Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Tue, 24 May 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > CPU 605MHz PIII (AMD K6-2), 64MB video ram (nvidia geforce 420MX),
> > which is supposed to let you play videos on a 400MHz cpu.
>
> You can only do this in X11 if you have proper drivers. Xvesa is not
> a proper driver. It is kludgy and relatively slow. It is designed for
> compatibility, not speed.

This suggests that the SVGA X server might work where Xvesa conked out. 
Would it help to run X without a window manager?  That might be part of 
the reason VESA worked better. >


> > Make a script called playdvd and chmod +x it.
> >
> > #!/bin/sh
> > mplayer -dvd-device /dev/hdd dvd://1
>
> Mplayer #2 appears to not be able to even decode DVDs on 2.2.16.
> #1 and #3 are fine.

#1 works on my PII (DVDs and MP3s and wav) and #2 does not and vice versa 
for the PI (#2 plays MP3s and wav).  I will check #3, which can decode 
mp3s on a PI, but how are we supposed to play DVDs with sound using #3?

I am starting to lose track of what works where and how and may not test 
#3 on the PIII since #1 works there.

Are you still working on a version for both PI and later models, that will 
play sound and DVDs and realaudio?


> > The above script works if I first load the sound modules, then
> > manually go into Xvesa at 800x600 resolution.  I could not manage
> > to add sound-on (script) or 'x8' (alias).  Is there some way to use
> > a script or an alias in a script or some other way?  x8 fills the
> > screen best.

> Why didn't sound-on work? You should be able to call any script
> which is executable and in your PATH. Aliases are much less likely
> to work. Can you move the x8 commands into a script?

I don't know why it did not work. We were having other problems with sound 
(losing it after 20 sec).  I will try with both sound-on and x8 as scripts 
and take better notes.  Or if I use vesa, just sound-on as a script.  Vesa 
makes things large enough.

> > The sound was lagging behind the lip movement, and eventually
> > stopped, and the characters started to walk very very slowly.
> > The sound would stop after a few seconds (24-bit color) or 20 sec
> > or so (16-bit color).  My card won't do 16-bit color and Xvesa
> > won't do 8-bit. I will try SVGA server and 8-bit color some time.

I think you also said SVGA would be more efficient than Xvesa even with 
more colors.

> > When I exit:
> > Your system is too SLOW to play this!
> > Most common:  broken/buggy _audio_ driver
> >         - Try -ao sdl or use ALSA or the OSS emulation of ALSA 0.9
> >         - Experiment with different values for -autosync, 30 is a good start.
> > Slow video output
> >         -Try a different -vo driver or try -framedrop!
> > -Slow PCU
> >         -Dont'try to play a big DVD/DivX on a slow CPU!  Try -hardframedrop
> >         - Try various combinations of -nobps -ni -forceidx -mc )
> > - Slow media (NFS/SMB mounts, DVD, VCD, etc)
> >         - Try -cache 8192
> > -Are you using -cache to play a non-interleaved AVI file?
> >         -Try -nocache
> > Read DOCS/HTML/en/devices.html for tuning/speedup tips.
> >
> > A:  27.7  V: 15.5  A-V: 12.192 ct:  1.522 457/457 32% 120% 24.2% 448 0 0%
> > Too many video packets in the buffer:  (4096 in 8266203 bytes).
> > Maybe you are playing a non-interleaved stream/file or the codec failed?
> > For AVI files, try to force non-interleaved mode wiht the -ni option.
> > a52: CRC check failed!
> > a52: error at resampling
> >
> >
> > A second problem:
> >
> > The characters appear to be speaking Danish.  The jacket says:
> > Original Language Track in Danish and Italian
> > English Subtitles
> >
> > I will read the documentation on how to switch on subtitles, but
> > the cpu is already overstressed without them.  Maybe I can turn off
> > sound.
> >
> > Top (after we switched from X11 to CLI) says about 45-68% cpu usage
> > (Xvesa 0% when not actually displaying). As soon as we switched
> > back to X11 the cpu usage jumped way up.  The usage goes up when
> > they talk more.
>
> MPEG-2 consumes much more CPU time when there is a lot of motion.
Interesting.


