[mythtv-users] XvMC and MythDVD Internal Player (0.20)

[Scott]

On Sep 20, 2006, at 2:13 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:

> Yeah.  0.20 made the Internal player the default for DVD's so we could
> get more testing and feedback.

Not yet fully baked but smelling pretty nice :)

Obviously this is my opinion, so let me give some detail. I'm open to  
helping out improving the Internal player any way I can. I'm  
comparing the Internal play to mplayer output. For video sources I'm  
using some different possible sources:

1) mpeg clips captured from OTA ATSC using a Fusion HDTV5 Gold RT.  
Clips are 1080i with either DD 2.0 or DD 5.1 sound
2) Standard region 1 DVDs with either DD 5.1 or DTS 5.1 sound tracks
3)a 1080p DD 5.1 clip that was mastered from a demo disc
3b) 1080p DTS 5.1 clip. (Same as above, different sound track)

Note: Currently I'm having SOUND issues with any of these sources.  
Internal player _always_ sends a PCM 48khz (2 channel?) signal out my  
SPDIF to my A/V receiver. I'm still troubleshooting this issue. Using  
mplayer and -vfm hwac3, the correct soundtrack is always passed out  
my SPDIF.

OTA ATSC
---------------
I test this by using mythtv to capture a HDTV show from one of our  
local stations. After the capture is done I play it back through  
MythTV (while nothing else is recording) and I compare it to playback  
through mplayer outside of mythfrontend. With MythTV playback I seem  
to have to do more "work" to get the same quality as mplayer. The  
first issue is that Internal doesn't handle the interlaced content as  
well as mplayer does. (I'm using linerblend in MythTV and -vf pp=lb  
in mplayer) While the source material is challenging to work with  
(just look at the mplayer or mythfrontend -v playback logs) it seems  
like mplayer does a better job both deinterlacing and keeping the  
playback smooth. I never see tearing due to vsync issues or judder  
with mplayer. I see these at times with MythTV.

I would guess that OTA HDTV signals are the most challanging to work  
with. is there a place where MythTV users can upload short (very  
short) clips that present problems so the developers can do testing?

DVDs
--------
Generally these look equally good in either mplayer or mythtv.  
Mplayer currently does a better job with subtitles and cc data than  
Internal player does however. I have one DVD that plays okay but the  
DVD menu transitions are played back at what seems like 2x speed. For  
example, from the DVD menu I would choose "Features" and the little  
video transition to the features menu is played back faster than it  
should be. I haven't done extensive DVD menu testing however but over  
all I'm very pleased to see the Internal player have an option for  
DVD navigation.

Is there any chance that an option could be added so that the movie  
is played directly without showing the DVD menu? What about a "play  
list" type feature where a short "welcome to the movies" like clip  
could be played before playing the main DVD title next?

1080p DTS and DD clips
----------------------------------
These just look great in both mplayer and MythTV Internal. Nice work  
there :) No dropped frames and nice smooth pans.

--
Scott