Mercurial > mplayer.hg
view DOCS/video.html @ 2956:f6b51da0a50d
DOXized and applied Nick's radeon_vid patch. Nick, should I update
the VESA section or do you want to do it ?
| author | gabucino |
|---|---|
| date | Sat, 17 Nov 2001 17:43:25 +0000 |
| parents | 675a93e97305 |
| children | f6da5ca01651 |
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<HTML> <BODY BGCOLOR=white> <FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1>2.3.1. Video output devices</A></B></P> <TABLE BORDER=0> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>General:</B></P></TD><TR> <TD> </TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.13>x11</A></TD><TD> </TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>X11 with optional SHM extension</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.2>xv</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>X11 using overlays with the Xvideo extension (hardware YUV & scaling)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.10</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>OpenGL renderer, so far works only with: <UL><LI>all cards with Utah-GLX <LI>Matrox cards with X/DRI >=4.0.3 <LI>Radeon with X/DRI CVS</UL></TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.3>dga</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>X11 DGA extension</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.6>fbdev</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Output to general framebuffers</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.5>svga</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Output to SVGAlib</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.4>sdl</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> <CODE>1.1.7:</CODE> supports software scaling<BR> <CODE>1.1.8:</CODE> supports Xvideo (hardware scaling/fullscreen)<BR> <CODE>1.2.0:</CODE> supports AAlib (-vo aa is very recommended, see below!)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.14-TODO>ggi</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>similar to SDL</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.11>aa</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>textmode rendering with AAlib</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><a href=#2.3.1.12>vesa</a></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Output to VESA BIOS.</TD><TR> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Card specific:</B></P></TD><TR> <TD> </TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.7>mga</A></TD><TD> </TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Matrox G200/G400 hardware YUV overlay via the mga_vid device</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.7>xmga</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Matrox G200/G400 overlay (mga_vid) in X11 window<BR> (<I>Xv emulation on X 3.3.x!</I>)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>syncfb</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Matrox G400 YUV support on framebuffer (obsoleted, use mga/xmga)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>3dfx</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Voodoo3/Banshee hardware YUV (/dev/3dfx) support (not yet tested, maybe broken)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><A HREF=#2.3.1.9>tdfxfb</A></TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Voodoo3/Banshee hardware YUV support on tdfx framebuffer (works!)</TD><TR> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Special:</B></P></TD><TR> <TD> </TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>png</TD><TD> </TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>PNG files output (use -z switch to set compression)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>pgm</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>PGM files output (for testing purposes or ffmpeg encoding)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>md5</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>MD5sum output (for MPEG conformance tests)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>null</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Null output (for speed tests/benchmarking)</TD><TR> </TABLE> <P>NOTE: <I>check the following subsections for details and requirements!</I></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.1>2.3.1.1. Setting up MTRR</A></B></P> <P>It is VERY recommended to check if the MTRR registers are set up properly, because they can give a big performance boost.</P> <P>Do a '<CODE>cat /proc/mtrr</CODE>' :</P> <P><CODE> --($:~)-- cat /proc/mtrr<BR> reg00: base=0xe4000000 (3648MB), size= 16MB: write-combining, count=9<BR> reg01: base=0xd8000000 (3456MB), size= 128MB: write-combining, count=1<BR> </CODE></P> <P>It's right, shows my Matrox G400 with 16Mb memory. I did this from XFree 4.x.x , which sets up MTRR registers automatically.</P> <P>If nothing worked, you have to do it manually. First, you have to find the base address. You have 3 ways to find it:</P> <P><UL> <LI>from X11 startup messages, for example: <P><CODE>(--) SVGA: PCI: Matrox MGA G400 AGP rev 4, Memory @ 0xd8000000, 0xd4000000<BR> (--) SVGA: Linear framebuffer at 0xD8000000</CODE></P></LI> <LI>from /proc/pci (use lspci -v command): <P> <CODE>01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc.: Unknown device 0525</CODE> <CODE>Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable)</CODE> </P> <LI>from mga_vid kernel driver messages (use dmesg): <P><CODE>mga_mem_base = d8000000</CODE></P> </UL></P> <P>Then let's find the memory size. This is very easy, just convert video ram size to hexadecimal, or use this table:</P> <TABLE BORDER=0> <TD> </TD><TD>1 MB</TD><TD WIDTH=10%></TD><TD>0x100000</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD>2 