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As of v2.60 RC1, GSpot
allows easy display of "third-party" "property pages" for any
DirectShow codecs which have implemented this feature. Not available
for VFW, ACM or DMO codecs (and many DSH codecs don't have one
implemented either). If the menu option is grayed out for the
selected filter, the feature is unavailable - otherwise, check it
out. It's occasionally interesting, if nothing else, and may allow
you to solve problems or at least optimize your playback quality. Users who are familiar with encoding files will note that some of these are similar to the Video Compression "Settings" dialog (e.g. when encoding with VirtualDub/VDubMod), and indeed those same dialogs are available if an encoding filter is selected using this feature. "Decoder" filter property pages - not to mention specialized filters - are not encountered as often, however, so this may be a useful new feature for certain users. |
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| Example of the playback property page for the well-known XviD codec. In this case, the user brought up the page by right clicking on the decoder in question after performing a test render of the file. |
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| Property page for playback using the well-known ffdshow codec. In this case the user arbitrarily brought up the page from GSpot's "System > List Codecs and Other Filters" dialog - this can be done at any time regardless of whether there's a currently loaded file that may use this decoder. |
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| Example of how you can set properties on DirectShow codecs which are neither encoders nor decoders. Here we see a property page related to "splitter" filter from 3ivx. GSpot will also show property pages for renderers and other filters - any DirectShow filter where the developer bothered to implement one. |
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| You can even examine property pages from ancient codecs that have rarely been seen. Below is the property page for Microsoft's built in MPEG-1 codec which has probably been included in every O/S since Win95. Not exactly a lot of options (monochrome?!?). And who the heck is Mediamatics? I guess in 1996 Microsoft was unable to write their own MPEG-1 decoder! |
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| Back to GSpot v2.60 |