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diff --git a/doc/faq/faq.html b/doc/faq/faq.html index c701cd67e..f8f45d6aa 100644 --- a/doc/faq/faq.html +++ b/doc/faq/faq.html @@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ CLASS="FILENAME" ><DT ><A HREF="#DXR3" ->Does xine support my dxr3 / Hollywood+ card?</A +>Does xine support my dxr3 / hollywood+ card?</A ></DT ></DL ></DD @@ -2027,7 +2027,7 @@ CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="DXR3" ></A ->Does xine support my dxr3 / Hollywood+ card?</H2 +>Does xine support my dxr3 / hollywood+ card?</H2 ><P > while xine's focus is clearly on software decoding, the dxr3 is supported. diff --git a/doc/faq/faq.sgml b/doc/faq/faq.sgml index cdb2c5afc..c6530b780 100644 --- a/doc/faq/faq.sgml +++ b/doc/faq/faq.sgml @@ -1044,6 +1044,20 @@ help. </para> </sect1> + + <sect1 id="dxr3"> + <title> Does xine support my dxr3 / hollywood+ card? </title> + <para> + while xine's focus is clearly on software decoding, + the dxr3 is supported. + </para> + <para> + you can find more information about using xine with the dxr3 + <ulink url="http://www.amalthea.de/xine/">here</ulink> + (also covers how to do tv output using the dxr3). + </para> + </sect1> + </chapter> <chapter id="audio"> diff --git a/doc/faq/faq.txt b/doc/faq/faq.txt index e69de29bb..a0fb2608f 100644 --- a/doc/faq/faq.txt +++ b/doc/faq/faq.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1219 @@ +The xine engine FAQ + +Copyright © 2001-2003 the xine project team + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Table of Contents +1. General questions about xine and this document + + What is the xine engine? + What's the aim and scope of this text? + My question is not yet covered here - where can I ask for help? + What are those xine-lib, xine-ui, gxine, ... modules in cvs for? + Where and how do I get the latest development version? + Where can I find pre-compiled binaries, e.g. RPMs? + +2. Building and installing xine from source + + What do I need to compile everything properly? + How do I compile xine? + + Simple build instructions for beginners + Complete build instructions + + Making your own RPM packages (xine-lib, xine-ui) + Can I provide additional CFLAGS for compilation? + Are there binaries for my AMD K7 (Athlon (TM) ) available? Can I build + them? + Build problems: xine engine (xine-lib) + + The package doesn't compile at all! + The Xv video-out plugin fails to compile! + + Build problems: frontend (gxine/xine-ui/...) + + I have installed xine-lib but the frontend complains about not finding + it! + + Can I install xine in my home directory (without being root) ? + +3. Playback of various stream types + + DVD Playback with xine + + How do I play back DVDs with xine? + DVD playback works, but it takes a long time until playback starts + I have problems setting up my RPC-2 drive for the right region! + + Can I watch Video CDs (VCDs)? SVCDS ? CD-i? + Can I watch Quicktime (.mov, .mp4) files using xine? + Real Network files/streams + + Can I watch Real (.rm, .ram) files using xine ? + What about (live) network streams (pnm://, rtsp:// style urls) ? + + Can I watch Windows Media (.asf/.wmv) files using xine? + Can I watch Digital TV (Digital Video Broadcast) using xine ? + How do I play streams from STDIN? + How can I watch files with external AVI subtitles? + +4. Running xine + + I have a lot of dropped frames - what can I do? + I have problems when using xine on FreeBSD, Solaris, ... ! + What is aalib? How do I use it in xine? + What do all these ~/.xine/config (~/.gxine/config) entries mean? + Does xine support my dxr3 / hollywood+ card? + +5. Audio related questions + + What audio drivers does xine support? OSS? Alsa? Arts? Esd? + When I'm watching a movie, the sound effects are much higher volume than + the voices + When I play this stream, xine shows video but there's no audio! + Can xine produce 4-/5-channel surround audio output? + What about ac3 output via spdif to an external ac3 decoder? + Changing the volume with the GUI control has no effect! What's up!? + Audio is stuttering and i see a lot of "metronom: fixing sound card drift + by -2115 pts" on the console output + +6. Video related questions + + I can hear the audio - but I don't see a picture! + How can I make xine use the Xv extension and what drivers do I need? + Some parts of my X Desktop get transparent when xine plays the video! + The aspect ratio of the video is wrong! + What is the difference between discarded and skipped frames? + My xine is runing in black and white! / I only get a gray video output! + Which is the best video driver to use? + +7. Error Messages: What they mean and what you can do + + Starting xine fails with complains about audio drivers/devices! + "no video port found" + "Unable to open dvd drive (/dev/dvd)" + "demux error! 00 00 00 (should be 0x000001)" + "audio driver 'oss' failed, using null driver instead" + "video_out: throwing away image with pts xxx because it's too old" + "No video plugin available to decode 'xxxxxx'." + "w32codec: decoder failed to start. Is 'xxxxxx' installed?" + xine just crashed on me - i didn't get any error message + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Chapter 1. General questions about xine and this document + +What is the xine engine? + +The xine engine is a free media player engine. It comes in the form of a shared +libarary and is typically used by media player frontends and other multimedia +applications for playback of multimedia streams such as movies, radio/tv +network streams, DVDs, VCDs. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +What's the aim and scope of this text? + +The primary goal of this FAQ is to cover all recurring questions related to the +xine engine. Frontend specific questions are not covered here. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +My question is not yet covered here - where can I ask for help? + +First of all be sure that your question is really not covered here and that you +haven't just been a bit too lazy to read through all of this text. ;-). Also +check out the xine HOWTO and documentation specific to the frontend (e.g. +xine-ui or gxine or totem ). + +That said - you are welcome to mail to our user mailing list: < +xine-user@lists.sourceforge.net> Please provide some info about your setup so +people have a chance to help you, e.g. include information about your audio/ +video hardware and drivers you use, operating system, cpu type and some console +output/any error messages. Also include command line parameters you have +specified and information about the type of stream you're trying to play back. +Also very important is the version of xine you're using and information about +any additional plugins you may have installed on your system. