn't it make sense to just display all the different tracks on the same screenspace using something like a fadelabel?

CapnBry

2009-02-19, 21:15

wouldn't it make sense to just display all the different tracks on the same screenspace using something like a fadelabel?
See? I don't even know what a fadelabel is. http://capnbry.net/~bmayland/sa/emot-iiam.gif

I think what I've come up with should be able to provide the most flexibility. Beyond that, I'm not sure what controls should be used. Getting it all to look pretty and not overwhelming is the tough part so if there's anything I can do in code to make it easier for you guys let me know.

nekrosoft13

2009-02-19, 21:37

what if there would be option in the settings that would allow people to choose? display one audio track info (for people that only speak one language)

and option for "fading" info for multiple languages.
it would show something like "3 audio tracks" then fade and show the info about first track, and then fade to second track etc....

this way both methods would take up the same ammount of space on screen.

Freddo

2009-02-19, 22:38

I've done a little skinning but I won't claim to be an expert, however as far as I know if you provide the information to skinners in the form of infolabels then it is already possible for them to use it in a fadelabel.

http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Fade_Label_Control

The fade label control is used for displaying multiple pieces of text in the same space in XBMC. You can choose the font, size, colour, location and contents of the text to be displayed. The first piece of information to display fades in over 50 frames, then scrolls off to the left. Once it is finished scrolling off screen, the second piece of information fades in and the process repeats.

<control type="fadelabel" id="1">
<description>My First fadelabel</description>
<posx>80</posx>
<posy>60</posy>
<width>250</width>
<visible>true</visible>
<scroll>false</scroll>
<scrollout>true</scrollout>
<pauseatend>200</pauseatend>
<label>6</label>
<info>NumberOfAudioLanguages</info>
<info>AudioTrack.1</info>
<info>AudioTrack.2</info>
<info>AudioTrack.3</info>
<font>font14</font>
<textcolor>FFB2D4F5</textcolor>
<textoffsetx>20</textoffsetx>
</control>

I just made up the infolabels I'm not sure how you reference them but i'm sure you get the idea.

CapnBry

2009-02-20, 06:20

For the record, I will do everything in my power to make sure this gets in next release (9.04?)

Znubbis

2009-02-20, 10:45

Is it possible to add a filter so you can filter out all movies with x language sub ?

Great job on this btw CapnBry and all others that have been involved.

v0lrath

2009-02-20, 13:26

Will we be able to add custom resolutions? I have lots of 576p movies (1024x576) and I'd love to have them flagged differently.

Rand Al Thor

2009-02-20, 20:06

yowzaa! That is a lot of requests guys. Lets just see what happens "out of the box" and go from there. I would imagine that after this is officially part of the SVN, IF it turns out that there is some missing feature that would be really useful, it will be implemented then. For now, let the man work and don't over complicate the process. Obviously, this is just my personal opinion, but some of these requests seem like they would be catering to a very small demographic and thus would be more work than they are worth.

fasteddy

2009-02-20, 20:17

Seems to me that this sort of brainstorming is exactly what is needed during development of a new feature. CapnBry is perfectly capable of ignoring (or integrating) suggestions as he sees fit, so there's no harm in throwing in one's two cents.

v0lrath

2009-02-23, 01:58

Looks like it's been added to the SVN. Is there a skin we can use that supports this now?

timdog82001

2009-02-23, 02:25

Looks like it's been added to the SVN. Is there a skin we can use that supports this now?

actually i think what you saw was just spiff adding it to the hdflagging branch of svn. still not in the main branch.

v0lrath

2009-02-23, 03:33

actually i think what you saw was just spiff adding it to the hdflagging branch of svn. still not in the main branch.

You're right, I should have read that more carefully. In any case, if I want to build it myself is there a skin I can use?

digitalhigh

2009-02-23, 05:09

digitalhigh, here's some preliminary documentation as to what will be available.
ListItem.VideoResolution - the quantized resolution video stream. Options are 480, 720, or 1080. Can also be used in an image's info tag, will return videoresolutionX.png.
ListItem.VideoCodec - video codec of the stream. e.g. mpeg4, h264. Image info tag: videocodecX.png.
ListItem.AudioCodec - audio codec of the stream. e.g. mp3, aac, ac3, dts. Image info tag: audiocodecX.png
ListItem.AudioChannels - number of channels in the stream. Can be 0 if there is no audio at all. Image info tag: audiochannelsX.png
ListItem.AudioLanguage - language of the audio stream if available. Uses ISO 639-2 three character codes, e.g. eng, epo, deu. Image info tag: languageX.png
ListItem.SubtitleLanguage - language of the subtitle stream. ISO 639-2. Blank if no subtitles. Image info tag: languageX.png

So basically, all I need to do is create the representative icons I want to use for the various infofields, then call them by telling an image control to use Listitem.VideoResolution? That's effing brilliant. Here I was planning on using <visible>substring(Listitem.VideoResolution,1080)</visible>etc...

