MPlayer + VDPAU + Divx = Fail

**londy** · 26-Jan-2011, 06:43

This problem was reported by somebody else over at Packman's mailing list but got no response.

[packman] MPlayer issues with DivX and VDPAU

The current mplayer cannot play divx videos using vdpau. It tries to force the use of ffodivxvdpau even though it's not supported on certain video cards. I downgraded mplayer and it's working fine but smplayer doesn't support the old mplayer without ignoring warnings from yast.

I've been using vdpau for over a year and never had a problem until now.

Nobody else having this problem?

BTW, I'm using 11.3 and nvidia 8200 gpu.

**oldcpu** · 26-Jan-2011, 06:45

Originally Posted by londy

Nobody else having this problem?

I use vdpau a lot (on two different PCs). I don't know if I have a problem.

Can you point to a specific video file on the web that I can download and test (try to play with vdpau) to see if I have a problem ?

**londy** · 26-Jan-2011, 07:20

Here's a sample video that I cannot play:

Sample Movies

I tried that first one Divx AVI. I can play it with xv but not with vdpau.

I think this problem only affects cards with feature set A or B.

Nvidia PureVideo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**oldcpu** · 26-Jan-2011, 10:25

Originally Posted by londy

Here's a sample video that I cannot play:

Sample Movies

I tried that first one Divx AVI. I can play it with xv but not with vdpau.

I think this problem only affects cards with feature set A or B.

Nvidia PureVideo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ahh.. yes it turns out I can not test this. I note from Phoronix : [Phoronix] NVIDIA 190.32 Beta Brings New VDPAU Features

Originally Posted by phoronix

The other big improvement with the NVIDIA 190.32 Linux driver comes down to yet another batch of VDPAU enhancements. The Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix now has some fixes for some older NVIDIA GPUs where there was screen corruption along the bottom edge of the video playback screen. More importantly, however, newer NVIDIA GPUs now support decoding MPEG-4 Part 2, DivX 4, and DivX 5 formats. In order to use VDPAU with these formats, a NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M, GT 240M, G210M, GTS 250M, or GTS 260M is required. For these GPUs there is now also a higher quality video scaling algorithm that's used by the driver. Owners of other NVIDIA hardware are unaffected by these VDPAU changes.

My 32-bit PC has a nVidia 8400GS. Cleary that won't play the new formats.

My Intel Core i7 920 PC has a nVidia GTX 260 ... which is NOT the same as a GTS 260M. Hence that won't play the new formats.

My wife's Intel Core i7 860 PC has a nVidia G210 which is NOT the same as a G210M. Thus I can't check if mplayer is functioning for DivX.

Sorry.

**oldcpu** · 26-Jan-2011, 10:28

Originally Posted by oldcpu

My wife's Intel Core i7 860 PC has a nVidia G210 which is NOT the same as a G210M. Thus I can't check if mplayer is functioning for DivX.

On second thought, looking at the table in the web page you quoted: Nvidia PureVideo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia My wife's PC's nVidia G210 does have the 'feature set C', even though her hardware is not mentioned in the Phoronix article. So I guess when she allows me access, I could try to test this on her PC - although that begs the question, is that update limited to 'feature set C' or limited even further to the hardware noted by Phoronix ?

**oldcpu** · 26-Jan-2011, 12:58

Originally Posted by oldcpu

On second thought, looking at the table in the web page you quoted: Nvidia PureVideo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia My wife's PC's nVidia G210 does have the 'feature set C', even though her hardware is not mentioned in the Phoronix article. So I guess when she allows me access, I could try to test this on her PC - although that begs the question, is that update limited to 'feature set C' or limited even further to the hardware noted by Phoronix ?

I tested my wife's PC with the G210 nVidia hardware, and it turns out it works fine with Vdpau and divx and xvid !

I tested the divx video you noted from here: Sample Movies .... specifically this one: AVI_DVI_DivX.avi

I also tested an xvid sample called sample.avi from this underlined location.