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x200000</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD>4 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x400000</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD>8 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x800000</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD>16 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x1000000</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD>32 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x2000000</TD><TR> </TABLE> <P>You know base address and memory size, let's setup mtrr registers! For example, for the Matrox card above (base=0xd8000000) with 32MB ram (size=0x2000000) just execute:</P> <P><CODE> echo "base=0xd8000000 size=0x2000000 type=write-combining" >| /proc/mtrr</CODE></P> <P>Not all CPUs support MTRRs. For example older K6-2's [around 266Mhz, stepping 0] doesn't support MTRR, but stepping 12's do ('<CODE>cat /proc/cpuinfo</CODE>' to check it').</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2>2.3.1.2. Xv</A></B></P> <P>Under XFree86 4.0.2 or newer, you can use your card's hardware YUV routines using the XVideo extension. This is what the option '-vo xv' uses. In order to make this work, be sure to check the following:</P> <P><UL> <LI>You have to use XFree86 4.0.2 or newer (former versions don't have XVideo) <LI>Your card actually supports hardware acceleration (modern cards do) <LI>X loads the XVideo extension, it's something like this: <P><CODE> (II) Loading extension XVideo</CODE></P> <P>in /var/log/XFree86.0.log</P> <P>NOTE: this loads only the XFree86's extension. In a good install, this is always loaded, and doesn't mean that the _card's_ XVideo support is loaded!</P> <LI>Your card has Xv support under Linux. To check, try 'xvinfo', it is the part of the XFree86 distribution. It should display a long text, similar to this: <PRE> X-Video Extension version 2.2 screen #0 Adaptor #0: "Savage Streams Engine" number of ports: 1 port base: 43 operations supported: PutImage supported visuals: depth 16, visualID 0x22 depth 16, visualID 0x23 number of attributes: 5 (...) Number of image formats: 7 id: 0x32595559 (YUY2) guid: 59555932-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71 bits per pixel: 16 number of planes: 1 type: YUV (packed) id: 0x32315659 (YV12) guid: 59563132-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71 bits per pixel: 12 number of planes: 3 type: YUV (planar) (...etc...) </PRE> <P>It must support YUY2 packed, and YV12 planar pixel formats to be usable with <B>MPlayer</B>.</P> <LI>And finally, check if <B>MPlayer</B> was compiled with 'xv' support. ./configure prints this. </UL></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.1>2.3.1.2.1. 3dfx cards</A></B></P> <P>Older 3dfx drivers were known to have problems with XVideo acceleration, it didn't support either YUY2 or YV12, and so. Verify that you have XFree86 version 4.1.0 or greater, it works ok. Alternatively, you can use <A HREF="http://dri.sourceforge.net">DRI</A> cvs. If you experience strange effects using -vo xv, try SDL (it has XVideo too) and see if it helps. Check the <A HREF="#2.3.1.4">SDL section</A> for details.</P> <P><B>OR</B>, try the NEW -vo tdfxfb driver! See the <A HREF=#2.3.1.9>2.3.1.9</A> section!</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.2>2.3.1.2.2. S3 cards</A></B></P> <P>S3 Savage3D's should work fine, but for Savage4, use XFree86 version 4.0.3 or greater (in case of image problems, try 16bpp). As for S3 Virge.. sell it.</P> <P><B>NOTE</B>: Savage4 has a slow YV12 image displaying capability (it needs to do YV12->YUY2 conversion, because the Savage hardware can't display YV12). So when this documentation says at some point "this has YV12 output use this, it's faster", you shouldn't. Stick to YUY2.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.3>2.3.1.2.3. nVidia cards</A></B></P> <P>nVidia isn't a very good choice under Linux.. You'll have to use the binary nVidia driver, available at nVidia's website. The standard X driver doesn't support XVideo for these cards, due to nVidia's closed sources/specifications.</P> <P><UL><LI>Riva128 cards don't have XVideo support even with the nvidia driver :( Complain to NVidia.</UL></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.4>2.3.1.2.4. ATI cards</A></B></P> <P> <LI>The GATOS driver (which you should use) has VSYNC enabled by default. It means that decoding speed (!) is synced to the monitor's refresh rate. If playing seems to be slow, try disabling VSYNC somehow, or set refresh rate to n*(fps of the movie) Hz.</LI> <LI>Radeon VE - currently only XFree86 CVS has driver for this card, version 4.1.0 doesn't. No TV-out support. (But see <a href="video.html#2.3.1.12">VESA</a> sections).</LI> </P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.5>2.3.1.2.5. NeoMagic cards</A></B></P> <P> These cards can be found in many laptops. Under Linux, their peak is only DGA. Unfortunately, the DGA driver in X 4.1.0 doesn't work, you'll have to wait for 4.2.0, or download a modified driver for 4.0.3 or 4.1.0 from here : <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/contrib/NeoMagic-driver">http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/contrib/NeoMagic-driver</A> (there is also the patch to the driver's source).<BR> Drivers provided by <A HREF="mailto:tomee@cpi.pl">Tomek Jarzynka</A>. </P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3>2.3.1.3. DGA</A></B></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.1>2.3.1.3.1. Summary</A></B></P> <P>This document tries to explain in some words what DGA is in general and what the DGA video output driver for mplayer can do (and what it can't).