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +What are those xine-lib, xine-ui, gxine, ... modules in cvs for? + +Some time ago xine just became too complex to be just one big program. +Therefore it was split into two major parts. + +xine-lib is simply speaking the engine of xine. It contains all plugins and is +necessary to run anything that relies on xine (this is the part that is covered +in this FAQ). + +Then there are frontends - applications that use xine. The most common frontend +is that of a media player. There are currently two frontends being developed in +the xine project, xine-ui (skinned dvd-player style frontend directly based on +xlib) and gxine, a desktop media-player style frontend using the standard gtk +widget set and comes with a mozilla browser plugin. External projects like +sinek and totem develop additional frontends. In the future you will likely see +more and different types of apllications being developed which will use the +xine engine for video processing and other multimedia purposes. + +If you simply want a media/dvd player, you'll need to install xine-lib first +and then choose and install a player frontend like xine-ui or gxine. + +Other modules in CVS: xine-plugin a mozilla browser plugin for streaming media +playback using xine (at the time of this writing unmaintained and somewhat +obsoleted by gxine's browser plugin), xine-www the xine project website +sources. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Where and how do I get the latest development version? + +Be advised that end-users should stick to the official xine releases. CVS is +only intended for developers. + +To check out xine-modules from CVS, first do this: + +cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.xine.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/xine login [empty +password] + +then, to check out individual modules (e.g. xine-lib, gxine, xine-ui): + +cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.xine.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/xine co modulename + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Where can I find pre-compiled binaries, e.g. RPMs? + +The xine project does not provide pre-compiled binaries for legal reasons (some +parts of xine may be covered by patents in some countries). Some OS projects/ +vendors (e.g. debian, freebsd, ...) offer binaries for their distributions - +please contact them for further info. You can also find links to third parties +providing xine RPMs on the xine homepage : http://xine.sf.net/index.php/about + +See the next chapter of this FAQ for instructions on how to build xine from +source. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Chapter 2. Building and installing xine from source + +What do I need to compile everything properly? + +First of all an official and stable release of gcc. Also be aware that patched +gcc versions may break parts of xine and are therefore not supported by the +xine project. + +Furthermore you'll have to use GNU make to compile xine. On most GNU/Linux +systems "make" is GNU make - on other platforms use "gmake" instead. Also, zlib +iss required (including the appropriate header files, which are often found in +a package called zlib-devel or similar.) + +If you want to compile xine from CVS, you'll need to have the autobuild tools +installed (automake, autoconf and libtool - in recent versions). + +Frontends might need additional libraries, e.g. for gxine you'll need to have +GTK installed. Make sure you have not only the shared libraries themselves but +also the header files (often packaged seperately as so-called -dev packages) on +your system. + +Some plugins that come with the xine engine need additional libraries +(otherwise they will not be built). For example, libogg and libvorbis (plus +their include files) are needed for ogg/vorbis support. + +Don't worry about this too much right now, xine's configure (see below) will +check for all the stuff needed and will tell you what's missing (which means +that you should check the output it produces carefully ;) ) + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +How do I compile xine? + +Simple build instructions for beginners + +Download the latest xine-lib and gxine/xine-ui tarballs, then follow these +instruction. To unpack a tarball, use: + + tar xfvz tarballname.tar.gz + + +The following instructions will install xine in /usr/local for all users. You +need root privileges to do this on most systems. + +First unpack xine-lib, then: + + ./configure + make install + + +Make sure your /etc/ld.so.conf contains /usr/local/lib, then: + + ldconfig + + +Now unpack your frontend (gxine or xine-ui or ...), then: + + ./configure + make install + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Complete build instructions + +The build process is the same for all of the xine modules. + +You have to start with xine-lib. If built and installed successfully, you can +continue with the frontend(s). + +If you have installed xine-lib to a non-standard prefix, make sure you that you +have $prefix/bin in your PATH and that your linker finds libs in $prefix/lib - +otherwise trying to build modules that rely on xine-lib will fail with +configure complaining about not finding certain parts of libxine. Using bash +you can do something like: + + export PATH="$prefix/bin:$PATH" + export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$prefix/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH" + + +to make sure libxine can be found by the frontend(s). + +Last but not least. Here the build instructions. As stated earlier, those are +the same for every xine module. + + ./autogen.sh [-> *only* if you checked your sources out of CVS] + ./configure + make + make install + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Making your own RPM packages (xine-lib, xine-ui) + +Basically you will only have to issue one command, if you have just downloaded +a source tarball from our web site: + +rpm -ta THE_NAME_OF_YOUR_SOURCE_TAR_BALL + +This will start the binary and source RPM building. After compiling is +finished, a binary rpm is placed in your rpm binary directory which is usally / +usr/src/RPM/RPMS/[YOUR_ARCHITECTURE] and a source RPM is written to your rpm +source dir (e.g. /usr/src/RPM/SRPMS). + +In case that you have a fresh CVS checkout, you will need to do the following +first in order to get a tarball release out of it which you can later use with +the rpm -ta command above: + +./autogen.sh && make clean && make dist + +In any case, please keep in mind that you have to build and install xine-lib +first before you can proceed with xine-ui. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Can I provide additional CFLAGS for compilation? + +Yes, you can do so by setting the CFLAGS variable and then run configure again. + +This can be useful to specify additional include paths or library paths to the +compiler. + +Example: export CFLAGS="-I/usr/include -L/home/guenter/xine_libs" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Are there binaries for my AMD K7 (Athlon (TM) ) available? Can I build them? + +If you have a recent gcc you can try to compile "more" k7 support in (esp. +better instruction scheduling). If the configure script should fail to detect +your processor/gcc correctly, try setting the xine_BUILD envvar explicitly to a +valid description string for your configuration, e.g. + + export xine_BUILD=k7-pc-linux-gnu + rm -f config.cache + ./autogen.sh + make + make install + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Build problems: xine engine (xine-lib) + +The package doesn't compile at all! + +In order to be able to compile xine-lib, you need (amongst other things) the +zlib compression library plus the appropriate headers, which are often found in +a package called zlib-devel or similar. + +Read again carefully the output ./configure produced and/or compiler warnings +and error reports, they often contain helpfull information to find out what's +going on. If you're stuck here and decide to post your problem on the xine-user +mailing list, make sure you include these outputs. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +The Xv video-out plugin fails to compile! + +If you want to have Xv support compiled in, make sure you either have a shared +Xv library on your system, e.g. ls /usr/X11R6/lib/libXv* should give you some +.so libs, like this: + /usr/X11R6/lib/libXv.a + /usr/X11R6/lib/libXv.so + /usr/X11R6/lib/libXv.so.1 + + +Alternatively you need to have libtool 1.4 or newer installed, then libXv.a is +sufficient. Otherwise you can create the shared versions yourself: + ld --whole-archive -shared -o libXv.so.1 libXv.a + ln -s libXv.so.1 libXv.so + ldconfig + + +Now you should be ready to build the Xv video-out plugin on your system. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Build problems: frontend (gxine/xine-ui/...) + +I have installed xine-lib but the frontend complains about not finding it! + +First of all take a closer look at the compilation instructions above again. +You will probably find your answer there right away. + +As stated there (there again that hint *grin*), make sure that you have $prefix +/bin in your path and that your linker is able to find libraries installed in +$prefix/lib (by the way, $prefix is where you installed your xine-lib to +earlier (yes, installing xine-lib with make install would be a good idea before +trying to compile the frontend ;)). + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Can I install xine in my home directory (without being root) ? + +yes. first set up a subdir where you install your private software, eg + + $ mkdir ~/usr + + +then you have to set a few environment variables - it's probably a good idea to +add this to your ~/.bashrc (or somewhere similar): + + export PATH="$HOME/usr/bin:$PATH" + export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$HOME/usr/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH" + export CFLAGS="-I$HOME/usr/include -L$HOME/usr/lib -O3" + export ACLOCAL_FLAGS="-I $HOME/usr/share/aclocal" + + +now you can unpack tarballs e.g. in ~/usr/src (mkdir ~/usr/src if necessary) +and do a + + $ ./configure --prefix=$HOME/usr + $ make install + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Chapter 3. Playback of various stream types + +DVD Playback with xine + +How do I play back DVDs with xine? + +Newer xine (1.0.x) releases come with a full-featured DVD plugin that should be +able to handle any unencrypted, non-locked DVD with full menu navigation +support. No external plugins are required anymore here. + +To get DVD playback working, first make sure you have a symlink /dev/dvd +pointing to your DVD device on your system. For example, if your DVD drive is +the master ide drive on the second IDE channel, /dev/dvd should point to /dev/ +hdc. Please note that if you are using the ide-scsi emulation on your system, +it is likely that you dvd drive got mapped to a scsi device node even though it +is an ide drive. In that case first check out you boot/kernel logs (or run +cdrecord -scanbus ) to find out which device it got mapped to and set the +symlink accordingly (should be something like /dev/scd0, /dev/scd1, ... in that +case). Also make sure you (as a user) have sufficient (read) permissions on +your dvd drive (this could mean you either have to change the device +permissions or add your user to a special group (e.g. addgroup cdrom username), +depending on your setup and/or distribution. + +It is highly recommended to switch DMA mode on for your DVD drive (without it +even very recent machines will have trouble producing smooth video output). Use +a command like hdparm -d 1 device on your dvd device. Please note that even if +you're using ide-scsi you will have to set the dma flag on the ide device node +(e.g. /dev/hdc), not the mapped /dev/scd scsi device. + +To be able to play back encrypted dvds you need to have libdvdcss installed on +your system (please check if this is legal where you live). + +Newer (post-2000) dvd drives (so-called RPC-2 drives) check the dvd region, +which means they'll prevent you from playing back dvds that have a different +region code from what the drive is set up for (most drives come with a factory +setting of region 0 so they can only play back region 0 dvds and there are not +many of those available). The easiest way to handle this is to use the +regionset utility from http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvd/ +dvd_disc_20000215.tar.gz. + +Once you have everything set up, try something like gxine dvd:// or xine -p +dvd:// to start dvd playback. Some frontend also offer so-called autoplay +buttons or menu entries that start dvd playback immediately. + +Important: do not try to mount the DVD. Just insert it and hit the DVD autoplay +button or start xine from the command line. + +If things do not work as expected, try running the xine-check shellscript that +comes with libxine to see if this gives you further hints on what could be +wrong. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +DVD playback works, but it takes a long time until playback starts + +This points to a region code problem. Some versions of libdvdcss can play back +DVDs from other regions than the RPC-2 DVD drive is set up for, but this +usually means a cryptographic attack (which takes time) has to be used to +access the DVD. + +You can download a tool to set the region code of RPC-Drives here: http:// +linuxtv.org/download/dvd/dvd_disc_20000215_css.tar.gz + +Warning: Please be aware that the number of region code changes in RPC-2 drives +is limited (usually about 5 times), after that your drive will stay locked to +the region you last set it up for. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +I have problems setting up my RPC-2 drive for the right region! + +You can download a tool to set the region code of RPC-Drives here: http:// +linuxtv.org/download/dvd/dvd_disc_20000215_css.tar.gz + +Warning: Please be aware that the number of region code changes in RPC-2 drives +is limited (usually about 5 times), after that your drive will stay locked to +the region you last set it up for. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Can I watch Video CDs (VCDs)? SVCDS ? CD-i? + +xine supports VCD and SVCD playback out-of-the box. Similar to DVDs, make sure +you have a /dev/cdrom alias pointing to your CDROM drive which you will use to +play back the (S)VCD. + +At the moment, CD-i formats are not supported by xine. + +Do not try to mount the (S)VCD. Simply insert it into your CDROM drive and hit +the VCD autoplay button or start something like + gxine VCD:// + +from the command line. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Can I watch Quicktime (.mov, .mp4) files using xine? + +Quicktime is just a system layer (container format) which can contain various +different audio and video formats. The system layer itself is fully supported +in xine. However, only very few typically used quicktime audio/video codecs are +natively supported yet. Luckily, if you are using a x86 compatible machine (any +recent PC hardware should do) you can install and use the original Quicktime +DLLs and watch most streams (trailers) that can be downloaded from the net. + +Possibly the most convenient way to get the Quicktime DLLs is to download them +from the mplayer website http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/. The +package is called "QuickTime5 DLLs". Unpack it and move everything you find +inside to /usr/lib/win32 (actually you can place them anywhere you want, e.g. +someplace in your homedirectory, but then you'll have to set codec.win32_path +in your xine config file accordingly). Restart xine then and you should be able +to watch Quicktime trailers. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Real Network files/streams + +Can I watch Real (.rm, .ram) files using xine ? + +The situation with real files and streams is pretty similar to the situation +with Quicktime Streams (see above). Most newer real audio and video formats are +only supported by using binary-only codecs which are available from real +networks but are not included in xine. + +One way to get these codecs is to download and install RealPlayer from +RealNetworks, for example in /usr/local/RealPlayer8 or /opt/RealPlayer8. If you +installed it in one of these places, xine should automatically find and use the +real binary codecs. If it doesn't work, try to find out the exact path to where +the real codecs are installed on your system (look for a file named rv30.so.6.0 +which should reside in a directory called Codecs in the directory where you +have installed RealPlayer in) and set codec.real_codecs_path in your xine +config file accordingly. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +What about (live) network streams (pnm://, rtsp:// style urls) ? + +xine supports both pnm and rtsp streaming. However, digging out the actual pnm/ +rtsp url can be tricky as they're often packed into heavy JavaScript and HTML +code on most websites. You can either use a combination of your browser's "save +source" function and wget or use a xine browser plugin (currently the gxine +frontend comes with a simple mozilla plugin, for example). When you decided to +dig out the url by hand don't get fooled by the many redirectors that are often +placed around the actual url. Use wget to download any http://-style urls and +use less to look inside the downloaded .ra/.ram files where you will find the +actual pnm/rtsp url which can be opened using xine. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Can I watch Windows Media (.asf/.wmv) files using xine? + +While the container format (system layer) ASF (wmv is just an alias) is fully +supported in xine, for newer windows media 8 and 9 based streams you'll need to +install windows binary codecs (.DLLs). + +Possibly the most convenient way to get the windows DLLs is to download them +from the mplayer website http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/. The +package is called "Win32 Codecpack". Unpack it and move everything you find +inside to /usr/lib/win32 (actually you can place them anywhere you want, e.g. +someplace in your homedirectory, but then you'll have to set codec.win32_path +in your xine config file accordingly). Restart xine then and you should be able +to watch windows media streams. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Can I watch Digital TV (Digital Video Broadcast) using xine ? + +At the time of this writing DVB support is a very new and experimental feature +in xine. The number of supported cards is pretty limited at the moment. See doc +/README.dvb (in the xine-lib tarball) for details. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +How do I play streams from STDIN? + +Use something like: + cat stream.mpg | gxine stdin:// + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +How can I watch files with external AVI subtitles? + +This is not supported in current xine 1.0.x releases (but it is being actively +worked on, so please be patient :) ). In xine 0.9.13 this used to be: + xine foo.avi%bar.sub + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Chapter 4. Running xine + +I have a lot of dropped frames - what can I do? + +Your hardware might be too slow for xine. Make sure you turn on all speed +optimizing options. A few things you should check (in order of importance): + + * First of all, run the xine-check script included in xine-lib package + (probably already installed in your system). xine-check will report several + of the most common problems listed here. Sample output from xine-check: + $ xine-check + Please be patient, this script may take a while to run... + [ good ] you're using Linux, doing specific tests + [ good ] looks like you have a /proc filesystem mounted. + [ good ] You seem to have a reasonable kernel version (2.4.18) + [ good ] intel compatible processor, checking MTRR support + [ good ] you have MTRR support and there are some ranges set. + [ good ] found the player at /usr/local/bin/xine + [ good ] /usr/local/bin/xine is in your PATH + [ good ] found /usr/local/bin/xine-config in your PATH + [ good ] plugin directory /usr/local/lib/xine/plugins exists. + [ good ] found input plugins + [ good ] found demux plugins + [ good ] found decoder plugins + [ good ] found video_out plugins + [ good ] found audio_out plugins + [ good ] skin directory /usr/local/share/xine/skins exists. + [ good ] found logo in /usr/local/share/xine/skins + [ good ] I even found some skins. + [ good ] /dev/cdrom points to /dev/hdc + [ good ] /dev/dvd points to /dev/hdc + [ good ] DMA is enabled for your DVD drive + [ good ] found xvinfo: X-Video Extension version 2.2 + [ good ] your Xv extension supports YUV overlays (improves MPEG performance) + [ good ] your Xv extension supports packed YUV overlays + [ good ] Xv ports: YUY2 YV12 I420 UYVY + + + * Try to use the Xv driver, it greatly improves performance and quality + because hardware does image scaling and color conversion. The video section + contains important information about several Xv drivers. + + If Xv cannot be used for some reason, make sure your display is set up to + 16bpp, not 24 or higher (reduces memory bandwith). Some Xv drivers may also + have better performance with 16bpp. + + * Make sure the hard drive (or cdrom/dvd drive) which supplies the video data + is in DMA mode (if supported) + + On most linux-based systems, you can use hdparm to check this. Example: + hdparm /dev/hda + + ... + using_dma = 1 (on) + ... + + + You can enable DMA mode with the following command: + hdparm -d1 device_of_your_drive_that_supplies_video_data + + In some cases where this fails it helps to specify the dma mode to use, for + example: + hdparm -d1 -X 66 device_of_your_drive_that_supplies_video_data + + In RedHat 8.0 an additional entry in /etc/modules.conf + options ide-cd dma=1 + + should help (reboot for this change to take effect). + + More information about this may be found here: http://oreilly.linux.com/pub + /a/linux/2000/06/29/hdparm.html + + * Use a recent kernel which is optimized for your hardware. Old kernels may + lack support for accelerated instructions like SSE, for example. + + * Close other applications (use a tool like "top" to find out what + applications are using up CPU power). Programs that update the system clock + like ntp should also be disabled. + + * Enable MTRR support in your kernel. If you are still using XFree 3.x, + you'll have to tell the kernel yourself where the graphics memory is. + You'll find details about that in the linux dvd howto. + + If you're using XFree 4.x, enabling MTRR support in your kernel should be + enough (use a recent kernel!). + + Try a cat /proc/mtrr - if the file exists and you find an entry + corresponding to the amount of graphics memory you have, everything should + be fine. + + * Have your X-server (usually XFree86) running with higher priority. Most + recent linux distributions (like RedHat 8.0 or Mandrake 9.0) should do that + for you, improving not only xine but desktop responsiveness in general. + + Use the "top" utility and verify under the "NI" column if the X process has + a negative value, this indicates a higher priority. See "The X Window User + HOWTO - Performance considerations" for further instructions http:// + www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XWindow-User-HOWTO/performance.html + + * Use the latest or a known-good gcc version. + + * Besides boosting X-server priority, sometimes it's possible to avoid + discarding frames by making xine itself higher priority. This is not a + recommended pratice since it will require to run xine as root, but you may + give it a try if you want: + nice --5 xine + + + * xine needs high speed memory access which depends on your chip set. Make + sure you enable all speed-improving options. + + Especially the via apollo pro chipset is known to be quite weird, (most of + all on my gigabyte board). If you can't configure the ram access thoroughly + using the bios you might want to try some really nasty tricks, as explained + on (for example): + + http://www.overclockers.com/tips105/index03.asp + + This website centers around a windows-tool to tweak the chipset, you can do + the same on FreeBSD with pciconf. On some linux distributions there are + similar tools. + + * a nice performance tuning tool can be found here: http:// + powertweak.sourceforge.net + + * Set up and use raw devices for dvd access. Please note that this is usually + not worth the effort as the performance gain from it is very small if any. + + Raw devices should be available in linux kernel 2.4.x and there are patches + for older kernels available from: ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ + people/sct/raw-io/ + + To use raw devices, first connect a free raw device to your dvd device, use + something like: + raw /dev/raw1 /dev/hdc + + + then create a link named "rdvd" pointing to that raw device: + raw /dev/raw1 /dev/hdc + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +I have problems when using xine on FreeBSD, Solaris, ... ! + +Check out the the corresponding README files in the directory xine-lib/doc + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +What is aalib? How do I use it in xine? + +aalib is an ascii art library. xine comes with an aalib video output plugin so +you can watch movies in your xterm, on the console or on your old vt100 - very +cool ;> ... another nice option is to preview movies on a remote server in your +shell over ssh. + +To use it make sure you have aalib installed correctly before you configure/ +build xine-lib and xine-ui. In addition to the xine binary a binary named +aaxine should get built and installed. You can then use something like: + aaxine foo.mpg + +to use aalib video output. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +What do all these ~/.xine/config (~/.gxine/config) entries mean? + +You can find information about them in xine-lib/doc/README.config_en. Frontends +may register additional config entries, you may find out more about them in +their documentation. Also the comments in the config file might help. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Does xine support my dxr3 / hollywood+ card? + +while xine's focus is clearly on software decoding, the dxr3 is supported. + +you can find more information about using xine with the dxr3 here (also covers +how to do tv output using the dxr3). + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Chapter 5. Audio related questions + +What audio drivers does xine support? OSS? Alsa? Arts? Esd? + +Currently xine support audio output via OSS (kernel audio drivers), ALSA 0.9.x +(ALSA 0.5.x is no longer supported), arts (KDE's sound daemon) and esound (esd, +gnome's sound daemon - not recommended because it has serious issues with a/v +sync). + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +When I'm watching a movie, the sound effects are much higher volume than the +voices + +Congratulations, you seem to have an original movie audio track there. + +Uhm. So you don't like it. Well, there are two things you can do: + + * You can enable xine's audio compressor. Most frontends have a settings + window and in that you'll find a slider for the compressor setting. The + values are percent values, so a slider setting of 200 means that xine will + double the volume of silent parts of the movie (loud parts stay the same). + + * If you have a dolby digital (AC3) soundtrack, you can try to enable + liba52's dynamic range compression setting + codec.a52_dynrng:1 + + in your xine config file (or use some gui config dialog). + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +When I play this stream, xine shows video but there's no audio! + +Well, first try a different audio driver ( gxine -A oss , gxine -A arts , xine +-A alsa ...). + +If this problem only occurs with one specific stream, maybe switching to a +different audio channel (using the gui) helps. Some DVD streams have audio on +strange channels. + +If all this doesn't help, maybe you're missing an audio codec or you found a +bug. If you decide to post your problem on the xine-user mailing list, make +sure to include all console output xine produced and also clearly state what +type of stream you tried to play back or, even better, make a test stream +available somewhere for developers to download and try. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Can xine produce 4-/5-channel surround audio output? + +Yep, it can do that using OSS or ALSA drivers, provided that the driver +supports it. On startup xine tells you what modes are supported by your audio +driver, e.g: + audio_alsa_out : supported modes are mono stereo (4-channel not enabled + in xine config) (5-channel not enabled in xine config) (5.1-channel not + enabled in xine config) (a/52 and DTS pass-through not enabled in xine + config) + + +On this machine 4-channel surround would be possible. However, since xine +cannot detect if there are actually speakers connected to the additional +channels, you'll have to activate that feature manually. + +You can do this either in the config dialog while xine is running (press the +config button on the xine panel and go to the AUDIO tab) or have it the +complicated way by editing the config file yourself which is located in your +home directory in .gxine/.xine: + # 4-channel: + audio.four_channel:1 + + # 5-channel: + audio.five_channel:1 + + # 5.1-channel + audio.five_lfe_channel:0 + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +What about ac3 output via spdif to an external ac3 decoder? + +xine can do that too. Pretty much the same story as for 4-/5-channel surround +(see above). You can either use the config dialog or edit the config file (~ +/.xine/config/~/.gxine/config) yourself: + audio.a52_pass_through:1 + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Changing the volume with the GUI control has no effect! What's up!? + +Some xine drivers do not support volume changing although the GUI will show the +volume bar. Usually this is not xine's fault: aRts C API, for example, doesn't +offer any volume property to applications. Similarly, with ac3 pass through it +is not possible to set the volume. + +Note that recently we added support to "simulate" volume in aRts by changing +sample values on-the-fly before delivering them to the driver. Not as good as +having access to sound card's mixer but at least users will not complain about +lacking of volume bar anymore! :) + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Audio is stuttering and i see a lot of "metronom: fixing sound card drift by +-2115 pts" on the console output + +Might be a soundcard problem, if it only comes in longer intervals. Your +soundcard does not keep it's sampling frequency accurately enough, which +results in audio and video getting out of sync and xine has to compensate. +Maybe switching to different drivers (alsa to oss or vise-versa) can help here. + +Another, whole different possibility is that you have some background process +running which is messing with the clock (like some ntp client - chronny, ntpd, +...). + +Occasional messages of "fixing sound card drift" may happen on start and when +playing a long stream (like a movie). This is normal behaviour, nothing to +worry about. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Chapter 6. Video related questions + +I can hear the audio - but I don't see a picture! + +Probably your hardware is simply too slow - see above for some hints on how to +speed things up. + +Another possibility is that you using a buggy Xv driver, see the next question. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +How can I make xine use the Xv extension and what drivers do I need? + +xine will normally use Xv by default if it is available. In some cases you +might need to choose Xv playback manually (when the ~/.xine/config file for +some reason says that you want to use XShm): + xine -V Xv foo.mpg + + +If this doesn't work for you, it may be possible that Xv is not present on your +system. + +First you need to install/use XFree 4.x. Once you got that you have to make +sure the XFree drivers you're using are supporting Xv on your hardware. Here +are some hints for individual gfx chips: + + * 3Dfx: if all you get is a solid black window, upgrade at least to XFree + 4.1.0 + + * ATI: if you only get "half a picture", try lowering your resolution or bit + depth, disable DRI (looks like you ran out of video RAM) + + * Trident card: If you see vertical bands jumbled, upgrade to the latest + xfree/experimental trident drivers (for the CyberBlade XP a driver exists + here: http://www.xfree86.org/~alanh/ ) + + * nvidia: With newer GeForce cards, Xv should work with XFree 4.2.0 or newer, + for older RivaTNT cards use the binary drivers from nvidia (of course the + binary drivers work as well for GeForce cards) + + * Mach64/Rage3D (not Rage128/Radeon) cards/chips get no XVideo with standard + drivers, try GATOS drivers instead + + * intel: i815 has Xv support in XFree 4.x, others unknown + + * Permedia 2/3 has Xv support in XFree 4.x + + * Savage: at least some older drivers tend to lock up the whole machine, try + the drivers available from www.probo.com/timr/savage40.html . + + * SIS: certain controllers (more info needed!) have Xv support in XFree 4.x + + * Chips and Tech 6555x, 68554, 69000, 69030 have Xv support in XFree 4.x + + * NeoMagic: certain controllers (more info needed!) have Xv support in Xfree + 4.x + + * SiliconMotion: certain controllers (more info needed!) have Xv support in + Xfree 4.x + + * Matrox: G200 or newer (but not Parhelia) have Xv support in XFree 4.x. For + parhelia, use the binary only drivers available from matrox' website. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Some parts of my X Desktop get transparent when xine plays the video! + +Looks like some colors on your GUI match the colorkey Xv uses. You can change +the colorkey value to avoid this. There should be a line like: + video.XV_COLORKEY:2110 + +in your ~/.xine/config file where you can change the color that's used by xine +for the video overlay. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +The aspect ratio of the video is wrong! + +Try pressing "a" to change the aspect ratio. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +What is the difference between discarded and skipped frames? + +Sometimes xine will output a message like that: + 200 frames delivered, XX frames skipped, YY frames discarded + + +The difference between these counters is a little subtle for the non developer. +There are two threads running in order to display video: the decoder thread +will deliver frames to the video output thread. The later is responsible for +scheduling the frames to be displayed at the right time. + +If your system can't keep up with decoding requirements, decoder will deliver +overdue frames. Imagine if it finished decoding the frame tagged for displaying +at 11:30 but xine clock marks 11:31. When this situation is detected, xine will +try to skip decoding a few frames to recover. Not every decoder may support +this feature. + +When the frame is decoded to be shown somewhere in future but the output thread +doesn't get scheduled in time by the operating system to complete the +operation, the frame is discarded. One cause might be the disk access +operation, which may halt the system for a few miliseconds without DMA. See +performance section tips above. + +Note that if a decoder can't skip frames for some reason, you would never see +frames skipped (they would be all discarded). + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +My xine is runing in black and white! / I only get a gray video output! + +This frequently happens with new Xv drivers or when switching to a different +video card. Background is that different Xv drivers often use different ranges +for the contrast/brightness/saturation settings. + +To fix this, try opening the xine settings window and try adjusting the sliders +for contrast, brightness and saturation. + +Please note that some frontends save these settings in their config file so +when you have found a working combination, make sure you exit xine cleanly so +the values are saved. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Which is the best video driver to use? + +xine support several video drivers for outputing the image. These will differ +on how the frames are copied to the video card memory, whether colorspace +conversion and scaling is done in software or hardware, among other things. +They may also differ on ease of use and stability. + +Most of the time, Xv should give the users a good trade-off between quality, +compatibility and ease of use. This is why xine tries to use Xv by default. + +However some users may want to explore better the available hardware +capabilities (eg. syncing frame drawing with monitor refresh). Also some Xv +drivers contain slow copies and accessing the video card directly may yield +performance gains. + +Drivers that access hardware directly includes VIDIX (warning: requires root +priviledges) and SyncFB (requires kernel helper - Matrox only). User may try +one of those, but should be warned that with root access they can cause the +system to crash hard. The support is also limited to a couple of graphics cards +only. + +Graphic workstations like SGI have usually a good support for OpenGL. In that +case, using OpenGL may be a better choice than XShm. However for most desktop +systems the performance of OpenGL will be quite bad. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Chapter 7. Error Messages: What they mean and what you can do + +Starting xine fails with complains about audio drivers/devices! + +You can select the audio driver using the -A option. So try: + xine -A null + +If you have ALSA drivers installed, try: + xine -A alsa + +If you run ESD (not recommended), try: + xine -A esd + +If you run artsd, try: + xine -A arts + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +"no video port found" + +You got the Xv extension, but your video card driver doesn't support it. First +try to find a driver that does support Xv on your hardware (check your graphics +card vendor). If your driver has Xv support but you can't get it working, try +at a lower resolution (1024x768 is enough even for anamorphic mpeg-2). + +If all that fails, you can still use plain X11/XShm: + gxine -V XShm foo.vob + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +"Unable to open dvd drive (/dev/dvd)" + +You probably don't have /dev/dvd (check that). If so, simply create a link /dev +/dvd that points to your DVD device. Something like... + cd /dev + ln -s hdc dvd + +...should do the job. Also make sure you have read access on the device the +symlink points to. See the dvd playback section for more information. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +"demux error! 00 00 00 (should be 0x000001)" + +Probably xine can't access your input source. Most commonly this happens when +you're trying to play locked/encrypted DVDs. Remember that xine can't play such +DVDs out-of-the box for legal reasons (see above). + +If it is legal where you live, you can try to install libdvdcss. Once you have +done that and re-start xine, it should automatically detect and use it to play +back encrypted DVDs. + +Another reason could be that your (RPC-2) DVD drive isn't set up for the right +region (see above). + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +"audio driver 'oss' failed, using null driver instead" + +First of all, make sure that your OSS Audio drivers are working (i.e. you can +play music with other software). Maybe you're using alsa? If so, try gxine -A +alsa to see if this helps. + +The most common reason for oss not working is that some other program is +accesing your audio device. If you're using linux, the command fuser /dev/dsp +should give you the PID of the process. + +If you are using GNOME, chances are that this is caused by ESD. Now you have +two possibilities. Either deactivate ESD (temporarily) by right clicking on the +sound monitor applet and selecting "Place Esound in standby" or just kill it. +Then xine will use OSS audio output. The other method is to make xine use ESD +for audio output with: + gxine -A esd + +This may result in worse playback - exact syncronization is not possible with +esd, so using oss should be preferred. + +If you are using KDE, there is the possibility that the aRts sound daemon is +currently running and thus blocking your sound device. You can check that by +starting the aRts control (in your KDE menu it should be under Multimedia). If +it is running, you can either use the aRts audio output plugin: + gxine -A arts + +Or you suspend the aRts daemon by checking the appropriate option in your aRts +control. (recommended) + +Newer versions of arts have an auto-suspend mode - this can lead to some +nondeterministic behaviour of xine if it is set up to use the audio device +directly. Using arts is recommended in that case, however you will loose the +ability to do four/five channel audio output. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +"video_out: throwing away image with pts xxx because it's too old" + +This is a performance related problem. If you have a fast computer and this +message shows from time to time playing dvd/cdrom, it's very likely that your +drive is not DMA enabled. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +"No video plugin available to decode 'xxxxxx'." + +You have tried to play a stream using a unknown or unhandled codec. Possibly +the file uses some obscure proprietary format and no information is available +on how to decode it. + +If you're on an x86 platform (e.g. PC hardware) you might want to try +installing binary-only windows medial, real networks and quicktime codecs (see +above). + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +"w32codec: decoder failed to start. Is 'xxxxxx' installed?" + +You probably don't have the win32 dll needed to decode this file. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +xine just crashed on me - i didn't get any error message + +OK, yes, that shouldn't happen and you're upset. We can understand that. But, +to help you and of course to fix this, we need some information. So, let's go +through the checklist and maybe prepare a nice bug report for the xine-user +mailing list: + + * did xine really crash (segfault) or did it hang (deadlock) ? + + * can you reproduce the bug? (e.g. do you remember what you did and when you + do it again it crashes again?) + + * is that a specific media file or format which crashes xine? (have you tried + other files types?) + + * check the console output (and include it in a bug report), maybe earlier + there is some output that points to the problem. + + * Your X server just froze on you? unfortunately that's a known problem with + some chipsets and drivers (most commonly Savage chipsets) when using Xv. + You might want to try running gxine -V XShm to see if the problem is + related to the Xv driver. This will unfortunately be much slower, as lots + of things are now done in software instead of hardware scaling/colour space + conversion. + + Maybe at the time you read this, there's an XFree upgrade which fixes this + for the Savage driver. If that works for you, please notify the xine crew + at < xine-user@lists.sf.net >, so they can update this FAQ! + + * Even though we try to make each release as bug free as possible, xine is + still under heavy development (nice excuse, isn't it? *grin*). + + If you write to the xine user mailing list <xine-user@lists.sourceforge.net + > make sure you include a the above information (when applicable) and also + some information about your machine (operating system, cpu type and speed, + gfx card, sound card, ...) and please use a meaningfull subject line ("xine + bug" is bad, "xine fails to play this quicktime trailer in fullscreen mode" + ist much better). + + Thanks for taking the time to help improve xine. + |