3D MVC Option

[trumpet205]

For a TV to automatically switch into 3D mode, it must be informed that the input is 3D via EDID handshake. XBMC does not have control over EDID handshake.

PS3 games (not Blu-ray 3D, as I cannot attest to it) uses H-TAB in 3D gameplay. TV will automatically switch into 3D because PS3 will do a EDID handshake again.

[docchris]

its just a shame that MVC has been part of the AVC standard since the beginning and the FFMPEG guys only implemented half of the standard

hopefully they will catch up

[trumpet205]

It's just that 3D still remains as a niche market. Until more people starts to demand it, software support will remain slow.

[arrgh]

Stereoscopic Player can now handle subtitles in 3D-MKVs...have not fully tested yet...first try changes the desktop resolution away from 1080p...and I have not yet found an easy way to switch between Audio or Sub streams...and I have had also some sync Problems (Intel-CPU)....
but a first good step into the right direction...

[jhoff80]

Have you actually gotten that to work? I saw the same thing in the changelog about supporting Bluray subtitles, but it's not displaying anything in Stereoscopic Player 2.3 in my 3D MVC MKVs.

[sinious]

I often make little videos for my kids for fun. Adobe After Effects has stereoscopic support built directly in and supports SBS, TTB and interleave modes.

After I make something fun for them to watch I just export out 1920x1080 24fps TTB video. I typically play the video off an external HD connected through Xbox One or sometimes just over WifiDirect to the TV from my devices. The TV never picks up on the mode of 3D because it just looks like a 2D flat frame. Using my remotes 3D button and selecting TTB works just fine to see it in 3D.

What I would really love to know is if there is something I can encode/add/alter in the headers/metadata of the video files themselves (usually just MP4 H264) to trigger the TV into the correct (passive) 3D mode automatically. Is this public knowledge?

I did read the thread linked above and there's a huge amount of information about the device sending the right signal to the TV, adjusting headers, etc. Since the youtube MP4 example triggered 3D correctly I'm hoping there's a relatively easy way to correct the problem. One less button to press!

Thanks for any tips!

[SiliconKid]

@sinious:

Short answer to your question: No.

Longer answer:

When your 3D movies are Side-By-Side or Over-Under (SBS, TTB), the image sent to the TV is, as you said, a normal sized 2D frame, unlike BluRay 3D which is encoded completely different.

When a 3D BluRay is played, a special flag is sent to the TV over HDMI to signal that 3D is inbound, and that is a hardware layer thing handled by the BluRay player.

There is no such flag for SBS or OU/TTB, and there is nothing that you can set in the file headers etc. that will make any difference because the TV only ever sees the raw frames being sent to it, it doesn't see any flags in the file headers.

Some expensive TVs are able to recognise that a 2D video frame is SBS or OU automatically by actually scanning the frames and looking for 2 frames embedded in one where the 2 halves are the same image. But that's not very common as far as I know.

The only other way to do what you would like to do is to use a media player that is able to control your TV via a network connection. With XBMC there is a plugin that knows how to remote control Samsung TVs (only Samsung) that have networked remote control protocol built in. In that case, XBMC knows you are about to play an SBS / OU file because of file naming conventions (you have to name your files appropriately) and when you play a 3D SBS / OU movie, the plugin steps in and quickly talks to your TV over the network connection, around the back, and tells it to expect an SBS or OU 3D movie to arrive on the HDMI cable.

[docchris]

what the hell is TTB?

Top and Bottom? , I've only ever seen it called TAB and even a google search for TTB didnt help me!

[SiliconKid]

I think he meant TAB.

TTB = Top To Bottom, I think.

I just assumed he meant TAB because he mentioned it in the same context as SBS.

But yes, it's actually TAB.

I used his (sinious) terminology so he wouldn't get confused.

[sinious]

Yes, TAB, I'll keep my references spelled out from now on .

When you say the 3D Bluray content is different, is this what I see referred to here often as "packed"? Is it possible to take software like MakeMKV, hand it my file and have it create this spec?