This saves me a lot of work. Thank you. Can't wait till this gets added to main. :D

CapnBry

2009-02-23, 17:24

So basically, all I need to do is create the representative icons I want to use for the various infofields, then call them by telling an image control to use Listitem.VideoResolution? That's effing brilliant. Here I was planning on using <visible>substring(Listitem.VideoResolution,1080)</visible>etc...
Hehehe that's how I first was doing it too but man did it get out of control when you have to do one for every resolution, every video code, every audio codec, every language, every audiochannels, etc. It was a huge pain.

After a conversation with Jonathan, it actually is going to be slightly different than I posted above. I'll update the post but the new plan removes those videocodec%.png's in favor of a more customizable, but slightly more verbose method that cuts down on the bloat in XBMC. If you want to make an image that represents for example audiochannels, instead of <info>ListItem.AudioChannels</info> you'd use <texture>$INFO[ListItem.AudioChannels,audiochannels,.png]</texture>

The advantage to this being you're not stuck with using one asset everywhere, so if you want to have like a big 1080p logo on a fullscreen info dialog and a different 1080p logo in the list view, you're not limited by having just one videoresolution1080.png asset.

digitalhigh

2009-02-23, 19:26

Hehehe that's how I first was doing it too but man did it get out of control when you have to do one for every resolution, every video code, every audio codec, every language, every audiochannels, etc. It was a huge pain.

After a conversation with Jonathan, it actually is going to be slightly different than I posted above. I'll update the post but the new plan removes those videocodec%.png's in favor of a more customizable, but slightly more verbose method that cuts down on the bloat in XBMC. If you want to make an image that represents for example audiochannels, instead of <info>ListItem.AudioChannels</info> you'd use <texture>$INFO[ListItem.AudioChannels,audiochannels,.png]</texture>

The advantage to this being you're not stuck with using one asset everywhere, so if you want to have like a big 1080p logo on a fullscreen info dialog and a different 1080p logo in the list view, you're not limited by having just one videoresolution1080.png asset.

No, that makes perfect sense. As it happens to be, that will probably be the case, as I plan on using HDTV logos for my TV shows and Movie-centric ones for the movies section.

CapnBry

2009-02-23, 20:12

jmarshall has asked about the performance degradation of loading the library with streaminfo versus load times in trunk.

Can someone with a video library with a lot of items in one section (750+ movies or the entire Gunsmoke series or similar) provide me with a copy of their MyVideos34.db for testing?

digitalhigh

2009-02-23, 20:25

SlaveUnit

2009-02-23, 21:44

Here is one with 973...sorry no Gunsmoke (YET!)

http://rapidshare.com/files/201688677/MyVideos34.rar.html

It is spread out through 2 large and one small directory. Hope it still helps.

timdog82001

2009-02-24, 04:23

I have a fairly monstrous tv show collection I could send you as well if it would help....a few thousand episodes at least.

CapnBry

2009-02-24, 04:33

Thanks guys. Between SlaveUnit's and sho's I should have plenty of data for performance testing. Holy smokes that's a lot of movies!

SlaveUnit

2009-02-24, 06:03

Yeah when you build a 10tb NAS, it drives you to do evil things to fill it up. :)

Also having 1400 store bought DVDs didnt help.

tebicenter

2009-02-24, 06:21

Yeah when you build a 10tb NAS, it drives you to do evil things to fill it up. :)

Also having 1400 store bought DVDs didnt help.

I must say WOW !!!

I know I'm getting off topic, but how much did you spent on that NAS?

SlaveUnit

2009-02-24, 06:32

I must say WOW !!!

I know I'm getting off topic, but how much did you spent on that NAS?

Not as much as you would think. Without the drives only about $400. Then the drives range from 500gb to 1.5tb. I get only the 1.5tb ones now since locally they sell for $119. I guess on the bottom line I spent about $1600 total maybe (EDIT: after thinking a bit more about it, closer to $1800-$1900 probably)? I started out with a lot of 500gb drives but they have been phased out since the 1.5tb have dropped so much in price. The NAS drive space is really 12.25tb of drive space but I can only use 10.75 due to the largest drive being a parity drive.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/SlaveUnit/untitled-1.jpg

Let me know of the pic is too big and should be resized. Didnt mean to be rude.

BLKMGK

2009-02-25, 06:16

Heh, am right behind you on one of my servers and with my second unRAID am a bit past you in capacity :D You've got quite a few more movies than me but I'm working on it! Bang for the buck unRAID is hard to beat for media serving to say the least and the new 1.5tb drives - when they aren't flakey - are one heck of a deal. You ought to throw in a cache drive if you move much data around, really helped me with write speeds and any old IDE drive will work fine...

stanley87

2009-02-25, 23:18

Any news on this feature?
Added to trunk yet?

