How to improve your Movie experience

[Prophet]

Edit: Update. Hopefully this will help you make the install faster and easier.

At http://www.filefactory.com/file/50sk.../PotPlayer.rar you can download my settings and skin. How to install this:

Install Potplayer as per the instructions below. Please note the current version is 1.5.33820.

Press f5 to bring up settings and go to General. 'There you tick Store settings to .ini file'. Close the player.
Now you copy PotPlayerMini.ini to c:\users\%USERNAME%\Appdata\Roaming\Potplayermini if you have installed windows on c:\.

Now doubleclick the regfile. (A warning. Consider this step carefully. This is exported from the x86 version on Win 7 64x, I dont take any responsability for this if something should go wrong. Im pretty sure it wont or I wouldnt have posted, but just so you know. )

Put the xmp4 skin in C:\Program Files (x86)\Daum\PotPlayer\Skins.

If you have installed svp (the bigger one) you should be able to start Potplayer and start watching in high quality. Please give feedback on how this works for you!



I have quite poor health and hence I watch a lot of movies and tv-shows. Hallelujah for the internet!

Svp is:
"SVP allows you to watch any video on your PC file with frame interpolation (like you can watch it on high-end TVs and projectors). It increases frame rate by generating intermediate animation frames between existing ones to produce very smooth, fluid and clear motion. The technology is well-known for a while ("TrimensionDNM", "Motion Plus", "Motionflow" and others), but now it's available for free to PC users with simple GUI and just a couple of mouse clicks. "


Anyways, here´s my setup, which imho is quite a bit better than a 'default' ie watching movies/tv-shows with vlc or similar with no changes. You should be able to do this in less than 10 minutes in 3 steps (or so :


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1.) Download and install Svp full from http://www.svp-team.com/wiki/Download

2.) Download and install Potplayer from http://www.dvbsupport.net/download/i...category&id=16
Get 1.5.33573 (Full version).

Svp stands for Smooth Video Playback. It allows you to view 24fps (the default since the 1920´s or so) movies @ 48 fps (my recommendation).

Potplayer is the best movieplayer out there at this moment, bar none. (Imnho)

3.) Follow http://www.svp-team.com/wiki/Daum_PotPlayer_with_DXVA for basic stuff with potplayer.


4.) Maken1 has create a nice guide to set this up. You can check it at http://www.svp-team.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=284. I suggest you go for 'Quality'. If you have a
somewhat recent system.

Here are the steps I take from that guide:


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1- Launch PotPlayer, go to " PREFERENCES " ( F5 ), in " PREFERENCES " change " Built-in DXVA Decoder " to " Built-in Self DXVA Decoder " , there in General > General Settings > Tray Icon change to " Show with taskbar " and Click OK.
http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/z/2/5/...7gesy96l_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/x/u/4/...f7qzxyb8_t.jpg
2- Playback any FullHD 1080p or 720p video or movie you have for a moment and make sure to see how much performance and low cpu usage you have. It can be any Clip from Trailers or Movies in mkv or any AVCHD, etc. Note: Remember you need a VIDEO CARD that supports DXVA for DXVA to work. Google: DXVAChecker if you are unsure.
3- Go to Preferences ( F5 ) > Filter Control > Built-in Video processing filter > Condition change to " Disable ". Also make sure that " Use Audio processing filters " is enabled. Press " APPLY ".
4- Go to Preferences ( F5 ) > Subtitle and Disable " Show subtitles" . I prefer FFDSHOW to handle subtitles but this is up to you, this is my recommendation.
5- Go to Preferences ( F5 ) > Filter Control > Custom Filter Manager > Add Registered Filter > add " ffdshow raw video filter " then Click OK, it will be added in the list of " Custom Filter Manager " . There in " Custom Filter Manager " , select the " ffdshow raw video filter " then go to " Priority " set it to " PREFER " http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/5/c/i/...m4slu0x4_t.jpg, Click " APPLY ".
While you are still there, in " Custom Filter Manager " , select " ffdshow raw video filter " and double click on it, now do only what is shown in these images:
http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/7/6/i/...egcr89bc_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/k/d/h/...vlvbr7vx_t.jpg OK on " ffdshow raw video filter " and Click OK in " PotPlayer " .

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These options are for Quality, and require that you have a mid-range system, a fairly good Video Card, a Quad Core or Dual Core CPU, (better than a Core 2 Duo E8500), Sound Card if you want, you should also have a digital/optical/SPDIF card, capable of sending at least an AC-3 signal to your receiver. I personally recommend you use a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB, which I will be using in this guide. For this example I will be using a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250, so all settings here will be more for NVIDIA users. Attention ATI users, I will add instructions for you later, hopefully it will be better for you ATI users. At the moment I don't have an ATI video card to test with.I will use for example NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 so all settings here will be more for NVIDIA users and for ATI i will tell in other part what could be better for ATI users. I dont have ATI video card here to test better sad .

