comparison DOCS/codecs.html @ 7814:988498df1996

<B>MPlayer</B> ---> MPlayer

7813:76940a39405a

<H4><A NAME="divx">2.2.1.1 DivX4/DivX5</A></H4>

<P>This section contains information about the DivX4 and DivX5 codecs of
  <A HREF="http://www.projectmayo.com">Project Mayo</A>. Their first available
  alpha version was OpenDivX 4.0 alpha 47 and 48. Support for this was included
  in <B>MPlayer</B> in the past, and built by default. We also used its
  postprocessing code to optionally enhance visual quality of MPEG1/2 movies.
  Now we use our own, for all file types.</P>

<P>The new generation of this codec is called DivX4 and can even decode
  movies made with the infamous DivX codec! In addition it is much faster than

<P>Unpack it, and run <CODE>./install.sh</CODE> as root.</P>

<P><B>Note:</B> Do <B>not</B> forget adding <CODE>/usr/local/lib</CODE> to your
  <CODE>/etc/ld.so.conf</CODE> and running <CODE>ldconfig</CODE>!</P>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> autodetects DivX4/DivX5 if it is properly installed, just
  compile as usual. If it does not detect it, you did not install or configure
  it correctly.</P>

<P>DivX4Linux works in two modes:</P>

<DL>
  <DT><CODE>-vc odivx</CODE></DT>
  <DD>Uses the codec in OpenDivX fashion. In this case it
    produces YV12 images in its own buffer, and <B>MPlayer</B> does colorspace
    conversion via libvo. (<B>Fast, recommended!</B>)</DD>

  <DT><CODE>-vc divx4</CODE></DT>
  <DD>Uses the colorspace conversion of the codec.
    In this mode you can use YUY2/UYVY, too. (<B>SLOW</B>)</DD>

<P>It contains a lot of nice codecs, especially important are the MPEG4
  variants:
  DivX 3, DivX 4, DivX 5, Windows Media Video 7 (WMV1)</P>

<P>If you use an <B>MPlayer</B> release you have libavcodec right in the
  package, just build as usual. If you use <B>MPlayer</B> from CVS you have to
  extract libavcodec from the FFmpeg CVS tree as FFmpeg 0.4.5 does <B>not</B>
  work with <B>MPlayer</B>. In order to achieve this do:</P>

<OL>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/cvsroot/ffmpeg login</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Move the <CODE>libavcodec</CODE> directory from the FFmpeg sources to the
    root of the <B>MPlayer</B> CVS tree. It should look like this:
    <P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>main/libavcodec</CODE></P>
    Symlinking is <B>not</B> enough, you have to copy or move it!</LI>
  <LI>Compile. Configure should detect problems before compilation.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> <B>MPlayer</B> from CVS does contain a libavcodec
  subdirectory, but it does <B>not</B> contain the source for libavcodec!
  You must follow the steps above to obtain the source for this library.</P>

<P>With FFmpeg and my Matrox G400, I can view even the highest resolution DivX
  movies without dropped frames on my K6/2 500.</P>

  restrictions, forbids the user to use the codecs in conjunction with any
  program other than XAnim. However, the XAnim author has yet to bring legal
  action against anyone for codec-related issues.
</P>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> is capable of employing the XAnim codecs for decoding. Follow
  the instructions to enable them:</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Download the codecs you wish to use from the
    <A HREF="http://xanim.va.pubnix.com">XAnim site</A>. The <B>3ivx</B> codec

  <LI>Rename/symlink the files, cutting out the architecture stuff, so they will
    have filenames like these: <CODE>vid_cvid.xa, vid_h263.xa, vid_iv50.xa</CODE>.</LI>
</OL>

<P>XAnim is video codec family number 10, so you may want to use the <CODE>-vfm 10</CODE>
  option to tell <B>MPlayer</B> to use them if possible.</P>

<P>Tested codecs include: <B>Indeo 3.2</B>, <B>4.1</B>, <B>5.0</B>, <B>CVID</B>,
  <B>3ivX</B>, <B>h263</B>.</P>