</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.2>2.3.1.3.2. What is DGA</A></B></P> <P>DGA is short for Direct Graphics Access and is a means for a program to bypass the X-Server and directly modifying the framebuffer memory. Technically spoken this happens by mapping the framebuffer memory into the memory range of your process. This is allowed by the kernel only if you have superuser privileges. You can get these either by logging in as root or by setting the suid bit on the mplayer excecutable (NOT recommended!).</P> <P>There are two versions of DGA: DGA1 is used by XFree 3.x.x and DGA2 was introduced with XFree 4.0.1.</P> <P>DGA1 provides only direct framebuffer access as described above. For switching the resolution of the video signal you have to rely on the XVidMode extension.</P> <P>DGA2 incorporates the features of XVidMode extension and also allows switching the depth of the display. So you may, although basically running a 32 bit depth XServer, switch to a depth of 15 bits and vice versa. </P> <P>However DGA has some drawbacks. It seems it is somewhat dependent on the graphics chip you use and on the implementation of the XServer's video driver that controls this chip. So it does not work on every system ...</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.3>2.3.1.3.3. Installing DGA support for MPlayer</A></B></P> <P>First make sure X loads the DGA extension, see in /var/log/XFree86.0.log:</P> <P> <CODE>(II) Loading extension XFree86-DGA</CODE></P> <P>See, XFree86 4.0.x or greater is VERY RECOMMENDED! <B>MPlayer</B>'s DGA driver is autodetected on ./configure, or you can force it with --enable-dga.</P> <P>If the driver couldn't switch to a smaller resolution, experiment with switches -vm (only with X 3.3.x), -fs, -bpp, -zoom to find a video mode that the movie fits in. There is no converter right now.. :(</P> <P>Become ROOT. DGA needs root access to be able to write directly video memory. If you want to run it as user, then install <B>MPlayer</B> SUID root:</P> <P><CODE> chown root /usr/local/bin/mplayer<BR> chmod 750 /usr/local/bin/mplayer<BR> chmod +s /usr/local/bin/mplayer</CODE></P> <P>Now it works as a simple user, too.</P> <P><B>!!!! BUT STAY TUNED !!!!</B><BR> This is a <B>BIG</B> security risk! Never do this on a server or on a computer can be accessed by more people than only you because they can gain root privilegies through suid root mplayer.<BR> <B>!!!! SO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ... !!!!</B></P> <P>Now use '-vo dga' option, and there you go! (hope so:) You should also try if the '-vo sdl:dga' option works for you! It's much faster!!!</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.4>2.3.1.3.4. Resolution switching</A></B></P> <P>The DGA driver allows for switching the resolution of the output signal. This avoids the need for doing (slow) software scaling and at the same time provides a fullscreen image. Ideally it would switch to the exact resolution (except for honouring aspect ratio) of the video data, but the XServer only allows switching to resolutions predefined in <CODE>/etc/X11/XF86Config</CODE> (<CODE>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</CODE> for XFree 4.0.X respectively). Those are defined by so-called modelines and depend on the capabilites of your video hardware. The XServer scans this config file on startup and disables the modelines not suitable for your hardware. You can find out which modes survive with the X11 log file. It can be found at: <CODE>/var/log/XFree86.0.log</CODE>.</P> <P>See appendix A for some sample modeline definitions.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.5>2.3.1.3.5. DGA & MPlayer</A></B></P> <P>DGA is used in two places with <B>MPlayer</B>: The SDL driver can be made to make use of it (-vo sdl:dga) and within the DGA driver (-vo dga). The above said is true for both; in the following sections I'll explain how the DGA driver for <B>MPlayer</B> works.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.6>2.3.1.3.6. Features of the DGA driver</A></B></P> <P>The DGA driver is invoked by specifying -vo dga at the command line. The default behaviour is to switch to a resolution matching the original resolution of the video as close as possible. It deliberately ignores the -vm and -fs switches (enabling of video mode switching and fullscreen) - it always tries to cover as much area of your screen as possible by switching the video mode, thus refraining to use a single additional cycle of your CPU to scale the image. If you don't like the mode it chooses you may force it to choose the mode matching closest the resolution you specify by -x and -y. By providing the -v option, the DGA driver will print, among a lot of other things, a list of all resolutions supported by your current XF86-Config file. Having DGA2 you may also force it to use a certain depth by using the -bpp option. Valid depths are 15, 16, 24 and 32. It depends on your hardware whether these depths are natively supported or if a (possibly slow) conversion has to be done.</P> <P>If you should be lucky enough to have enough offscreen memory left to put a whole image there, the DGA driver will use doublebuffering, which results in much smoother movie replaying. It will tell you whether double- buffering is enabled or not.</P> <P>Doublebuffering means that the next frame of your video is being drawn in some offscreen memory while the current frame is being displayed. When the next frame is ready, the graphics chip is just told the location in memory of the new frame and simply fetches the data to be displayed from there. In the meantime the other buffer in memory will be filled again with new video data.