[ajamils]

Thinking more into it, it -may- can be also depend how the playback software decodes and processes those half-res 3D videos, and this varies also with the constellation of how sensitive and enhanced is the displays auto recognition mechanism.  If there's something isn't quite standard with the header info, could be only matter in the case if the displays internal player is used. Am I right on this one, or is the header info also been passed though the HDMI to the display? But it also could be possible, if some of the displays internal players, or -in the case of the external players devices- their auto recognition mechanisms could also detect it, without any referring header information, and would trigger just by the "simple fact" of the "Cut-Screen situation" somehow.

 That's what I'm thinking. Whether it is the tag in the name or something in the header, there is something that tell the display that the video is "3D" vs regular 1080p. The reason why I keep mentioning Kodi's internal player is that it read the 3D tags in the file name and automatically offers the option to play the file as 3D or continue as 2D. So when Kodi plays the file as "3D" there should be a way to send that info to the display as well so that it automatically switches to 3D mode. Maybe somehow this can be triggered via batch file to invoke "Nvidia 3D" mode, which in turn will trigger the display to switch? 

If that's not possible then is there a way to convert SBS to frame-packed 3D?

[ajamils]

Some interesting updates.....

On a hunch I finally tried PowerDVD and played some 3D SBS mkv, initially I noticed that picture was showing up very weird and then playing up with setting I noticed that 3D mode was set up "anaglyph 3D" so I changed it to HDMI 1.4. Then played the same file again but the picture was showing double. So I played around with the switched 3D mode setting on my projector and when I changed it to "Auto" the picture started showing correctly. Played another file, and it played as left/right images (no 3D). So I thought that I'm back to same place I started. Then while playing around with PowerDVD setting (keeping PJ at "Auto") switching the 3D mode to "Side-by-Side" and movie played correctly.  

After the initial success, I pushed my luck a bit and changed the desktop resolution to 4k/60 and then played 3D movie in PowerDVD expecting completely that it will not work but to my surprise, it not only worked but it also changed my PJ to 1080p/3D mode. 

So my conclusion is that having frame-packed or SBS is not the issue, the issue is how the software passes the information to the display device. With PowerDVD it seems like I am finally close to achieving the goal of keeping the desktop resolution at 4K/60 and having PJ auto switch to 3D mode when SBS-mkv is played. Once the playback stops, it goes back to 4K/60. 

I will do more testing before I can call it a success but so far things are looking good . Once everything play as expected then next step will be to integrate it in Kodi.

[Mount81]

You can also still try DSPLayer (based on KODI Jarvis)+MadVR or MPCHC+MadVR (can be integrated as external player under KODI) that has also 3D MVC support and heard that they work great as well.

[ajamils]

You can also still try DSPLayer (based on KODI Jarvis)+MadVR or MPCHC+MadVR (can be integrated as external player under KODI) that has also 3D MVC support and heard that they work great as well.

 I'm already using DSplayer build of Kodi for my regular movie watching. It's the 3D mkvs that I've been trying to find a solution for.

[brazen1]

Problems using DSPlayer are probably better answered in that forum.  The problems you have been describing don't exist using the official KODI with external players.

[shaktoo]

Is 3D iso naming support got screwed up, 
my older scraped movies  with simple naming convention pf " Antman.bluray.3D.Iso " works still but somehow any new movies thjat I add do not get recognised as 3d has anything changed ??

[brazen1]

No, nothing has changed?  3D is switching here using v.17.6 and latest versions of all other components.  Still using nVidia v.385.28 also.  If it's a scraping or 3D tag problem you're having, that's beyond the scope of here.  Skin or scraper related most likely.

[brazen1]

New PowerDVD 18 to build 1815 released.

https://www.cyberlink.com/support/powerd...en_US.html

[brazen1]

Fwiw, DVDFab Player Ultra v.5 is now offering a free one year license.  I use v.3 and have not retried v.5 lately.  Perhaps another will report if its problems were corrected through updates yet or not.

https://de.dvdfab.cn/pcgo-angebot.htm
Press ' senden' and enter your email for the offer.

LAV Filter update today
https://www.videohelp.com/software/LAV-Filters

[luci5r]

New PowerDVD 18 to build 1815 released.

https://www.cyberlink.com/support/powerd...en_US.html

In case you had a chance to test this, did you notice any noteworthy improvement?

Fwiw, DVDFab Player Ultra v.5 is now offering a free one year license.  I use v.3 and have not retried v.5 lately.  Perhaps another will report if its problems were corrected through updates yet or not.

https://de.dvdfab.cn/pcgo-angebot.htm
Press ' senden' and enter your email for the offer.

