Mac OS X - Video Effects Window improvement
I'd really like to see the numerical value of a Video Effect option and have it be editable directly within the window for more precise adjustments than the mouse dragging a slider can provide. We currently can only see the values after pausing over the slider widget and waiting for a tooltip to appear.
I've mocked up a sample working with the existing GUI elements to add fields next to each slider with the current values in them (See attachment). They would be directly editable, causing the slider to move based on the value typed or if the slider is moved, the value updates. Then we would no longer need the tooltip.
An advanced feature for resetting just one element to default could be added where an option-click on the field, slider or slider bar for a particular parameter would reset the value to default. Fields could also offer the reset when right-clicked in the contextual menu as a more discoverable option.
In addition, an overall custom preset system that saves all the settings of each panel (Basic, Crop, Geometry, Color, Miscellaneous) of the Video Effects window into a user defined preset name would be nice.
To avoid existing preference file conflicts, perhaps the settings could be saved as an individual text file per saved preset that resides in a Video Presets folder in the VLC preferences folder. This way the presets could survive through preference resets and potentially be made cross platform so people could move their presets from one computer to another by copying their preset files. VLC would auto-detect based on the files found in the folder to populate the Preset menu (see attachment).
If adjustments are made while a preset is selected, the preset menu immediately changes to "Custom Setting" since it no longer matches the previously selected preset. This works like many preset/custom interfaces. Then the user could click Save to open a VLC dialog window where they could name their preset. (maybe even provide a button here and in the VLC preferences to open the presets folder in the Finder so people could be aware of copy/moving preset files).
Permanent VLC-defined presets could also exist such as a default for resetting all values to VLC's defaults and any other recommended preset configurations by VLC.
This would allow people, as you know, to save a variety of configurations for their common video playback needs and provide an easy way to revert to defaults or other VLC presets.
The same kind of system with an Audio Presets folder could be created as well.
While editing the mockup, I notice a visual mistake with the bottom inner edge line on the Video Effects and Audio Effects windows, where the line breaks out wider than the rounded corners.
Also, note that while the menu item says Video Filters..., the window says Video Effects. So, that should probably be made more consistent. Since the other is Audio Effects, making the menu / window Video Effects would likely be the way to go.
Activity
Added attachment:
Thanks for sharing your ideas. Implementing the extra numeric fields is a no-brainer for 2.1 and I'll do that. No problem. Same for the consistency issues with the regard to window title and menu item.
The presets stuff is more fancy. We are looking into ways to support custom profiles for the equalizer as well as custom profiles for the stream output. Could you create an extra ticket for this, so we can keep this idea?
Thanks a lot!
I'll separate out the Preset stuff. My thought is instead of getting into having a preset just for the EQ, or just for something like Volume Normalization and having a bunch of different presets configs, just have one encompassing preset system for Audio Effects and one for Video Effects. So an audio preset would save the current state of the EQ, Compressor, Spatializer and Filter all in one group. Same for Video Effects where it saves the settings in that window. Then the preset selection would stay at the top as you move from panel to panel within the effects window.
added Platform::macOS label
