Dreamcast 4XM video testing

[Ian Micheal]

So it is possible to have a stand alone 4x movie without Dreamon. Using GINSU to play the vid the same way Sega smashpack plays a game after loading the emu.

Code: Select all

[GINSU]
Ginsu.FirstApp                  = VID

Ginsu.DefaultApp                = GINRESET
#Ginsu.DefaultApp                = GINRESET
Ginsu.XferExecutable            = \GINXFER.BIN

[GINBOOT]
Ginsu.Path                      = \
Ginsu.Command                   = \1ST_READ.BIN

[GINRESET]
Ginsu.Path                      = \
Ginsu.Command                   = \GINRESET.BIN

[VID]
Ginsu.Path                      = \
Ginsu.Command                   = "\4XMPLAY.BIN VID.4Xm"

If you change Ginsu.DefaultApp from GINRESET to VID it will loop the movie forever.

This method also works with PLAYVID and SFD’s.

The only dependencies 4XMPLAY.BIN needs is 4XLOGO.PVR and AUDIO64.DRV



can you do exact how you did this encoding source video and settings on the encoder because i think this is perfect dvd qualty!!!



I found for the best quality video keep the source vid encoding as close to the original as possible and let the 4x encoder stomp on it after.

You guys are Rockstars! Glad I finally got to check this out! Very cool tech!

Here is a small vid for proof of concept:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L2cgSU ... sp=sharing

Tested on GDEMU

Thanks for taking the time to test it and make an example.. Only real problem is encoding time qualty is amazing for Dreamcast..

Love new 4xm video clips.. how long did it take for you to encode it ???

Qualty of this is amazing cant compare this to sfd or mpeg Wow nice example

If we optimized this push it out to 83 overburn we can make it work just as well on cdr

Thanks mate !!

Can you tell me what the source video was size bitrate and what settings you used.. what format was this video..

It' plays fantastic nice size this is as good as dc video gets. Always thought if They made 4xm movie sets for dc would been as close to dvd as you could get with the hardware..

[SMiTH]

thank you drez. so now a standalone 4xm player is possible! hell yea.
and your sample 4xm video looks awesome.
don't have a dc up and running so i used nulldc to test.
i guess we can say that now it will just take a couple more tests, a new script, and a final 4xm movie can be done?

[-drez01-]

Hey thanks guys! I just want to say that all your testing and documentation made this happen. I just followed your lead. I mostly just read the thread and followed it.

SMiTH’s guides over the years here, from GINSU, CDDA and custom releases taught me a lot. Ian’s help with the smashpack emu back in the day is what gave me the idea and finding Shoom’s selfboot batch script make it 2x faster to test. Used it for this infact

For the bit rate of the source I kept it just above the originals. For some reason keeping it the same was not lossless. Lower or too high would create colour artifacting.

I think you have to just go on a video to video basis.
It all depends on the original video. Like a 1080p source looks good at 640x480 on a widescreen but squished on a 4x3.

I used AVS Video Converter free version cuz I already had it - MPEG4(DivX/Xvid compatible) Video Codec

I kept the 4x bitrate default. So it took over an hour for a 4 min clip..

[SMiTH]

soon a new selfboot batch script will be updated for a standalone 4xm player.
thank you drez for figuring out howto make it work.

could we disassemble the 4xm_comp.exe and try to figure out a way to improve the app?
pe explorer will disassemble the exe
any ideas on this?

[MastaG]

soon a new selfboot batch script will be updated for a standalone 4xm player.
thank you drez for figuring out howto make it work.

could we disassemble the 4xm_comp.exe and try to figure out a way to improve the app?
pe explorer will disassemble the exe
any ideas on this?

I'm looking forward to it.
Can it also create a GDI image or LBA0 patched iso for DreamShell / RetroDream?

Also, does the 4xm_comp application utilize multiple CPU cores?
I'm asking because I have access to fast 24 core / 48 thread hardware.

[Ian Micheal]

soon a new selfboot batch script will be updated for a standalone 4xm player.
thank you drez for figuring out howto make it work.

could we disassemble the 4xm_comp.exe and try to figure out a way to improve the app?
pe explorer will disassemble the exe
any ideas on this?

I'm looking forward to it.
Can it also create a GDI image or LBA0 patched iso for DreamShell / RetroDream?

Also, does the 4xm_comp application utilize multiple CPU cores?
I'm asking because I have access to fast 24 core / 48 thread hardware.

Single core only and very very slow think 10 hours dont use more then 1 core

Dreamshell iso dont have the gdi limit i can make 4gb iso for the serial port so i dont see why you could not for IDE..

[SMiTH]

to get a bin (1st_read,0wince, boot bins etc) to boot at 0 lba, open hex editor search for "cd00" then go 8 spots from left and change value to A6 00.
for 11702 lba change value to 5C 2E. for 45000 lba change value to 6E B0.
wince / only requires one more step using bincon.
katana / appears as a wince type bin but its not (these are type by type basis to determine etc)
cdda requires lba to be at different value due to audio tracks taking session one and moving data.
also cdda requires audio loop tools so the same tracks dont repeat.

idk theres alot of specifics that you just have to determine for each game
but what threw me for a loop is the data/data 0 lba stuff booting on dc console.
imo that goes against every method i thought the selfbooting structure for dc was lol
idk its weird.
it still does not make sense to me how that even works..

I don't know which dc video players run well off sd card reader/dreamshell?
dcdivx, truemotion, gyplay, 4xm, revised dc media player...
let me know.

[CORE316]

Is this still being worked on?
I would not mind doing a couple of Sega Exclusive Movies on Dreamcast like Sonics and the Animated Sonic Cartoons maybe DOA and the terrible House of the Dead Movies lol Maybe a Custom Retrospective Documentary etc.

But the Single Core seems a bit of a daunting task without Multithreads or GPU Assistance.

[BuffaloBill]

Are these Fuzzcast Quality or better?

How long would 20 something minutes take to Encode in 4XM?

[SMiTH]

Are these Fuzzcast Quality or better?

How long would 20 something minutes take to Encode in 4XM?

Is this still being worked on?
I would not mind doing a couple of Sega Exclusive Movies on Dreamcast like Sonics and the Animated Sonic Cartoons maybe DOA and the terrible House of the Dead Movies lol Maybe a Custom Retrospective Documentary etc.

But the Single Core seems a bit of a daunting task without Multithreads or GPU Assistance.

If I am not mistaken fuzzcast is using either vcd or divx but I think it is vcd?
4xm can do dvd quality video.
I would say a 20min video would be close to 20hrs. to encode (going by comparison when i ripped a dvd movie and converted avi to 4xm into 4 - 23min .4xm files) *it all depends on the source you convert, see drez's info above. <---

To cut down the encoding time you can run 2 4xm_comp exe's and then to run more as ian does...(run others in a vm)
This way you can convert an entire movie in the time it would take to create one 23min 4xm.
I've only had luck running 2 4xm_comp exe's natively, you can run more natively but eventually over 2 will result in the other 4xm_comp exe's timing out and crashing.

Maybe I will make the updated script today using drez's cfg file?

Feel free to help in finding optimal settings when converting to 4xm.
So far ian and drez have made the best findings encoding 4xm.
Sadly when i tried creating a full movie to 4xm, the settings that I used caused video playback for 3min or so until video froze and only audio would continue streaming.

But, this is all trial and error until we figure it out.
Check out drez's upload it is freaking awesome.. he made a 4xm video selfboot. (this will give you an idea as to the potential of the player)
Also check out ians f9 video sample.