LinuxMCE Forums

General => Users => Topic started by: Emiku on July 01, 2008, 07:33:34 pm

Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: Emiku on July 01, 2008, 07:33:34 pm
Yes,

I can play .mkv, however I can not change audio track or any other contents in the mkv container.

- Emiku
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: jeangot on July 01, 2008, 10:34:00 pm
Hi guys,

I've experimented with this also last week without much success. You;re talking about high definition files, right? (in my case a 1080p mkv). I've found this to be unwatchable with xine. It seems to work when I force it through mplayer but I cannot pause or fast forward, which is problematic since I sometimes am interupted while watching a movie.

Rodercot: could you tell me more about the DVD player? How do I use that one? To force Mplayer I would simply rename my files to .evo for example. How can I try the DVD player and see if it's any better?

Jean
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: colinjones on July 02, 2008, 12:24:48 am
What version are you guys using? 0710RC2? I have no difficulty playing either mkv or ts files - have been able to for the last few versions at least. Fastforward/rewind works fine, I don't have to do anything, they are just another media type for me.

I don't recall trying any 1080p ones, but I certainly play 720p mkv files all the time at least since b3 from memory - sure there was the occasional green corruption on the left hand side for mkv back in b3 ... that was an old xine issue but has been resolved since. I only have a couple of ts files and they are just MPEG2/SD from an old STB/PVR.
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: jeangot on July 02, 2008, 01:09:17 am
Colinjones,

I use 710RC1 and my problem is only with high def files, I think xine is just not efficient enough and it overloads the cpu (AMD 4800+), whereas they play fine in mplayer, except for the forwarding/pausing that doesn't seem to work there. I think others have similar issues when I searched through the forum.
I also have slight stuttering when trying to play mpg files recorded by MythTV in 1080, using xine. They play fine using mplayer.

I still would like to know how to try DVD Player on my files if possible.

Jean
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: jeangot on July 09, 2008, 07:30:31 am
Dave, thanks for the reply. I was also using XBMC before and on the rare occasion that a file had a problem with Mplayer, it would always play with DVDPlayer. Just anything HD was a no-go, that's how I started looking into LMCE...

How patient are you exactly when you start these .evo files? On my system, I also get a black screen for a while, but then the file starts. I noticed that Mplayer is actually buffering (by running it once from command line) and this can take a while on a big file.
I would recommend using the "locate" shell command to find mplayer.conf. If it's missing, you can install the locate package with "apt-get install locate", and then issue a "updatedb" (takes a while) for it to scan all your files. Then you will want to find out if the mplayer.conf you;re editing is actually being used/parsed by Mplayer in LMCE :-) That's where I stopped I think.

As for building a new mplayer, I did that successfully, and it improved things a little: it would no longer crash when I press fast forward or pause. I just built it from the most recent LMCE source, and then copied the binary over to the right place. You just again need to make sure that you're putting it in the right place, as there are several instances of mplayer on the system if I remember properly, one used by kde and one for LMCE.
What I did was rename them all to mplayer.old, one after another, and see when LMCE would no longer find mplayer, telling me that I hit the right directory.

A good idea would also be to try running your video file with the same mplayer binary, from KDE, and see if it works there, then at least you know that it's not mplayer's fault. Just make sure that you're using the same binary, because simply typing mplayer will not refer to the binary used by lmce if I remember correctly.

Of course you risk messing up your entire system when you start playing with the files like this but I'm sure you knew that :-)

Hope it helps, and please share any findings. My conclusion was that I would use mplayer in KDE to watch mkv files until the next release of LMCE, but then I hit a problem with missing sound in mplayer under KDE, that I haven't fixed yet.
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: jeangot on July 09, 2008, 05:04:33 pm
Dave,

to find the correct config file I guess you need to find an option that will show you some effect on the screen and then try it in each one. Use a normal video file (not mkv) renamed to evo, so that you can play it from LMCE until you see some change based on your config file edit, then you know you hit the right one (I personally skipped that part).

As for building, it took me a while to understand how that works. Then someone pointed me to this tutorial: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Setting_Up_A_Development_Environment

It's important that you first build the whole thing (which can take an hour or two), and only then you will be able to build individual modules (like CM11A in the example) without getting an error.

I found 2 versions of mplayer in there, under /charon-merge/ubuntu/, one in mplayer, and one in mplayer-svnxxxxx (which seems to be more recent). If I remember correctly one would build and one would not, and I guess one is used by KDE and one by LMCE. See which one you get to build properly, and then you just need to copy the binary to the right place and see if it helps you.

Keep in mind that even if your files play, you will not be able to pause or fast forward, which in my case is a big problem, if someone rings the doorbell or calls while I watch the movie, I can't pause it or fast forward back to the right place!

Thom is explaining here why this is happening: http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5092.0 and it doesn't seem trivial, so it's not likely to work untill the next release....

