[mythtv-users] mplayer doesn't work when started by mythfrontend

[Fedor Pikus]

On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 1:34 PM, Andrew Junev <a-j at a-j.ru> wrote:
> Hello Fedor,
>
> Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 12:02:17 AM, you wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 12:58 PM, Andrew Junev <a-j at a-j.ru> wrote:
>>> Hello Nick,
>>>
>>> Monday, December 7, 2009, 10:53:04 PM, you wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 8:43 AM, Andrew Junev <a-j at a-j.ru> wrote:
>>>>> Hello Fedor,
>>>>>
>>>>> Monday, December 7, 2009, 7:19:55 PM, you wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I've heard about mplayer getting confused and trying to use wrong
>>>>>> codec (i.e. applying a codec from -vc even when it should use its own
>>>>>> choice of codec). The following script was created for early versions
>>>>>> of VDPAU, it shows how to detect codec outside of mplayer and
>>>>>> customize the command line. You may be able to hack it to change -vc
>>>>>> in a way which makes your setup work.
>>>>>
>>>>>> #!/bin/bash
>>>>>
>>>>>> <skipped>
>>>>>
>>>>> I think I saw this script already.
>>>>>
>>>>> As I understand, mplayer writes to the terminal about its codecs in
>>>>> use when playing a file. In my case it selects the same codecs when
>>>>> starting from both, plain terminal window and from mythfrontend.
>>>>> So in here there is no difference, at least according to the log.
>>>>>
>>>>> Perhaps I'll try to run mplayer from mythfrontend without forcing it
>>>>> to use VDPAU, maybe there will be some difference. But even if there
>>>>> will - it doesn't solve my problem, as I do want to use VDPAU...
>>>
>>>> But not for that file perhaps (its an avi, which can contain h.264,
>>>> but is more likely to be xvid or divx)
>>>
>>>
>>> Ummm, I tried it with a regular xvid file, using a regular '-vo xv'
>>> (meaning, without VDPAU). The result is absolutely the same - still
>>> image when started from mythfrontend, and a normal playback when
>>> started from a terminal window.
>>>
>>> Here's the corresponding part of the mythfrontend log:
>>>
>>> MPlayer SVN-r29800-4.4.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
>>>
>>> Playing /video.archive/AMovie.avi.
>>> AVI file format detected.
>>> [aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
>>> [aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
>>> VIDEO:  [XVID]  640x352  12bpp  25.000 fps  1844.0 kbps (225.1 kbyte/s)
>>> Clip info:
>>>  Software: VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
>>> ==========================================================================
>>> Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
>>> Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
>>> ==========================================================================
>>> ==========================================================================
>>> Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
>>> No accelerated IMDCT transform found
>>> AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 384.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 48000->384000)
>>> Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
>>> ==========================================================================
>>> AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch floatle (4 bytes per sample)
>>> Starting playback...
>>> [mpeg4 @ 0x87475c0]Invalid and inefficient vfw-avi packed B frames detected
>>> Movie-Aspect is 1.82:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
>>> VO: [xv] 640x352 => 640x352 Planar YV12  [fs] [zoom]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> So it doesn't seem to be caused by VDPAU, right?
>>> What else it can be?!
>>>
>
>> When you run mplayer by itself, is mythfrontend also running? Log into
>> the machine, set  display to the primary display, and fire mplayer
>> "over" the frontend. May be you don't have enough memory for both.
>> Also try to run mplayer from frontend (or over frontend) with "-ao
>> null", i.e. disable sound. If this helps, frontend is hogging the
>> audio device.
>
> Ah!
> Yes, the problem is there only when mythfrontend is running.
> And '-ao null' solves the problem, if I may say so. :)
> With '-ao null' I get a good video playback within mythfrontend as
> well, of course with no sound.
>
> Probably my mythfrontend occupies pulseaudio, so that all other
> processes trying to generate some sound have to wait... I'll check if
> I could change some audio settings in my frontend setup (will do it
> some other day - it's quite late here already). Or maybe it'll be a
> good idea to remove pulseaudio completely (I'm using Fedora 12 now).
>
> Thanks a lot for your help!
>
> --
> Best regards,
>  Andrew
>
>

On Fedora 12 I actually did not have any problems with Pulseaudio. But
try -ao alsa for mplayer first.