[WINDOWS] HOW-TO play SBS 3D video in 3D mode on a 3D TV with external player
#1
Guide to play SBS 3D video in 3D mode on a 3D TV with external player and NVIDIA 3DTV Play Software

I'd like to share my method of how to get SBS (Side-By-Side) 3D video files to be automatically detected by XBMC, launched and played full-screen with a 3D video player on a 3D TV in 3D mode.

Requirements:

A 3D TV
NVIDIA 3DTV Play (free 14 day trial) - *Note: This requires an NVIDIA video card
Stereoscopic Player
3D SBS Video File(s) (example)

Installation and Configuration:

Install NVIDIA 3DTV Play and set it up with your 3D TV. A list of supported 3D TVs is available here. Your 3D TV must be set to be the primary monitor for this to work.

Stereoscopic Player

Install Stereoscopic Player. You may also need to install codecs to play video files outside of XBMC (such as K-Lite Codec Pack).
Go to File > Settings... > select Playback Options on the left. For Viewing method choose NVIDIA 3D Vision. For Aspect ratio choose Full Size.
Now click on Advanced Options on the left. Select the Troubleshooting tab. Under NVIDIA 3D Vision, next to Resolution, deselect Use default and then type in the resolution 1280 x 720. (Please refer to the end of this guide for why this step is necessary)
Click OK.

playercorefactory.xml

To get XBMC to recognize a SBS 3D video file and execute Stereoscopic Player to play it with, an external player needs to be set up (How-to Wiki).

An external player is set up by placing a xml file called playercorefactory.xml in your userdata folder. The userdata folder can be found in various places.

Windows Vista & Windows 7: C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\UserData
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Application Data\XBMC\UserData

Place the xml in that directory and edit it to point to your StereoPlayer.exe. (The reason I use Stereoscopic Player rather than NVIDIA's 3D Vision Video Player is because it appears to be updated more regularly).

Here is an example of my xml file (I am running Windows 7 64-bit):
Code:
<playercorefactory>
<players>
   <player name="SBS-3D" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">
     <filename>C:\Program Files (x86)\Stereoscopic Player\StereoPlayer.exe</filename>
     <args>"{1}" -il:SideBySideRF -ihw -fss -ol:NVIDIA -term</args>
     <hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
     <hideconsole>false</hideconsole>
     <warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
   </player>
</players>
<rules action="prepend">
   <rule filetypes="mkv|ts" filename=".*sbs3d.*" player="SBS-3D"/>
</rules>
</playercorefactory>

What this code does is finds video files in your library that have ".sbs3d" in the filename and launches Stereoscopic Player in fullscreen mode and automatically plays it in 3D. You will need to add ".sbs3d" to the filenames of your SBS 3D videos (for example, "mymovie.sbs3d.mkv") so that it works!

Issues to Fix:
  • 1080p @ 24fps

  • NVIDIA 3DTV Play does not allow you to use 1080p @ 60fps in 3D mode. If you try it, you'll see red text along the bottom of your screen telling you so, and your video will not be playing back in 3D.
  • Note: If anyone could help figure out, maybe by using ReClock, how to automatically set the mode to 1080p @ 24fps, which NVIDIA 3DTV Play does support, that would be outstanding.
  • XBMC Resolution Incorrect on Exit

  • When exiting the player and returning to XBMC, the resolution is sometimes incorrect.
  • Temporary Fix: Restart XBMC.
  • Note: This happens randomly and I don't really understand why.

Extra: 3D Video Sets in XBMC

You can have XBMC group all your 3D videos together into "sets" (for example, "3D Films" or "3D IMAX"). This helps to differentiate your 3D content from your normal 2D content until XBMC integrates 3D support. Read the Movie Sets Wiki for more information on how it is done.

Conclusion

There you go, that is my method and it works quite nicely for me. I hope people find this guide useful and can help to make it better.
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#2
I just bookmarked this - awesome guide! Thank you!
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#3
steppedup Wrote:I just bookmarked this - awesome guide! Thank you!

You're welcome!
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#4
Great guide! I will be giving it a go as soon as my new GC arrive. I might try using some other 3D driver tho for example tridef as there seem to be some bugs in 3DTV play.