<H4><A NAME="vivo_video">2.2.1.4 VIVO video</A></H4>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> can play Vivo (1.0 and 2.0) videos. The most suitable codec
  for 1.0 files is FFmpeg's H263 decoder, you can use it with the <CODE>-vc
  ffh263</CODE> option (default). For 2.0 files, use the
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/ivvideo.dll">ivvideo.dll</A>
  Win32 DLL file, and install it under <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> or wherever you store the
  Win32 codecs.</P>


<H4><A NAME="mpeg">2.2.1.5 MPEG 1/2 video</A></H4>

<P>MPEG1 and MPEG2 are decoded by the multiplatform native <B>libmpeg2</B>
  library, whose source code is included in <B>MPlayer</B>. We handle buggy
  MPEG 1/2 video files by catching sig11 (segmentation fault), and quickly
  reinitializing the codec, continuing exactly from where the failure occurred. 
  This recovery technique has no measurable speed penalty.</P>

  Melanson</A>).</P>


<H4><A NAME="cinepak">2.2.1.7 Cinepak CVID</A></H4>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> uses its own open source, multiplatform Cinepak decoder by
  default. It supports YUV outputs, so that hardware scaling is possible if the
  video output driver permits it.</P>


<H4><A NAME="realvideo">2.2.1.8 RealVideo</A></H4>

<B>MPlayer</B> supports decoding all versions of RealVideo:

<UL>
  <LI>RealVideo 1.0 (fourcc RV10) - en/decoding supported by <B>libavcodec</B></LI>
  <LI>RealVideo 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 (fourcc RV20, RV30, RV40) - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
</UL>

<P>It is recommended to download and install RealPlayer8 or RealONE, because
  <B>MPlayer</B> can use their libraries to decode files with RealVideo 2.0 -
  4.0 video. The <B>MPlayer</B> configure script should detect the
  RealPlayer libraries in the standard locations of a full installation. If it
  does not, tell configure where to look with the
  <CODE>--with-reallibdir</CODE> switch.</P>

<P><B>Note:</B> RealPlayer libraries currently <B>only work with Linux, FreeBSD,

  <LI><CODE>cd xvidcore/build/generic</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Edit <CODE>Makefile.linux</CODE> to fit your needs.</LI>
  <LI><CODE>make -f Makefile.linux</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Get <CODE>encore2.h</CODE> and <CODE>decore.h</CODE> from the DivX4Linux
    package, and copy them to <CODE>/usr/local/include/</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Recompile <B>MPlayer</B> with <CODE>--with-xvidcore=/path/to/libcore.a</CODE>.</LI>
</OL>


<H4><A NAME="sorenson">2.2.1.10 Sorenson</A></H4>

<P>The audio codec used in VIVO files depends on whether it is a VIVO/1.0 or
  VIVO/2.0 file. VIVO/1.0 files have <B>g.723</B> audio, and VIVO/2.0 files
  have <B>Vivo Siren</B> audio. Both are supported. You can grab the
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/vivog723.acm">g.723/Siren</A>
  Win32 DLL from the <B>MPlayer</B> site,
  then copy it into the <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> directory.</P>


<H4><A NAME="realaudio">2.2.2.5 RealAudio</A></H4>

<B>MPlayer</B> supports decoding nearly all versions of RealAudio:

<UL>
  <LI>RealAudio DNET - decoding supported by <B>liba52</B></LI>
  <LI>RealAudio Cook/Sipro - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
  <LI>RealAudio atrc - decoding not yet supported</LI>

<H4><A NAME="importing_vfw">2.2.3.1 VFW codecs</A></H4>

<P>VFW (Video for Windows) is the old Video API for Windows. Its codecs have
  the .DLL or (rarely) .DRV extension.
  If <B>MPlayer</B> fails at playing your AVI with this kind of message:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>UNKNOWN video codec: HFYU (0x55594648)</CODE></P>

<P>It means your AVI is encoded with a codec which has the HFYU fourcc (HFYU =
  HuffYUV codec, DIV3 = DivX Low Motion, etc...). Now that you know this, you

    entry.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> If there is no <CODE>Filename</CODE> entry and <CODE>DisplayName</CODE>
  contains something like <CODE>device:dmo</CODE>, then it is a DMO-Codec, which are
  currently not supported by <B>MPlayer</B>.</P>