</P> Doublebuffering may be switched on by using the option -double and may be disabled with -nodouble. Current default option is to disable doublebuffering. When using the DGA driver, onscreen display (OSD) only works with doublebuffering enabled. However, enabling doublebuffering may result in a big speed penalty (on my K6-II+ 525 it used an additional 20% of CPU time!) depending on the implementation of DGA for your hardware.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.7>2.3.1.3.7. Speed issues</A></B></P> <P>Generally spoken, DGA framebuffer access should be at least as fast as using the X11 driver with the additional benefit of getting a fullscreen image. The percentage speed values printed by mplayer have to be interpreted with some care, as for example, with the X11 driver they do not include the time used by the X-Server needed for the actual drawing. Hook a terminal to a serial line of your box and start top to see what is really going on in your box ...</P> <P>Generally spoken, the speedup done by using DGA against 'normal' use of X11 highly depends on your graphics card and how well the X-Server module for it is optimized.</P> <P>If you have a slow system, better use 15 or 16bit depth since they require only half the memory bandwidth of a 32 bit display.</P> <P>Using a depth of 24bit is even a good idea if your card natively just supports 32 bit depth since it transfers 25% less data compared to the 32/32 mode.</P> <P>I've seen some avi files already be replayed on a Pentium MMX 266. AMD K6-2 CPUs might work at 400 MHZ and above.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.8>2.3.1.3.8. Known bugs</A></B></P> <P>Well, according to some developpers of XFree, DGA is quite a beast. They tell you better not to use it. Its implementation is not always flawless with every chipset driver for XFree out there.</P> <P><UL> <LI>with XFree 4.0.3 and nv.o there is a bug resulting in strange colors <LI>ATI driver requires to switch mode back more than once after finishing using of DGA <LI>some drivers simply fail to switch back to normal resolution (use Ctrl-Alt-Keypad +, - to switch back manually) <LI>some drivers simply display strange colors <LI>some drivers lie about the amount of memory they map into the process's address space, thus vo_dga won't use doublebuffering (SIS?) <LI>some drivers seem to fail to report even a single valid mode. In this case the DGA driver will crash telling you about a nonsense mode of 100000x100000 or the like ... <LI>OSD only works with doublebuffering enabled </UL></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.9>2.3.1.3.9. Future work</A></B></P> <P><UL><LI>use of the new X11 render interface for OSD <LI>where is my TODO list ???? :-(((</UL></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.A>2.3.1.3.A. Some modelines</A></B></P> <PRE> Section "Modes" Identifier "Modes[0]" Modeline "800x600" 40 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 Modeline "712x600" 35.0 712 740 850 900 400 410 412 425 Modeline "640x480" 25.175 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 Modeline "400x300" 20 400 416 480 528 300 301 303 314 Doublescan Modeline "352x288" 25.10 352 368 416 432 288 296 290 310 Modeline "352x240" 15.750 352 368 416 432 240 244 246 262 Doublescan Modeline "320x240" 12.588 320 336 384 400 240 245 246 262 Doublescan EndSection </PRE> <P>These entries work fine with my Riva128 chip, using nv.o XServer driver module.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.B>2.3.1.3.B. Bug Reports</A></B></P> <P>If you experience troubles with the DGA driver please feel free to file a bug report to me (e-mail address below). Please start mplayer with the -v option and include all lines in the bug report that start with vo_dga:</P> <P>Please do also include the version of X11 you are using, the graphics card and your CPU type. The X11 driver module (defined in XF86-Config) might also help. Thanks!</P> <P><I>Acki (acki@acki-netz.de, www.acki-netz.de)</I></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.4>2.3.1.4. SDL</A></B></P> <P>Here are some notes about SDL out in <B>MPlayer</B>.</P> <P><TABLE BORDER=0> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>There are several commandline switches for SDL:</B></P></TD><TR> <TD> </TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-vo sdl:name</TD><TD> </TD><TD> <FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>specifies sdl video driver to use (ie. aalib, dga, x11)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-ao sdl:name</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>specifies sdl audio driver to use (ie. dsp, esd, arts)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-noxv</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>disables Xvideo hardware acceleration</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-forcexv</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>tries to force Xvideo acceleration</TD><TR> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>SDL Keys:</B></P></TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>F</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>toggles fullscreen/windowed mode</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>C</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>cycles available fullscreen modes</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>W/S</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>mappings for * and / (mixer control)</TD><TR> </TABLE></P> <P><B>KNOWN BUGS:</B></P> <P><UL><LI>Keys pressed under sdl:aalib console driver repeat forever. (use -vo aa !) It's bug in SDL, I can't change it (tested with SDL 1.2.1). </UL></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.5>2.3.1.5. SVGAlib</A></B></P> <P>If you don't have X, you can use the SVGAlib target! Be sure not to use the -fs switch, since it toggles the usage of the software scaler, and it's SLOOOW now, unless you have a real fast CPU (and/or MTRR?). :(</P> <P>Of course you'll have to install svgalib and its development package in order for <B>MPlayer</B> build its SVGAlib driver (autodetected, but can be forced), and don't forget to edit /etc/vga/libvga.config to suit your card & monitor.