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Topic: New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper (Read 84081 times) previous topic - next topic
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New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Hi folks,

here is a new foobar (0.9.x) DSP plugin which I coded over the weekend:
Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper, version 0.1 (prerelease).
Hope it works with pre-0.9.4 foobars (feedback welcome!).

Grab it at: http://hosted.filefront.com/prooptimizer/

To use it, you must own the PL2XDLL.dll (put it in the foobar2000 or Windows\system32 directory). There are at least 2 versions of this file, and I recommend the newer v.3.0.0.2723 (which seems to be a major rewrite).
Of course, I will not point you to the source of that dll ;-)

Notes:
It will upmix any stereo source to 5.1, but the LFE channel will stay empty.
So, if you need bass redirection, you should enable it in your soundcard's settings.
You can also use it to get surround on your headphones, either if you put foo_dsp_atsurround after it (in the Headphone mode) or foo_dsp_dolbyhp.

Of course, you can also take ATSurround's built-in upmixing instead of PL2.
What sounds better depends mostly on the type of music and personal taste.


PS:
There's a bunch of undocumented settings hidden in the dll, but I currently don't have the time to
decypher/expose them. Among these is the ProLogic IIx (7.1) mode which will have to wait until I add a GUI...  ;-)

pro_optimizer

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #1
Sorry, there was a bug with presets (or not having such) which prevented you from adding it to you DSP chain.

It's fixed now.

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #2
Just wanted to say thanks for this - can't believe no-one else has posted already!

I've wanted a plugin like this for ages! Unfortunately I can't test it properly, cos I've only got 2.0 sound on my laptop right now, but I'll give it a good try when I'm back at my desktop. Seems to work fine on my laptop so far though (changes the sound, doesn't crash!),

Thanks again!

Ed

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #3
Cool, that's already two people who like it (together with me ;-)

Christian

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #4
Great plugin,Thank you very much!

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #5
wow this is pretty nice, sounds great on my 5.1 setup, and it's barely taking up any cpu usage for me. good plugin indeed.

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #6
Sweet, I have been wanting this for a very long time. Can't wait to test it out with the Dolby Headphone DSP

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #7
I can confirm that it works, once I had located PL2XDLL (it comes with PowerDVD Deluxe for example).
Looking forward for some tweakability  . I'm hoping for (in this order  ): switch between Cinema and Music mode (fixed to Music mode is acceptable), Center Width (to balance center and L+R), Dimension (to balance front and back), and maybe Panorama (kind of extended stereo).
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #8
Quote
I can confirm that it works, once I had located PL2XDLL (it comes with PowerDVD Deluxe for example).
Looking forward for some tweakability cool.gif . I'm hoping for (in this order shifty.gif ): switch between Cinema and Music mode (fixed to Music mode is acceptable), Center Width (to balance center and L+R), Dimension (to balance front and back), and maybe Panorama (kind of extended stereo).


I hear you :-). Currently it's fixed to music mode.
As for "Center Width" and "Dimension", I think that these options are not supported by this implementation.
At least PowerDVD doesn't use it and why should they implement stuff that they don't use (look at the manufacturer of the DLL). I experimented quite a lot with the additional parameters and could not change anything like this (not even surround delay). But I won't give up with this yet.
But if you want Panorama mode, you can use stereo->4 channels. I'm hearing (at least from the Dolby Headphone camp) that this plugin (let's call it 4ch) sounds often better than PL2...

Christian

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #9
I hear you :-). Currently it's fixed to music mode.
As for "Center Width" and "Dimension", I think that these options are not supported by this implementation.
At least PowerDVD doesn't use it [..] (look at the manufacturer of the DLL).

Oops, I see. And I assumed it was from Dolby 
Seems like this is it then (as far as 5.1 is concerned). Thanks for explaining.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #10
Quote
Oops, I see. And I assumed it was from Dolby sad.gif
Seems like this is it then (as far as 5.1 is concerned). Thanks for explaining.


Well, at least it is Dolby certified, so it follows the PL2 specs. But it doesn't include all the bells & whistles, I guess.

But apart from this I just noticed that I have to expose a movie/music mode switch since, according to the PL2 FAQ, music mode is especially intended for programming that is not Dolby Stereo encoded. So you may want to activate movie mode for the stuff that is correctly encoded.

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #11
hi, tested this and when i select it in DSP i can hear the difference but i was expecting the blue light (5.1) to light up on my amp? is this supposed to happen? im using a optical out

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #12
OK,  got it loaded,  found PLX2DLL and everything sounds great.  However,  when I go to preferences--> DSP Manager and enable the wrapper,  the configure button stays greyed out.  Where are you guys configuring this dll?

