[digitaltomj]

I'm pretty sure I have posted this a few years ago but I cant find it so im trying again.

I would love the ability to change the video track the same way xbmc currently lets us change the audio track.

Having multiple video tracks is supported in file formats such as .mkv and it is a very nice way to include special or behind the scenes content which would not be scrapped otherwise with the main video file (currently other options are to scan them in as unique files and they will never be scrapped until the issue is dealt with manually. I have added hours worth of additional video tracks to movies in .mkv format and if I use an external player (such as vlc player) I can select which video track and audio track to play. So entire collections could be kept neatly in one file container in theory and in practice.

I really hope xbmc could support this sometime in the future, I think it would make a lot of the scrapping issues people have much easier and make xbmc a tiny bit more intuitive, at least for some when presented with the option.

[G elly N]

you can add the extras as stacked files then after the movie has finished it plays the extras or if you press next it will jump to the next one
so for example you have batman you could have

Batman cd1.mkv (the film)
Batman cd2.mkv (extras- bloopers)
Batman cd3.mkv (deleted scenes) etc

The only problem is that you wont be able to name them

or you could use sets http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Movie_sets

[digitaltomj]

I know of these workarounds thank you, but I do appreciate the advice...However I would like xbmc to be used the same way i can already use vlc player (just to name an example of a cross platform software) to help alleviate and avoid the problems other people are having,

We can already change the audio track and the subtitle track, does it not make sense to also give the user the option/ability to change the video track?

I am an advocate of options, i find the more options a person has the happier they are with the choice they make, and currently I find a lot of people on the forums are not totally happy with file stacking or making sets for a film that shouldn't need a set (or a film which is part of a very large set already, such as star wars or LOTR)

It just seems very doable considering many other open source players do it.

[Ned Scott]

Typically, an alternative video track isn't used to show an entirely different video. Instead, it's mostly meant to show alternative camera angles, a story board mode, things like that. It's doubtful that XBMC would support multiple video tracks to switch both audio and video at the same time, if we supported alternative video tracks.

[digitaltomj]

I understand, however I think an idea to offer changing the video track and then not being able to change the audio track because that is how something is typically used is a little closed minded. Don't get me wrong, I love everything xbmc does and Ned Scott, you in particular have helped me out more than I can count...but this is a feature request for a reason and I think it would improve many peoples overall experience with xbmc (not just mine) I also think that if other open source players do this as a standard, xbmc should be able to as well...I would expect xbmc to do anything vlc player can do, just saying.

[sialivi]

I very much doubt that "many people" uses alternate video streams for this purpose, since that's not what this capability is intended for. There are some major flaws with your solution:

1) Switching between video streams doesn't make it start over from the start of the stream, forcing you to manually jump back to the start
2) Switching between video streams doesn't change the audio track, forcing you to manually change that as well
3) Switching between video streams doesn't change the subtitle, forcing you to manually change that as well

That's a lot of extra steps. And VLC (and all other players) have the above "problems" (not really problems since they are very much by design and works perfectly well for the intended purpose).

[Ned Scott]

I think what is really needed is a standard solution for extras to catch on. Be it something contained in a single file or something else. Right now there is no clear winner on how to handle extras, and most of the existing solutions leave much to be desired.

[digitaltomj]

I think what is really needed is a standard solution for extras to catch on. Be it something contained in a single file or something else. Right now there is no clear winner on how to handle extras, and most of the existing solutions leave much to be desired.

couldn't agree more...altho you misunderstood me sialivi. Im not saying that a lot of people use video tracks for this, Im saying that if they had the option to change the video track that it would help them in many ways (including, but not limited to this)I think the ability to change video tracks is just a small step in the right direction no matter what, it surely wont hurt xbmc, and if only advanced users want to use it -for which ever reason they have to use it- that wont be too far from many of the other advanced features xbmc is capable of. The changing of the video track would not just be for the purposes of extras as I previously stated - I meant that more as an example, not the only reason to implement this - but for the reasons you guys mentioned also (storyboard mode and so on)

Not to hijack my own thread but...There deff does need to be a better way to manage extras in xbmc...perhaps extras would be better treated similar to how trailers are treated, with a -trailer suffix at the end of the filename (Alien (1979)-trailer.mkv) only instead of a "-trailer" it could be a "-extra.xxx" (Alien (1979)-extra.001.mkv) and then the "-extra.xxx" could be renamed via the .nfos or be edited thru the gui...What would be great about this is that the extras would not be scrapped as seperate movies, but the association would be clearly defined within xbmc. A pop-up menu just for navigation of extras would also be great so that it does play the extra's video, audio, and subtitle at once and one does not have to wait for the extra to play after the main film or hit next as one must do in file stacking...maybe associate this with a special button in the gui or a hotkey...I suppose this would be similar to file stacking in some ways, but with a more intuitive naming scheme and a way to navigate the associated files...I also think with a numbered scheme like this it may allow for scrapping of officially released extras when that information is eventually compiled...(assuming that the internet eventually will catalogue everything) but it deff needs to be a numbered naming scheme of some kind however no matter what or scrapping will never be a possibility.

Xbmc Surely would beniffit from an overhaul in how it manages extras either way...I still think changing video tracks is a nice option to have too.

[forcedalias]

My apologies for bringing back an old thread but has anything changed with regards to the dev team's position on the usefulness of the ability to switch between video tracks?

I ask because I'd really like to be able to mux all my 3D HSBS MKVs with their 2D counterparts so I don't have two entries for each movie in my library, plus to save space. Unfortunately, since XBMC/Kodi isn't the only program on our network accessing these MKVs, I cannot just store 3D versions and use a "3D to 2D" conversion mode to view them in 2D. Either way, the "3D to 2D" mode doesn't work well for me -- there's some strange pixelation issues.