Suggestions for 3.7

[Jimmy Neutron]

Just found out that XMPlay has been ported to PortableApps.com

Ported isn't really what happened.  They create a launcher that serves as a wrapper to the original program.  The launcher handles a few things, including cleaning up any registry entries created by the program (not needed for XMPlay) and puts the program into a "standard" directory structure for ease of menu integration and backing up of user's configuration and settings files.  Oh, the other thing is that the launcher will modify the config files to account for different drive letters when the program is used from a USB stick on different computers.  The launcher for XMPlay was also specially modified to account for drive letter changes in the library, too.

[Ian @ un4seen]

Ian, can you add a syntax for rating criteria in the "find window"/"find quick"?

Thanks 

%Rating=1 %Rating=3 ....
%R1,%R2,%R3...
*1,*2,*3...

I would choose a generic syntax to represent library technical info. This way  leaves an opening  for other requests regarding more library "tags" in the future

OK. That will need some thought, so probably best not to rush it in for the 3.6 release. Perhaps something for 3.6.1

Is it already time for 3.6.1 ? What do you think?

Having thought about it a bit, here's something to try...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmplay.exe

It adds 4 new tag comparison options: "%tag:x" (tag contains x), "%tag=x" (tag equals x), "%tag<x" (tag is lower than x) and "%tag>x" (tag is greater than x). The contains/equals options obey the "Case-sensitive" setting, while the lower/greater options are always case-insensitive. "%tag" can be one of the existing title/encoder formatting options ("%0", etc) or one of the following: "%age" (days since added to library), "%lastplay" (days since last played), "%length" (length in seconds), "%playcount" (times played), "%rating" (rating), "%size" (file size in KB).

For example, to find MP3 and OGG files that are between 3 and 4 minutes long, with a 5 star rating, with an artist tag that begins with something lower than "M", and containing "blah" in any tag/filename (depending on the "in" setting), you could look for this...

   %8=mp3/%8=ogg %length>179 %length<241 %rating=5 %2<m blah

Please report any problems.

[amit]

Having thought about it a bit, here's something to try...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmplay.exe

It adds 4 new tag comparison options: "%tag:x" (tag contains x), "%tag=x" (tag equals x), "%tag<x" (tag is lower than x) and "%tag>x" (tag is greater than x). The contains/equals options obey the "Case-sensitive" setting, while the lower/greater options are always case-insensitive. "%tag" can be one of the existing title/encoder formatting options ("%0", etc) or one of the following: "%age" (days since added to library), "%lastplay" (days since last played), "%length" (length in seconds), "%playcount" (times played), "%rating" (rating), "%size" (file size in KB).

For example, to find MP3 and OGG files that are between 3 and 4 minutes long, with a 5 star rating, with an artist tag that begins with something lower than "M", and containing "blah" in any tag/filename (depending on the "in" setting), you could look for this...

   %8=mp3/%8=ogg %length>179 %length<241 %rating=5 %2<m blah

Please report any problems.

Looks great! I have tried several options and it works well so far.

One thing though : Is it possible to  let the new tag based rules to be combined with prefixes '-' and '/' ?
Edit: checked again and it works.

[oddiophile]

Is it possible to rescan the XMPlay folder for new skins without closing and restarting the player?  

Example: While playing a track, I go to the XMPlay site, download a few skins, unzip them into the XMPlay folder, select the 'rescan' option, the player updates the list of available skins the new skin is ready to use.

[Jimmy Neutron]

Yeah, I've gotten used to the quit/restart routine.

This issue also applies to deleted skins... until restart, they still show and it gets a bit ugly if you select one that no longer exists.

Edit: rescan could be a standard selection item on the skin pick-list.

[Jimmy Neutron]

It might be a limitation of the skinning engine, but playing with different skins shows that detached panel start location (for info, library or playlist) seems to be preset but differs from skin to skin.  Sometimes this chosen location runs off of the monitor.  Could the start position be dynamic on floating panels?  This is probably different than output panels that seem to be attached to the main window, which might operate on different parameters.
 

