Hacking DSTWO iPlayer v.1.0 Released

[eponie]

quick test

1. flv, 29.9 fps, 566 video bitrate, 640x480
laaaaaaaaag, even slow down menu and setting screen

2. rmvb, 23 fps, 557 video bitrate, 704x396
perfect

3. H264, 30 fps, 1000 video bitrate, 512x384, aac 192 kbps
laaaaaaaaaaaaaaag

4. mkv, 23.9 fps, 864x480, AAC
laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag

5. srt is interpreted as the language specified in setting
unicode srt freeze the application
ANSI works, UTF-8 works too

6. does not recognize .mkv .mp4 .dpg

 

[9th_Sage]

Actually, mp4 and ogm are supported but you need to change the extension to something else like avi or mkv. Keep in mind that h.264 video has serious performance problems, so many mp4 files won't work very well and a mp4 file can contain either mpeg4 (like divx/xvid) or h.264 video. I tested some files I converted for my phone (which does not support h.264, just divx/xvid in a mp4 container) and they worked fine after changing the extension.

Ah, so it will play them then (meaning it must understand the MP4 container format). Weird...maybe they just didn't think to add the extension. And yeah, I would never expect h264 to run well on this.

 

[nl255]

mkv with 640x480 xvid video and vorbis audio works fine though with 720x460 lags. avi with 624x352 video and 160kbps mp3 audio is fine. mp4 with 320x240 mpeg4 video (NOT h.264) and 128kbps aac audio works fine once renamed to mkv.

 

[nl255]

Actually, mp4 and ogm are supported but you need to change the extension to something else like avi or mkv. Keep in mind that h.264 video has serious performance problems, so many mp4 files won't work very well and a mp4 file can contain either mpeg4 (like divx/xvid) or h.264 video. I tested some files I converted for my phone (which does not support h.264, just divx/xvid in a mp4 container) and they worked fine after changing the extension.

Ah, so it will play them then (meaning it must understand the MP4 container format). Weird...maybe they just didn't think to add the extension. And yeah, I would never expect h264 to run well on this.

My guess is that it is based on either mplayer or ffplayer (part of ffmpeg) with a custom GUI and the GUI doesn't display all supported extensions. It is also possible that it does not display mp4 files on purpose as most mp4 files use h.264 video.

 

[9th_Sage]

My guess is that it is based on either mplayer or ffplayer (part of ffmpeg) with a custom GUI and the GUI doesn't display all supported extensions. It is also possible that it does not display mp4 files on purpose as most mp4 files use h.264 video.

Yeah, I guess that is pretty common now that you mention it. It would probably be a good reason not to show it, but then again...if it's supported they may as well just let people try to play them. You're probably right about it being based on mplayer or ffplayer. No reason for 'em to reinvent the wheel when there's perfectly good open source stuff out there that can play all these videos.

 

[georget]

So it’s working with DSi XL or not?

 

[goncalodoom]

So it’s working with DSi XL or not?

of course it works on the DSi XL,why wouldnt it work anyway?

 

[enarky]

Damn the haters, this ROCKS.

I can only see this feature improving in the future.

Mid profile files working excellent here, high profile a bit stuttering, but that's more than ok.

i hope so cuz to me dpg still looks better

well, you'll be wasting time sacrifising time for quality

also it "looks" better maybe because the aspect ratio on non dpg files is too small/big

it takes 2 minutes to convert a episode of something to DPG4

Then you'll have shit quality, a blocky, artifact riddled mess. I've encoded my fair share of DPG not using one-click tools, tweaking command line options for each encode and can tell you that a good encode that still won't compare to an XviD (due to Moonshell's playback incapabilities) will take at least several hours to do. *)

The amount of people talking out of their ass in this thread absolutely astounds me.

*) (note, this is using mencoder with two passes from command-line, not your standard run-of-the mill one-click tool)

 

[Killermech]

Then you'll have shit quality, a blocky, artifact riddled mess. I've encoded my fair share of DPG not using one-click tools, tweaking command line options for each encode and can tell you that a good encode that still won't compare to an XviD (due to Moonshell's playback incapabilities) will take at least several hours to do. *)

The amount of people talking out of their ass in this thread absolutely astounds me.

