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New media player

Alexvrb - May 14, 2003

		Alexvrb		May 14, 2003
			Guys, I don't know if you know about this already, but Bero has been working on a player for DC called "DC Media Player". It is only the second Test version, but it already far exceeds all other DC players combined. It still has some issues, but for instance it plays a WIDE range of video/audio files and outperforms DCDivx when playing various supported codecs in a .avi container. It also appears to be without the resolution limit of DCDivx, though high res/bitrate movies will probably run like crap. For such an early version it is incredible, I have tested the first one. It is based on the ffmpeg decoder, with modifications and optimizations being made by Bero. Check out his DCDev page HERE.... It supports disc swapping, and has support for real VCD/SVCD discs as well as loose files (saubha should be happy to hear that!). I recommend you try this MIRROR... for downloading either plain files or a DJ image (which should convert to nero fine, i know im going to try it shortly). Anyway, everyone with a DC should check this out, I know I am going to give the second test version a shot since the first one was already impressive. Edit: looks like they now have Nero image and SBI for it, on that mirror. I'm gonna test this thing out...

		Alexvrb		May 14, 2003
			Most of the problems seem to be audio sync/skipping, the video performance is even a bit better than the first release. I'm watching Sealab 2021 on it right now. This thing shows amazing promise, it doesn't even have loading time like DCDivx, it just goes.

		racketboy		May 14, 2003
			does it play divx good? do you have to downsample divx files like you do for DCDivx? If I could play some of my 70's Show divx files on my DC without having to do anything to them, that would be great EDIT: I DL'd the image and, if I remember and have time, I'll try some vids out tonight.

		Alexvrb		May 14, 2003
			Its only a test version 2, but already its faster than DCDivx. No resolution cap either - though I still wouldn't go overboard. The audio isnt synced yet, but its cool to see the player in action. It shows great promise!

		racketboy		May 14, 2003
			I tried my divx plays wonderful considering. audio sync is about a second or so off. higher res video skips/repeats audio sometimes. I can't wait to see how the "final" version looks this is an incredible breakthru in DC programming though. it does better than my P233 laptop

		M3d10n		May 15, 2003
			Very impressive. It played everything low-res I threw at it at full speed, with minor audio de-sync (I noticed that, during a second in the beginning of each clip, the video runs faster than normal, that might cause the de-sync). The DivX and MPEG1 decoding is superb, no different form what I get on my PC. The WMV decoding get's pretty blocky sometimes. I threw my Kenshin OVA (640x480) at it, and it almost did it. The frameskipping was noticeable, the decoding was a bit more messy, but acceptable, and there was the audio repeating, but it was pretty close. It did WAY better than my old K6-II 350MHz. But the audio, even repeating itself, wasn't out of sync. The DC went to it's knees when I tried running my Noir episodes (DVD resolution, very high quality). It simply ran at half speed or something, even with frameskipping. But the picture quality was identical to the one I get when I use my TV-out. I'm not sure if there is room for extra decoding speed boosts enough to run a hi-res DivX, but I have some faith that it is remotely possible, with some frameskipping. I can't wait for the next versions. It'll be a good thing to be able to take some of my animes and videos with me, without needing to use a PC to watch them in other places.

		Taelon		May 15, 2003
			I wonder if this thing will decode AC3 audio streams... (to plain stereo, that is, I'm not expecting Dolby Surround here)... Then I could watch those 50+ CDs I burned with the entire Stargate SG-1 series in DVD quality... yummy...

racketboy

May 15, 2003

	
	
		
		
			Originally posted by Taelon@May 15, 2003 @ 06:38 PM



 I wonder if this thing will decode AC3 audio streams... (to plain stereo, that is, I'm not expecting Dolby Surround here)... Then I could watch those 50+ CDs I burned with the entire Stargate SG-1 series in DVD quality... yummy...

just to let you know the DC maxes out at 640x480 resolution, so DVD quality probably won't be a reality.

Don't know about the audio specs.

		Taelon		May 15, 2003
			Um... 640x480 _is_ DVD quality... if you disregard the overscan that is... besides it would be more correct to say that DivX won't ever do DVD quality, and that part I'm full well aware of, thankyouverymuch Now... anyone know about AC3 audio or what?

racketboy

May 15, 2003

	
	
		
		
			Originally posted by Taelon@May 15, 2003 @ 08:56 PM



 Um... 640x480 _is_ DVD quality... if you disregard the overscan that is... besides it would be more correct to say that DivX won't ever do DVD quality, and that part I'm full well aware of, thankyouverymuch 



Now... anyone know about AC3 audio or what?

sorry

--- I guess I'm not an expert on what is "DVD Quality"

a full quality dvd is 720x480

I do know that there are people at DCEmulation that trying to run higher res divx dvd rips.

And don't you roll your eyes at me, mister

		Alexvrb		May 15, 2003
			I don't know that ffmpeg handles AC3. Bero is using libavcodec from ffmpeg for most (all? not sure) of the decoding of various media. Doesn't really concern me, and im not even sure if it'd be possible, legally or otherwise. I don't know how much power it takes to decode AC3 vs low bitrate mp3 (which works fine for videos, as you are watching more than listening). Although I certainly understand why you'd want to be able to playback videos already on CDs! At any rate, you see what I meant about this player having potential.

		racketboy		May 15, 2003
			Here's some notes I copied and pasted from DCEmulation's board: DivX`s encoded at 850 bps play flawlessly! (DC divX used to stutter after 45mins) VCD`s are just about there. bero says that he is to work on syncing and this is the onlything thats stopping VCD`s and high res (640 480) div x`s being ok. It seems to me that Bero isnt using any buffers (or small ones at that), and once he does Im sure we will see potential speedups (but its the syncing problems that are the biggy atm). -------------------------------- MPEG -video plays fine but gets off sync of audio by playing too fast Divx -Video's encoded at 352x240 1500 kbps and 128 44100 khz kbps stereo play flawlessly -640x480 1000 kbps w/ 96kbps audio played well but audio kept skipping while trying to keep up with the video -640x272 1000 kbps w/ 64 kbps setero played very well, but the video kept going too fast and audio had to skip to catch up

		gameboy900		May 15, 2003
			Don't bet on AC3 anytime soon. It takes at least 4 times as much power to decode it as mp3. And that wouldn't leave much room for the video part of it all.

		Taelon		May 16, 2003
			Well, that suxx. Ohwell, back to saving for a faster PC