[Pike84]

Is it possible to rescan the XMPlay folder for new skins without closing and restarting the player?

This would be nice. +1

[Pike84]

When closing with position saved, it'd be nice if the paused state would be respected - currently the track always starts playing immediately, even if it was paused while closing the player.

[Lampa]

When closing with position saved, it'd be nice if the paused state would be respected - currently the track always starts playing immediately, even if it was paused while closing the player.

+1

[Cypress]

i know it is suggested before by an xmp member can't remember who ?? but my biggest wish for the xmpskinning engine Alpha Transparency PNG Support no need to change anything, the whole functionality of the current xmp skin is beautiful and simple . It could also attract new users/interfacers and no need to worry for CPU usage it would be up to the interfacer whether to use PNGs or the classic BMPs

Is it possible to rescan the XMPlay folder for new skins without closing and restarting the player?

This would be nice. +1

this could also work for plugins/visuals
+1

Saludos

[oddiophile]

- Why are all visualisations / scrolling / animations capped to 40fps?
Is there any way to enable higher (smoother) refresh rates like 60fps, for example?

- What's the maximum resolution the 2D spectrum visualisation uses in full screen mode (when the 'limit resolution' option is unchecked)?
If a really high desktop resolution (1920x1200 or better) is used, XMPlay computes a lower res spectrum display and stretches it to desktop res (I don't think it really uses the native desktop resolution)
The limiter also doesn't accept anything higher than 999x999.

We have 4 GHz multicore CPUs, 120Hz displays and powerful graphics cards now. Why not use them for some smoother eye candy?

- Is there any way to make the balloon tooltips + fonts in fullscreen mode smaller?
Even when the smallest size is selected, they're *HUGE*.

- Is there an option to always display the track name when a fullscreen visualisation (e.g. the 2D spectrum display) is used?

[Pike84]

- Why are all visualisations / scrolling / animations capped to 40fps?
Is there any way to enable higher (smoother) refresh rates like 60fps, for example?

It's pointless, since 40fps is perfectly smooth already. Note, that this may be different for games, where the fps fluctuates, and thus an average 40fps might not be enough (because of lower minimum fps). However a constant 40fps is more than enough; movies for example use frame rates in range of 20-30.

[oddiophile]

If constant 40fps is 'smooth enough', then constant 60fps is 'smooth as butter'.

With a CRT monitor it's very easy to see the difference.

If you have a high quality CRT or a *true* 120Hz LCD display, you can try this test:

- Choose a resolution with a very high refresh rate (the highest your monitor supports - usually 160Hz or 200Hz for CRT, 120Hz for LCD)
- Download and run the latest (alpha) version of REAPER 4 (the digital audio recording/editing software) from HERE
- Create a new track (Track -> Insert New Track)  and then insert an audio file [MP3,WAV,OGG,whatever] (Insert -> Media File...)
- From the View menu, select View -> 'Floating Master Mixer' and resize it vertically so it uses up all your vertical screen space.
- Press 'Play' and watch the moving Peak/RMS meters on the MASTER mixer (NOTE: the refresh rate is set to 30fps by default).
- Stop the playback, go to Options -> Preferences and set the VU Meter Update frequency (Hz) to 40. Press OK and play the track again. You'll immediately notice that the movement is much smoother.
- Repeat the above step with 60Hz and then with 120 Hz. Pay attention to the thinner,slow moving [RMS] meters.  At 120 Hz, they're so smooth, it's unreal

[Chinese Sausage]

I also made this suggestion awhile ago. 40fps can be the default, but it would be great to have the option to set it to a higher setting or even unlimited, such as in Milkdrop 

[Pike84]

At the highest refresh setting, it's so smooth, it's unreal

I'm sure it is .

Unfortunately, I don't have a CRT monitor to test with, but I can test with my TFT screen when I get home. Is it possible, that this issue concerns only CRT monitors (something about sync with the refresh rate or so)?

[mateczko]

Adjustable font size and type in extended playlist.

[Ian @ un4seen]

When closing with position saved, it'd be nice if the paused state would be respected - currently the track always starts playing immediately, even if it was paused while closing the player.