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.6>2.3.1.6. Framebuffer output (FBdev)</A></B></P> <P>Whether to build the FBdev target is autodetected during ./configure . Read the framebuffer documentation in the kernel sources (Documentation/fb/*) for info on how to enable it, etc.. !</P> <P>If your card doesn't support VBE 2.0 standard (older ISA/PCI cards, such as S3 Trio64), only VBE 1.2 (or older?) : Well, VESAfb is still available, but you'll have to load SciTech Display Doctor (formerly UniVBE) before booting Linux. Use a DOS boot disk or whatever. And don't forget to register your UniVBE ;))</P> <P>The FBdev output takes some additional parameters above the others:</P> <P><TABLE BORDER=0> <TD> </TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fb</TD><TD> </TD><TD> <FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>specify the framebuffer device to use (/dev/fd0)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fbmode</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>mode name to use (according to /etc/fb.modes)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fbmodeconfig</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> config file of modes (default /etc/fb.modes)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-monitor_hfreq</TD><TD></TD><TD ROWSPAN=3><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>IMPORTANT values, see example.conf</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-monitor_vfreq</TD><TD></TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-monitor_dotclock</TD><TD></TD><TR> </TABLE></P> <P>If you want to change to a specific mode, then use</P> <P><CODE> mplayer -vm -fbmode (NameOfMode) filename</CODE></P> <P><UL><LI><B>-vm</B> alone will choose the most suitable mode from /etc/fb.modes . Can be used together with -x and -y options too. The -flip option is supported only if the movie's pixel format matches the video mode's pixel format. Pay attention to the bpp value, fbdev driver tries to use the current, or if you specify the -bpp option, then that.</LI> <LI><B>-zoom</B> option isn't supported (software scaling is slow). -fs option isn't supported. You can't use 8bpp (or less) modes.</LI> <LI>you possibly want to turn the cursor off : <CODE>echo -e '\033[?25l'</CODE><BR> and the screen saver: <CODE>setterm -blank 0</CODE><BR> To turn the cursor back on : <CODE>echo -e '\033[?25h'</CODE> </UL></P> <P>NOTE: FBdev video mode changing _does not work_ with the VESA framebuffer, and don't ask for it, since it's not an <B>MPlayer</B> limitation.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.7>2.3.1.7. Matrox framebuffer (mga_vid)</A></B></P> <P>This section is about the Matrox G200/G400/G450/G550 BES (Back-End Scaler) support, the mga_vid kernel driver. It's active developed by me (A'rpi), and it has hardware VSYNC support with triple buffering. It works on both framebuffer console and under X.</P> <P>To use it, you first have to compile mga_vid.o:</P> <P><CODE> cd drivers<BR> make</CODE></P> <P>Then create /dev/mga_vid device:</P> <P><CODE> mknod /dev/mga_vid c 178 0</CODE></P> <P>and load the driver with</P> <P><CODE> insmod mga_vid.o</CODE></P> <P>You should verify the memory size detection using the 'dmesg' command. If it's bad, use the mga_ram_size option (rmmod mga_vid first), specify card's memory size in MB:</P> <P><CODE> insmod mga_vid.o mga_ram_size=16</CODE></P> <P>To make it load/unload automatically when needed, insert the following line at the end of /etc/modules.conf:</P> <P><CODE> alias char-major-178 mga_vid</CODE></P> <P>Then run</P> <P><CODE> depmod -a</CODE></P> <P>Now you have to (re)compile <B>MPlayer</B>, ./configure will detect /dev/mga_vid and build the 'mga' driver. Using it from <B>MPlayer</B> goes by '-vo mga' if you have matroxfb console, or '-vo xmga' under XFree86 3.x.x or 4.x.x.</P> <P>The mga_vid driver cooperates with Xv.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.8>2.3.1.8. SiS 6326 framebuffer (sis_vid)</A></B></P> <P>SiS 6326 YUV Framebuffer driver -> sis_vid kernel driver</P> <P>Its interface should be compatible with the mga_vid, but the driver was not updated after the mga_vid changes, so it's outdated now. Volunteers needed to test it and bring the code up-to-date.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.9>2.3.1.9. 3dfx YUV support (tdfxfb)</A></B></P> <P>This driver uses the kernel's tdfx framebuffer driver to play movies with YUV acceleration. You'll need a kernel with tdfxfb support, and recompile with <CODE>./configure --enable-tdfxfb</CODE></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.10>2.3.1.10. OpenGL output</A></B></P> <P><B>MPlayer</B> support displaying movies using OpenGL. Unfortunately, not all drivers support this ability. For example the Utah-GLX drivers (for XFree86 3.3.6) have it, with all cards. See <A HREF="http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net">http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net</A> for details about how to install it.</P> <P>XFree86(DRI) >= 4.0.3 supports it only with Matrox, and Radeon cards. See <A HREF="http://dri.sourceforge.net">http://dri.sourceforge.net</A> for download, and installation instructions.