1.2.0: supports AAlib (-vo aa is very recommended, see below!)Card specific:
- chown root /usr/local/bin/mplayer
+ chown root /usr/local/bin/mplayer
chmod 750 /usr/local/bin/mplayer
chmod +s /usr/local/bin/mplayer
2.2.1.12. VESA - output to VESA BIOS
+
+This driver was designed and introduced as generic driver 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.
+VESA BIOS EXTENSION (VBE) Version 3.0 Date: September 16, 1998 (Page 70)
+says:
+
+
+Dual-Controller Designs
+
+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.
+
+So you have chances to get working tv-out by using this driver.
+
(I guess that TV-out frequently is standalone head or standalone output
+at least.)
+
+What are pluses:
+ - You have chances to watch movies if Linux even doesn't know your video hardware.
+ - 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
+text-mode.
+ - You have chances to get working TV-out. (It's known at least for ATI's cards).
+ - This driver calls int 10h handler thus it's not an emulator - it
+calls real things of real BIOS in real-mode. (Finely -
+in vm86 mode).
+ - Most important :) You can watch DVD at 320x200 if you don't have a powerful CPU.
+
+What are minuses:
+ - It works only on x86 systems.
+ - It's the slowest driver from all the available ones for MPlayer.
+ - It can be used only by ROOT.
+ - Currently it's available only for Linux.
+ - It doesn't use any hardware accelerations (like YUV overlay or hw scaling).
+
+
These switches of command line currently are available for VESA: | |||
| -vo vesa:opts | +will be implemented soon. (Will specify mode parameters such as refresh rate, interlacing, doublescan and so on. Samples: i43, 85, d100) | ||
| -screenw, -screenh, -bpp | force userdefined mode | ||
| -x, -y | set userdefined prescaling | ||
| -zoom | enables userdefined prescaling | ||
| -fs | scales image to fullscreen | ||
| -fs -zoom | scales userdefined prescaling to fullscreen | ||
+Known problems and workaround:
+ - If you have installed NLS font on your Linux box and run VESA driver
+from text-mode then after terminating mplayer you will have ROM font loaded instead
+of national. You can load national font again by using setsysfont utility
+from for example Mandrake distribution.
+(Hint: The same utility is used for localizating fbdev).
+ - Some Linux graphics drivers don't update active BIOS mode in DOS memory. So if you have such
+problem - always use VESA driver only from text-mode. Otherwise text-mode (#03) will be
+activated anyway and you will need restart your computer.
+ - Often after terminating VESA driver you get black screen. To return your screen
+to original state - simply switch to other console (by pressing Alt-Fx) then switch
+to your previous console by the same way.
+ - To get working TV-out you need have plugged tv-connector in before booting
+your PC since video BIOS initializes itself only once during POST procedure.
+
-From other side - we could have a chance to have TV-out support through -VESA drivers on x86 systems but since Linux has too limited vm86 syscall -- it's unreachable on practice. Finely every access to IO space causes exception -and driver attempts to emulate even VESA calls instead passing them to native -int_10h handler. +Fortunately, owners of fast enough CPUs (Duron, Celeron2 and better) can watch +movies on their TV through VESA drivers. +
+ +
+I should say good words into address of ATI Inc. too:
+it produces top quality BIOSes.
+VESA drivers don't use any hardware acceleration but it simulates
+DGA through 64K window, which is configured through 32-bit mode
+functions of BIOS. ATI cards have enough fast video memory (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 any video mode on your TV (from
+320x200 up to 1024x768).
Only thing you need to do - have
+plugged tv-connector in before booting your PC since video BIOS initializes
+itself only once during POST procedure.
+
+For detail see VESA sections of this documentation.