[mythtv-users] Can't get a good Playback Profile

[Michael T. Dean]

On 12/08/2008 03:45 AM, MythTV wrote:
> I have read the Playback Profiles page multiple times:
> http://mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Playback_profiles
>
> The idea behind Playback Profiles seems cool but it also assumes that  
> you know the resolution of your shows.  How do I find out what the  
> resolutions are on my shows?
>   

ffmpeg -i or mplayer -identify

> Because you can have 5 or more profiles, I don't know which profile  
> is selected when playback is occurring.  Is this mentioned in /var/ 
> log/mythtv/mythfrontend.log?

Yep, though parsing/understanding it (as it's all spread out) is a 
challenge.

>   How do I know which profile setting is  
> being use?
>
> I have created a Test profile that has only one setting.

That's the best way to know.  (Oh, and really, you've created a Test 
profile /group/ that has only one /profile/.)

>   Thus, I  
> assume that that's the setting being used.

Only if its criteria match the provided stream.  I.e. make sure rez is 
set to > 0 0 .

>   Is this a correct  
> assumption?  What happens when the setting doesn't work or my  
> hardware doesn't support the setting?
>   

It would try to fall back to some default.

> There are probably a hundred different settings I can try thus time  
> consuming and tedious.  This is standard technology; there has got to  
> be a more scientific way to know what profile setting to use.  Is  
> there another location to go to learn more about configuring Playback  
> Profiles?

IMHO, when someone is just getting things working, they should start 
with the (default configuration of the) Slim playback profile group (if 
you've modified yours, see the wiki page you mentioned to learn how to 
"reset" the examples).  Slim is basically the same as the 0.20 software 
decode playback (so if you knew how to get 0.20 working, you can make 
Slim work).

Mike