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.11>2.3.1.11. AAlib - text mode displaying</B></P> <P><B>AAlib</B> is a library for displaying graphics in text mode, using powerful ASCII renderer. There are LOTS of programs already supporting it, like Doom, Quake, etc. MPlayer contains a very usable driver for it. If ./configure detects aalib installed, the aalib libvo driver will be built.</P> <P><TABLE BORDER=0> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>You can use some keys in the AA Window to change rendering options:</B></P></TD><TR> <TD> </TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>1</TD><TD> </TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>decrease contrast</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>2</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>increase contrast</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>3</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>decrease brightness</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>4</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>increase brightness</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>5</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>switch fast rendering on/off</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>6</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>set dithering mode (none, error distribution, floyd steinberg)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>7</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>invert image</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>a</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>toggles between aa and mplayer control)</TD><TR> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The following command line options can be used:</B></P></TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aaosdcolor=V</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>change osd color</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aasubcolor=V</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>change subtitle color</TD><TR> <TD COLSPAN=3></TD><TD><P><I><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>where V can be: (0/normal, 1/dark, 2/bold, 3/boldfont, 4/reverse, 5/special)</P></TD><TR> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>AAlib itselves provides a large sum of options. Here are some important:</P></B></TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aadriver</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>set recommended aa driver (X11, curses, linux)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aaextended</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>use all 256 characters</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aaeight</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>use eight bit ascii</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aahelp</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>prints out all aalib options</TD><TR> </TABLE></P> <P>NOTE: the rendering is very CPU intensive, especially when using AA-on-X (using aalib on X), and it's least CPU intensive on standard, non-framebuffer console. Use SVGATextMode to set up a big textmode, then enjoy! (secondary head Hercules cards rock :)) (anyone can enhance bdev to do conversion/dithering to hgafb? Would be neat :)</P> <P>Use the -framedrop option if your comp isn't fast enough to render all frames!</P> <P>Playing on terminal you'll get better speed and quality using the linux driver, not curses (-aadriver linux). But therefore you need write access on /dev/vcsa<terminal>! That isn't autodetected by aalib, bu vo_aa tries to find the best mode. See <A HREF="http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/tune/">http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/tune/</A> for further tuning issues.</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.12>2.3.1.12. VESA - output to VESA BIOS</B></P> <P> This driver was designed and introduced as <b>generic driver</b> for any video card which has VESA VBE 2.0 compatible BIOS. But exists still one reason of developing of this driver - it's multiple troubles with displaying movie on TV.<BR> <b>VESA BIOS EXTENSION (VBE) Version 3.0 Date: September 16, 1998</b> (Page 70) says: </P> <P> <code><i> <b>Dual-Controller Designs</b><br> VBE 3.0 supports the dual-controller design by assuming that since both controllers are typically provided by the same OEM, under control of a single BIOS ROM on the same graphics card, it is possible to hide the fact that two controllers are indeed present from the application. This has the limitation of preventing simultaneous use of the independent controllers, but allows applications released before VBE 3.0 to operate normally. The VBE Function 00h (Return Controller Information) returns the combined information of both controllers, including the combined list of available modes. When the application selects a mode, the appropriate controller is activated. Each of the remaining VBE functions then operates on the active controller. </i></code> </P> <P> So you have chances to get working TV-out by using this driver.<br> (I guess that TV-out frequently is standalone head or standalone output at least.) </P> <P> <b>What are pluses:</b><BR> - You have chances to watch movies <b>if Linux even doesn't know</b> your video hardware.<BR> - You don't need to have installed any graphics' related things on your Linux (like X11 (aka XFree86), fbdev and so on). This driver can be run from <b>text-mode</b>.<BR> - You have chances to get <b>working TV-out</b>. (It's known at least for ATI's cards).<BR> - This driver calls <b>int 10h</b> handler thus it's not an emulator - it calls <b>real</b> things of <b>real</b> BIOS in <b>real</b>-mode. (Finely - in vm86 mode).