GridPlayer Alabaster, my fork of 0.5.5

[XDevMatt]

Hi Vlad,

Thanks for the foundational work. I used your software for quite a while, and I appreciate having it to use and as a fork project.

I'm calling the fork GridPlayer Alabaster. Its going to go live beta shortly. Would you like source access before it goes public, or a list of changes?

Regards,
XDevMatt

[vzhd1701]

What does it do?

[XDevMatt]

Thanks for looking! It's 0.5.5 with a set of workflow changes for people who run big grids:

• Drag a subtitle file onto a cell to load it there, plus optional SubtitleCat.com search (opt-in plugin, off by default).
• Loop controls: Shift+L toggles loop, and [ and ] set loop points.
• Per-cell profiles with stable cell ids, so a cell keeps its settings across playlists.
• Optional rotate-to-fit, so a video turns to match its cell's orientation, and an aspect filter that can skip files that don't match the cell.
• Mute is volume 0% with a 3% step, and new cells start muted so a full grid doesn't play every soundtrack at once.
• yt-dlp uses your browser's cookies instead of a stored cookie jar.
• HLS/DASH and MP4+M4A streams with separate audio play directly in VLC with quality and audio-track menus, no merge needed.
• A Shortcuts menu entry and an opt-in plugin layer.
  Same GPLv3 terms, with credit to you in the NOTICE.

Early repo access or full change list available to you or just keep your eyes on the kitty logo code will there soon.

[vzhd1701]

Looking forward to seeing it in action, great work! Might steal a few things back hehe.

[XDevMatt]

The source is public now: https://github.com/XDevMatt/alabaster-gridplayer

The kitty logo is on the front page, and the code plus docs are on the 0.2beta-fixes branch. Steal away.

[XDevMatt]

🚀 Release Announcement: GridPlayer Alabaster v0.2beta_rc1

I’m excited to share GridPlayer Alabaster 0.2beta_rc1, a portable Windows fork built on top of GridPlayer 0.5.5.

Alabaster is designed to overhaul layout control, demote multi-layer context submenus in favor of direct key/mouse mappings, streamline single-cell media workflows, and provide true portable configuration management without writing to the Windows Registry.

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📦 Download & Release Page

You can grab the compiled, standalone Windows 64-bit portable package (GridPlayer-Alabaster-57f21b1-win64-portable.zip) directly from the release page:

👉 Download GridPlayer Alabaster v0.2beta_rc1

(Main Releases List: https://github.com/XDevMatt/alabaster-gridplayer/releases)

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🔥 Key Features & Enhancements

1. Universal Action & Hotkey System

• 150+ Exposed QAction Handlers: Bypasses deep right-click context submenus by making spatial transforms, aspect overrides, track shifts, and zoom functions first-class actions.
• Native GUI Shortcut Remapper: Easily rebind keyboard keys or mouse buttons to any action directly inside Settings → Hotkeys / Shortcuts with built-in conflict detection. No third-party software (like PowerToys) required.
• Enhanced Navigation: Support for mouse side-buttons (Forward/Back) for direct cell navigation even when generic mouse click events are disabled.

2. Canvas, Zoom & Layout Workflows

• Direct Zoom Controls: Instantly scale viewports using ,, ., /, +, and - keys.
• Alabaster Auto-Rotation: Automatically detects and rotates video streams (90° clockwise or custom increments) to match cell geometry.
• Single-Cell Repaint: Executing Next on an active cell repaints only that cell rather than causing an expensive grid-wide window redraw.
• Instant File Management (e Key): Single-key "Keep" action that copies/filters active cell media to a local ../<folder>_keep/ directory and automatically steps to the next track.

3. Stream Sync & Per-Cell Controls

• Audio Routing: Assign different grid cells to separate physical system audio output devices.
• Fine Delay Adjustments: Direct audio delay shift shortcuts mapped to j and k, plus per-cell subtitle delay tools.
• Per-Cell Rendering: Independent per-cell upscaling/downscaling filters, debanding, aspect filters, and A-B looping (loop_start/loop_end).
• Sync Modes: Flexible grid-wide sync toggles for seeking, play/pause, zooming, and playback rate.

4. Portability & Playlists

• True Portable Storage: All configurations, thumbnail caches, and session data save locally to settings.ini and adjacent data directories—keeping your host registry completely untouched.
• Enhanced Playlist State (.gpls): JSON-based playlist structure that retains exact grid states, relative paths, bookmarks, and cell profiles across sessions.

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💬 Feedback & Issues

Since this is a Release Candidate (rc1), please test out your custom layouts and report any bugs, edge cases, or feature suggestions on the GridPlayer Alabaster Issues Page.

Full source code & documentation available at XDevMatt/alabaster-gridplayer.

[XDevMatt]

📋 Additional Features & Workflow Enhancements

1. Clipboard Ingestion & Legacy Player Handoff (Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V)

• Instant Media Handoff: Copy local file paths or web streams from legacy players (MPC-HC, mpv) or file indexers (Everything.exe) and hit Ctrl+V to drop them directly into Alabaster.
• Silent & Paused Cell Spawning: Pasted file paths automatically spawn grid cells in a Paused & Muted state. This prevents unexpected audio blasting or automatic playback across existing streams.
• Cell Duplication: Select any active cell and hit Ctrl+C → Ctrl+V to duplicate its active media stream into an open grid slot.
• Overflow Protection: Built-in threshold caps prevent rapid Ctrl+V keypresses from spamming VLC instances, spiking RAM, or locking up the UI thread.

2. Advanced Dynamic Playlist & Loop Controls

• Lowercase l (Playlist Manager):
  • If no playlist exists, opens the creation dialog to toggle between "Just this video" or generating a sequence from "Everything in its folder" (with recursive subfolder support).
  • If a playlist exists, opens the full List Manager to search/filter items, sort, randomize, export, or dynamically inject new files, folders, and links on the fly.
• Uppercase Shift+L (Single-File Loop Override): Instantly forces the active cell into Loop Current File mode, overriding default folder/playlist shuffle sequences to loop a single file indefinitely.

3. Multi-Format & Mixed Media Handling

• Universal Media Grid: Native support for playing video, audio, or static images within the same grid and playlist files.
• Automated Image Slideshows: Static images operate as an automated multi-cell slideshow, defaulting to a 10-second display timer per image before stepping to the next track.

4. Fine-Grained Sync Logic & Individual Cell Wake

• Independent Cell Wake: Paused or newly pasted cells can be started independently via the cell-specific play icon (>), or globally unpaused using Space (when Play/Pause sync is linked across cells).
• Granular Grid Sync Options: Independent toggles for Timecode/Percentage sync, Position/Zoom sync, Playback Speed sync, and Play/Pause sync.