Samuri's *UN*Official SlyPlayer(tm) Thread

[thomaspf]

This is a fine list already. Here are two additions

I love the convolver idea but it will inevitably lead to a requirment to do fine grain lip sync control since reasonably accurate filters are pretty long so you end up having buffering delays in the order of seconds. All the multi-channel support is not that useful unless you can select individual delays to compensate for the speaker distance. That is what most people use their receivers for.

I have been using Theatertek for a long time and got used to their minimalistic full screen interface and the associated hot key assignments.
pause, next chapter, prev chapter, forward/backward keys for different levels of fast forward/backward, etc. That would be nice to get for this player as well.

To sum this up.

1. Ability to adjust lip sync with individual delays for surround sound setups

2. Full screen experience with mouse control and accelerator keys simlar to TheaterTek

Best of luck with this project.

[MrBlue]

[Ability to be callable from command line] and command line switch /F for start playback in fullscreen mode.

[Dann]

First, I wonder why freeware? I for one would gladly pay because when these guys do something, they do it right.

In that vein, I am particularly interested in the screen grab feature, and since PowerDVD screwed it up after 4.5 which worked beautifully, and TMT has never had it right, I'd like to mention a couple of specifics that I fervently hope are included.

The obvious most important thing is that grabs should not be disabled in Blu-ray like PDVD does. I get around it with an M2TS file thanks to Clown_BD but it's a pain in the ass. I don't think that will be an issue with anything from SlySoft.

First, the grab should go to disc and should auto-increment with a count like grab0001, grab0002, grab0003, etc., and not grab1, grab2, grab3 which makes browsing a nightmare. PDVD does it right, TMT does not. Being able to name the grabbed pics is nice but not essential. Format should be non-compressed, probably bmp or uncompressed jpg because yes, they'll be big but quality is important and most people that use this feature will discard the majority anyway picking only the ones they want to keep, and then most likely manipulating them further with Photoshop or the like.

Resolution of the saves should be controllable, or at least full-quality of the original. PDVD 4.5 allows a grab at screen resolution, which can be higher than the normal 720x480 DVD res, and on some screens, even higher than HD, but while it's a nice feature that I do use with DVD, it isn't essential as long as it can at least cap at original resolution.

The player MUST have frame advance and frame back in all modes (including Blu-ray) or the grab is useless. THIS IS A BIGGIE for screen grabs! PDVD has this, but only forward with M2TS, and it's been badly broken since 4.5.....lurches, skips, just doesn't work well, even with plain DVD's. TMT doesn't even have it, hence the grab is pretty worthless. Trying to grab the best frame with the pause button is next to impossible.

I have enough regard for the SlySoft guys that I feel certain if they do the screen capture they'll do it right. I've been using PDVD since 1.5, mainly because of the capture feature, and I still use 4.5 for DVDs even though I'm licensed through PDVD8, because so far 4.5 is the absolute best for capping. I'm really hoping SlyPlayer does it even better.

[SamuriHL]

I just want to reiterate a point made by James. The first few releases of SlyPlayer are going to be absolutely bare bones video/audio playback. So when it comes out and doesn't have your requested feature, don't get too disappointed. Once they get video and audio playing back smoothly and working on everyone's discs, then they may look into adding some of these requested features. This thread is simply to document those.

[Dann]

Originally Posted by SamuriHL

The first few releases of SlyPlayer are going to be absolutely bare bones video/audio playback. So when it comes out and doesn't have your requested feature, don't get too disappointed.

An absolutely fair point, and understandable.

As a programmer myself for 36 years, though, I can tell you that it helps to know where you're going as you try to get there. So this thread I think is very valuable to the developers even if some of the stuff never makes it. Some times you'll do something in a certain way if you know that eventually you want to accomplish something else. Hopefully everyone realizes that putting something in the thread is no guarantee it'll ever be in SlyPlayer.

I did.

[SamuriHL]

That's exactly right. I hope that SlySoft looks at this thread as a "hmmm, yea, that's a feature we'd like to see" kind of thing and thinks about how to implement some of the features we're all requesting. Rest assured not all of them will make it. Some are pie in the sky. Others are very specific with a limited range of usefulness in terms of overall audience. Some they just plain don't want to do. Etc. So request away and this thread will document all the requests but just understand that requesting something is no guarantee. SlySoft will cherry pick the features they want.

[davinleeds]

I would be absolutely happy with line one: Playback of BD and HDDVD. Thank You.

[SamuriHL]

I'll second that with the caveat of unmolested sound.

[davinleeds]

Well...........If it can happen, of course . With such stable products, Slysoft "is" a required htpc product.

[SamuriHL]

Oh, it CAN happen. It just takes a company like Slysoft to MAKE it happen.