[mythtv-users] Mplayer settings in MythStream

[Eric]

On Saturday 28 July 2007 12:35, Phill Edwards wrote:
> > Are there some settings I could change in MythStream to get it to play
> > these video files as well as mplayer does from the command line? I
> > know there is a mplayer settings file of some sort
> > (/usr/share/mythtv/mythstream/player.xml, I think it's called) in
> > MythStream but I've never understood it and don't know what type of
> > configuration is possible.
>
> No pointers, anyone?
In your original mail you mentioned problems with "patchy" sound and the 
default 4:3 scaling. 

I don't think changing parameters in player.xml will solve the scaling issue. 
Mythstream attaches MPlayer to an existing window using the -wid option, and 
after that all scaling (or no scaling) attempts give the same result: MPlayer 
just fills up the window. I'm probably overlooking something here, but can't 
find it.

The size of the window mplayer is attached to is defined in the stream-ui.xml 
file in your theme directory. The size given should match the aspect ratio of 
your screen/theme, but if you change it to reflect the desired video aspect 
ratio mplayer will follow. This is a workaround: mplayer still ignores the 
actual video aspect ratio.
There are two sizes defined: one for preview, one for fullscreen display:

    <container name="video">
      <area>823,256,400,300</area>
    </container>

    <container name="maxvideo">
      <area>0,0,1280,720</area>
    </container>

The patchy sound might have something to do with high CPU load. But then I 
would expect choppy video too? First check your CPU load when streaming, and 
forget the tips below if CPU usage is not close to 100%.

Without proper display driver, mythstream's screen updates for fft, play time, 
stream quality etc. are extremely CPU intensive. Same thing for fullscreen 
video if mplayer is started with the wrong options. 

Try changing the -zoom and -vo options in mplayer.xml. These parameters have 
default values set for maximum compatibility. 

First remove the -zoom item in player.xml. If you have CPU load issues you 
don't want software scaling if the video driver used by mplayer doesn't 
support it. And if the driver supports scaling you don't need -zoom.

Second, check the -vo value in mplayer.xml. If it is set to x11 or xv, or 
mplayer protests to the -vo value you use (attach a keyboard and press "d" to 
get a dump from mplayer stdout) then changing this parameter might help. Run 

mplayer -vo help 

from a shell for a list of video output drivers available for mplayer on your 
system. Try some of them. gl2 is a nice one.

Eric.