From 93ec73c2756f3b50977836c055fa36d07d64d81b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?UTF-8?q?Thomas=20Hellstr=C3=B6m?= Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 21:59:28 +0000 Subject: Added xxmc plugin user documentation. CVS patchset: 7124 CVS date: 2004/11/14 21:59:28 --- doc/Makefile.am | 2 +- doc/README_xxmc.html | 178 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 179 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) create mode 100644 doc/README_xxmc.html (limited to 'doc') diff --git a/doc/Makefile.am b/doc/Makefile.am index 93c354b31..09b84aa0d 100644 --- a/doc/Makefile.am +++ b/doc/Makefile.am @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ SUBDIRS = man hackersguide faq docs_DATA = README README.dvb README.dxr3 \ README.freebsd README.irix README.network_dvd README.opengl \ - README.solaris README.syncfb + README.solaris README.syncfb README_xxmc.html EXTRA_DIST = $(docs_DATA) diff --git a/doc/README_xxmc.html b/doc/README_xxmc.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..4d6f661d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/README_xxmc.html @@ -0,0 +1,178 @@ + + + + + Xine's xxmc plugin + + +

Compiling and installing Xine's xxmc plugin.

Compiling +and installing Xine's xxmc plugin. +
1. Background
2. Needed drivers and libs
3. Configuring and installing
4. Running the plugin +
  1. General
  2. Caveats
  3. Optimizing
  4. Deinterlacing
  +
5. FAQ
+

Background

+The xine xxmc plugin supports playback with
+

Standard XvMC, as supported by many Nvidia chips.
VLD XvMC, as supported by the VIA CLE266 chip, up to 1024x1024.
+
Standard Xv. The xxmc plugin will fall back to Xv if any of the +above fails.

+There is no API or hardware feature called "xxmc". It is only the name +of Xine's plugin, since the name "xvmc" was already taken. The name +"xxmc" stands for eXtended XvMC, and it is extended in the sense that +it also includes support for VLD XvMC, which is a nonstandard extension +to XvMC, proposed by the Unichrome project.
+

Needed drivers and +libs

You need an XvMC driver for the chip you want to run accelerated +on. (This does not apply if you only want to run Xv on the accelerated +driver). Drivers for Nvidia chips are on Nvidia's website. Drivers for the VIA +CLE266 chip are present in Xorg CVS or downloadable as patches at The Unichrome project's site
You need the XvMC wrapper, present in Xorg CVS, or downloadable +from The Unichrome site

Configuring and +installing

+Make sure you have the XvMC wrapper installed. The wrapper will try to +figure out at run-time what xvmc-hardware specific driver to load. If +it fails it will open the file /etc/X11/XvMCConfig +or /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XvMCConfig +and try to load the hardware-specific library mentioned in that file. +If you downloaded the XvMC wrapper from the unichrome site, the default +XvMCConfig will make the XvMC wrapper try to load the Nvidia XvMC +driver. If you want to use it with the VIA CLE266 chip, you will have +to edit the XvMCConfig file to contain the single word
+
+libviaXvMC.so.1
+
+Now configure and compile xine-lib as usual. Make sure that the +xxmc plugin got enabled by configure +or autogen.sh.
+ +

Running the plugin

General
+

+Start xine with xine -V xxmc, or kaffeine with kaffeine -x xxmc. If the +XvMC wrapper fails to load a hardware specific library or fails to read +the XvMCConfig file it will specifically tell you so. If you have the +wrong hardware-specific library specified in the XvMCConfig file, the +xxmc plugin will think that you are running against a remote X-server +and fall back to software decoding. If +the driver uses hardware acceleration it will specifically tell you so. +At the moment, the XvMC implementation only accelerates mpeg1 +and mpeg2 files, if the hardware +advertises support for these file types.
+
+ +

Caveats
+

+Some Nvidia chips seem to use very much CPU when subtitles are +displayed, and black areas of the screen are full of small white dots. +These chips only use motion compensation accelaration, and are bad at +it as well. You're better off running the Xv plugin with these chips. +The white dots are due to hardware- or driver bugs. Nvidia chips that +supports IDCT acceleration also seem to support motion compensation +acceleration correctly.
+
+OSD might be rendered in the wrong color with Nvidia chips. To work +around this use the xine config option
+
+video.xvmc_nvidia_color_fix:1
+
+This is due to a bug in the Nvidia XvMC drivers, and this bug is +probably also present in the i810 drivers.
+
+There is also a bug in xine's XvMC support for interlaced streams with +IDCT and motion compensation accelerations. The xxmc plugin will fall +back to plain Xv for these streams. Hopefully this will be fixed in the +not too distant future.
+
+

Optimizing

+If you are running VLD XvMC on the CLE266 there are some options that +may affect performance:
+
+video.unichrome_cpu_save:1
+
+Will save a lot of CPU-power if you are running a 2.6 series kernel. It +does this by sleeping while the hardware decoder works. Otherwise it +will spend a lot of CPU waiting for decoder completion.
+
+video.xvmc_more_frames:1
+
+Will allocate 15 XvMC surfaces instead of 8. This is very useful if you +are using vdr-xine and want to avoid buffer-underrun stutters in xine. +Don't use this with Nvidia cards since they only allow a maximum of 8 +frames. If your driver does not allow 15 frames and you turn this +option on, it will abruptly fall back to software rendering, causing +some rendering glitches while doing so.
+
+gui.osd_use_unscaled:0
+
+Don't use unscaled overlays for OSD. Sometimes the X server will have +severe problems painting the OSD surface when unscaled OSD:s are used. +This will be visible as severe stutters when ANY overlay (OSD or +subtitle) are displayed and removed. Use this option for scaled OSD +which is considerably faster with CLE266, since blending is done in +hardware. This option is usable also with Nvidia cards, but I've never +seen problems with unscaled OSD with those.
+
+

Deinterlacing

+XvMC can only do very simple one-field deinterlacing in hardware. It's +also impossible to use software deinterlacing, since XvMC does not +allow xine to read the content of a decoded frame. Therefore, when you +run a hardware accelerated stream, Interlacing will be toggled by +pressing "i". If the xxmc plugin has fallen back to Xv and software +decoding, post plugins will take care of deinterlacing.
+
+BOB deinterlacing for XvMC accelerated streams will be implemented in +the near future. That means alternating between the top- and bottom +fields of the frame at twice the original frame-rate.
+
+

FAQ

+Q: The xxmc plugin is not enabled when I configure xine-lib
+A: Check that you have installed the XvMC wrapper, and that you've run +"ldconfig -v" as root after that.
+
+Q: The XvMC wrapper complains when I start xine.
+A: Check that you have created an XvMCConfig file specifying the +relevant driver name.
+
+Q: I'm running on a Nvidia card and my OSD colors are wrong.
+A: See "caveats" above.
+
+Q: I'm running VDR-xine and the playback stutters.
+A: See "optimizing" above.
+
+Q: I'm running on a CLE266 and I get severe stutter when subtitles are +displayed.
+A: See "optimizing" above.
+
+Q: Can I use the xxmc plugin without the XvMC wrapper?
+A: Yes, you can link directly with a hardware specific library, but +this is not recommended. Run "./configure --help" to check which +options to use.
+
+ + -- cgit v1.2.3