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #13
Quote
OK, got it loaded, found PLX2DLL and everything sounds great. However, when I go to preferences--> DSP Manager and enable the wrapper, the configure button stays greyed out. Where are you guys configuring this dll?


There is nothing to configure yet. Its currently fixed to PL2 Music Mode (which should be ok).
But I will add a switch for this plus 5.1/7.1 mode and separate volume controls for all channels in the future.
I am not sure whether PL2XDLL supports the additional music mode controls "dimension","center width" and "panorama mode" which you may know from some A/V receivers. At least I couln't find them yet.

Quote
hi, tested this and when i select it in DSP i can hear the difference but i was expecting the blue light (5.1) to light up on my amp? is this supposed to happen? im using a optical out


This will only work if your sound chip can encode 5.1 into dolby digital on the fly. AFAIK only nVidia Soundstorm can do this (nForce >=2). Try the channeltest.mp3 (on my site) to check if everything works.

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #14
Quote
OK, got it loaded, found PLX2DLL and everything sounds great. However, when I go to preferences--> DSP Manager and enable the wrapper, the configure button stays greyed out. Where are you guys configuring this dll?


There is nothing to configure yet. Its currently fixed to PL2 Music Mode (which should be ok).
But I will add a switch for this plus 5.1/7.1 mode and separate volume controls for all channels in the future.
I am not sure whether PL2XDLL supports the additional music mode controls "dimension","center width" and "panorama mode" which you may know from some A/V receivers. At least I couln't find them yet.

Quote
hi, tested this and when i select it in DSP i can hear the difference but i was expecting the blue light (5.1) to light up on my amp? is this supposed to happen? im using a optical out


This will only work if your sound chip can encode 5.1 into dolby digital on the fly. AFAIK only nVidia Soundstorm can do this (nForce >=2). Try the channeltest.mp3 (on my site) to check if everything works.



Thanks pro,  I'd like to test the channeltestmp3 you mentioned but what is your web address?


New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #16
I have tested with version 3.0.1.929 of the dll and im combination with dsp_dolbyhph. I didn't expect it to sound so good. I've been listening to Jazz and the surround effect was really enjoyable. I felt like sitting in a club listening to live music. I could understand that some people prefer the crystal clear sound of pure stereo but I really like that deep bass the components seem to create. Especially with my Sennheiser HD485 that make you feel like you've got a subwoofer next to your ear. Thanks for that comonent

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #17
For some new thoughts about how PL2 works and what its limitations are with respect to music take a look at this post: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=455659
Unfortunately, its very easy to confuse real surround with artifacts (I fell for that often enough), but where it sounds better than 4 channel upmix, use it.

Christian

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #18
I am not sure whether PL2XDLL supports the additional music mode controls "dimension","center width" and "panorama mode" which you may know from some A/V receivers. At least I couln't find them yet.

There is one DS filter that comes with PowerDVD, claudfx.ax. I've tested it with KMPlayer and it uses PL2XDLL and have all features except Dimension (PLIIx mode, Panorama, Center width, Music and Movie mode) It works ok, so I guess that everything is implemented in dll.



BTW, I get the following:

Failed to load DLL: foo_dsp_pl2.dll
Reason: Invalid access to memory location. 

What's the cause?
If age or weaknes doe prohibyte bloudletting you must use boxing

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #19
Failed to load DLL: foo_dsp_pl2.dll
Reason: Invalid access to memory location.


Use the pl2_featuretest dll that is on the same site instead.

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #20
Thanks a lot!
If age or weaknes doe prohibyte bloudletting you must use boxing

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #21

Failed to load DLL: foo_dsp_pl2.dll
Reason: Invalid access to memory location.


Use the pl2_featuretest dll that is on the same site instead.


Hi folks!

I have the same problem but there isn't that pl2_featuretest dll anymore, i'm using pl2xdll.dll ver. 3.0.0.3230 from powerdvd.

Any help would be appreciated.

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #22


Failed to load DLL: foo_dsp_pl2.dll
Reason: Invalid access to memory location.


Use the pl2_featuretest dll that is on the same site instead.


Hi folks!

I have the same problem but there isn't that pl2_featuretest dll anymore, i'm using pl2xdll.dll ver. 3.0.0.3230 from powerdvd.

Any help would be appreciated.