1- Follow all the steps from the " Performance / Normal Quality " section from step 1 to step 5.
2- Now lets configure madVR, Lav Filters and Sound for Quality ( users like me always prefer the best quality video and audio ).

Configuring madVR for Quality

-Go to Preferences ( F5 ) > Video > Video Renderer > Video renderer change to " Madshi Video Renderer " then Click " APPLY ".
-Play any file, then pause it, go to the task bar, where the sound, network icons, etc are, and right click on the madVR tray icon, and left click on " Edit madVR Settings " and only change what is shown in the following images:
http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/v/7/v/...kd72zxp7_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/6/6/j/...k1fj42ud_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/1/i/x/...f5z8qukw_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/1/e/p/...przg98j0_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/w/i/0/...8tvrcelw_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/7/1/k/...xixebq04_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/a/e/y/...bfi5muc3_t.jpg
OK THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART " If your video card is a Nvidia GeForce 400 series/AMD ATI equivalent or better " then do this:
http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/y/w/4/...t9eagtsf_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/8/3/z/...t7m846tk_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/8/q/i/...yo3bw77b_t.jpg
Please take this into consideration:
-The CHROMA UPSCALING 'sharpness' or 'steps' setting can't be less than Luma Upscaling, and Luma Downscaling , this is my recommendation.
-The more Sharpness or Steps you use, the more Quality you get, BUT, MORE GPU CYCLES WILL BE USED, so make sure that your GPU is powerful enough to handle those high settings when combined with SVP. I recommend that you start with the values on the images at first, and later you can try more. Remember those higher settings will cost you more GPU performance.
-Scale in linear light on Luma Upscaling and Luma Downscaling will cost you a lot of GPU Performance so these settings are for powerful GPUS only.

Configuring Lav Filter for Quality

-Go to Preferences ( F5 ) > Filter Control > Video Decoder > click on Filter management > Add registered filter and add these filters: Lav Video Decoder, Lav Audio Decoder, Lav Splitter Source and WMVideo Decoder DMO.
http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/j/b/5/...fe0vh7e1_t.jpg ----> Now do this http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/i/4/r/...y2dmvxo3_t.jpg ---> http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/8/2/z/...rod794q8_t.jpg ---> http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/d/7/w/...9nxwq3ag_t.jpg This part is very important, if you have one of the recommended Nvidia Geforce Video Cards, use NVIDIA CUVID (This setting is supported on GTS 250 and better ). If you have an AMD ATI Video card compatible with DXVA2 then use DXVA2 ( copy-back ).
-Go to Preferences ( F5 ) > Filter Control > Source/Splitter and do this: http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/v/y/7/...ulhsn6st_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/r/x/h/...fu908ggg_t.jpg http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/r/y/g/...r52092p6_t.jpg

Configuring Sound for Quality

-Go to Preferences ( F5 ) > Audio --> http://img.overpic.net/thumbs/i/1/2/...iws64owd_t.jpg

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After you have gotten this all to work rightclick on the svp tray icon. Choose videoprofile and the one you are using (should correspond to your sreen res unless you changed something). Then under "Artifacts masking" choose "Strongest". Also I recommend choosing no more than 'Douple source frame rate (2x) under 'Target frame rate'.


If you get artifacts anyway you can disable svp and still get better quality than you would from anything else (that I know of).


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How to configure your monitor/TV for best quality:

Go to http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/icc_profiles.htm. Find your monitor. Use the settings described for your monitor there. Download your icc profile.

Go to http://neosmart.net/blog/2007/window...mma-table-bug/. Search for Displayprofile on this page (ctrl^f - type Displayprofile).

Put your icc profile(s?) in the same dir as you uncap displayprofile. Doubleclick on the icc profiles so they get added to windows. Open the program displayprofile. Choose whichever profile you like the best.


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I have created a little batchfile to start Potplayer and Svp at the same time with just one keypress (im lazy and like to learn stuff):


@echo off
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Daum\PotPlayer"
start /HIGH PotPlayerMini.exe
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\SVP"
start /HIGH SVPMgr.exe
exit

Put that in a text file and save it as something.bat.

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If you like me watch mostly on a hdmi connection, heres a good way to get full RGB instead of nvidias default YCBCR.

"Go to Change Resolution>Add Resolutions...>Create Custom Resolution> Set the width and height of the resolution that you want to apply (1920x1080 32bit 60hz progressive) and click the dropdown menu that says AUTOMATIC and change it to MANUAL.

