[Request] When playing a video, utilize empty space in status bar for indication of currently selected audio and subtitle tracks

[andrewz1986]

I prefer to have status bar displayed in MPC, but it seems to me that it could display much more information than just Playing/Paused/Stopped and (elapsed) time. Every time I play some movie, I have to open context menu and go to Audio Track and Subtitle Track rows in order to find out which of these are selected in default. It seems to me like a great opportunity to have indication of these in the status bar so I would know straight away what languages are selected. I made a quick sketch:

Unfortunately, I'm not a programmer, but I'm willing to make reasonable financial donation. Where am I supposed to make it? I'm a little bit confused.

Thanks.

[clsid2]

A better place to add the track information would be in
Menu > View > Information

Plus a hotkey to display it as OSD text.

Putting it in status bar doesn't look good, and it doesn't fit when window size is small.

[andrewz1986]

A better place to add the track information would be in
Menu > View > Information

Plus a hotkey to display it as OSD text.

Putting it in status bar doesn't look good, and it doesn't fit when window size is small.

Thanks for your answer, clsid2. Putting it in Menu > View > Information or display it via hotkey doesn't solve the issue of redundant steps you have to make to find out which languages are selected. I can already use context menu for that as I said. But on a touch screen or HTPC keyboard with touchpad, it is not very comfortable. The advantage of my proposal is that you could see it straight away after opening the file. In certain movies, it might take minutes before you find out that wrong languages are selected, so you'd have to pause the movie and select your preferred languages, thus ruining the viewing experience for everyone.

On my screen, the minimum width of MPC window is 710 pixels. Status bar fills this entire width, but only like 30 percent of it is utilized for showing some information. In case labels in my sketch seems too long to you, there could be just language code and number of channels like "Audio: ENG 5.1, Subtitles: CZE" or even shorter version depicted on the new sketch below (minimum width of the window was used when making the screenshot). As you can see, half of status bar would still remain empty, if you prefer it for some reason.

[adipose]

Here's what I got working using some unicode characters for the symbols. Doing it prettier would require a few bitmaps and a more complex layout of the statusbar, so I think this should be good enough.

[adipose]

#627

[clsid2]

Maybe show the audio language only if there are multiple audio tracks? Most files have just one audio track, so in that case it is unnecessary detailed.
Maybe also when there is just one subtitle?

[adipose]

#629

[MadokaAyukawa]

Edit: I figured it out. MPC-HC displays nothing if there is no recognized language code. I thought it would display Und.

[lifegpc]

I try 1.9.7.78 (a3eac66), when playing internal subtitle, can not see subtitle language in status bar. external file works fine.

[clsid2]

It is working here. Do you have a sample file?

[lifegpc]

@clsid2 I am sorry I just see this message now. The example file.
(Can you also merge #656 , it will fix a small bug on status bar when using Simplified Chinese UI.)

[MadokaAyukawa]

Currently, MPC-HC does not seem to handle audio or subtitle tracks with an invalid or missing language code well. Using the above example file, when I play the video, it will default to external English subtitles as per my preferences. It then lists the correct audio and subtitle language in the status bar. If I then select the np language file which MPC-HC does not seem to recognize as a language, the language will stay as English in the status bar. If I select a subtitle file without a language code at all (Movie.srt), it also will not change from the last recognized language code either.

On further testing, if the only available audio and/or subtitle track language is not recognized or does not have a language code at all, MPC-HC will not display that category. The AUD or SUB or both sections will be missing if MPC-HC does not recognize the only audio or subtitle track's language (like if only Movie.srt exists). In the latter case, it will appear as if MPC-HC is not displaying/using a subtitle track when, in fact, it is.

Perhaps, if MPC-HC does not recognize the language code or it's missing altogether, then MPC-HC could use Unk as the language code as Unknown? Then in the last case above, it's clear that MPC-HC is playing a subtitle track, just that it doesn't know what language it is.

[clsid2]

I actually fixed an hour ago the issue of not removing the language code when new subtitle has unknown language.

I need to think about using "UNK" or not. That may be unclear for non-English users.

[MadokaAyukawa]

Perhaps using just --- or ***? But it would be nice to have something there for an unknown language.

And thank you for the fix of the other issue.

[adipose]

Maybe use "?"

[clsid2]

Maybe for subs "---", but for audio I prefer displaying nothing. There are plenty of file formats that have no language info. And those usually have only one stream anyway.

[lifegpc]

I prefer display nothing on status bar if no language info.