[p060477]

The best way to check a script is to put it into your Userdata (wiki) folder and try it out. Failure can be back checked in your debug log to see if it's in play and functioning. I included a script from the wiki that is known to work, try that.

that was what i did..and this is what lead me to ask you about the
result in the debug log:
"ExternalPlayer: invalid value for warpcursor: none"...
this is why i've praied for an help here...
do you find errors in my example of # 1589...??

a very usefull thing should be if you posted here your
playercorefactory.xml  that i'm sure really works fine

i re-thank you again so much indeed
and i re-ask you to be patience also with no skilled on e as me...
thxs so much again
cheers

[TimeZone]

How do I set up Windows Films & TV (video player by Microsoft) app as an external player in Kodi? Or is it even possible, any workaround?

I have an intel Core i5 11th Gen PC with Intel Iris Xe graphics.

This PC can play Dolby Vision files with correct colours but only if I use the Films & TV to play the movie. Desktop VLC and UWP VLC both can't play the file right on the PC.
To use Films & TV app, I had to download the Dolby Vision Extensions (Free) from Microsoft store then download HEVC Video Extensions (also free from Microsoft) and the player shows the correct colours.

I know how to set up external player for normal desktop apps like VLC but how do I do it for Store apps.

Apart from DV the PC also supports hardware decoding of AV1 although Kodi is only using software decoding but the playback is very smooth.

NOTE: I am using the desktop Kodi 20 alpha not the store version.

[ashlar]

How do I set up Windows Films & TV (video player by Microsoft) app as an external player in Kodi? Or is it even possible, any workaround?

I suppose you could try this way: https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-ti...indows-10/

More specific advice: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4231...windows-10

[TimeZone]

I suppose you could try this way: https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-ti...indows-10/

More specific advice: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4231...windows-10

Thanks. This is going to be very convoluted but I will give it a try. I will try running the commands via a launcher addon in Kodi.

[ashlar]

I suppose you could try this way: https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-ti...indows-10/

More specific advice: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4231...windows-10

Thanks. This is going to be very convoluted but I will give it a try. I will try running the commands via a launcher addon in Kodi.

I would appreciate if you could tag me here when you have conducted your tests. I am curious about your results.

[TimeZone]

How do I set up Windows Films & TV (video player by Microsoft) app as an external player in Kodi? Or is it even possible, any workaround?

I finally succeeded, kinda.
Dolby Vision videos automatically opens with Films & TV.
 

I would appreciate if you could tag me here when you have conducted your tests. I am curious about your results.

@ashlar you asked me to tag you. Here are my results. The links you provided gave me a starting point for the research, thanks again.

Kodi is not opening the player directly. The chain of events go something like this;

Kodi launches CMD.exe, CMD launches the Films & TV app which in turn plays the specified movie.

Here is the playercorefactory syntax

xml:


<playercorefactory>

  <players>

    <player name="Films & TV" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">

      <filename>C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe</filename>

      <args>/K "{0}"</args>

      <hidexbmc>true</hidexbmc>

      <hideconsole>false</hideconsole>

      <warpcursor>none</warpcursor>

    </player>

  </players>

  <rules action="prepend">

      <rule filetypes="mp4" filename=".*DV.*|.*DolbyVision.*" player="Films & TV"/>

  </rules>

 </playercorefactory>

• The filename is the path for CMD not the player
  
• The argument /K tells CMD to pass some parameters after it opens, the parameter passed is the movie path. Without this argument CMD opens but does nothing. There are two possible arguments /K or /C.
  
• With /K, CMD remains open after sending commands to the player while with /C it closes immediately the player opens. 
  
• I decided on /K because Kodi listens to CMD.exe which it thinks is the player and it knows nothing about the actual player (Films & TV). When CMD.exe exits, Kodi assumes the player has existed or finished playing the video.
  
• The argument "{0}" submits the absolute path to CMD and must be in quotes for CMD to process it properly. This argument works for both local and network paths. I tested with SMB path. 
  
• <hidexbmc>. I am temporarily hiding Kodi so that I just have to deal with CMD and the Films & TV to avoid some windows from hiding behind others. When CMD is closed, Kodi restores automatically.
  
• Lastly and most importantly, you must set up Films & TV as the default player for DV videos in Windows. The syntax doesn't mention the player, CMD opens the default player. I believe the player can be specified with extra commands but this is simplest.
  

Drawbacks to this method

1. The App can only play MP4 DV, not MKV. 
   
2. The player is not really outputing DV stream, so HDMI doesn't detect it as DV even if the TV supports DV.
   
3. The app either stripes away DV metadata or tone map DV to either SDR or HDR. Not sure whether it tone maps or sripes away but with HDR enabled on Windows settings the picture quality is better than awosome. The problem is, this requires you to go into Windows settting to enable HDR. Could be a problem without a mouse.
   
