Please support NSV!

[kirkers]

Eugene of Elecard emailed me that there are plans to support Winamp NSV files "in the future".

Winamp itself is very poor at playing NSV files coded with x264/H264.  

Other options (MPLAYER with its various front ends, VideoLAN Client aka VLC) do a very limited job of handling NSV files in general, and H264 encodes in particular.

Elecard could put itself to the front of the pack it seems  The video is rock solid, while Winamp frequently crashes (C++ Runtime assertion errors). Only the AAC audio does not play.

Latest AVC plugin dated 2006-03-15 does not change this. Shame!

If you fix this, I will HAPPILY pay $35 for player + H264 AVC plugin.  
 
With Winamp, you get what you (don't) pay for.  

[Lena]

Dear kirkers,

Thanks for your idea, NSV support is in our long term plans. I can not be more specific as there is no any date scheduled, sorry.

[kirkers]

Winamp and VLC continue to fail as stable players for NSV files coded in H264, especially captured streams.

Elecard is ROCK SOLID on video. All it needs is to support NSV containers so the AAC audio comes through.

H264 is definitely the coming thing, and Elecard could get out in front and do very nicely from a business point of view.  I hope you will put NSV support at the top of your list.  

The moment you announce NSV support I will buy the player and H264 plugin and spread the word amongst the THOUSANDS who now struggle to view NSV streams with other players. Many of them would gladly pay US$30 to end their headaches!

[Lena]

Dear kirkers,

We have been discussing your idea here. Seems that we are ready to alter our plans a bit so that NSV support is implemented sometime soon. You will be the first to know when it is available for testing, I will email you. Thanks again for your idea and persistence.

[kirkers]

We have been discussing your idea here. Seems that we are ready to alter our plans a bit so that NSV support is implemented sometime soon. You will be the first to know when it is available for testing, I will email you. Thanks again for your idea and persistence.

This is indeed great news!  I was hoping the latest upgrade of the player and AVC plugin (2006-03-31) might now cover NSV/Winamp with H264, but it does not appear to be so.  I hope it is possible to do so soon.  Even with the price increase for the AVC plugin, it would be very much worth it to have a reliable NSV player for H/x264 video and AAC audio that does not crash all the time.

[kirkers]

One other thing that will make Elecard an unbeatable player for Winamp .NSV broadband streams in x264/H264 is the ability to play playlists, especially .m3u format.  

Right now the player can only handle local .NSV files as far as I can tell (without audio support at present).

I hope that Elecard developers can include this key feature for streaming media when upgrading the MPEG player to fully support .NSV.

So far, there is no other player out there that can reliably handle NSV files or streams without serious problems or crashes, and this has been true for many months.  No sign that others (Winamp, VideoLAN client VLC) are anywhere close to getting it fully right.