MPlayer 1.0rc1 + XvMC Nov 2006
Posted: Wed 29 Nov 2006, 01:41
This compilation is focussed on TV input support, plus optimised video out options, and support for modern codecs.
MPlayer XvMC output now works with nVidia graphics cards. I tested it with an nVidia FX5200 card. It turns out that the Unichrome patches from www.openchrome.org break nVidia compatibility, so I have packaged 2 versions; one for nVidia and Intel i810, and another for VIA Unichrome. If you don't have nVidia/i810/Unichrome graphics then it doesn't matter which version you use. Apart from the xvmc feature, the 2 dotpups are identical.
Get them from Mark's site - http://dotpups.de/dotpups/Multimedia/Mplayer-1.0rc1/
Features:
- "xvmc" video output for accelerated MPEG2 decoding under Xorg with nVidia/i810/Unichrome 3D drivers.
- "xv" video output for optimised playback (hardware-assisted scaling) under Xorg.
- "x11" video output under Xvesa (not as good as xv+Xorg).
- "gl" video output under Xorg+OpenGL (older).
- "dga2" video output (older).
("vesa" video output failed to compile, "fbdev & "directfb" could not be enabled)
- Inbuilt codecs for MPEG2, XviD, H.264, and AAC.
- External opensource Theora codec.
- External Win32 codecs for WindowsMedia9 and RealVideo10.
- DVB input support, for digital TV tuner cards.
- V4L/V4L2 input support, for most analogue TV tuner cards.
- IVTV input support, for "PVR" analogue TV tuner cards.
- network support, to play streaming audio/video from a server.
- infrared remote control support.
Regarding IVTV:
Most IVTV-compatible TV tuner cards contain MPEG2/4 encoding chips, so the the tuned TV signal can be compressed and saved as a file. These cards are usually identified as "PVR" models. The "pvr" option failed to compile in MPlayer-1.orc1, but I believe that it's possible to simultaneously record a TV signal and watch it with MPlayer at the same time by doing this -
code
mkfifo test.mpg
cat /dev/v4l/video0 > test.mpg | mplayer test.mpg
Regarding XvMC:
XvMC acceleration was becoming less significant as processors were becoming ever more powerful. Even without graphics hardware assistance, DVD playback and Standard Definition DTV decoding is possible with a modest Pentium2.
But with the growing popularity of High Definition TV, XvMC is useful once again.
XvMC makes it feasible to build Home Theatre/Personal Video Recorder (HTPC) projects from small and quiet computers with modest processors of about 1.5GHz, such as the AMD Geode and maybe(?) VIA Epia. Without XvMC acceleration, the minimum processor requirement for HDTV (1080i spec) is 2.8GHz.
MythTV, the well-regarded Home Theatre application, requires a "back-end" media player, so these MPlayer dotpups are ideal. MythTV's website provides extensive additional information about XvMC here www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/XvMC
There are different levels of XvMC specification:
i) Intel i810 and GeForce4 Ti cards support just the "motion-compensation" level of acceleration.
ii) VIA Unichrome cards have enhanced XvMC features called "vld-xvmc"
iii) nVidia GeForce4 MX cards upwards support "motion-compensation" plus "IDCT" levels of acceleration. This is currently the best possible level of hardware assistance.
In MPlayer XvMC output will only work when the XvMC-specific libavcodec-MPEG-1/2 codec ("ffmpeg12mc") is selected, and this can only be done when MPlayer is launched from the command line, NOT THE GUI. Like this -
mplayer -vo xvmc -vc ffmpeg12mc -fs /path/to/MYMPEG2VIDEO.mpg
("-fs" is for fullscreen)
MPlayer XvMC output now works with nVidia graphics cards. I tested it with an nVidia FX5200 card. It turns out that the Unichrome patches from www.openchrome.org break nVidia compatibility, so I have packaged 2 versions; one for nVidia and Intel i810, and another for VIA Unichrome. If you don't have nVidia/i810/Unichrome graphics then it doesn't matter which version you use. Apart from the xvmc feature, the 2 dotpups are identical.
Get them from Mark's site - http://dotpups.de/dotpups/Multimedia/Mplayer-1.0rc1/
Features:
- "xvmc" video output for accelerated MPEG2 decoding under Xorg with nVidia/i810/Unichrome 3D drivers.
- "xv" video output for optimised playback (hardware-assisted scaling) under Xorg.
- "x11" video output under Xvesa (not as good as xv+Xorg).
- "gl" video output under Xorg+OpenGL (older).
- "dga2" video output (older).
("vesa" video output failed to compile, "fbdev & "directfb" could not be enabled)
- Inbuilt codecs for MPEG2, XviD, H.264, and AAC.
- External opensource Theora codec.
- External Win32 codecs for WindowsMedia9 and RealVideo10.
- DVB input support, for digital TV tuner cards.
- V4L/V4L2 input support, for most analogue TV tuner cards.
- IVTV input support, for "PVR" analogue TV tuner cards.
- network support, to play streaming audio/video from a server.
- infrared remote control support.
Regarding IVTV:
Most IVTV-compatible TV tuner cards contain MPEG2/4 encoding chips, so the the tuned TV signal can be compressed and saved as a file. These cards are usually identified as "PVR" models. The "pvr" option failed to compile in MPlayer-1.orc1, but I believe that it's possible to simultaneously record a TV signal and watch it with MPlayer at the same time by doing this -
code
mkfifo test.mpg
cat /dev/v4l/video0 > test.mpg | mplayer test.mpg
Regarding XvMC:
XvMC acceleration was becoming less significant as processors were becoming ever more powerful. Even without graphics hardware assistance, DVD playback and Standard Definition DTV decoding is possible with a modest Pentium2.
But with the growing popularity of High Definition TV, XvMC is useful once again.
XvMC makes it feasible to build Home Theatre/Personal Video Recorder (HTPC) projects from small and quiet computers with modest processors of about 1.5GHz, such as the AMD Geode and maybe(?) VIA Epia. Without XvMC acceleration, the minimum processor requirement for HDTV (1080i spec) is 2.8GHz.
MythTV, the well-regarded Home Theatre application, requires a "back-end" media player, so these MPlayer dotpups are ideal. MythTV's website provides extensive additional information about XvMC here www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/XvMC
There are different levels of XvMC specification:
i) Intel i810 and GeForce4 Ti cards support just the "motion-compensation" level of acceleration.
ii) VIA Unichrome cards have enhanced XvMC features called "vld-xvmc"
iii) nVidia GeForce4 MX cards upwards support "motion-compensation" plus "IDCT" levels of acceleration. This is currently the best possible level of hardware assistance.
In MPlayer XvMC output will only work when the XvMC-specific libavcodec-MPEG-1/2 codec ("ffmpeg12mc") is selected, and this can only be done when MPlayer is launched from the command line, NOT THE GUI. Like this -
mplayer -vo xvmc -vc ffmpeg12mc -fs /path/to/MYMPEG2VIDEO.mpg
("-fs" is for fullscreen)