Automatic Refreshrate Changer

[gibman]

Introduction

Q: What is it?
A: Automatic Refreshrate changer is a little program which looks at the mediafile thats going to be played and matches the refreshrate of the htpc to it. This can eliminate any judder or jerky video playback you might have.

Q: Do I need it?
A: Well, that depends. Do you notice a judder or jerky image when you play a movie and are you bothered with it? If so, Yes. Keep in mind that there are a lot of people who dont notice this judder at all.

Q: What causes this judder in the video playback anyways?
A: A videofile contains roughly 24, 25 or 30 frames per second (FPS). Your htpc has a videocard wich produces a signal to your TV/monitor. This signal in theory can be anythizng from 24, 25, 30, 50, 60, 75 or even 100Hz. i.e. 60H means the signal is refreshed 60 times a second. If there is a mismatch in the FPS from your mediafile and the Hz signal to your TV/monitor, this is most likely to be visible as judder in the video.

Q: How does this "Automatic Refreshrate Changer" work then?
A: Its pretty simple in concept actually. Normally when you press play on a media file or DVD, MediaPortal starts playing.
With this alteration of Mediaportal two things are now added before the actual playing starts. First the opensource mediainfo.dll library is activated to determine what the FPS is of the media file. Once this is determined a command can be executed to change the refreshrate of the htpc. The command will follow your predefined set of rules. After this your TV or monitor will re-synch to the signal change, often resulting in a short blanking of the screen.

Q: Is it difficult to install. Can I do it?
A: That ofcourse depends on your skills and knowledge. It requires you to download a file, extract it, copy the files to a certain location on your harddrive and adjust a .xml file using notepad. Besides this, you probably need to set up ATI/NVidia-profiles or programs like powerstrip or 12Noon. For this you need to know a little bit about what kind of graphicscard you use.

Q: Can I use this program with any version of mediaportal?
A: No. The program includes files from mediaportal itself which are altered. They need to be written over your mediaportal setup. If you use a different version compared to the files you are using in this program, you can expect some or a lot of problems. So always make sure you use the correct version of mediaportal with the program.
Or you can always manually "apply patch" on the included sources on the latest sources from SVN (for devs only).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Basics
The installation precedure is devided into three steps.
Step 1: Downloading and copying the files
Setp 2: Edit the file mediaportal.xml
Step 3: Set up your refreshrate changing method

Keep in mind that you actually first need to do/know step 3 before you start with step 2. But in order to understand how to setup the refreshrate changing method its easier to explain step 2 first.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Step 1 - Download and copy files
The download contains three important files:
- Core.dll
- MediaInfo.dll
- MediaPortal.exe
- (Optional) source file

The first three files need to be copied into the "Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal". You should overwrite any existing file.


Step 2 - Edit mediaportal.xml
You need to edit the file mediaportal.xml. You can find this file at the following location.
XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal
Vista: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If you are unable to locate the folder "Application Data" than you probably need to make sure you are able to view "hidden folders". (XP: My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > Tab: View > Enable: Show hidden files and folders)

Open mediaportal.xml using i.e. Notepad or any other plain text editor. What you will see a lot of text. If you look a little closer you'll notice there is a structure in there. A lot of <section name=...> under which you see a lot of <entry name=...>. Each of the <entry name=..> needs to be closed with </entry>. This is also the case with <section name=...>. Only this is done after a number of entry names. You will see </section> here.


Find <section name="general">. Inside this section you need to add the following code:

<entry name="autochangerefreshrate">yes</entry>
<entry name="notify_on_refreshrate">yes</entry>
<entry name="cinema_ext">c:\\24hz.cmd</entry>
<entry name="pal_ext">c:\\50hz.cmd</entry>
<entry name="ntsc_ext">c:\\60hz.cmd</entry>
<entry name="tv_ext">c:\\50hz.cmd</entry>
<entry name="cinema_fps">23.976;24</entry>
<entry name="pal_fps">25</entry>
<entry name="ntsc_fps">29.97;30</entry>
<entry name="tv_fps">25</entry>
<entry name="cinema_hz">24</entry>
<entry name="pal_hz">50</entry>
<entry name="ntsc_hz">60</entry>
<entry name="tv_hz">50</entry>
<entry name="default_hz">pal_hz</entry>
<entry name="use_default_hz">yes</entry>
<entry name="devicereset">yes</entry>
<entry name="force_refresh_rate">no</entry>

What does it all mean? Here is a short explanation:



"xxx_ext" - Command in red
This is the part where you specify the commands that will be given to change the refreshrate. The bold text is the actual command that is given. There are many ways to change the refreshrate of your htpc. Details and more information about this will be discussed in step 3.