*) (note, this is using mencoder with two passes from command-line, not your standard run-of-the mill one-click tool)

I've encoded my share of DPG through the years. Being a huge fan of anime, I usually encode every day for watching while laying on my bed. Without exaggerating, I've probably encoded more than 4000 DPGs as of today. I've tried it all, command lines, tweaking ffdshow, ultra / high / med profile settings. Countless of different BatchDPG programs, Super, Moonshell's own encoding program.
After months of tweaking for the first periods, I have come to the conclusion that higher setting isn't better. Most of the time, the quality comes out the same, but takes about 500% longer to encode. I've tweaked ffdshow for better sharpness, contrast and picture properties to make it display as good as possible on the DS and the results are astounding. It's at the very least 50% better looking than just doing it with default settings.

As for times, a normal anime episode, which is usually around 27 min long. Takes around 7min to encode. I usually just leave BatchDPG in the background (as I have a Duo core), leaving one processor for it and the other one for less intense online games which I play at the same time. A movie (this was before I started using iPlayer, as most movies are in divx/xvid), took about 30min to encode and I can tell you that the quality was not shitty, blocky or whatever. But really good.

I can ensure you, that I'm not talking out of my ass.

 

[Another World]

i've had similar astounding results by remastering the source using a series of pro tools i have from the industry. i have also had really good luck with some basic free filters and vdub or vdubmod. i never tried with ffdshow, are you saying the new ffdshow then supports dpg as a codec?

would you be interested in writing a guide for gbatemp, something i could post on the front page? PM me if you are.

-another world

 

[Killermech]

i've had similar astounding results by remastering the source using a series of pro tools i have from the industry. i have also had really good luck with some basic free filters and vdub or vdubmod. i never tried with ffdshow, are you saying the new ffdshow then supports dpg as a codec?

would you be interested in writing a guide for gbatemp, something i could post on the front page? PM me if you are.

-another world

Been using ffdshow since years ago, updating once in a while as it has gone on. But the version doesn't seem to matter as much for DPG encoding tweaking as the years has gone by, so it isn't that important.
You can change the settings in ffdshow for it to take control of several codecs, so it uses that instead for encoding, so all the settings you've tweaked in ffdshow, will be processed when using a program like BatchDPG. When you encode a file, you need the proper codec for it to be able to be encoded in BatchDPG. So saying if ffdshow supports DPG as a codec, is slightly putting it wrong. BatchDPG uses the proper codec to process it so it can become DPG.

I wouldn't know about a guide, don't really think there's much interest in DPG as of now. Could be it's been neglected since most people don't consider it to be that good I guess.
I have three different presets in ffdshow for different stuff I usually encode to DPG. If you still really want me to throw a simple guide on how to set up ffdshow and adjust its settings for better DPG results, I guess I could though.

 

[Another World]

i think it would be really interesting for users to see another way to get better results. i've been looking for some internal gbatemp content to point to from the front page. i'd love it if you could make it a complete guide describing software, codecs, history of dpg, information, how to use, how to set-up, expected results, best settings, etc. put all of that encoding knowledge into one document.

of course if you don't want to do anything that elaborate that is OK as well. =)

dpg is not dead it is just being left behind. i think users will always use dpg as long as they have an old flash kit and a nds that can access it.

-another world

 

[Killermech]

i think it would be really interesting for users to see another way to get better results. i've been looking for some internal gbatemp content to point to from the front page. i'd love it if you could make it a complete guide describing software, codecs, history of dpg, information, how to use, how to set-up, expected results, best settings, etc. put all of that encoding knowledge into one document.

of course if you don't want to do anything that elaborate that is OK as well. =)

dpg is not dead it is just being left behind. i think users will always use dpg as long as they have an old flash kit and a nds that can access it.