<BR> - Most important :) You can watch <b>DVD at 320x200</b> if you don't have a powerful CPU.<BR> </P> <P> <b>What are minuses:</b><BR> - It works only on <b>x86 systems</b>.<BR> - <b>It's the slowest driver</b> from all the available ones for MPlayer.<BR> (But only if your card doesn't support <b>DGA mode</b> - otherwise this driver is comparable by speed with <b>-vo dga</b> and <b>-vo fbdev</b> ones.<BR> - It can be used only by <b>ROOT</b>.<BR> - Currently it's available only for <b>Linux</b>.<BR> - It <b>doesn't use</b> any <b>hardware accelerations</b> (like YUV overlay or hw scaling).<BR> </P> <P> <TABLE BORDER=0> <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>These switches of command line currently are available for VESA:</B></P></TD><TR> <TD> </TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-vo vesa:opts</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>currently recognized: <b>dga</b> to force dga mode and <b>nodga</b> to disable dga mode. Note: you may omit these parameters to enable <b>autodetect</b> of dga mode. (In the future also will specify mode parameters such as refresh rate, interlacing, doublescan and so on. Samples: i43, 85, d100)</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-screenw, -screenh, -bpp</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>force userdefined mode</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-x, -y</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>set userdefined prescaling</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-zoom</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>enables userdefined prescaling</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fs</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>scales image to fullscreen</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fs -zoom</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>scales userdefined prescaling to fullscreen</TD><TR> <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-double</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>enables double buffering mode. (Available only in DGA mode). Should be slower of single buffering, but has no flickering effects.</TD><TR> </TABLE> </P> <P> <b>Known problems and workaround:</b><br> - If you have installed <b>NLS</b> font on your Linux box and run VESA driver from text-mode then after terminating mplayer you will have <b>ROM font</b> loaded instead of national. You can load national font again by using <b><i>setsysfont</i></b> utility from for example Mandrake distribution.<br> (<b>Hint</b>: The same utility is used for localizating fbdev).<br> - Some <b>Linux graphics drivers</b> don't update active <b>BIOS mode</b> in DOS memory. So if you have such problem - always use VESA driver only from <b>text-mode</b>. Otherwise text-mode (#03) will be activated anyway and you will need restart your computer.<br> - Often after terminating VESA driver you get <b>black screen</b>. To return your screen to original state - simply switch to other console (by pressing <b>Alt-Fx</b>) then switch to your previous console by the same way.<br> - To get <b>working TV-out</b> you need have plugged tv-connector in before booting your PC since video BIOS initializes itself only once during POST procedure. </P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.13>2.3.1.13. X11</B></P> <P>Avoid if possible. Outputs to X11 (uses shared memory extension), with no hardware acceleration at all. Supports (MMX/3DNow/SSE accelerated, but still slow) software scaling, use the options <CODE>-fs -zoom</CODE>. Most cards have hardware scaling support, use the <CODE>-vo xv</CODE> output for them, or <CODE>-vo xmga</CODE> for Matroxes.</P> <P>The problem is that most cards' driver doesn't support hardware acceleration on the second head/TV. In those cases, you see green/blue coloured window instead of the movie. This is where this driver comes in handy, but you need powerful CPU to use software scaling. Don't use the SDL driver's software output+scaler, it has worse image quality !</P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.14>2.3.1.14. Radeon framebuffer (radeon_vid)</A></B></P> <P> <b>radeon_vid</b> provides support for the <b>BackEnd Scaler</b> on ATI <b>Radeon</b> chipsets. It was designed and introduced as analog of <a href="video.html#2.3.1.7">mga_vid</a> driver, so you can use it in the same way!<br> But main goal of this driver usage is <a href="video.html#2.3.1.12">VESA</a> driver.<br> Simply because VESA enables TV-out on ATI's card but Backend scaler is used after mode switching. This implementation outputs video stream on both: <b>TV-screen</b> and <b>CRTC</b> display simultaneously. (It slightly degrades quality of video output but it's much better than nothing). Sorry! I couldn't find out any video overlay's related information on ATI pages. (I planned to implement it through <b>int 10h</b> calls). But it was very easy to implement this stuff through reading/writing Radeon ports. <br><b>NOTE</b>: XXX_VID technology is perfectly undocumented and maybe in the future this stuff will be fully rewritten. This is the first public release of driver.</P> <P> <b>Location:</b><BR> mplayer-CVS:main/drivers/radeon/radeon_vid* <br><b>Usage:</b><BR> <CODE>mplayer -vo vesa:lvo:/dev/radeon_vid <your options> filename</CODE> </P> <P><b>Limitations:</b> Currently it works only with <b>YUY2</b> format, so use the DirectShow codec family with it. You should have at least 32MB of video memory.