Feature Request/Improvement

[Nielo TM]

First of all, I must state that I was so impressed with Splash Lite I had to buy the Pro version. The SmartSeek feature alone was worth the investment. However, the MCFI algorithm needs some fine tuning/better detection. Akin to the majority of MCFI found in HDTVs, "Motion2" also suffers from visual artifacts and motion stutter. It also fails to maintain smooth motion if the content lacks blur or the gap between two frames is grate, (which often occurs during fast/rapid motion). In addition, it's not possible to fully control the amount of synthetic frames. Setting "Motion2" to 1 should simply smooth the motion without destroying the "original film look", but the output video jumps between low-motion and high-motion instead.

Secondly, there seems to a bug in the audio settings. Setting audio out to 5.1 causes the audio to become compressed/mono sounding. I can't seem to obtain 5.1 audio from the player regardless of the source/settings.

Thirdly, if possible, please add user configurable motion blur, which I believe may also complement MCFI. By adding a touch of blur to certain low-motion contents (24, 25 and 30), it is possible to create smoother motion without any visual artifacts. It is one of the features I love in VLC, but VLC is no match for Splash IMO.

I would like to say thanks again for creating such an excellent player and I'm looking forward to future releases. Also, if anyone require the full system specs, I am happy to provide it.

PS: In the future, will the mirillis team be using the GPU and its RAM to buffer frames to aid MCFI? Also, when will de-interlacing and MCFI is likely to be supported? Sorry for asking so many questions but Splash is the only software to support MCFI outside of MPEG-2 without any plug-in.

[Nielo TM]

In addition, will there be a 64-bit version?

Also, will there be an option to sync the output to the graphics card (instead of the default soundcard) so frame-drops can be completely eliminated? I prefer not to use Re-Clock with Splash Pro as it's not very stable in its current form (BETA), but it does get the job done without damaging the audio. I can't speak for others but from my personal point of view, I can tolerate inaudible audio pitch correction than highly visible frame-drops. I know it's a long shot, but it's one of the feature I would love to see more than anything. Hopefully in the future we can have a single clock generator for audio and video.


The quote below is taken from an another thread I responded to, so those who have not heard of Re-Clock or its function can get better understanding.

I was referring to ReClock because video stutter witnessed in software based players is caused when the output is synced to the audio clock instead of the GPU clock. Random stutter can easily confuse MCFI as it's very sensitive to frame drops and uneven frame-rate. It needs stable and even frame rate to accurately interpolate new frames. Disturbing that flow can cause jumps in motion and artifacts.

Below is a quote that explains the function of ReClock and why it's essential:

"The purpose of ReClock is to definitely get rid of jerky playback of AVI and MPEG material on a PC (or a HTPC driving a TV, a flat panel, or a video-projector). It's a DirectShow filter which is loaded in place of the default directsound audio renderer.

It provides a new reference clock that is locked to the video card hardware clock, in order to ensure that frames are played at the exact speed of what is expected by the video card vertical sync. It also provides a frame rate adaptator for media files that do not match a multiple of the video card refresh rate (ex: playback of 23,976fps IVTC NTSC on a PAL TV). The combination of the two will give you the true experience of smooth playback with your PC.

Finally it is an audio renderer with hardware or software rate adaptation in real-time, multi-channel audio, audio timestretching (pal speedup compensation) and dynamic range compression capabilities.

[Watchman]

First of all, I must state that I was so impressed with Splash Lite I had to buy the Pro version. The SmartSeek feature alone was worth the investment. However, the MCFI algorithm needs some fine tuning/better detection. Akin to the majority of MCFI found in HDTVs, "Motion2" also suffers from visual artifacts and motion stutter. It also fails to maintain smooth motion if the content lacks blur or the gap between two frames is grate, (which often occurs during fast/rapid motion). In addition, it's not possible to fully control the amount of synthetic frames. Setting "Motion2" to 1 should simply smooth the motion without destroying the "original film look", but the output video jumps between low-motion and high-motion instead.

Secondly, there seems to a bug in the audio settings. Setting audio out to 5.1 causes the audio to become compressed/mono sounding. I can't seem to obtain 5.1 audio from the player regardless of the source/settings.

Thirdly, if possible, please add user configurable motion blur, which I believe may also complement MCFI. By adding a touch of blur to certain low-motion contents (24, 25 and 30), it is possible to create smoother motion without any visual artifacts. It is one of the features I love in VLC, but VLC is no match for Splash IMO.

I would like to say thanks again for creating such an excellent player and I'm looking forward to future releases. Also, if anyone require the full system specs, I am happy to provide it.

PS: In the future, will the mirillis team be using the GPU and its RAM to buffer frames to aid MCFI? Also, when will de-interlacing and MCFI is likely to be supported? Sorry for asking so many questions but Splash is the only software to support MCFI outside of MPEG-2 without any plug-in.

Hello Nielo TM!

Thank you very much for your support and valuable feedback. Currently we are working hard on the Motion2 engine and expect a significant quality improvement in the Splash PRO software update scheduled for July 2010. The first update will include the following improvements:
- less artifacts
- better processing of high velocity motion scenes
- improved static in video text/subtitles processing
- significant performance improvements

Work is also under way to support mixed interlaced/progressive video sequences in Motion2 (currently Motion2 has to be disabled "by hand" for interlaced content and we hope to fix this inconvenience ASAP).

And last (but not least), Motion2 will get some heavy turbo-charging using nVidia CUDA / ATI Stream in the near future...

PS. As to the 5.1 analog output I will forward this problem to the audio team.

Thanks again!

[nunatak]

And last (but not least), Motion2 will get some heavy turbo-charging using nVidia CUDA / ATI Stream in the near future...

Very good news!
Are you planing to use Cuda for HD-Cam?

[Nielo TM]

Ohh I can't wait ^-^.

Strange, I've never been so excited by a video plater before

[raddition]

Great.. Thanks for the post.. can't wait also

[icsterm]

1.Can you make it possible to move video window while dragging the mouse over the video area?
2. Can you make the video pause as an option when clicking the video area?

Thanks

[Joco1114]

- x64 version
- subtitle font and size
- fast forward/backward
- global hotkeys
- more info in information window
- skins (not so important)

[giskard78]

- Recognize DVDs and DVD folder structures
- Open a DVD iso directly
- Option to automatically open in fullscreen

[Joco1114]

- automatically full screen to any screen. (send to the other screen...)
- background play on the desktop