LAV Filter update today
https://www.videohelp.com/software/LAV-Filters

Thank you! I did claim the free copy - however, the license expiration shows up as 2/10/19. Unless they are using DD/MM/YY, seems to be about 6 months instead of an year. Either way, good find!

I'm encountering a strange issue with Kodi External Player behavior all of a sudden. PDVD is launching just fine for the specified media formats, however, DVDFab refuses to launch no matter what! Whether using rules, or using the 'Play Using -->' menu; all that happens is a notification bar pops up on top of Kodi stating "External player active" with an "Ok" button to close it, but DVDFab does not launch.

I had stripped down the BAT file & PLAYERCOREFACTORY file to my needs, and it did work in the past.

playercorefactory.xml

xml:


<playercorefactory>

<players>

<player name="PowerDVD" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">

<filename>C:\Users\b3lial\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\userdata\PDVD.bat</filename>

<playcountminimumtime>1140</playcountminimumtime>

</player>

<player name="DVDFab" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">

<filename>C:\Program Files (x86)\DVDFab Player 5\DVDFab Player 5.exe</filename>

<playcountminimumtime>1140</playcountminimumtime>

</player>

</players>

<rules action="prepend">

<rule filename=".*4K.*" player="DVDFab"/>

<rule filetypes="iso|bdmv|mpls|m2ts" player="PowerDVD"/>

</rules>

</playercorefactory>

PDVD.bat

Code:


Set file=%1
Set dummy=%file:iso=%
IF NOT %dummy% == %file% (GOTO playiso) ELSE (goto playbdmv)

:playbdmv
set pth=%1
set pth=%pth:BDMV\MovieObject.bdmv=%
set pth=%pth:BDMV\index.bdmv=%
"C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD18\PowerDVD.exe" %pth% exit
exit

:playiso
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive\VCDMount.exe" /d=0 %1
"C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD18\PowerDVD.exe" D:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive\VCDMount.exe" /d=0 /u
exit


I've double checked all the paths - everything seems good. Just wondering if something changed with Kodi? I do believe I updated recently to Leia Alpha 2.

Not sure what's going on all of a sudden.

[brazen1]

Just installed KODI v.18 x64 nightly June 20th and will not promptly revert for a couple hours in case anyone suggests further diagnostics.

I didn't do a lot of testing.  Just what I've been previously doing and see no reason to test any further given the results are always the same.  If it can't oblige this basic function, what's the use of testing anymore..... I could use some help testing to verify if it's just my environment or applicable to everyone else as well.  I've just been adding one collection folder to KODI for testing, 3D MOVIES but it won't matter what you add.

When you open KODI and press enter on a title, it will open the default player assigned for that title as it should and all is well.  I played Avatar with PDVD because PDVD is the default player defined by the PCF.  Next, using the 'Play Using' menu, select another player to open a title.  Any title and any other player other than the previous one (PDVD) just used.  So, I manually select The Martian to open with MPC.  Not gonna' happen.  The Martian opens with PDVD instead of MPC I just manually selected.  Same or different title will only open with the 1st player used.  The PCF is not being obeyed.

Close and reopen KODI.  Manually select Avatar to play with MPC so that PDVD does not default.  All is well.  Default select or manually select Avatar (or any other title) to play with PDVD.  It plays using MPC even though you selected PDVD. 

The PCF only works properly once.  Subsequent PCF playbacks are ignored and so is manual intervention using the 'Play using' option.  This is not only inherent to PDVD and MPC.  I use 5 players and they all behave this way.  This behavior is not present using KODI v.17.6 and it works perfectly.

Here is a debug log fwiw.  Opened Avatar by pressing enter on title.  It defaults to using PDVD as it should.  Manually selected 'play using' to open with MPC-HC.  PDVD opens instead.

https://paste.kodi.tv/cizoqirari

Right, I catch your drift now. When you (or the other poster) stated PFC is no longer supported, I thought you meant it has been totally revoked. The issue that you mentioned, I have been experiencing from Day 1 of Kodi v18. Essentially, PFC only invokes the correct external player the first time, but not thereafter, unless you quit & restart Kodi. This has not been a problem for me as I've never really needed to invoke the external player twice, and if I did, I knew a quick restart of Kodi would fix it. It's annoying, and shouldn't exist, but hasn't been an issue.

Although in retrospect, now that multiple external players are being used for different types of Media, this could potentially become a significant annoyance. My usage just hasn't really been of the nature to come across this annoyance frequently.

Thanks for the detail - this clarifies it. It did frighten me when I first saw that post - like I said, I thought the entire support for PFC had been abandoned.