Jean
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: Itsik on July 13, 2008, 10:43:16 am
Here's something that might be of interest.

I've renamed two mkv files to m2ts, changed that media type in the webadmin to blu-ray disc.
mplayer plays the files flowlesly on the core/hybrid as well as on a MD.
What's interesting is that wile on the MD any attempt to skip forward/back/pause shuts down mplayer immidiatly, on the core you can skip forward/back without any problem what so ever.
Any idea what could be making the differance?

Itsik
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: alx9r on July 13, 2008, 06:37:00 pm
Itsik,
I have a 720p/DTS .mkv file that was exhibiting those green block artifacts under LinuxMCE.  I changed the extension to m2ts from mkv and changed the media type to blu-ray disc in webadmin.  From what I understand, making this change causes LinuxMCE to use mplayer instead of xine.  The file plays without artifiacts which is a big improvement, but ff/rew/pause doesn't work and eventually leads to the player exiting.   

I am using 0710RC1 in a hybrid/core configuration, so I am confirming what you saw on your MD, only I see it on my core.

I have not made any changes to the default 0710RC1 mplayer configuration.  Is there any chance that you have made any changes from the default mplayer configuration on your core that might have fixed the ff/rew/pause problem?  If so, can you recall what they were as I would like to try to reproduce your success.

Cheers,
Alex
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: Itsik on July 13, 2008, 08:08:17 pm
Alex

I haven't made any changes what so ever accept for changing the file extension and media type.
btw, when you ff/raw you do not see the progress bar move, you just see the video move faster and the sound raise in pitch. That means the ff/raw works, but it's not x400 as it shows on the top bar, but a lot slower.

Itsik
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: colinjones on July 13, 2008, 11:53:56 pm
btw, the green-block artifacts you described with mkv files has been fixed in RC2 - I never get them on 720p mkv files any more and I used to get them all the time. Thought you might like to know.
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: alx9r on July 14, 2008, 01:07:21 am
colinjones,
That's interesting.  Do you know the last version where you for sure saw the green-block artifact?

I was under the impression that the only changes from RC1 to RC2 were minor changes to the ZWave driver and the full inclusion of some packages.  That is what is implied by this page:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Difference_between_710_RC1_and_710_RC2

I definitely see green-block artifacts using 0710RC1.

Regards,

Alex
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: colinjones on July 14, 2008, 01:27:39 am
Can't say with certainty, but it was either beta 3 or beta 4, I think 4... To be honest I thought it was fixed in RC1, but can't really remember.

Either way, it was definitely a "known issue" and not just with LMCE. I discussed it with some of the guys here, at the time before we realised it was related to mkv. I was watching a series called Torchwood in 720p/mkv - every episode displayed this issue, sometimes just a little on the left, but often it would "grow" right out into the main part of the screen, then go back again.

Someone on the forums confirmed it was fixed in version x, and after I passed that version I have never seen it again. So I can confirm for sure that it is gone in RC2.
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: cirion on July 14, 2008, 02:20:27 am
I can confirm that I still have green artifacts in RC2 both 32bit and 64bit.
Same files works with no green artifacts on Mythbuntu, Windows and PS3.

After RC1 there was considerably less green artifacts on the same files than before. Those MKV files where unwatchable in the betas because of the whole screen going green. But now there is only a bit in the left in the left side of the picture once in a while. The artifacts are consistent too. I can ff to the same point and get green artifacts every time.
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: colinjones on July 14, 2008, 02:31:19 am
Hmmm. That's interesting - the fix was supposed to be in there, and I haven't seen the artifacts since. Will check the same files again over the next few days.
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: alx9r on July 14, 2008, 02:50:32 am
Just to clarify what I see using 0710RC1:

On at least one 720p and one 1080p .mkv files I see green regions that grow mostly in the brightest parts of the scene then disappear at a certain point and begin to grow again.  Those files are still watchable but the green is distracting.

Alex

Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: cirion on July 14, 2008, 12:39:07 pm
I tried running the same movies in KDE desktop, and they worked fine. Kaffeine starts with the file and there are no green artiifacts...
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: royw on July 14, 2008, 08:53:02 pm
Now if I could just launch xbmc from the computing - installed programs page so the tv would not shut off when in kde or xbmc.

Just parts of the puzzle to get you started: 

  mysql -u root -e "use pluto_main;select * from Screen where Description='Computing';"

then over in the source, look in src/Gen_Devices/AllScreens.h and there are some SCREEN_Computing stuff.

From these, I'd suggest looking at Thom's HADesigner screencasts:

  http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5059.msg29620#msg29620

Have fun,
Roy


Have fun,
Roy
Title: Re: Any updates on mkv or ts files
Post by: colinjones on November 27, 2008, 12:06:22 am
Guys

Well I mustn't have played 720p mkv files for a long time after all! I just played one yesterday and turns out i am still getting the green artifacts... It must have just been that I didn't play any after upgrading to RC2 so had no recollection of the green...