<br> <b>Conclusion:</b> I know there are lot of lacks and bugs. So if you are able to improve something then simply send me your patches. </P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.A>2.3.1.A. TV-out support</A></B></P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.A.1>2.3.1.A.1. Matrox cards</A></B></P> <P>Under Linux you have 2 methods to get TV out working :</P> <P> <UL> <LI><B>XFree86</B>: using the driver and the HAL module, available from <A HREF="http://www.matrox.com">Matrox's site</A>. This will give you X on the TV.<BR> <B>This method doesn't give you accelerated playback</B> as under Windoze! The second head has only YUV framebuffer, the <I>BES</I> (Back End Scaler, the YUV scaler on G200/G400/G450/G550 cards) doesn't work on it! The windows driver somehow workarounds this, probably by using the 3D engine to zoom, and the YUV framebuffer to display the zoomed image. If you really want to use X, use the <CODE>-vo x11 -fs -zoom</CODE> options, but it will be <B>SLOW</B>, and has <B>Macrovision</B> copyprotection enabled.</LI> <LI><B>Framebuffer</B>: using the <B>matroxfb modules</B> in the 2.4 kernels. 2.2 kernels don't have the TVout feature in them, thus unusable for this. You have to enable ALL matroxfb-specific feature during compilation, and compile them into <B>modules</B>! <UL> <LI> Enter <CODE>TVout/matroxset</CODE> and type <CODE>make</CODE>. Install <CODE>matroxset</CODE> into somewhere in your PATH.</LI> <LI> If you don't have <CODE>fbset</CODE> installed, enter <CODE>TVout/fbset</CODE> and type <CODE>make</CODE>. Install <CODE>fbset</CODE> into somewhere in your PATH.</LI> <LI> Then enter into the <CODE>TVout/</CODE> directory in the <B>MPlayer</B> source, and execute <CODE>./modules</CODE> as root. Your text-mode console will enter into framebuffer mode (no way back!).</LI> <LI>Next, run the <CODE>./matroxtv</CODE> script. This will present you to a very simple menu. Press <B>2</B> and <B>ENTER</B>. Now you should have the same picture on your monitor, and TV. The <B>3.</B> option will turn on independent display, but then you <B>can't use X</B>! If the TV picture has some weird stripes on it, the script wasn't able to set the resolution correctly (to 640x512 by default). Use other menu items randomly and it'll be OK :)</LI> </UL> <P> Yoh. Next task is to make the cursor on tty1 (or whatever) to disappear, and turn off screen blanking. Execute the following commands:</P> <P> <CODE>echo -e '\033[?25l'<BR> setterm -blank 0</CODE> </P> <P> You possibly want to put the above into a script, and also clear the screen.. To turn the cursor back :<BR><CODE>echo -e '\033[?25h'</CODE> </P> <P>Yeah kewl. Start movie playing with <CODE>mplayer -vo mga -fs -screenw 640 -screenh 512 <filename></CODE><BR> (if you use X, now change to matroxfb with for example CTRL-ALT-F1 !)<BR> Change 640x512 if you set the resolution to other..<BR> <B>Enjoy the ultra-fast ultra-featured Matrox TV output (better than Xv) !</B> </P> </LI> </LI> </UL> </P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.A.2>2.3.1.A.2. ATI cards</A></B></P> <P> <b>A few word about ATI's TV-out:</b><BR> Currently ATI doesn't want to support any of its TV-out chips under Linux. Below is official answer from ATI Inc.: <P> <code> <i> <br>> Hello! <br>> <br>> On your pages you wrote that you support linux developers. <br>> Currently I participate with mplayer project (www.mplayerhq.hu) <br>> I'm interesting with enabling TV-out on Radeon VE chips during <br>> movie playback. I would be glad to add this feature to radeonfb driver <br>> (which can be found in CVS tree of mplayer project at main/drivers/radeon). <br>> Do I have a chance to get any official technical documenation? </i> <br>We will not provide TV out related documents due to macrovision concerns. <br>Also mpeg2 decoding is something that we MAY consider in the future but not <br>at this current time. This is again due to proprietary and 3rd party <br>information. </code> </P> <P>Pity isn't?</P> <P> <code> <B>Q:What is Macrovision?</B><BR> A:It's copy protection mechanism.</code> </P> <P>It means that if they open any TV-out related information then hackers will be able to disable copy protection on their chips. Therefore we have no chance to get working TV-out on ATI.</P> <P>What's status of ATI's tv-out chips under Linux: <LI><b>ATI Mach64</b> has <i>ImpacTV</i> which is supported by gatos. <LI><b>ASIC Radeon VIVO</b> has <i>Rage Theatre</i> which is supported by gatos. <LI><b>Radeon VE</b> and <b>Rage PRO LT</b> have <i>ImpacTV2+</i> which is not supported under Linux.</P> <P> Fortunately, owners of fast enough CPUs (Duron, Celeron2 and better) <b>can watch movies on their TV</b> through <a href=#2.3.1.12>VESA drivers</a>. </P> <P> I should say good words to ATI Inc. too:<br> <b>they produce top quality BIOSes.</b> </P> <P> <b>VESA drivers</b> don't use any hardware acceleration but it simulates <b>DGA</b> through 64K window, which is configured through 32-bit mode functions of BIOS. ATI cards have enough <b>fast video memory</b> (DIMM or DDR chips with 64 - 128-bit access) so it's not bottleneck for them. There are no limitations on which video mode can be displayed on your TV (like on other cards) so you can use <b>any video mode</b> on your <b>TV</b> (from <b>320x200</b> up to <b>1024x768</b>).<br> From other side (it's known at least for <b>Radeons</b>) there is <b>DGA</b> mode which is detected automatically and in this case you'll get comparable with <b>-vo dga</b> and <b>-vo fbdev</b> drivers speed.<br> Only thing you need to do - <b>have TV connector plugged in before booting your PC</b> since video BIOS initializes itself only once during POST procedure. </P> <P> For detail see <a href="video.html#2.3.1.12">VESA</a> sections of this documentation. </P> <P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.A.4>2.3.1.A.4. Voodoo 3</A></B></P> <P> Check <A HREF="http://www.iki.fi/too/tvout-voodoo3-3000-xfree">this URL</A>. </P> </BODY> </HTML>