Strangely, I always had some issue or other with v17 (Krypton), from frequent crashes & freezes to connectivity issues; strange issues that most people never really had a problem with. Somehow all of those issues went away with v18, so I have to say I don't see myself reverting to v17. Outside of this multiple external player launches in one session issue, which is negligible for me, v18 seems to be far more stable and solid for my setup & experience at least.

Given you are posting here, I am assuming that is not a just a line to pick up women? At least, getting out of bed isn't boring.

No, Sir, it definitely isn't a pickup line, and it most certainly is far from boring getting out of bed every morning, albeit slightly earlier then I'd prefer, nevertheless! 

I haven't tried KODI v.18 in a while but it appears it still isn't handling PCF.xml correctly according to the error you just posted.  I'm still using v.17.6 which remains problem free.  Not sure about DVDFab Player v.5 promo end date?  I installed it a couple days ago and everything about it was a problem still.  No HDR and no 3D no matter how much I massaged things.  It could just be my environment but I really don't see how tbh.  All my testing was solo in Windows Explorer without KODI involved at all.  I continue to use v.3 with no problems.  How is your experience using v.5 for HDR and 3D Frame Packed MVC?

[luci5r]

Just installed KODI v.18 x64 nightly June 20th and will not promptly revert for a couple hours in case anyone suggests further diagnostics.

I didn't do a lot of testing.  Just what I've been previously doing and see no reason to test any further given the results are always the same.  If it can't oblige this basic function, what's the use of testing anymore..... I could use some help testing to verify if it's just my environment or applicable to everyone else as well.  I've just been adding one collection folder to KODI for testing, 3D MOVIES but it won't matter what you add.

When you open KODI and press enter on a title, it will open the default player assigned for that title as it should and all is well.  I played Avatar with PDVD because PDVD is the default player defined by the PCF.  Next, using the 'Play Using' menu, select another player to open a title.  Any title and any other player other than the previous one (PDVD) just used.  So, I manually select The Martian to open with MPC.  Not gonna' happen.  The Martian opens with PDVD instead of MPC I just manually selected.  Same or different title will only open with the 1st player used.  The PCF is not being obeyed.

Close and reopen KODI.  Manually select Avatar to play with MPC so that PDVD does not default.  All is well.  Default select or manually select Avatar (or any other title) to play with PDVD.  It plays using MPC even though you selected PDVD. 

The PCF only works properly once.  Subsequent PCF playbacks are ignored and so is manual intervention using the 'Play using' option.  This is not only inherent to PDVD and MPC.  I use 5 players and they all behave this way.  This behavior is not present using KODI v.17.6 and it works perfectly.

Here is a debug log fwiw.  Opened Avatar by pressing enter on title.  It defaults to using PDVD as it should.  Manually selected 'play using' to open with MPC-HC.  PDVD opens instead.

https://paste.kodi.tv/cizoqirari

Right, I catch your drift now. When you (or the other poster) stated PFC is no longer supported, I thought you meant it has been totally revoked. The issue that you mentioned, I have been experiencing from Day 1 of Kodi v18. Essentially, PFC only invokes the correct external player the first time, but not thereafter, unless you quit & restart Kodi. This has not been a problem for me as I've never really needed to invoke the external player twice, and if I did, I knew a quick restart of Kodi would fix it. It's annoying, and shouldn't exist, but hasn't been an issue.

Although in retrospect, now that multiple external players are being used for different types of Media, this could potentially become a significant annoyance. My usage just hasn't really been of the nature to come across this annoyance frequently.

Thanks for the detail - this clarifies it. It did frighten me when I first saw that post - like I said, I thought the entire support for PFC had been abandoned.

Strangely, I always had some issue or other with v17 (Krypton), from frequent crashes & freezes to connectivity issues; strange issues that most people never really had a problem with. Somehow all of those issues went away with v18, so I have to say I don't see myself reverting to v17. Outside of this multiple external player launches in one session issue, which is negligible for me, v18 seems to be far more stable and solid for my setup & experience at least.

Given you are posting here, I am assuming that is not a just a line to pick up women? At least, getting out of bed isn't boring.

No, Sir, it definitely isn't a pickup line, and it most certainly is far from boring getting out of bed every morning, albeit slightly earlier then I'd prefer, nevertheless!  

I haven't tried KODI v.18 in a while but it appears it still isn't handling PCF.xml correctly according to the error you just posted.  I'm still using v.17.6 which remains problem free.  Not sure about DVDFab Player v.5 promo end date?  I installed it a couple days ago and everything about it was a problem still.  No HDR and no 3D no matter how much I massaged things.  It could just be my environment but I really don't see how tbh.  All my testing was solo in Windows Explorer without KODI involved at all.  I continue to use v.3 with no problems.  How is your experience using v.5 for HDR and 3D Frame Packed MVC? 