Now manually bump up the refresh rate .001 to 60.001Hz. It is a small increment, but my HDMI receiver and TV recognize it differently than 60.000Hz and it still lets it through because .001 difference will not harm the signal."


Op is @ http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=360587 full credits go there.

A little bit further down you can see a tip on how to edit inf in order to achieve full RGB. This is how I did it. Attaching my edited inf that work with the 269.70 drivers. You can download it at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...QgEznoj_o/edit. Copy the information into notepad and save it as \Nvidia\296.70\WinVista_Win7_64\International\Disp lay.Driver\nv_disp.inf.

If you are wondering what this will do it will let you get real black not the washed out version with YCBCR.


Edit: Updated on 2/7-2012

[Agent-A01]

potplayer.. lol. ill take media player classic anyday.

[Prophet]

Originally Posted by Agent-A01

potplayer.. lol. ill take media player classic anyday.

Yea I used it before potplayer but its rubbish in comparison.

Edit: Btw you can use svp and the filters with mpc.

[burebista]

Originally Posted by Agent-A01

potplayer.. lol. ill take media player classic anyday.

Depends on personal taste.
I also find PotPlayer best suited for me.

BTW Prophet thanks for SVP tip.

[Prophet]

Originally Posted by burebista

Depends on personal taste.
I also find PotPlayer best suited for me.

BTW Prophet thanks for SVP tip.

You are more than welcome ;-)

[GrandMax]

Potplayer + MadVR = Win

[Mufflore]

Been using SVP for while and its really good.

[residentour]

Watching higher fps than default kills the what is called "the cinema effect" which is the basic 23-30 fps area playing and bloom+colour correction. At higher fps you will get an amateur recorded video like result. That movie was put to perfection at default settings after decades of research.

[Prophet]

Originally Posted by residentour

Watching higher fps than default kills the what is called "the cinema effect" which is the basic 23-30 fps area playing and bloom+colour correction. At higher fps you will get an amateur recorded video like result. That movie was put to perfection at default settings after decades of research.

Well the same kind of fps have been around since the 1920´s so if I may:

There were no computers around

Perfection has improved

Your computer is made for calculating. You can calculate something done @24fps to increase. (Given the problems I had with svp was when trying to calculate too high. Like I said, I recommed 48 fps (which for me is 2x)


Saying that hihger than default fps will give amateur results sounds like its based on ignorance tbh. If you have noted a pattern in this thread its that those guys that have tried it like it, isntead of basing their opinion on some theoretical opinion.

[flimbo]

I tried SVP and I'm liking it Thanks for the heads up!

[residentour]

Originally Posted by Prophet

Well the same kind of fps have been around since the 1920´s so if I may:

There were no computers around

Perfection has improved

Your computer is made for calculating. You can calculate something done @24fps to increase. (Given the problems I had with svp was when trying to calculate too high. Like I said, I recommed 48 fps (which for me is 2x)


Saying that hihger than default fps will give amateur results sounds like its based on ignorance tbh. If you have noted a pattern in this thread its that those guys that have tried it like it, isntead of basing their opinion on some theoretical opinion.

I am not talking about technical capabilities, I am talking about art. Computers and analog cinema machines could achieve faster fps years ago. Cinema is about art and showing an emotional frame, it doesn't need to be real. Every frame or sequence should look balanced.

BTW these are not opinions, these are rules taught over years.

[Prophet]

Originally Posted by residentour

I am not talking about technical capabilities, I am talking about art. Computers and analog cinema machines could achieve faster fps years ago. Cinema is about art and showing an emotional frame, it doesn't need to be real. Every frame or sequence should look balanced.

BTW these are not opinions, these are rules taught over years.

There are no cinemas capable of showing more than 24 fps, thats why noone does it. There are a lot of know filmmakers pushing for more fps mate.

Besides, rules are like the 'laws' of physics. They are there to be broken, enhanced or bent . There are no absolutes (except my previous statement

[Prophet]

Originally Posted by flimbo

I tried SVP and I'm liking it Thanks for the heads up!

You´re welcome. Really glad a couple of you trying it out and liking it!

[Kolt]

I just tried Potplayer... and it's replacing everything on my computer from now on. It's simply amazing for music and videos! Only thing I seem to not be able to work right is getting new visualizations on Pot Player. It has a link to get more, but it takes you to the WMP Visualization website. I downloaded a couple WMP visualizations, but it doesn't seem to add it to Pot Player. Any suggestions?

