I'd like to disable preview support for video files because from time to time I use it on a large video file and encounter lag (and some other issues with various ancient avi files).
Thus I'd like to disable all video support. But the extension list in the settings isn't separated between video and audio (and, I guess, not all extensions are guaranteed to provide info whethere there is a video since they're simply containers that can contain both or any type? I understand some are .xxV and .xxA, but that's not always correct)
So I'd like to have a separate Video-only options where I could disable any and all video support regardless of extensions
.flac .m4a .mp3 .mpa .ogg .opus .wav .wma are the audio extensions in the default list. Just paste that over the extensions.
but the video extensions can also have just the audio track, those would also need to be played, only ignored if there is a video track as well.
So basically the video "filter/codec" should be disabled
There's no way to do that, and the plugin wouldn't know if those files are video + audio or just one or the other until it's already playing them.
If you want to fix the lag instead, it'll be down to the codecs it's using. The FAQ on media playback has some alternatives.
But the plugin doesn't need to know anything, all it needs to do is disable the video playing capabilities, so become a pure "audio player" (just like an audio player can't play video tracks).
Don't think lag is avoidable for very big video files, though the plugin could have a file size threshold, above which it wouldn't try to parse anything
Do you mean this FAQ? HOW TO: Enable/fix playback of various media formats in Opus?
It doesn't list the two codecs I see: MediaEngine and MediaSession. I guess the first one is #1 on that list?
Then it would still play the audio tracks of video files, and potentially still have the delay (depending on what's causing it).
I've updated the FAQ to mention the codec types and plugin settings.
With autoplay of video files disabled, it won't do even that!
But even then, it shouldn't lag as much because audio is much "simpler" and also smaller vs video.
That depends what’s causing the delay, which is not normal IME (unless the files are on a slow device).
Hm, I'd expect large video files with modern demanding codecs to not be instant like those 500Kb pictures?
But likely you're right, think those lags might've been short instances of this issue Audio player panel sometimes hangs Opus while being turned OFF
Since in brief testing while there is an (expected) longer delay before playback of a large video file starts compared to a small image, this doesn't seem to have any effect on UI responsiveness/file switching
Though for those case of slow devices would still be nice to be able to have proper type separation not tied only to file extensions, but maybe that's too rare.
What do 500Kb pictures have to do with any of this?
My understanding is you were asking for the video player to ignore the video stream and only play the audio stream, because starting the video takes too long with your files/codecs/etc.
But playing just the audio part may still require parsing the file, and could have the same delay as playing the video and audio at once. (Or it may be faster, but who knows. I would not assume it to be unless you have tested that somehow.)
In any case, starting large videos takes a second or two at most in my experience. If it's taking longer, either something is wrong with your codecs (or some other part of the system, e.g. antivirus scanning the files, looking for videos that try to use known exploits, perhaps) or the media the large videos are on is very slow or something.
It's best to turn off the preview pane completely if you don't want it playing selected files in the folder you are in.
it has to do with the expectations of delay. Which I have for large video files compared to smaller files or non-modern-complex-video multimedia files, while you said delays weren't normal
But playing just the audio part may still require parsing the file, and could have the same delay as playing the video and audio at once. (Or it may be faster, but who knows. I would not assume it to be unless you have tested that somehow.)
I've tested it by playing a large video file in a music player and in a video player / Opus video panel. It does indeed seems faster as I'd expect, the audio starts right away in the music player, but with a delay in Opus/Video player.
It's best to turn off the preview pane completely if you don't want it playing selected files in the folder you are in.
How is it the best if I do want that? I want to preview pictures (where this panel is the most useful for me) and play audio (somewhat useful). Just want to avoid the video because don't remember it ever being useful over an external player with dedicated more convenient controls.
So Ideally for a video file this would happen:
- audio would auto-play right away without waiting for any video parsing/decoding
- after some parsing delay on first file opening a thumbnail is shown, which is currently happening if you disable video extension (but, importantly, unlike with regular video playback, this does not need to be synced with the audio, so does not slow the audio playback down)
- (and Opus seems to cache these thumbnails, so on subsequent file changes even the thumbnails are shown instantly, so you have the responsiveness of a regular mp3/Jpeg file)