Author Topic: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?  (Read 6904 times)

skeptic

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Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« on: May 07, 2008, 03:52:45 am »
No weird green blocks growing from the left side of the screen or other issues?  If so, what version of LMCE are you using, and is it x86 or AMD64?

cobradevil

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2008, 08:48:31 am »
Hello Skeptic,

I have no weird issues with h264.
I'm using LMCE0710beta4 amd64 core with a i386 MD!

The problem is most of the time the video card but i have read on the internet that xine-lib wil also cause green artifacts!
http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/8268.
I'm using an nvidia 7600GS and that card works like a charm!

With kind regards

William van de Velde

skeptic

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2008, 05:56:23 pm »
Thanks for the reply.  I'm on 710 beta3 (AMD64), downloading RC1 now (much slower than normal for some reason).  My card is a 7300SE, and from what I can find it's an xine-lib issue.  Apparently you can compile xine-lib to use internal or external (ffmpeg) decoding.  Using external or the newest internal decoding apparently fixes it.  In digging through the changelogs it looks like 710b3 switched to the "newest" xine.  I'm hoping there isn't some version issue between x86 and AMD64.

I'd love to hear from anyone else using H.264 video, if it works or not, and if you are on x86 or AMD64.

After RC1 is downloaded, installed, and tested I'll post my experiences as well.

sfalcon1

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2008, 06:31:00 pm »
I have DVD video I transcoded to x.264 and it plays well.  As I remember it was using less cpu time than xvid files.   I was using 710b4 when I verified it worked on mine. Just upgraded to RC1 and have not tried it, yet. 

I have not had a chance, or I should say a file available, to test HD quality h.264 video.  I'm sure it would increase the cpu load.

skeptic

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2008, 06:45:33 pm »
I have DVD video I transcoded to x.264 and it plays well.  As I remember it was using less cpu time than xvid files.   I was using 710b4 when I verified it worked on mine. Just upgraded to RC1 and have not tried it, yet. 

I have not had a chance, or I should say a file available, to test HD quality h.264 video.  I'm sure it would increase the cpu load.

This gives me hope.  I don't suppose you are running on AMD64, not x86?  I don't really want to re-install from scratch after all the setup I have done, but if going to x86 is the only way to get this working correctly I will.

nosilla99

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2008, 07:40:14 pm »
I used to experience the green blocks issue although I don't think I  have tested since beta 1.

I have just tested using RC1 with an nvidia 6200A on i386 and can confirm that my h.264 videos do not suffer from that problem any more.

NOS

colinjones

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2008, 01:42:22 am »
I definitely get this everytime on my mkv/x264 files. Running beta4 on AMD64 from DVD.

skeptic

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2008, 02:30:50 am »
I definitely get this everytime on my mkv/x264 files. Running beta4 on AMD64 from DVD.

Grrrr....  I'm burning RC1 right now, going to give that a try.  The pattern I'm starting to see is beta3 or beta4 and newer fixes this with x86, but b3 and b4 still have the issue with AMD64...   

sfalcon1

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2008, 04:44:27 am »
It is starting to look like a problem with amd64.   I am running i386 arch with no problem.  Just tested with my new RC1 MD using the shuttle kpc celeron 430.  Runs great.  I reviewed a few transcoded dvds and noticed I was preferring the xvids more often than the 264.   


skeptic

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2008, 06:29:59 am »
I just installed RC1 AMD64.  I'm displeased with the "upgrade" as it appears to have wiped out my entire configuration even though the install found it and I selected the option to keep settings and /home.  I had to go through the video wizard, which I expected, then it started taking me through the names, rooms, TV, cable, etc. etc. etc.  Short of my videos which are on an external USB drive (and not hooked up during install), it appears to be a clean install.  Admittedly, I didn't go into MythTV, I just checked the H.264 videos, saw that all my settings including my pain the butt remote are gone (fortunately setting up the remote was enough hassle that I posted a how-to with all the codes in case anyone else wanted to use the same remote, so that should be here on the forum).  E-mail server (postfix) is gone, e-mail gone,  dns setup gone,  my networking settings with static IP gone (all my computers off the net until I could get that fixed), etc..   >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(  Anyway, I tried playing H.264 videos and the f'ing green blocks are still there.  From KDE desktop both mplayer and xine play just fine, but from within LMCE the green blocks are killing it.

Time for a real test.  I just kicked off a download of the i386 DVD and I'll be installing from scratch tomorrow or as soon as I get the DVD downloaded.  IF I can get it loaded..  After 5 or 10 minutes it's still sitting at 0 Bytes downloaded. 

Thingie

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2008, 08:33:52 pm »
I run 2 MD's that are i386 architecture but they get recognized and installed as AMD64 architecture (both with Nvidia graphicd card). I never had any real problems that i thought could be related to this issue so I always left it as it is. But I also have the green blocks mentioned above and also subtitles wouldn't display on one of the MD's. I resolved these 2 problems by turning of OpenGL. I use UI2 with alpha blending and now subs are displayed correctly and the green blocks are gone. Maybe you can try this.

grtz

Thingie

skeptic

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2008, 10:49:24 pm »
I've now re-installed RC1, complete overwrite, and the green blocks are still there.  Apparently it's not an AMD64 vs. i386 issue.  Ever since installing AMD64 I've been wondering if I should have gone with i386...  Even though the blocks are still there, at least I'm on i386 which I believe will be less problematic down the road (flash in firefox, handbrake for when I auto transcode instead of just rip DVDs, possible Mame stuff).

I'm using UI2, and I've tried both alpha on and off.  When you said "turning of OpenGL" did you mean turn it on or turn it off?  As I understand it, UI2, both versions, requires OpenGL.

darrenmason

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2008, 02:05:20 am »
I assumed that he meant "tuning of OpenGL"....

skeptic

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2008, 03:44:27 am »
turning on, turning off, or tuning...  Please, what was the specific fix?

Thingie

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Re: Anyone successfully playing H.264 videos?
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2008, 05:33:03 pm »
Ok, to make everything clear. In the Webadmin I set the videocard to 'GeForce or TNT2' and set the hardware acceleration to 'xv' if I change it to OpenGL the blocks reapear and the subs are no longer displayed. I use UI2 with alpha blending without any probs. Maybe I should mention that the MD is connected to a standard tv (PALB) so maybe on flatscreens with higher resolutions the 'xv' acceleration is not enough.

Hope this clears it.  ;D

Grtz
Thingie