"xxx_fps" - Source info in green
These lines are actually pretty fixed. Here the information is given about the different media types which are out there. These are the available standards:
- Avi file - 23.976 fps
- Blueray rip / MKV file - 24 fps
- DVD (PAL) - 25 fps
- DVD (NTSC) - 29.97 fps
- TV Cable / Satellite source - 25 fps (Exception: for some people this might be different. Standard is 25 fps)

"xxx_hz" - Prefered Hz of HTPC in blue:
Here you give your preference about what the refreshrate of the HTPC should be when playback of media has stopped.

An example:
You start playing a DVD (PAL).
- According to the green section PAL uses 25fps content. Detected fps is thus 25.
- In the green section your preference is indicated. You want your HTPC to operate at 50hz with PAL media because this is a multiple of 25fps and your TV supports it. The program queries what the current refreshrate of the HTPC is and compares it with your preference. If its not already at your preferred refreshrate, a command from the red section will be executed which will change the refreshrate to your preference.

"autochangerefreshrate" - Enable/disable the feature (yes/no).

"notify_on_refreshrate" - Do you want an onscreen notification when a refreshrate change is done (yes/no) ?

"default_hz" - Here you are able to specify a default refreshrate key that will be used when mediaplayback stops. Possible values are; "cinema_hz", "pal_hz", "ntsc_hz" or "tv_hz"
"use_default_hz" ; when stopping mediaplayback does MP revert to a default refreshrate or keep the actual one (yes/no)?

"use_default_hz" - When stopping the playback of a media file do you want MP to revert to a default refreshrate (yes/no)? If you select "no", the refreshrate being used during playback will still be used when playback is stopped.

"devicereset" - when using powerstrip or 12noon choose "no", otherwise "yes".

"force_refresh_rate" - This is best kept at the default value "no".
What it does is simple. Normally the refreshrate changer code queries the graphics card on the current refreshrate. If this is different to the new refreshrate, then we apply the new refreshrate. Normally it would be silly to execute an external script to set a refreshrate that is already applied.
But, sometimes when using i.e. powerstrip to change the refreshrate, the grapics card is unaware of this change. So it still reports back to MediaPortal the old refresh rate. In this situation use the value 'yes'. It then always applies the refreshrate regardless of current refreshrate. Using the value "no" gives best performance and is recommended.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Step 3 - Set up your refreshrate changing method

The commands to change the refreshrate of your htpc are already given earlier (in the red bar).

<entry name="cinema_ext">c:\\24hz.cmd</entry>
<entry name="pal_ext">c:\\50hz.cmd</entry>
<entry name="ntsc_ext">c:\\60hz.cmd</entry>
<entry name="tv_ext">c:\\50hz.cmd</entry>

The bold text is the actual command which is given. Which command you want to give depends on which method you want to use. There are a couple of methods to change the refreshrate of your htpc. The possibilities are:

• ATI profiles (using ATI Catalyst Controle Center)
• NVidia profiles (using NVidia Control Panel)
• Powerstrip
• 12Noon DC (free)

Note: Some of the above have a disadvantage. If you use the ATI profiles method, this will cause the graphiccard to execute a device reset. This causes some delay and maybe also some problems. Powerstrip and 12Noon DC do not require this device reset. Thus these methods have less impact on the system.

Also VISTA users do not suffer from device resets at all. This is only for XP users.

ATI profiles
In order to use the profiles you need to create them first from within the ATI CCC. You must also save them under a desired profile name like "CinemaProfile", "PALProfile", etc or any other name you are OK with. Just make sure you also use the same name in the command line. Substitute the bold text from the quote above with the complete line of the profile.

c:\\Program Files\\ATI Technologies\\ATI.ACE\\Core-Static\\CLI.exe start Load profilename="CinemaProfile"

NVidia
In order to let the NVidia Control Panel to switch the refreshrate, you must first make sure the desired setup is saved under "custom resolution" in the Control Panel. After this you can already use the command.

The format used is:
rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll,dtcfg setmode <display#> <hres> <vres> <bpp> <freq>

c:\\windows\\system32\\rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll,dtcfg setmode 1 1920 1080 32 24

PowerStrip
Powerstrip has an advantage over the NVidia and ATI method. It doesnt require a device reset. But this program is not free. To set up the correct timings, I suggest you use the ATI CCC or NVidia control panel to activate a desired refreshrate / resolution. Once active, you can save the profile using Powerstrip. A quick and easy way to do this is to Start Powerstrip > Display Profiles > Configure > Advanced Timing Options > Right click on the little button "Copy timings to clipboard". By doing so, you will create a shortcut on your desktop. Right click on the shortcut > Properties, and copy the Target line.
It will look like something like this:

"C:\\Program Files\\PowerStrip\\PStrip.exe" /TARGET:1 /t:1360,64,112,256,768,3,6,18,85416,768

Note: Dont copy the line above. Each system / configuration is different!
With /Target:1 you can even specify which monitor/TV you want changed.