<P><B>Old Method:</B> Take a deep breath and start searching the registry...</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Start <CODE>regedit</CODE>.</LI>

7814:988498df1996

<H4><A NAME="divx">2.2.1.1 DivX4/DivX5</A></H4>

<P>This section contains information about the DivX4 and DivX5 codecs of
  <A HREF="http://www.projectmayo.com">Project Mayo</A>. Their first available
  alpha version was OpenDivX 4.0 alpha 47 and 48. Support for this was included
  in MPlayer in the past, and built by default. We also used its
  postprocessing code to optionally enhance visual quality of MPEG1/2 movies.
  Now we use our own, for all file types.</P>

<P>The new generation of this codec is called DivX4 and can even decode
  movies made with the infamous DivX codec! In addition it is much faster than

<P>Unpack it, and run <CODE>./install.sh</CODE> as root.</P>

<P><B>Note:</B> Do <B>not</B> forget adding <CODE>/usr/local/lib</CODE> to your
  <CODE>/etc/ld.so.conf</CODE> and running <CODE>ldconfig</CODE>!</P>

<P>MPlayer autodetects DivX4/DivX5 if it is properly installed, just
  compile as usual. If it does not detect it, you did not install or configure
  it correctly.</P>

<P>DivX4Linux works in two modes:</P>

<DL>
  <DT><CODE>-vc odivx</CODE></DT>
  <DD>Uses the codec in OpenDivX fashion. In this case it
    produces YV12 images in its own buffer, and MPlayer does colorspace
    conversion via libvo. (<B>Fast, recommended!</B>)</DD>

  <DT><CODE>-vc divx4</CODE></DT>
  <DD>Uses the colorspace conversion of the codec.
    In this mode you can use YUY2/UYVY, too. (<B>SLOW</B>)</DD>

<P>It contains a lot of nice codecs, especially important are the MPEG4
  variants:
  DivX 3, DivX 4, DivX 5, Windows Media Video 7 (WMV1)</P>

<P>If you use an MPlayer release you have libavcodec right in the
  package, just build as usual. If you use MPlayer from CVS you have to
  extract libavcodec from the FFmpeg CVS tree as FFmpeg 0.4.5 does <B>not</B>
  work with MPlayer. In order to achieve this do:</P>

<OL>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/cvsroot/ffmpeg login</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Move the <CODE>libavcodec</CODE> directory from the FFmpeg sources to the
    root of the MPlayer CVS tree. It should look like this:
    <P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>main/libavcodec</CODE></P>
    Symlinking is <B>not</B> enough, you have to copy or move it!</LI>
  <LI>Compile. Configure should detect problems before compilation.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> MPlayer from CVS does contain a libavcodec
  subdirectory, but it does <B>not</B> contain the source for libavcodec!
  You must follow the steps above to obtain the source for this library.</P>

<P>With FFmpeg and my Matrox G400, I can view even the highest resolution DivX
  movies without dropped frames on my K6/2 500.</P>

  restrictions, forbids the user to use the codecs in conjunction with any
  program other than XAnim. However, the XAnim author has yet to bring legal
  action against anyone for codec-related issues.
</P>

<P>MPlayer is capable of employing the XAnim codecs for decoding. Follow
  the instructions to enable them:</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Download the codecs you wish to use from the
    <A HREF="http://xanim.va.pubnix.com">XAnim site</A>. The <B>3ivx</B> codec

  <LI>Rename/symlink the files, cutting out the architecture stuff, so they will
    have filenames like these: <CODE>vid_cvid.xa, vid_h263.xa, vid_iv50.xa</CODE>.</LI>
</OL>

<P>XAnim is video codec family number 10, so you may want to use the <CODE>-vfm 10</CODE>
  option to tell MPlayer to use them if possible.</P>

<P>Tested codecs include: <B>Indeo 3.2</B>, <B>4.1</B>, <B>5.0</B>, <B>CVID</B>,
  <B>3ivX</B>, <B>h263</B>.</P>