-another world

History of dpg? Might be a bit overkill for me

. There's already a good thread about how to setting it up, with the codecs, batchdpg etc. Just a bit outdated on some download links and settings at the end. But still good for its purpose. I'll see if I can put up something that includes the basics and adjusting for better quality. It won't include all the fancy stuff you wanted, but should be sufficient to get better DPG outputs.
So if you want to make that frontpage or not, it's all good, as it probably won't be frontpage material.

I'll send you a pm later today or tomorrow.

 

[Stevetry]

i think it would be really interesting for users to see another way to get better results. i've been looking for some internal gbatemp content to point to from the front page. i'd love it if you could make it a complete guide describing software, codecs, history of dpg, information, how to use, how to set-up, expected results, best settings, etc. put all of that encoding knowledge into one document.

of course if you don't want to do anything that elaborate that is OK as well. =)

dpg is not dead it is just being left behind. i think users will always use dpg as long as they have an old flash kit and a nds that can access it.

-another world

History of dpg? Might be a bit overkill for me

. There's already a good thread about how to setting it up, with the codecs, batchdpg etc. Just a bit outdated on some download links and settings at the end. But still good for its purpose. I'll see if I can put up something that includes the basics and adjusting for better quality. It won't include all the fancy stuff you wanted, but should be sufficient to get better DPG outputs.
So if you want to make that frontpage or not, it's all good, as it probably won't be frontpage material.

I'll send you a pm later today or tomorrow.

jesus people still use batch dpg ?

 

[Killermech]

jesus people still use batch dpg ?

It's still the best program for encoding DPG as of today. Let me guess, you use SUPER?

 

[The Catboy]

Turns on white, sits there for a few seconds, then flashes what I think is blue...I am colour blind, at the bottom screen, then stays white
Tried everything and still the very same thing every time

Hmm weird - to me that sounds like the same effect I got when it can't find the 'default' skin folder, yet you say you've tried everything so I'm guessing you've already checked that the folder exists

Further checking shows that
> IF a graphic is missing from the 'default' folder - it should still boot up to the control screens, except the missing graphic isn't shown (obvious really)
> If the 'uisetting.ini' file is missing/corrupt - it will still boot up just the colours of text etc will all be white
> If the Bootup screen (logo.bmp) is missing - you get 2 white screens but it then goes to the controls
> If any of the folders inside the 'default' folder are missing - it'll still boots up

So it all points to the actual folder & not the files within - puzzling

Indeed, at this point I am going to wait till their next update and hope that might fix it or something

 

[enarky]

i think it would be really interesting for users to see another way to get better results. i've been looking for some internal gbatemp content to point to from the front page. i'd love it if you could make it a complete guide describing software, codecs, history of dpg, information, how to use, how to set-up, expected results, best settings, etc. put all of that encoding knowledge into one document.

of course if you don't want to do anything that elaborate that is OK as well. =)

dpg is not dead it is just being left behind. i think users will always use dpg as long as they have an old flash kit and a nds that can access it.

-another world

You can also directly encode "DPG" with mencoder and twolame, as it is nothing but MPEG-1 video and MP2 audio with an added DPG header, no need to use BatchDPG at all. There's a Python Script over at GBAdev.org Forums somewhere that encodes to DPG, I've hacked it for myself to just take a ready made MPG file and a MP2 file and mux both to DPG. Back when GBATMW still had its DPG section I've posted some of my encodes there ('qrn' was my nick), together with settings I used for each encode, too bad all of that is gone now.

 

[Stevetry]

jesus people still use batch dpg ?

It's still the best program for encoding DPG as of today. Let me guess, you use SUPER?

No batch dpg is not the best program you do know some commercial players convert to dpg right ?

 

[enarky]

No batch dpg is not the best program you do know some commercial players convert to dpg right ?

And you know they produce garbage, since they all optimize for speed, not quality, right?

 

[RoMee]

Indeed, at this point I am going to wait till their next update and hope that might fix it or something

just wondering if you've tried installing it using a different computer

some people from the SC forum got it to work, using a different computer

it's stupid, I know but but hey, it worked