[TruMutton_200Hz]

I'm in the "it kills the cinema effect camp". Media Player Classic HomeCinema for me (with CUDA acceleration enabled in CoreAVC and the dtsdecoderdll.dll file from TMT5 copied into my LAV Splitter folder, as well as using a custom resolution for 23.976 Hz vertical refresh rate in 1080p). I could ditch CoreAVC because LAV CUVID (in-built into LAV Splitter nowadays) also works perfectly. However, my vidcard is too old to support that... so CoreAVC is still the clear winner for watching x264 content.
I have yet to see a better solution than this TBH. All of the other crap drives me entirely nuts because of piss poor playback quality, not to mention all the parkinson-disease-like stutter issues... so thanks but no thanks!

[sapo_joe]

Movies are still captured at 23.976fps, and anything you do to get these frames blended will cause a very unnatural effect to them. Unfortunately, fidelity is a must for me, and I'll keep using FFDSHOW, AC3Filter and MPC-HC which are, for me the best stuff for playing videos around.

All running with hardware acceleration and x64 bit. Beautiful!

[Prophet]

Originally Posted by sapo_joe

Movies are still captured at 23.976fps, and anything you do to get these frames blended will cause a very unnatural effect to them.!

Configure it correctly and it wont show any unnatural effect.

[GrandMax]

I play BF3 at 24 fps and it is perfect. Anything above and it feels like a soap opera.

Just kidding. Of course more frame is better, that 24Hz non-sense is a paradigm which is about to be kill once and for all thank to Peter Jackson's The Hobbit at 48Hz.

So SVP make motion interpolation? This was not clear in OP's post.

[sapo_joe]

Originally Posted by Prophet

Configure it correctly and it wont show any unnatural effect.

It will always be unnatural if not displaying as many frames as they were captured. The software will "guess" the interpolated frames, and, as precise it can be, the scene and actors movement will be accelerated in an unnatural way. You may be used to the effect, but it's not really how it was captured, and you'll lose image sharpness in the process, since the interpolated frames are slightly blurred. Some LG tv sets have that inbuilt, but it's not good either.

[Mufflore]

Originally Posted by sapo_joe

It will always be unnatural if not displaying as many frames as they were captured. The software will "guess" the interpolated frames, and, as precise it can be, the scene and actors movement will be accelerated in an unnatural way. You may be used to the effect, but it's not really how it was captured, and you'll lose image sharpness in the process, since the interpolated frames are slightly blurred. Some LG tv sets have that inbuilt, but it's not good either.

Video isnt natural, its an approximation of what we see.
It clearly can be done better, SVP is a very good improvement.
If you dont like it, perhaps this isnt the thread for you.

[Mufflore]

Originally Posted by GrandMax

So SVP make motion interpolation? This was not clear in OP's post.

Yes SVP is the Smooth Video Project.

[GrandMax]

Originally Posted by Mufflore

Yes SVP is the Smooth Video Project.

Nice. Just tried it. I works like a charm.

I see some frame drops because my 3.5GHz is maxxed out with 1080p.

Great software. 2 min install. Does better than my 120Hz Samsung TV.

[sapo_joe]

Originally Posted by Mufflore

Video isnt natural, its an approximation of what we see.
It clearly can be done better, SVP is a very good improvement.
If you dont like it, perhaps this isnt the thread for you.

You may have your opinion, but you may not choose what thread I read and discuss. Anyway, movies are still pictured at 23.976 fps for a reason. And it's not a year 1910 thing, it's much more. It's meant to be that way because the movie makers want that effect on the movies, like music artists that still use tapes to record certain parts of their music. And if they wanted they could be filming even at 120fps. Peter Jackson and others may want to film at 48fps because either they want to use stereoscopic 3d (24fps per eye) or the movie itself will benefit from that. So, if SVP is an improvement, its a big debatable thing. I used frame interpolation to see the effect and HATED it. It's like the movie's been accelerated an then slowed to an unnatural speed. Movies have motion compensation techniques and motion blur, caused partially because of the way they're filmed and printed. It's what gives the greater sense of depth and speed on scenes. But if you don't like, you may have your movies looking like the games you play. High framerates work great on games, not so much on movies. Not for me, at least.

[Chillin]

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=363239

[Prophet]

Originally Posted by sapo_joe

It will always be unnatural if not displaying as many frames as they were captured. The software will "guess" the interpolated frames, and, as precise it can be, the scene and actors movement will be accelerated in an unnatural way. You may be used to the effect, but it's not really how it was captured, and you'll lose image sharpness in the process, since the interpolated frames are slightly blurred. Some LG tv sets have that inbuilt, but it's not good either.

I had that effect until I tuned it. My comment that it doesnt look odd when correctly configured still stands.