Interesting... for me it works with the exact same version of the DLL (tested it right now).
Is there more debug information which you could post?
The featuretest version was just a quick testing version in which surrounds are mapped to left ear and fronts are mapped to the right ear, not for the general public (this was also stated in the download description).

Btw: I don't use the PL2 DSP anymore, because it sounds suboptimal (you would note that it turns the sound into a tinny mess if you listen carefully).
For this reason I developed Free Surround, which doesn't have that problem, doesn't rely on commercial software and has more precise steering.

 

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #23
Thanks for replying!

Well i was just curious about dolby stuff, i only have 2.0 system,
i tried free surround with (alessandro ms-1) headphones, with and without dolby hp wrapper and obviously sounded pretty much the same all the way,
that's all,i don't mind that error anymore.

BTW: one little thing that drived me stark raving mad with foobar recently was/is the title formatting of status bar.  I wanted it to show VBR or CBR (with mp3's) correspondingly, but only CBR showed up correctly. Well that's almost fixed now except on one album.....
Then i checked out the "Format: MP3 / 192 / VBR / JS"-line(shows the quality of an album) which seems to show the correct CBR/VBR-mode everytime. So i went to prefs/disp/columns ui/pl view/colums/album-mode:

Code: [Select]
// FILEFORMAT AND REPLAYGAIN
// linepos-check
$select($sub($num($get_global(tracknr),1),$get(lineadjust)),
// fileformat
$get_global(standard_color_low)'Format: '
$get_global(standard_color)$get_global(filetype2)' / '
[b]$get_global(quality2)[/b]
// albumgain
$if(%__replaygain_album_gain%,
$char(9)$get_global(standard_color_low)'Gain: '
$get_global(standard_color)%__replaygain_album_gain%
)
// end linepos-check
)
$puts(lineadjust,$add($get(lineadjust),1))


that quality2 seems to be the linked with bitratemode in Format: ..., so next step was globals/variables:

Code: [Select]
$puts([b]quality2[/b],$replace($get(quality),[$info(bitrate_dynamic)],[$info(bitrate)]))


that line of code above defines(imo?) the variable quality2, but here's the question: WHY can't i use $get_global(quality2) in status bar? When i try it this comes on status bar: [UNKNOWN FUNCTION]

Maybe i'm an idiot but i just can't get the hang of this. I need help.


Best Regards

New DSP: Dolby Pro Logic II wrapper

Reply #24
Thanks for replying!

Well i was just curious about dolby stuff, i only have 2.0 system,
i tried free surround with (alessandro ms-1) headphones, with and without dolby hp wrapper and obviously sounded pretty much the same all the way,
that's all,i don't mind that error anymore.

BTW: one little thing that drived me stark raving mad with foobar recently was/is the title formatting of status bar.  I wanted it to show VBR or CBR (with mp3's) correspondingly, but only CBR showed up correctly. Well that's almost fixed now except on one album.....
Then i checked out the "Format: MP3 / 192 / VBR / JS"-line(shows the quality of an album) which seems to show the correct CBR/VBR-mode everytime. So i went to prefs/disp/columns ui/pl view/colums/album-mode:

Code: [Select]
// FILEFORMAT AND REPLAYGAIN
// linepos-check
$select($sub($num($get_global(tracknr),1),$get(lineadjust)),
// fileformat
$get_global(standard_color_low)'Format: '
$get_global(standard_color)$get_global(filetype2)' / '
[b]$get_global(quality2)[/b]
// albumgain
$if(%__replaygain_album_gain%,
$char(9)$get_global(standard_color_low)'Gain: '
$get_global(standard_color)%__replaygain_album_gain%
)
// end linepos-check
)
$puts(lineadjust,$add($get(lineadjust),1))


that quality2 seems to be the linked with bitratemode in Format: ..., so next step was globals/variables:

Code: [Select]
$puts([b]quality2[/b],$replace($get(quality),[$info(bitrate_dynamic)],[$info(bitrate)]))


that line of code above defines(imo?) the variable quality2, but here's the question: WHY can't i use $get_global(quality2) in status bar? When i try it this comes on status bar: [UNKNOWN FUNCTION]

Maybe i'm an idiot but i just can't get the hang of this. I need help.


Best Regards

Yeah, what you get depends a lot on the albums you listen to. The philosophy is that if the album is plain stereo, you should get plain stereo and not some kind of "enhanced" stereo.
But if there is something in the surround channels, you'll get it. Btw: I prefer Dolby Headphone to my surround system.

Oh, and I have no clue how to get that title formatting problem handled, I am content with the vanilla GUI. :-)