The player
Playing films and videos straight from the drive, subtitles, sound, picture quality, keyboard shortcuts, and using your own player.
Basalt’s player is built on mpv, on Windows and Android alike. Films play straight from the drive in their original quality, with nothing downloaded first: MKV and MP4, HEVC and H.264, 4K and HDR, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS and more.
Subtitles
Choose the subtitles button for every track there is:
- tracks inside the file, named by language
- subtitle files anywhere on the drive with the film’s or episode’s name, such as
The Film Title (2016).en.srt - on a computer, a subtitle file dragged onto the video, or added from your computer
Whether subtitles are on is remembered from one video to the next. If they drift out of step with the speech, nudge them earlier or later from the same menu; the player shows how far they have moved.
Sound
When a film has more than one audio track, such as another language or a commentary, choose between them in the subtitles menu, under Audio. On a computer, Settings, Playback, Audio output chooses which speakers or headphones Basalt plays through.
Picture quality and conversion
Some devices cannot play every film smoothly, most often 4K on a phone. When that happens, the host converts the film to 1080p as it plays, with the sound and subtitles untouched. The player says so while it prepares, and picks the film up again if the connection drops.
The Quality button switches back to the original at any time. Converting can be switched off on the host, and the host measures how many films it can convert at once. See Host settings.
Episodes
Episodes play on to the next one by themselves. Pausing shows what is playing and what comes next, and the next and previous buttons move between episodes.
Keyboard shortcuts
On a computer:
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| Space or K | Play and pause |
| ← → | Back or forward 5 seconds |
| Shift ← → | Back or forward a minute |
| ↑ ↓ | Volume up or down |
| M | Mute |
| C | Subtitles on or off |
| F | Full screen |
| Shift N | Next episode |
| Shift P | Previous episode |
| , . | One frame back or forward, while paused |
| Esc | Close a menu, or leave the player |
On a phone or tablet
- Films play full screen, turned to suit the picture.
- Double-tap the left or right side to skip back or forward.
- Music and transfers keep going with the screen off.
Use your own player
- On Windows, Play in your player streams a film straight to VLC, PotPlayer, mpv, MPC and others, starting with the one Windows uses for that kind of file. Open with… lets you pick any player.
- On Android, Play in your player hands the film to any player installed, such as VLC.
Nothing is copied first: the other player streams it from the host, as Basalt’s own player does.
Something unclear, or not covered here? Ask in Help and setup, where the community and Refora Technologies answer, or write to us, and we will improve this page.