DVDFab v5 is Uninstalling as we speak. Absolutely ZERO HDR support!! Very weird. I've used an older v5 build and there was HDR support - but it seems to have broken in this latest v5 build. Could not get HDR no matter what I tried. 

The PCF issue was definitely not in all Kodi v18 builds. Over the course, and I couldn't tell you which one, but I have successfully used v18 + PDVD + DVDFab and not seen that error. Only issue with v18 was - I could not use PDVD and then DVDFab in the same session. Had to quit and restart Kodi. 

Per your experience, everything works absolutely fine with Kodi v17.6 + PDVD 18 + DVDFab 3? Maybe I need to revert. I have never downgraded Kodi. I'm curious if I'll need to setup everything all over again - menu, interface, options, etc.

[brazen1]

Yes, all works fine using those versions.  I too tried an early version back in Feb of v.5.  HDR did not work anymore.  I think they stopped using private API's and went with Windows HDR.  Mistake imo.  3D used to work too but only if you downgraded resolution from 2160p to 1080p in Windows and NCP before playback and had to switch it back again after.  It wouldn't do the switch on its own.  Another failure imo.  (((((IF))))) they would revert to how they passthrough HDR in v.3 and (((((IF))))) they would straighten out 3D starting with the direction they previously used and auto switched the resolution to 1080p when playback started and returned to 2160p when finished, DVDFAB Player v.5 could give PowerDVD a real run.  Until then, I wouldn't waste my time unless anyone else has more positive experiences which I have not witnessed.  I have seen the same complaints though promised to be passed on to devs.

I don't think downgrading KODI on top of v.18 or vice versa is a good idea.  I copy and rename my v.17.6 entire userdata folder from time to time (back up).  Then I installed v.18 from scratch and save and rename it too.  Switching between the two is just a matter of installing v.17.6 or v.18 downloading to the program files folder and applying the corresponding userdata folder and renaming correctly.

[luci5r]

Yes, all works fine using those versions.  I too tried an early version back in Feb of v.5.  HDR did not work anymore.  I think they stopped using private API's and went with Windows HDR.  Mistake imo.  3D used to work too but only if you downgraded resolution from 2160p to 1080p in Windows and NCP before playback and had to switch it back again after.  It wouldn't do the switch on its own.  Another failure imo.  (((((IF))))) they would revert to how they passthrough HDR in v.3 and (((((IF))))) they would straighten out 3D starting with the direction they previously used and auto switched the resolution to 1080p when playback started and returned to 2160p when finished, DVDFAB Player v.5 could give PowerDVD a real run.  Until then, I wouldn't waste my time unless anyone else has more positive experiences which I have not witnessed.  I have seen the same complaints though promised to be passed on to devs.

I don't think downgrading KODI on top of v.18 or vice versa is a good idea.  I copy and rename my v.17.6 entire userdata folder from time to time (back up).  Then I installed v.18 from scratch and save and rename it too.  Switching between the two is just a matter of installing v.17.6 or v.18 downloading to the program files folder and applying the corresponding userdata folder and renaming correctly.

Epic failure by DVDFab if that's what they did. No wonder they are giving away free keys. Unless they retract, this will kill the product.

I need to think about my Kodi installation a little. The reality is that the only problem I have with v18 right now is launching DVDFab. I have zero issues with Kodi itself or with launching PDVD. I have exactly 6 4K HDR titles in the hard drive which need this option. Although that number will grow, I'm not sure right now it's worth the aggravation. 

Currently I need to close Kodi, launch DVDFab and 'Open' the media -- which is a horrible HTPC experience. But for 6 or so titles, I think I'll wait a tad. Downgrading to v17 doesn't make sense to me for this. (At the moment). 

Thanks.

[brazen1]

Fab is not the only player to experience the PCF.xml problem.  All players do including KODI VideoPlayer.  What ever player you first use, be it the assigned player obeying PCF.xml rules, or a manually selected player via 'play using' menu, is going to be the only player available for any subsequent playback.  Yes, restarting KODI allows another player to be used but the problem just starts over again.  Once you use a player, no other player can be utilized in any way unless you restart KODI.  Again, v.18 only, not 17.6.  Something has broken the playercorefactory.xml usage in v.18 as we used to know it and in all the months v.18 nightlies have been released, it still has not received any attention.  I currently need and use 5 players so v.18 is out of the question.