12NOON DC
This program has the same advantage as Powerstrip AND its free.

"PATH\PATH\\dc.exe -refresh=24 -apply -quiet"

Instead of Path you need to insert the actual location of the files.
-refresh sets the desired refreshrate.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ChangeLog:

v0.1 (initial)

v0.2 (RC2 + SVN rev #20234)
* fixed a problem with MP minimizing itself when calling external batch file (cmd etc.)
* hopefully fixed dual display device problems (clonemode users are unaffected).

v0.3 (RC2 + SVN rev #20265) - 19 sept.
* same as 0.2 (this time it should work)

v0.4 (RC3) - 13 oct.
* compiled for rc3.
* small fix for multi display users according to recently added fix in rc3.
* hopefully fixed the issue where RR would not revert back to default when a video clip ended by itself.

v0.5 (RC3) - 14 oct.
* compiled for rc3.
* some changes were accidently reverted on 0.4, causing "device reset=true" not to work.
* now real DVD media is working. I realized that inserting a real DVD did not change RR.

v0.6 (RC3 + SVN rev #20602) - 26 oct.
* added optional GUI notification on refreshrate change (on fullscreen video only) ...
use ... <entry name="notify_on_refreshrate">yes</entry>

v0.61 (RC3 + SVN rev #20605) - 26 oct.
* GUI notification improved, using threading instead - should make it appear more consistent (thanks to rtv for helping out.)
* Also fixed a problem with restoring the default RR in case the user has this option activated.
* Introduced a new key ..again .. <entry name="force_refresh_rate">no</entry>

v0.61 (RC4) - 29 nov.
* compiled for rc4
* refactored a lot of the code. contains no bug fixes.

v0.61 (1.0 #21195) - 25 dec.
* no changes
(sources currently not avail. since it will enter SVN soon.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Known issues
- When using the combination of moving pictures plugin + using "devicereset=true" then the video playback takes over leaving no the user unable to see the MP gui, or even stop playback.

Please contribute if u find any bugs or have other issues..

thx to edterbak for editing the text.

/gibman

[pvkleeff]

I would really like to test this, since I have a tv which can handle all refresh rates. I hope that this gets included in the public SVN's (make it optional) because I think this would be a big plus for MP (I know MP2 will be able to do this).
I've been toying with reclock, refresh rateplugin, powerstrip with hot-keys, etc etc, so for me this is great news.

Thanks gibman.

[revs]

Sounds good! I have TV and Blu-Ray setup as needed, but would be nice to have the Refresh Rate change when I play avi files from TV-Series/MyMovies - So i'll check this out!

[edterbak]

Yes. +1
I am struggling to get my setup to work propperly aswell. I got a partially working solution at the moment, but this means that I have to start a movie twice or three times sometimes... The suggested feature of MediaPortal would also truely be a unique feature compared to all other mediaplayer software.

Also I would like to offer my time as a tester if needed. I truely hope this feature would become a reality.

[robyf]

Great feature expecially for us poor users of vista that can not use reclock!! Can't wait to test it!!

Thanks for the great job

[seco]

This is absolutely great news, just what I need.

Hope we can solve the problems with ATI profiles + device reset discussed in other threads. I'm ready to test!

[gibman]

0001572: changing refresh rate within MP is problematic. - MediaPortal Bugtracker
this one is fixed and will be in this weeks svn.

So MP will not revert to the original refreshrate when starting media playback.

As I stated in the original post; using ATI profiles or any other way to change the refresh rate is a lot slower than changing it through powerstrip.
This is probably tough to do anything about.

/gibman

[kenwonders]

I bought powerstrip based on my experiences with the now defunct RefreshRateControl plugin, I'm currently using Reclock + VBS + Powerstrip, which pretty much works apart from a really nasty startup that usually includes a jerk or two, screen flash, then a repeat of the last half a second of audio.

Will this solution be able to cope with that? I'm guessing it might need to have a delay setting to ensure that powerstrip has enough time to do it's thing?

Thanks for this, it really does make such a difference, especially for us PAL users.

[lemonhead]

This is a feature i have been waiting for. I have tried refreshratechanger-plugin and Reclock and not really gotten it to work properly. A supported solution from the Team sounds just wonderful!

[stoked]

Awesome, can't wait to try this. I'll have to see if Powerstrip works with my Nvidia 8200 board.