[mythtv-users] Cannot play recorded HD H264, advice on faster hardware needed

[Carl-Magnus Björkell]

klaas de waal wrote:
> Thanks for all the help!
> The conclusion is for now:
> - decoding this flavour of H264 in MythTV is not yet fully correct
> - the decoding is a problem of ffmpeg and not of MythTV
> - only one core is used in decoding
> - when ffmpeg decoding for H264 is fixed then we need the fastest 
> processor there is for this content
> - when ffmpeg is not only correct but also multithreaded so that it uses 
> all cores of a dual- or quadcore then a cheaper/low-power processor can 
> be used.
> 
> Again, thanks for the testing and the clarifications,
> Klaas.
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 7:18 AM, Steven Ellis <steven at openmedia.co.nz 
> <mailto:steven at openmedia.co.nz>> wrote:
> 
> 
>     On Thu, May 15, 2008 1:48 pm, Sarah Katherine Hayes wrote:
>      >
>      >> I have put a 9MB fragment (file called sheep9.mpg) here:
>      >> http://www.box.net/shared/yeo9ymakg0
>      >>
>      >> Maybe somebody with MythTV on fast processor can check if they can
>      >> play this file and advice me on what hardware (processor /video
>     card)
>      >> I need for this?
>      > Totem + mplayer gave a green corrupted frame, then insta-death.
>     Internal
>      > just died and killed the Frontend (I've never, actually seen that
>     happen
>      > before) Ubuntu 8.04 + updates + Mythbuntu 0.21-fixes packages.
>      >
>      > *Note: I'm getting really annoyed with Ubuntu right about.... now, if
>      > this was Gentoo I'd slap in the multimedia overlay*
>      >
>      > Makes me think it's the same type of h264 as the HD-PVR pumps
>     out, which
>      > seems to be using 'something'; that something ain't quite as well
>      > supported/optimized as the common garden variety found in my Anime
>      > shows.  So it seems to require an excessive amount of grunt,
>     which will
>      > obviously change. :)
>      >
>      >
>      > Finger the the air requirement, 2.8Ghz C2D in the Desktop flavor.
> 
>     I've just tried this with MPlayer SVN r26779 on an Intel T2400 and it
>     struggles to play. Also I'm seeing the interlaced artifact issues due to
>     the partial interlaced PAFF support in FFMPEG.
> 
>     Steve
> 
>     --------------------------------------------
>     Steven Ellis - Technical Director
>     OpenMedia Limited - The Home of myPVR
>     email   - steven at openmedia.co.nz <mailto:steven at openmedia.co.nz>
>     website - http://www.openmedia.co.nz
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> 
> 
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The only way (that I know of) to date to play high resolution h264 
material on linux is to use the coreavc codec via the coreavc for linux 
project (http://code.google.com/p/coreavc-for-linux/). Qualitywize I 
can't make out any difference between ffmpeg and coreAVC, but speedwize 
coreAVC wins hands down.

CoreAVC is a multi-threaded codec that, even when single threaded, is 
much faster than the current ffmpeg decoder. It's quite a hassle to get 
to work, but it _does_ work. If all other options are exhausted, this 
codec is definitely worth a try. The codec costs $15, but it's a small 
price to pay if you want to watch HD h264 material on your mythtv-box, 
since it is, currently, afaik the _only_ way.


-Calle