Is there any documentation on playlist's #EXTVLCOPT tags?

[rattlehead]

Hello everyone,

looking at an .m3u file that I saved from within VLC after creating bookmarks, I've noticed the #EXTVLCOPT:bookmarks flags.
Another time I wondered, if it was possible to tell where to start (and optionally stop) video playback for individual entries, and the most famous search engine brought to light that there are flags for that:
#EXTVLCOPT:start-time and #EXTVLCOPT:stop-time, respectively.

I then have tried to find a complete documentation on these flags, to see what is possible, but such a thing does not seem to exist or it is top secret
For instance, I wondered if it is possible to encode cropping or image manipulation (like invert colors, horizontal flip, etc.) into the playlist, too.

Any information might help, thank you,
rattlehead

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

The options are the same as the VLC command line (and preferences) options. Or rather it's a "safe" subset (we don't trust playlist files, they might contain harmful stuff from the internets).

[rattlehead]

Hello, thanks for the answer.
But since I can't get any of the more complex stuff to work on command line either, could you please tell me what to add to the playlist to (a) invert colors and (b) crop the video?
Thank you again

[rattlehead]

could you please tell me what to add to the playlist to (a) invert colors and (b) crop the video?

Hello again,
this is still an open question for me.

[rattlehead]

Hello?
Isn't there anybody who can help?

[mederi]

Code: Select all

vlc.exe "D:\videos\v1.avi" --video-filter=invert:croppadd{croptop=50,cropbottom=50}

These options do not work from playlist files.

Code: Select all

#EXTM3U #EXTINF:9,v1.avi #EXTVLCOPT:video-filter=invert:croppadd{croptop=50,cropbottom=50} d:\videos\v1.avi

[trysting]

Has anyone got a REAL answer to this question. Referring to VLC's command parameters is invalid as the format is manifestly different. I want to use EXTVLCOPT to mean "if you frackin' display English subtitles for frackin' English dialogue I'll frackin' punch a hole in the screen and then chuck the notebook through the frackin' closed door".

I've created playlists that are up to 80 hours long, that's a lot of individual files that require me to swap to the media machine, wake up the mouse, right-click, navigate to subtitle, then to tracks, then to disable. I just want something running in the background to entertain me while loading, not a major drama that make me stop work and turn off subtitles every time I look up.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

The format for individual parameters is exactly the same actually. See mederi's examples.

[trysting]

I have no idea what you mean. Your 'answer' does not point to documentation, is there documentation? I have been trying to find the vlc implementation for about 3 years, likely longer.

Nor does it point me to where it is documented that one can hide undesired subtitles, or show the desired subtitles. Preferences is not relevant as it is not a global issue. I can hide external subs by putting them in a folder with an obtuse name, but not those in, for example, MKV.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

In this thread, there are explanations of how to get the list and description of options, and how to put them in a playlist file.

[trysting]

Why are you denying the point? Since rattlehead » 2016 Aug Fri 12:58 post there is not one single link, and other links in other threads on the forum are 404. "mederi's examples" is a strange non-specific reference, since there is no link to them.

There must be specifications, verbose and matrix, used by the programmers and testers of VLC that list the tags to be found within a playlist. Searching VLC documentation yields empty results.

Strange lines with lots of dashes mean nothing to me since I haven't found any cross references.

It's a simple request. Before I start posting feature requests and/or bug reports I want to test the tags for use on local machines including networked.

Are your posts a joke that I'm too frustrate to 'get'?

[unidan]

Hi, there is no such list, because there is currently no option to list the "safe" options.

The safe options are those that can be used by an input file directly, the options that are not safe can only be set from a trusted input (like command line or configuration).

Because there is no such list currently, it's hard to signal easily where you can find it. But you can have some hint by looking at the code:

https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/ ... L2105-2107

Code: Select all

add_bool( "repeat", false, REPEAT_TEXT, REPEAT_LONGTEXT ) change_short('R') change_safe()

This adds a "repeat" option, and because there is a change_safe following, it means that you can use the option in EXTVLCOPT.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Why are you denying the point? Since rattlehead » 2016 Aug Fri 12:58 post there is not one single link, and other links in other threads on the forum are 404. "mederi's examples" is a strange non-specific reference, since there is no link to them.

That's rich. The list of options is available in the command line help. That's not something that can be linked. Not everything can take the form of a URL.

As for the syntax, you should be careful what you wish for. I am pretty sure that 99% of people would find mederi's example easier to understand than a formal document.

[trysting]

The majority of people using VLC would more likely not be familiar with CLI. As a professional documenter I have experience with having to physically travel to a programmer's desk and park myself there until I can get a straight answer that will enable me to write user-appropriate instructions.

I find it strange that people keep asking for assistance, as I have seen questions elsewhere, but no-one is giving a straightforward, end-user friendly answer. I also wonder how it is possible that VLC is being acceptance-tested without a table/matrix specification to check off. You know the answer, so you assume an casual hint will be obvious. It isn't.

I think I have decoded your hint, but really this is a shortfall in the documentation. I have offered several times to help out since I have taken the lead in setting documentation standards, policies and procedures for multinational organisations (ISO 9000 compliant), but to a resounding disinterest.

[unidan]

Hi,

The majority of people using VLC would more likely not be familiar with CLI. As a professional documenter I have experience with having to physically travel to a programmer's desk and park myself there until I can get a straight answer that will enable me to write user-appropriate instructions.

That would indeed be far easier. It's possible to do that remotely if you have a specific feature you want to use through #EXTVLCOPT but it's hard to give a general answer given that there is no such "ready-to-use" documentation for that.

I also wonder how it is possible that VLC is being acceptance-tested without a table/matrix specification to check off. You know the answer, so you assume an casual hint will be obvious. It isn't.

VLC is a free open source project maintained by volunteers. My company is sponsoring development and in particular adding tests to provide acceptance in the review process, but in general the acceptance test as a product is done manually by the volunteers and hard-earned knowledges. In particular, the options are the first to not being automatically tested, mainly because maintaining the list of options somewhere together with a dynamic list of plugins that can themselves provide options, in addition with the multiplatform constraint is really really hard.

Ideally, the options would be extracted statically and the plugins would come with their tests, but that's not the case yet. And it's not even about documentation yet.

I think I have decoded your hint, but really this is a shortfall in the documentation. I have offered several times to help out since I have taken the lead in setting documentation standards, policies and procedures for multinational organisations (ISO 9000 compliant), but to a resounding disinterest.

Please note that on-going documentation effort is done here https://docs.videolan.me/vlc-user/3.0/en/index.html with the contribution process being available to everyone here: https://code.videolan.org/docs/vlc-user/

I'm not a professional documenter, so I don't really know how it works in your work environment, but you can probably propose workflow improvement or express needs from the upstream project here.

[trysting]

I just caught that there was a reply, thanks. I've had a quick look and it seems from a scan that documentors need to work with Python. If that's the case, then that explains a lot. Programmers and Documentors / Tech Writers are very different beasts. Python goes from "straightforward, this makes sense" to "which corner do I sob in?" dramatically (for non-coders). I live for normalisation and such and work with 1000+ page documents using NoteTab Pro scripts as the construction engine, so I think I understand what you are trying to do. To a writer, the github page is very dissuasive. Sad. Good task-oriented user documentation is the very best acceptance testing. I've saved the links you mentioned and when I surface from current work I will revisit it. -- Ali Kayn, Melbourne, Australia.