<H4><A NAME="vivo_video">2.2.1.4 VIVO video</A></H4>

<P>MPlayer can play Vivo (1.0 and 2.0) videos. The most suitable codec
  for 1.0 files is FFmpeg's H263 decoder, you can use it with the <CODE>-vc
  ffh263</CODE> option (default). For 2.0 files, use the
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/ivvideo.dll">ivvideo.dll</A>
  Win32 DLL file, and install it under <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> or wherever you store the
  Win32 codecs.</P>


<H4><A NAME="mpeg">2.2.1.5 MPEG 1/2 video</A></H4>

<P>MPEG1 and MPEG2 are decoded by the multiplatform native <B>libmpeg2</B>
  library, whose source code is included in MPlayer. We handle buggy
  MPEG 1/2 video files by catching sig11 (segmentation fault), and quickly
  reinitializing the codec, continuing exactly from where the failure occurred. 
  This recovery technique has no measurable speed penalty.</P>

  Melanson</A>).</P>


<H4><A NAME="cinepak">2.2.1.7 Cinepak CVID</A></H4>

<P>MPlayer uses its own open source, multiplatform Cinepak decoder by
  default. It supports YUV outputs, so that hardware scaling is possible if the
  video output driver permits it.</P>


<H4><A NAME="realvideo">2.2.1.8 RealVideo</A></H4>

MPlayer supports decoding all versions of RealVideo:

<UL>
  <LI>RealVideo 1.0 (fourcc RV10) - en/decoding supported by <B>libavcodec</B></LI>
  <LI>RealVideo 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 (fourcc RV20, RV30, RV40) - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
</UL>

<P>It is recommended to download and install RealPlayer8 or RealONE, because
  MPlayer can use their libraries to decode files with RealVideo 2.0 -
  4.0 video. The MPlayer configure script should detect the
  RealPlayer libraries in the standard locations of a full installation. If it
  does not, tell configure where to look with the
  <CODE>--with-reallibdir</CODE> switch.</P>

<P><B>Note:</B> RealPlayer libraries currently <B>only work with Linux, FreeBSD,

  <LI><CODE>cd xvidcore/build/generic</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Edit <CODE>Makefile.linux</CODE> to fit your needs.</LI>
  <LI><CODE>make -f Makefile.linux</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Get <CODE>encore2.h</CODE> and <CODE>decore.h</CODE> from the DivX4Linux
    package, and copy them to <CODE>/usr/local/include/</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Recompile MPlayer with <CODE>--with-xvidcore=/path/to/libcore.a</CODE>.</LI>
</OL>


<H4><A NAME="sorenson">2.2.1.10 Sorenson</A></H4>

<P>The audio codec used in VIVO files depends on whether it is a VIVO/1.0 or
  VIVO/2.0 file. VIVO/1.0 files have <B>g.723</B> audio, and VIVO/2.0 files
  have <B>Vivo Siren</B> audio. Both are supported. You can grab the
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/vivog723.acm">g.723/Siren</A>
  Win32 DLL from the MPlayer site,
  then copy it into the <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> directory.</P>


<H4><A NAME="realaudio">2.2.2.5 RealAudio</A></H4>

MPlayer supports decoding nearly all versions of RealAudio:

<UL>
  <LI>RealAudio DNET - decoding supported by <B>liba52</B></LI>
  <LI>RealAudio Cook/Sipro - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
  <LI>RealAudio atrc - decoding not yet supported</LI>

<H4><A NAME="importing_vfw">2.2.3.1 VFW codecs</A></H4>

<P>VFW (Video for Windows) is the old Video API for Windows. Its codecs have
  the .DLL or (rarely) .DRV extension.
  If MPlayer fails at playing your AVI with this kind of message:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>UNKNOWN video codec: HFYU (0x55594648)</CODE></P>

<P>It means your AVI is encoded with a codec which has the HFYU fourcc (HFYU =
  HuffYUV codec, DIV3 = DivX Low Motion, etc...). Now that you know this, you

    entry.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> If there is no <CODE>Filename</CODE> entry and <CODE>DisplayName</CODE>
  contains something like <CODE>device:dmo</CODE>, then it is a DMO-Codec, which are
  currently not supported by MPlayer.</P>

<P><B>Old Method:</B> Take a deep breath and start searching the registry...</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Start <CODE>regedit</CODE>.</LI>