Il post my findings Smile
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#5
A-damn Wrote:Great guide! I will be giving it a go as soon as my new GC arrive. I might try using some other 3D driver tho for example tridef as there seem to be some bugs in 3DTV play.

Il post my findings Smile

A-damn, were you able to get it to work using the TriDef drivers? I hadn't had any luck with it so far...
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#6
same here - an awesome guide. thanks a lot dude Smile 3D TV play seems to be the answer for all my problems that i had for now.

but there's still 1 bad issue as follows:

right after i installed 3d tv play, the sbs test movies from nvidia worked fine (3d vision player // never tried my existing movies because i didnt want to install additional codecs at the moment)

but ...

when i start xbmc and start a movie the tv gets switched to the 3d resolution and my sony tv says "3d signal detected" ... the movie also looks like 3d (without glasses) although its a known 2d movie from my collection. so no chance to watch a 2d movie without problems.

after uninstalling 3d tv play, xbmc gets back to normal behaviour.

i also tried to switch 3D Vision on/off ... no change. any clue?
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#7
Many thanks for this guide! Big Grin

Could someone provide me some help with the playercorefactory.xml for Mac?

I'm trying this with the Bino 3D-Player for Mac OS X. Unfortunately i have no luck so far. When i click the movie to start playing in XBMC nothing happens.
The files are named correctly with sbs3d in the filename.

Here's the code i've done so far:
Code:
<playercorefactory>
<players>
   <player name="SBS-3D" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">
     <filename>/Applications/Bino.app</filename>
     <args>"{1}"</args>
     <hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
     <hideconsole>false</hideconsole>
     <warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
   </player>
</players>
<rules action="prepend">
   <rule filetypes="mkv" filename=".*sbs3d.*" player="SBS-3D"/>
</rules>
</playercorefactory>

Thanks in advance!
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#8
mrmukke Wrote:same here - an awesome guide. thanks a lot dude Smile 3D TV play seems to be the answer for all my problems that i had for now.

but there's still 1 bad issue as follows:

right after i installed 3d tv play, the sbs test movies from nvidia worked fine (3d vision player // never tried my existing movies because i didnt want to install additional codecs at the moment)

but ...

when i start xbmc and start a movie the tv gets switched to the 3d resolution and my sony tv says "3d signal detected" ... the movie also looks like 3d (without glasses) although its a known 2d movie from my collection. so no chance to watch a 2d movie without problems.

after uninstalling 3d tv play, xbmc gets back to normal behaviour.

i also tried to switch 3D Vision on/off ... no change. any clue?

Is your display set to 720p? What may be happening is that, when XBMC or a movie is in fullscreen mode, it is switching to a 3D resolution like 720p @ 60fps. Try switching XBMC to 1080p, or choosing to have it be in a fullscreen window rather than true fullscreen mode. You could also try mapping a key to disabling 3DTV Play Stereoscopic 3D.

How I do it is I have a key set to launch "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\NVIDIA Corporation\3D Vision\Disable 3D Vision.lnk"
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#9
The problem with videos not starting in their proper resolution has been fixed and I've updated the guide. Now SBS 3D videos will always launch in full screen, 3D mode, in 16:9 and begin playback.
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#10
can this work with Bino too?
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#11
how do you control stereoscopic player? i'm interested in doing this but I can't seem to find any remotes for it. I use the android remote for xbmc which works great. hesitant to use an external player,but really no choice for xbmc.
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#12
robl45 Wrote:how do you control stereoscopic player? i'm interested in doing this but I can't seem to find any remotes for it. I use the android remote for xbmc which works great. hesitant to use an external player,but really no choice for xbmc.

You could install eventghost on both your phone and computer and have eventghost control stereoscopic player via keyboard shortcuts

Any other update on this?
Have a question? First try the XBMC online-manual and FAQ. Also: How to submit a debug log
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#13
Here is code I used for Bino.