> > Xvesa was 39% for a second.  This adds to just over 100%, which
> > after the buffer is emptied leaves no cpu for sound, and also slows
> > down the video.
> >
> > Tried the first two suggestions to fix the slowness problem:
> >
> > -hardframedrop:   Mplayer crashed by bad usage of CPU/FPU/RAM.
> > Mplayer crashed.  This shouldn't happen.  It can be a bug in the
> > Mplayer code or in your drivers or in your gcc version.
>
> libmpeg2 (the default codec for DVDs) hates -hardframedrop and
> promptly crashes.

What is -hardframedrop?

> > -framedrop:  Cpu usage is now just under 100% on the icewm monitor.
> >   This time the lips are in sync with the sound, and the picture is
> > a bit jerky but it is watchable indefinitely (if you know Danish
> > and Italian, anyway).
> >
> > I presume this means we are seeing fewer frames.  Would reducing
> > sound quality work instead?
>
> Not likely. Sound takes very little CPU time, unless you're using
> SDL (which is not the default)


Is this why someone requested SDL?  Does 2.2.16 support it?

> Try "-vc ffmpeg12". This may have different bugs, but I've found it
> to sometimes be faster than the default.
What does this mean?

> > -autosync 30  The sound is again coming after the lip movement and stopped.
> >
> > -nobps   ditto
> >
> > -forceidx     ditto
> >
> > -mc 0
>
> These are designed more for when you have really buggy sound drivers,
> or a broken video file. I doubt they will do much good on a DVD with a
> good sb.o driver.
>
> > I just tried VESA one more time instead of installing X SVGA driver.
> > I was rewarded with a slightly larger picture than in x11 and today
> > the sound is working.    The lips are in sync.  I cannot (when in
> > VESA) switch vts to check cpu usage.  The previous video was not
> > playing sound in VESA but it is today.  It also has problems in x11
> > but last time (a few days ago) it played sound indefinitely in x11
> > and not at all in VESA.  Odd.
>
> PCs are fickle.

This one seems a lot happier with the DVD drive as master not slave.
I have noticed that hard drives transfer slower as slave.

> > Only hardware changes are that the DVD drive is now MA not SL and
> > there is a SCSI CD-RW but no IDE CD-RW drive or IDE zip drive.
> > Would these have somehow taxed the cpu when not in use?
>
> No.
>
> > ESC stops it in X11, ESC ESC in VESA mode then Ctrl-C to get back the prompt.
>
> If you have a framebuffer prompt, the blinking cursor may need a "reset" to
> get it back.

VESA uses framebuffer even without a framebuffer kernel?
I also tried reset at some point, I forget the details.

> > Summary 0.  K6-2 605MHz can be used with the first mplayer to play dvds.
>
> Third MPlayer should work as well. Second MPlayer is probably a dud.

So should I substitute #3 for #2?  Neither plays sound yet.  I have not 
tried #3 on the PIII, where #2 did not work.  #2 plays Realaudio - does 
#3?  #1 was said not to, I think.

> > 1.  I need to look up how to display subtitles.
> > 2.  VESA uses less cpu than x11 on my 'slow' 605MHz but you cannot
> > do anything else at the same time (can't use other vts).
>
> VESA almost always uses less CPU than x11. Try the xvidix driver
> sometime. It probably won't even work, but if it does it will be
> very fast.

-vo xvidix?  I don't need any faster than VESA already supplies.

> > 3.  x11 is usable with -framebuffer option, but jerky, not usable
> > otherwise with Xvesa in 16-bit or 24-bit color (loses the sound,
> > slow motion).
> > 4.  x11 might work better with X svga and 8-bit color.
>
> It would work better with XFree86 4.x and real NVidia drivers. This
> is a very large download, unfortunately.

I have the SW71 CD - maybe it has the Nvidia package already.

> > 5.  fb might also work
>
> fb will be slower than vesa. Maybe faster than X11, but only
> marginally.
Thanks, I will not bother.


> > VESA 2.0 is needed for VESA or FB modes.

> If you don't have vesa 2.0 or framebuffer, your only option is X11
> for anything at a halfway decent speed.

X11 with a better server than Xvesa.

Our AGP video cards all seem to be VESA 2.0.  But your FB kernel was not 
compiled to support the S3 Trio3D.  The PCI Matrox Millenium and Tseng 
work well with your kernel, as does another PCI card (Stealth something).

I am happy with VESA right now but will eventually attempt to install the 
Nvidia X server.

> David

Thanks for all the info.  And mplayer!
Sindi