Here's an update to try...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmplay.exe

- Why are all visualisations / scrolling / animations capped to 40fps?
Is there any way to enable higher (smoother) refresh rates like 60fps, for example?

The vis refresh is currently tied to the general GUI refresh/update timer, which runs at 40 Hz. If you would like to change that, the update above includes a "VisRefresh" XMPLAY.INI setting to try (eg. VisRefresh=60), which allows the vis to go at a different rate to the other GUI stuff.

- What's the maximum resolution the 2D spectrum visualisation uses in full screen mode (when the 'limit resolution' option is unchecked)?
If a really high desktop resolution (1920x1200 or better) is used, XMPlay computes a lower res spectrum display and stretches it to desktop res (I don't think it really uses the native desktop resolution)
The limiter also doesn't accept anything higher than 999x999.

When "Restrict vis rendering" is disabled, the vis will be rendered at the window (or fullscreen) size. In the case of the spectrum display, there are less than 1920 frequency bands, so it will have to be stretched to fill 1920 pixels. The lower bands are also always stretched wider than the higher bands, so that the display is more logarithmic rather than linear.

[Dotpitch]

When closing with position saved, it'd be nice if the paused state would be respected - currently the track always starts playing immediately, even if it was paused while closing the player.

Here's an update to try...

That's working nicely .

[Cosworth]

When closing with position saved, it'd be nice if the paused state would be respected - currently the track always starts playing immediately, even if it was paused while closing the player.

Here's an update to try...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmplay.exe

Thank you But can you do blink time and play\pause button after switch on player?

[NiZero]

An easy start, from the other thread (and hopefully rather for 3.6.1. ), expanding cue sheets and mods with subsongs into virtual tracks.

+1, would be great. Very helpful with lot of lossless music (one CD = one file, no splitted tracks but *.cue).

May be it could be a small (+) near track with *.cue, when pressed - then names expands and advance will be like between other tracklist items? (lenght, play, queue, etc.)

[oddiophile]

Here's an update to try...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmplay.exe

The vis refresh is currently tied to the general GUI refresh/update timer, which runs at 40 Hz. If you would like to change that, the update above includes a "RefreshRate" XMPLAY.INI setting to try (eg. RefreshRate=60), which allows the vis to go at a different rate to the other GUI stuff.

I tried the new setting, but the spectrum vis. still runs at 40 Hz, even in fullscreen mode.
Tested on Windows 7 with Aero enabled. FPS monitored with FRAPS (www.fraps.com).

P.S. Updated/edited my previous post.

[oddiophile]

There's another interesting option in the XMPLAY.INI:  SpectrumSpeed
Does this option control the latency of the spectrum visualisation updates?

[Dotpitch]

I tried the new setting, but the spectrum vis. still runs at 40 Hz, even in fullscreen mode. ... FPS monitored with FRAPS (www.fraps.com).

Yep, they still seem to run at 40 Hz. Btw, Honto's Phase has a built-in fps counter (use the middle-click).

There's another interesting option in the XMPLAY.INI:  SpectrumSpeed. Does this option control the latency of the spectrum visualisation updates?

No, it's the scrollspeed of the Spectrum (3D) visual, either normal (0) or fast (1). You can toggle it by middle-clicking on the visual.

[Chinese Sausage]

When closing with position saved, it'd be nice if the paused state would be respected - currently the track always starts playing immediately, even if it was paused while closing the player.

Here's an update to try...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmplay.exe

Thank you for this great little implementation. XMPlay just keeps getting better and better every day (which is a contrast compared to other similar players). I cannot see any difference in the "RefreshRate" addition in xmplay.ini though. Is this change reflected in the built-in spectrum analyzer?

Thank you again for far surpassing my expectations with XMPlay.

[Jimmy Neutron]

... has a built-in fps counter (use the middle-click).
... toggle it by middle-clicking on the visual.

I'd like to re-suggest adding an alternative to middle-click.  My two button mouse and/or laptop touchpad would love it.

BTW, are you going to post a compilation in this (Suggestions for 3.7) thread?