To play, I used the commands:

Code:

mplayer -vo vdpau -vc ffodivxvdpau AVI_DVI_DivX.avi

Code:

mplayer -vo vdpau -vc ffodivxvdpau sample.avi

some detail on my wife's openSUSE hardware/configuration ... Her PC is running openSUSE-11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.7-default x86_64 w/KDE-4.4.4. 'release 3' and for software she has:

Code:

MPlayer-1.0rc4_r32749-1.pm.2.2.x86_64
libvdpau1-0.4-5.6.x86_64

Here hardware is:

Code:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GT218 [GeForce 210] [10de:0a65] (rev a2)
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:8334]
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia

where that hardware has vdpau feature set '3'.

... and it turns out she does not have the very latest nVidia driver, but rather has the proprietary NVIDIA-260.19.29 driver (which is one before the latest). Her driver was installed 'the hardway' (which is NOT hard).

One note about the proprietary nVidia driver, ... my experience with openSUSE is after one does a fresh install of the proprietary nVidia driver, to use vdpau it is necessary to re-install (each time) libvdpau1-0.4-5.6.x86_64 (or what ever the latest 'libvdpau1' version may be).

**oldcpu** · 26-Jan-2011, 13:52

Originally Posted by londy

This problem was reported by somebody else over at Packman's mailing list but got no response.

[packman] MPlayer issues with DivX and VDPAU

The current mplayer cannot play divx videos using vdpau. It tries to force the use of ffodivxvdpau even though it's not supported on certain video cards.

Either I do not understand what this user is complaining about, or they made a mistake.

My wife's mplayer that has feature set C can play the videos with vdpau, and my PC which is not feature set C can play the videos without vdpau. By default mplayer does NOT use vdpau (but smplayer does use vdpau by default). When I type "mplayer sample.avi" on a PC with nVidia vdpau feature set b, the video plays with no problem (not using vdpau). MPlayer does NOT default to vdpau as the user incorrectly noted. At least it does not do so on my PC.

**F_Sauce** · 26-Jan-2011, 14:27

This problem was reported by somebody else over at Packman's mailing list but got no response.

[packman] MPlayer issues with DivX and VDPAU

The current mplayer cannot play divx videos using vdpau. It tries to force the use of ffodivxvdpau even though it's not supported on certain video cards. I downgraded mplayer and it's working fine but smplayer doesn't support the old mplayer without ignoring warnings from yast.

I've been using vdpau for over a year and never had a problem until now.

Nobody else having this problem?

BTW, I'm using 11.3 and nvidia 8200 gpu.

Yes, I've also run into this. I've been useing XV for some time now instead.

One note about the proprietary nVidia driver, ... my experience with openSUSE is after one does a fresh install of the proprietary nVidia driver, to use vdpau it is necessary to re-install (each time) libvdpau1-0.4-5.6.x86_64 (or what ever the latest 'libvdpau1' version may be).

Thanks, I hadn't thought about that. It seems to solve problems regarding other codecs and VDPAU.

**F_Sauce** · 26-Jan-2011, 14:36

By default mplayer does NOT use vdpau (but smplayer does use vdpau by default). When I type "mplayer sample.avi" on a PC with nVidia vdpau feature set b, the video plays with no problem (not using vdpau). MPlayer does NOT default to vdpau as the user incorrectly noted. At least it does not do so on my PC.

I think you might be wrong, mine does infact set itself to use VDPAU by default and I do not use SMPlayer/KMplayer etc.

Cheers,
Olav

**londy** · 26-Jan-2011, 17:55

Let me give an example of the problem.

With the old mplayer I can play a divx video like this:

Code:

mplayer -vo vdpau -vc ffmpeg12vdpau,ffh264vdpau,ffwmv3vdpau,ffvc1vdpau, test.avi

If the video is supported by one of the codecs listed, it will select that codec otherwise it'll try some other codec. In this example (divx video), the old mplayer will select ffodivx and play the video. The new mplayer will select ffodivxvdpau, which isn't supported on my card, and it won't play the video.

The workaround is to:

-use xv all the time
-keep switching between xv and vdpau
-downgrade to the old mplayer (this is what I did)