Code:
<playercorefactory>
<players>
   <player name="SBS-3D" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="true" video="true">
     <filename>/usr/bin/bino</filename>
     <args>"{1}" -o top-bottom-half -i left-right-half -f -n</args>
     <hidexbmc>true</hidexbmc>
     <hideconsole>false</hideconsole>
     <warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
   </player>
</players>
<rules action="prepend">
   <rule filetypes="mkv|ts" filename=".*sbs3d.*|.*sbs.*|.*hsbs.*|.*SBS3D.*|.*SBS.*|.*HSBS.*" player="SBS-3D"/>
</rules>
</playercorefactory>



This worked fine for me under Ubuntu 11.10 and Debian testing, but I couldnt get it to work under XBMC Live!, however I had modified the external players code, so it may have been that causing it to hang up.

You will no doubt have to change the output (and input maybe) as under Linux as far as I can tell you cant use page flipping unless you have a Quadro card (Nvidia), dont know about ATI.

Anyway, it works somewhat, dunno about Mac, dont see whyit wouldnt work.

Code:
-o top-bottom-half -i left-right-half -f -n

-f -n is to open in full screen with no gui, causing Bino to automatically play.
-o output

Code:
bino:     mono-left                Only left.
bino:     mono-right               Only right.
bino:     top-bottom               Left top, right bottom.
bino:     top-bottom-half          Left top, right bottom, half height.
bino:     left-right               Left left, right right.
bino:     left-right-half          Left left, right right, half width.
bino:     even-odd-rows            Left even rows, right odd rows.
bino:     even-odd-columns         Left even columns, right odd columns.
bino:     checkerboard             Left and right in checkerboard pattern.
bino:     hdmi-frame-pack          HDMI frame packing mode.
bino:     red-cyan-monochrome      Red/cyan anaglyph, monochrome method.
bino:     red-cyan-half-color      Red/cyan anaglyph, half color method.
bino:     red-cyan-full-color      Red/cyan anaglyph, full color method.
bino:     red-cyan-dubois          Red/cyan anaglyph, Dubois method.
bino:     green-magenta-monochrome Green/magenta anaglyph, monochrome method.
bino:     green-magenta-half-color Green/magenta anaglyph, half color method.
bino:     green-magenta-full-color Green/magenta anaglyph, full color method.
bino:     green-magenta-dubois     Green/magenta anaglyph, Dubois method.
bino:     amber-blue-monochrome    Amber/blue anaglyph, monochrome method.
bino:     amber-blue-half-color    Amber/blue anaglyph, half color method.
bino:     amber-blue-full-color    Amber/blue anaglyph, full color method.
bino:     amber-blue-dubois        Amber/blue anaglyph, Dubois method.
bino:     red-green-monochrome     Red/green anaglyph, monochrome method.
bino:     red-blue-monochrome      Red/blue anaglyph, monochrome method.
bino:     stereo                   OpenGL quad-buffered stereo.
bino:     equalizer                Multi-display via Equalizer (2D setup).
bino:     equalizer-3d             Multi-display via Equalizer (3D setup).

Code:
-i left-right-half

-i input

Code:
bino:   -i|--input=TYPE          Select input type (default autodetect):
bino:     mono                     Single view.
bino:     separate-left-right      Left/right separate streams, left first.
bino:     separate-right-left      Left/right separate streams, right first.
bino:     top-bottom               Left top, right bottom.
bino:     top-bottom-half          Left top, right bottom, half height.
bino:     bottom-top               Left bottom, right top.
bino:     bottom-top-half          Left bottom, right top, half height.
bino:     left-right               Left left, right right.
bino:     left-right-half          Left left, right right, half width.
bino:     right-left               Left right, right left.
bino:     right-left-half          Left right, right left, half width.
bino:     even-odd-rows            Left even rows, right odd rows.
bino:     odd-even-rows            Left odd rows, right even rows.
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#14
Are you able to see subtitles when in anaglyph output?
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first (usually it's enough to follow instructions in the second post).
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#15
I wanted to report that Bino works just fine in conjunction with Auto Frequency, this provides functionality analog the the "automatic switch refresh rate" inside XBMC. One step closer to seamless integration. I managed to control it by remote through EventGhost as well.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first (usually it's enough to follow instructions in the second post).
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[WINDOWS] HOW-TO play SBS 3D video in 3D mode on a 3D TV with external player0