What I see in the (page 16) xbmc thread is the EDID handshake is responsible for triggering 3D. If a player detects packed data or that handshake occurs, 3D can be triggered.

Is everyone saying that there's no way for anything but a player looking at a specific filename (.3d.hsbs.* / .3d.htab.*) to start correct playback?

This thread links to a video that is said (when downloaded) will trigger 3D on a TV properly. Are they incorrect?

[Warrzone]

I thought I'd mention that the KDLINKS HD720 will play MKV files in 3D (Mpeg4-MVC-3D). It will not start playing in 3D automatically. Press Menu and select 3D Side By Side.

[fetef]

Also, Newer Samsung TVs can play 3D MVC files in an m2ts container, certainly through the Plex app for Samsung, and i suspect also over DLNA and USB as well. And yes it is full frame 1080p!!

Here is what works for me:

-Rip with MakeMKV, selecting the MVC video track and also the HD audio and core audio
-Remux with tsmuxer into an m2ts container
-Load the output file onto my plex server and the direct play to my samsung f6400 (make sure to select direct play in the plex app) through ethernet (at least 100mbps)

I've tested 2 films with both this MVC m2ts technique and half TAB, and the difference in quality is night and day. I tried using stereoscopic player but i couldn't get it to output 1080p, it insisted on forcing my tv into 720p, and so to have plex do the job (well plex does very little, it's the tv that does the work) is a relief, as it costs nothing for the server backend and samsung app. And yes i am a plex fanboy and did pay for plexpass, but that's unnecessary for this function, I just like to have a piece of software do everything that i need it to do, which i can comprehensively say it does now. It'd also be great if i could keep everything in mkv containers, but i can deal with the 3 minute remux for now

here's the discussion on the plex forum if it's any interest to anyone:
https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/ ... in-stereo/

I have no idea if mvc in an m2ts container will work for any other brands or devices, but it might be worth a try if you are also frustrated by other solutions as i was

[arrgh]

Have you actually gotten that to work? I saw the same thing in the changelog about supporting Bluray subtitles, but it's not displaying anything in Stereoscopic Player 2.3 in my 3D MVC MKVs.

yes, but again not yet perfect; I was not able to Change streams (Audio or Subs), it was always the first Audio and the first Sub stream...

meanwhile a "final" (not beta) Version 2.3 came out, which I haven't tested yet...

[SiliconKid]

I've tested 2 films with both this MVC m2ts technique and half TAB, and the difference in quality is night and day.

@fetef:

IGNORE WHAT I WROTE BELOW, I MISUNDERSTOOD YOU (see my later post)

I'm confused. How can you be playing an MVC m2ts using Half TAB mode on your TV ?

MVC is NOT Half Tab, or half anything, encoded. MVC is 2 separate video streams that are both full res, one video stream for each eye.

Half Tab or Half SBS mode refers to a single video stream containing normal HD frames that have 2 compressed frames (either vertically or horizontally compressed depending on whether its TAB or SBS) embedded in the 1 normal HD frame being presented to the TV for display.

When you switch your TV into Half SBS or Half TAB mode the TV then splits each incoming frame down the middle, expands the 2 resultant compressed frames to full size, and then displays them in the appropriate order (left eye then right eye usually) to get 3D.

None of that has ANY relationship to MVC encoded video where the video for each eye is in a completely separate video stream and no frames are compressed on any axis.

It is physically impossible for a TV to use Half SBS or Half TAB decoding to decode an MVC encoded 3D movie properly.

What IS possible though, is that when you play an MVC encoded video and your display device doesn't know how to handle dual video streams, you end up only seeing the left eye, which is actually the 2D version of the movie in full HD.

If you then switch your TV into some kind of 3D conversion mode, your TV will convert that 2D full HD video to 3D for you.

But that is most definitely NOT the same thing as your TV correctly decoding MVC 3D video and playing it properly.

[docchris]

Well according to this thread

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7535

plex cant decode MVC

so it does sound like its just decoding bog standard 1080p, then the Samsung telly is converting it to 3D itself (i.e. fake-3D)