Thanks

:D

CapnBry

2009-02-26, 06:34

Nope still in progress. Next patch is already over 1000 lines. The multi-stream support changed a lot, and there's still performance and thread safety to go. Good news is that multistream seems to be done but there are other issues (such as directory caching and scanning preemption).

v0lrath

2009-03-07, 12:01

How's this coming along? It's been a couple weeks, I'm just curious. :)

CapnBry

2009-03-09, 19:30

I've gotten a bit sidetracked in the performance of loading decently sized video libraries.

Baseline: Loading an 855 movie video library takes 150ms for the query, then 1200ms to load the items. Even if none of the files have streamdetails it pushes the load time to ~1800ms, and each stream after that adds 100ms to the total load time. I've managed to reduce baseline load time to ~900ms, which is nice, but I'm still concerned with the overall performance. For the "best case" scenario where each file has 2 streams you're looking at 1.98ms/item load time vs 1.05ms/item baseline.

I think I might consider that unacceptable and will move the detail loader to the background thread.

But anyway work is getting done, it's just going slowly.

natethomas

2009-03-10, 00:25

I was just curious, CapnBry. Are you and Fekker sharing code at all? I mean this in two ways. First, are you both using similar processes to get the stream info. Second, are you working on some kind of nfo cross-compatibility?

natethomas

2009-03-10, 01:46

Nevermind. I just realized Fekker directly said he had help from you with coding.

CapnBry

2009-03-10, 05:02

Yeah the xml nfo import and export from XBMC is the same format as Fekker is using in Movie Info Plus. I guess that makes it the standard :)

fekker

2009-03-15, 08:25

Question..

Alot of standard media doesn't contain details as to what lang is contained in it.

Are you giving the option for a default if it can't figure it out, or should I just leave it blank in the .nfo file?

I just spent the last few hours writing the case statement for iso-639 from the full name, there sure is a ton of those :D

The good news is that was the last part of the changes to the new format for Media Info Plus, it now outputs all stream data for all streams in the file it can read.

ultrabrutal

2009-03-15, 22:19

fekker

2009-03-15, 23:52

CapnBry/fekker, where can I find a description of the changes you have done to the nfo format? I wish to get this supported in mymovies also so scanning is done automaticly including stuff like resolution, video codec, audio format and channels, subtitles etc

The only parts I'm not 100% sure on is the 3 digit codes, it should be ISO-639-2, but that doesn't match up with the example I had so I'm not sure.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<movie xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<fileinfo>
<version>1.1</version>
<streamdetails>
<video>
<width>1920</width>
<height>804</height>
<codec>h264</codec>
<formatinfo>AVC</formatinfo>
<duration>1h 37mn 19s 916ms</duration>
<bitrate>6 772 Kbps</bitrate>
<bitratemode />
<bitratemax />
<container>.mkv</container>
<codecid>V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC</codecid>
<codecidinfo />
<scantype>Progressive</scantype>
</video>
<audio>
<language>ger</language>
<codec>DTS</codec>
<channels>6</channels>
<bitrate>1 536 Kbps</bitrate>
</audio>
<audio>
<language>eng</language>
<codec>DTS</codec>
<channels>6</channels>
<bitrate>1 536 Kbps</bitrate>
</audio>
<subtitle>
<language>ger</language>
</subtitle>
<subtitle>
<language>eng</language>
</subtitle>
</streamdetails>
</fileinfo>
<title>Wall-E HD</title>
<rating>8.7</rating>
<year>2008</year>
<top250>33</top250>
<votes>89,992</votes>
... the rest of the standard nfo details in proper xml format ...
</movie>

natethomas

2009-03-23, 00:55

I'd just like to point out that it'll be 8 days until Stark comes out, in theory. It'd be like a small unbirthday present to me if both of these things came out on the same day.

djh_

2009-03-23, 01:13

... and a pain in the arse. I'd need at least a day to get flags support in there and I'm not even looking at it until it's merged into trunk.

jmarshall

2009-03-23, 02:34

Which it won't be for 9.04 - we're hitting feature freeze now.

natethomas

2009-03-23, 07:32

Durn it. Well, luckily unbirthday presents are far less important than actual birthday presents. Thanks for all the hard work, everyone!

Nazgulled

2009-03-28, 00:57

... and a pain in the arse. I'd need at least a day to get flags support in there and I'm not even looking at it until it's merged into trunk.
Hum... Just wondering then, what does it mean the "hd symbols" I keep seeing on recent Aeon Stark's screenshots? If you are not using CapnBry's feature, what are you doing exactly?

And about the feature on this topic at hand, how's it coming? I know XBMC about the feature freeze but if XBMC was not feature freezed, what would be the prognostics for a trunk merge?

I'm just curious cause I can always merge it myself locally and build it...