4. The /K command leaves CMD hanging around. You have to manually close the player then CMD to access Kodi. This again requires a mouse.
   

To make this even better, I need to find a way to turn on HDR automagically in Windows when the movie launches just like Kodi does. 
A way to autoclose both the player and CMD after the movie is done would be a bonus.

[ashlar]

 

• The player is not really outputing DV stream, so HDMI doesn't detect it as DV even if the TV supports DV.
  
  
• The app either stripes away DV metadata or tone map DV to either SDR or HDR. Not sure whether it tone maps or sripes away but with HDR enabled on Windows settings the picture quality is better than awosome. The problem is, this requires you to go into Windows settting to enable HDR. Could be a problem without a mouse.
  

Glad I could partially help but... if the player does not output DV, you're absolutely not better off than simply playing back an HDR10 version of the same content, which Kodi handles flawlessly by now.

[TimeZone]

Glad I could partially help but... if the player does not output DV, you're absolutely not better off than simply playing back an HDR10 version of the same content, which Kodi handles flawlessly by now.

That is true but my DV files are future proof. If I ever get a DV capable device, and I believe I will someday, I will already have the files. I was already saving HDR files before I had HDR capable devices and using Kodi tone mapping feature from HDR to SDR and I believe it was a wise choice, same thing now with DV.

[ashlar]

Glad I could partially help but... if the player does not output DV, you're absolutely not better off than simply playing back an HDR10 version of the same content, which Kodi handles flawlessly by now.

That is true but my DV files are future proof. If I ever get a DV capable device, and I believe I will someday, I will already have the files. I was already saving HDR files before I had HDR capable devices and using Kodi tone mapping feature from HDR to SDR and I believe it was a wise choice, same thing now with DV.

Got it. Makes sense, I guess.

[jsauser11]

Having trouble trying to setup Leawo Blu-ray Player as an external player for only BluRay discs.
Here is my playercorefactory.xml:
<playercorefactory>
<players>
<player name="Leawo Blu-ray Player" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">
<filename>C:\Program Files (x86)\Leawo\Blu-ray Player\Leawo Blu-ray Player.exe</filename>
<args>"{1}" /fullscreen /close</args>
<hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
<hideconsole>false</hideconsole>
<warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
<playcountminimumtime>5</playcountminimumtime>
</player>
</players>
<rules action="prepend">
<rule filetypes="bd" player="Leawo Blu-ray Player"/>
</rules>
</playercorefactory>

When I try and play a BR disc from Kodi, it does not recognize the external player, and tries to use the default player, which of course fails due to BR disc encription. Checking the Kodi log file, I find these lines:

2023-01-05 15:58:36.793 T:11240    INFO <general>: Loading player core factory settings from special://profile/playercorefactory.xml.
2023-01-05 15:58:36.793 T:11240 WARNING <general>: CPlayerCoreFactory::GetPlayer(Leawo Blu-ray Player): no such player: Leawo Blu-ray Player
2023-01-05 15:58:36.793 T:11240    INFO <general>: Loaded playercorefactory configuration

I have checked the path, and it is solid, so I can't understand the WARNING line in the kodi.log.
Also, I can't seem to find any documentation in the Wiki page on external players which would direct me how to construct a attribute rule set which would only limit this player to BluRay disc playback.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Best Regards!

[User 476552]

Just a thought, have you tried a more generic player name without spaces?

All the examples here https://kodi.wiki/view/External_players use non spaced names.

Maybe try LWO-BD as a name just to see what happens.

[jsauser11]

Thanks for the suggestion. Tried a non-spaced player name but kodi.log still presents the same warning line. The non-spaced and spaced player name does show up when attempting a "Play with" on movies, so maybe the warning is not a functional problem?

[jsauser11]

My largest issue is that the playercorefactory.xml file in the OP works fine on my Desktop. When I attempt to use the same file on my HTPC, it refuses to start up Leawo at all, and just tries to open the Blu-ray disc with the default player. Same version of Kodi, Leawo Player, and Windows on both machines. Only real difference is the logical drive on one is D: and on the other E:. Can't understand why it works on my Desktop but not the HTPC.

[jsauser11]

Here are kodi.log snips from attempts to play a purchased Blu-ray movie on both the PC which fails to call the external player, and the machine which successfully calls the external player:

Machine Where External Player Does Not Start [HTPC-1]:

[HUGE LOG DUMP REOVED BY MODERATOR - PASTEBIN LINK (THE CORRECT METHOD) ADDED]

https://paste.kodi.tv/docazowica.kodi

[Dangelus]

@jsauser11 

Please do not post logs directly in your post. Use https://paste.kodi.tv just like it tells you to in big red letters above the "Post Reply" button below.

I have transferred your log and provided a pastebin link for you on this occassion.