Video playback for High Def video files .mkv and .avi

[fearingsept]

I have some high def video files that I have been trying to play on one of my MD's. These are mostly .mkv files that are set to 720p or higher. The files will play but the playback is very jittery. Like I am dropping frames.
I have not tried playing them on my core directly because my core is in my closet and I have not really had a chance to go in there and mess around much lately.

My MD has a total of 512k of ram. I am thinking it might be a lack of memory issue on the MD to be able to stream such large video files.

Is there any known issue with this or a minimum memory requirement for large video files?

[niz23]

Hi,

Afaik there´s some issues with mkv and libxine resulting in what you describe.
I guess you also see green blobs on screen? (especially if you do fast forward)

Some things will get better with beta2 and vdpau. (if you have a supported nvidia card)

But unfortunately much of the problem is in libxine itself and is solved in libxine 1.2 which we cannot include into 0810 release becuase it depend on som many other changes in several libraries.

/niz23

[fearingsept]

Yeah, I did notice the green on some of the videos but not on all.
Well that's no good. That system is using integrated Intel video so driver upgrade would not do anything there. eh... oh well. maybe I can use a file converter... know of any good ones?

[merkur2k]

is that the cpu that you list in your sig? if so, it probably just doesnt have enough grunt to decode those videos.

[fearingsept]

is that the cpu that you list in your sig? if so, it probably just doesnt have enough grunt to decode those videos.

Yeah, the cpu listed on my sig is the one in use currently.
maybe I should upgrade my processor.

I did add more RAM so I have 3 gigs now instead of 1. (I should update my sig)
For some reason I didn't think that I would need a bigger, more powerful processor.
I didn't hit a wall until now.
Is there a minimum recommendation for playing HD Video files?

[niz23]

Can´s say for sure.
Watch a movie you have problem with and do a "top" the same time form a ssh session.
If it´s close to 100% utilized you definitely have a issue with cpu.

I have a x2 4400 on my hybrid and have no problem at all to decode hd video in software.

/niz23

[colinjones]

That CPU will definitely struggle decoding X264/H264 video at 720P and above! The problem is you have no hardware decode acceleration, so anything that is very high bit rate video and/or a high demand codec will struggle as it relies entirely on the CPU. As mentioned, with a supported nVidia GPU and the VDPAU configured to work feature, this ceases to be an issue. Its unlikely you can upgrade something as old as a GX270/P4 machine to be adequate in CPU alone. RAM will make no difference to this particular issue.

Perhaps look into the small/cheap nVidia ION platforms that are becoming popular? Like the Acer Revo, etc low power CPU, but have nVidia chipsets compatible with VDPAU, so apparently they work like a dream... just note that even the beta doesn't use VDPAU out of the box yet....

[skeptic]

But unfortunately much of the problem is in libxine itself and is solved in libxine 1.2 which we cannot include into 0810 release becuase it depend on som many other changes in several libraries.

/niz23

Am I reading that right, or is it supposed to say libxine 1.2 will not be included UNTIL 0810 release?

[niz23]

skeptic,

But unfortunately much of the problem is in libxine itself and is solved in libxine 1.2 which we cannot include into 0810 release becuase it depend on som many other changes in several libraries.

/niz23

Am I reading that right, or is it supposed to say libxine 1.2 will not be included UNTIL 0810 release?

No. libxine 1.2 won´t be included in 0810 release because it depend on changes in so many other libraries that is part of stock kubuntu 0810.
Another reason is that libxine 1.2 is still in devel and no releases have been done yet.

But Yes. If we can figure out a way to build libxine 1.2 on 0810 with minimal changes to other things we will. But not in 0810 release maybe as an update.

/niz23

[fearingsept]

I went back and played the video file on my hybrid core and it seemed to play pretty well with exception of a little green blotches every now and then, which was expected. I used top and found that at max my cpu was around 70% but averaged around 50%. Could the high cpu usage could have been due to the fact my son was watching Thomas the Tank engine down stairs while I was testing and I didn't realize it.

So I am in the market for a new MD anyway. I may just have to get one for myself for Christmas.
Thanks everyone.

-Dustin

[colinjones]

niz - do you mean this is difficult because 1.2 is built with recent distros in mind, and so when we jump to 0910,etc it will be easier? Looks from the xine project site that 1.2 isn't even released yet, so I'm guessing it is very recent (and they mention that VDPAU integration is only experimental at this stage)

[niz23]

colinjones,

You are right. There´s no libxine 1.2 relased atm.
Atm the newest libxine is 1.1.16-3 and to that version we have added vdpau patches.

libxine 1.1.16-3 have issues with mkv files. Those are fixed in 1.2 which is not released yet.

1.2 depend on a newer ffmpeg package than the one shipped with Intrepid.
It seem ffmpeg from Jaunty is enough to satisfy dependencies but I´m not sure how much else will break.

Have not had time to test it yet. Struggling with how to build it properly in 0810.

Anyway. Even if an updated libxine can fix playback issues in lmce it will need a lot of testing before it can be included.
And I´m not up to that as libxine 1.2 will most likely break most of the built-in mediaplayers that is shipped with kubuntu0810 except for those that lmce depend on.

If anyone is up to it. Feel free to try and find instructions how to replace ffmpeg in Intrepid with never versions.
We need at least ffmpeg from mid march 2009 to be able to build libxine 1.2.

/niz23