[mythtv-users] XvMC and libmpeg2 to be dropped in 0.25

[Brian Wood]

On Friday, December 03, 2010 11:17:50 am Steven Adeff wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 1:12 PM, nospam312 <nospam312 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> libmpeg2 - A high proportion of problems reported to us can be
> >> traced back to libmpeg2, we want MythTV to be as stable as
> >> possible and the advantages of libmpeg2 are outweighed by the
> >> negatives. Like XvMC, it complicates the code in ways that make
> >> it harder to maintain.
> > 
> > If you remove libmpeg2 does that mean we can't playback any mpeg2
> > based recording - e.g. Freeview in the UK?
> > 
> > It seems you are removing a core feature of MythTV?
> > 
> > Can you explain what libmpeg2 does?
> > 
> > If I have an oldish machine without VDPAU does this mean I can no
> > longer playback any recordings?
> 
> libmpeg2 is just a decoding library for mpeg2, it has basically been
> replaced by the use of ffmpeg, but from what I understand was left in
> as a just-in-case for when ffmpeg may have issues on certain user
> hardware, or with certain users files.

All OTA television in the USA is MPEG2, I wouldn't worry about Myth 
dropping support for the codec.

They are just dropping support for an older method of decoding mpeg2, 
most everyone uses ffmpeg these days.

XvMC is an older hardware support method for mpeg2, it's pretty well 
been replaced by VDPAU, and decoding mpeg2 in software is not all that 
CPU intensive (pretty much anything over 500 Mhz. can handle it at SD 
resolutions).