[mark007]

Hi,

Trying to compile and report a list of issues I have been finding with xbmc svn builds and aeon65 skin, most are either fixed or reported not but this is one I notice recently.

When using external player to play files, xbmc seems to get minimized, and I am able to see the desktop for a second or two while mpc-hc loads up. This doesn't look professional and so think it should be reported as a bug unless I am doing something wrong, see my playercorefactory.xml file below.

Note the hidexbmc tag set to false, so...... should I report as a bug?

Code:

<playercorefactory>
  <players>
    <player name="mpc-hc" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">
      <filename>C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe</filename>
      <args>/C G:\MovieStarter\starter.bat</args>
      <hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
      <hideconsole>true</hideconsole>
      <hidecursor>false</hidecursor>
      <warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
      <playcountminimumtime>600</playcountminimumtime>
    </player>
  </players>
  <rules action="prepend">
   <rule video="true" player="mpc-hc">
   </rule>
  </rules>
</playercorefactory>

[>>X<<]

Think your find this is directx related xbmc running in true full screen cant share it with anything else, in xbmc select "Use a fullscreen window rather than true fullscreen" and it probably wont happen

I'm not 100% sure but I expect it wouldn't happen with a GL build either

[mark007]

Using svn builds from http://mirrors.xbmc.org/nightlies/win32/ and it happens with both true fullscreen and fullscreen window... Are these dx or opengl builds?

I see mpc-hc load the movie, and if I come out of mpc-hc fullscreen mode, I can see xbmc is actually minimized so its probably not reading the playercorefactory setting at all....

It shouldn't happen in fullscreen window mode right? I think I should write a bug report for that. ie

1) Decide based on playercorefactory file whether to minimize or not.

For true fullscreen, I guess a seperate bug should be created as I imagine the solution there is for xbmc to

1) Come out of true full screen mode.
2) Launch external player
3) When external player exists, return xbmc to true full screen mode.

What do you think? All in one bug report or two seperate ones?

[>>X<<]

The behavior you describe is normally caused by the reason I said launching any program that has always on top will minimize xbmc for that reason it shouldn't happen when using fullscreen window and doesn't for me using the default playercorefactory.xml

Code:

<playercorefactory>
<players>
   <player name="MPC-HC" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">
     <filename>C:\Program Files\MPC-HC\mplayerc.exe</filename>
     <args>"{1}" /fullscreen /close</args>
     <hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
     <hideconsole>false</hideconsole>
     <warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
   </player>
</players>
<rules action="prepend">
   <rule filetypes="mkv" filename=".*720p.*" player="MPC-HC"/>
</rules>
</playercorefactory>

Do a search on here others have had the same problem and switching to fullscreen window solves it and yes those builds are DirectX

[mark007]

Using your xml above (just changing filename section to point to my own mpc-hc, I can reproduce again. i can see my desktop and folders briefly before mpc-hc is launched as xbmc goes minimized.

I don't think external players always on top feature should make any other window go minimized, and I have mpc-hc always on top set to "never".

Can anyone else reproduce?

[>>X<<]

I don't think external players always on top feature should make any other window go minimized, and I have mpc-hc always on top set to "never".

That's not what causes it to minimize that's down to xbmc because you cant share a desktop with something in true full screen so it must minimize in order to be able to display something else on your desktop

Try running anything with xbmc in true fullscreen and it will minimize even bringing up task manager with Ctrl+Alt+delete and xbmc will minimize

Try using the search and your see many others who have had exactly the same problem

[mark007]

OK great... so its reproducable by many others. Do you think a bug report, with my suggestion workaround below is appropriate..

1) Come out of true full screen mode.
2) Launch external player (meaning xbmc doesn't have to mimimize and no ugly desktop icons become visible to the user)
3) When external player exists, return xbmc to true full screen mode.

Seems like it would be very simplement to workaround, making the playercorefactory setting work...

But as I say, I can reproduce when not using xbmc's true fullscreen mode.

[>>X<<]

I don't think it would be simple at all and it wouldn't help you because I'm pretty sure your system isn't coming out of true fullscreen mode hence your problem

You don't have to load explorer as the shell then there's no desktop to see

[mark007]

Oh just noticed, if I set the setting to use a fullscreen window, exit out of xbmc and back in, then load a movie, I no longer see the desktop so xbmc needed a reload

My problem with non true fullscreen is xbmc doesn't seem to handle vsync very well in that mode meaning things arn't as super fluid as in true fullscreen mode. I have a thread open discussing this. I suppose I could put a long term feature request, to have xbmc try to come out of true fullscreen and go back into it, when using external programs.

Thanks for your input. Feature request created here http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/9792

[>>X<<]

Try a GL build

http://xbmc.shadowprojects.net/gl/

Why are you using external player anyway ?

[mark007]

Thanks! I'll give a gl build a go and see what differences there are. Will the final dharma be dx or opengl or will there be an option to choose either or?

Well mainly have been using external players because I have mpc-hc setup to use the madVR video renderer and reclock (for pal speed down and very good audio resampling - not sure what resampler xbmc uses to help keep video sync). Both of which I have come to think of as the best in there areas (madVR for conversion to RGB and scaling, and reclock for slowing down 25fps pal content aswell as resampling audio to help keep audio video sync).

Will be great if xbmc ever gets such a feature as pal speed down... and gets video renderer on par with madVR. Will be glad to get away from having to use an external player.

I also like to run a bat script which adds registry settings for particular movies that either don't require pal speed down, or do require de-interlacing (because auto detection of whether to de-interlace pal mpeg2 content is not to be trusted, because of badly marked pal dvds....so I have de-interlacing in ffdshow off by default, and set to on for these particular movies / tv shows etc)

[>>X<<]

Dharma will be DX whether your be able to still compile gl versions I don't know

Have you tried the DSPlayer branch of xbmc it uses directshow cant use madVR but you could use ffdshow and reclock

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=61355

[mark007]

Wow looks great, I'll give that a try also, thanks again.

EDIT: Damn, dsplayer build crashes the minutes it opened lol. Will try again in a few weeks maybe. Cheers.

[THX-UltraII]

ever find a solution/workaround for this problem? I have the same and it s simply UGLY

[mark007]

Hi THX-UltraII. I actually gave up on xbmc because of a few smaller issues like this that just kept cropping up and the fact that xbmc caused my gpu to buzz constantly when minimized. Doesn't seem like theres enough enthusiasts that want to use external players, to really dig into the code to look into these sorts of things. Haven't gone back to it since so can't comment on newer xbmc versions. Let us know if you ever find a solution