vdpau, vaapi, XvBA...

[yeye69]

vdpau from Nvidia, vaapi from Intel, XvBA from ATI. Each vendors has its own specifications, no unification like DXVA on Windows. Just thought... :)

[Gusar]

Yeah, but...

VAAPI only has limited format support for now, patches for ffmpeg/mplayer have only just appeared and are not nearly ready, and the only card that supports it is Intel poulsbo, which is an extremely rare card and doesn't have opensource drivers even (unlike other intel cards).

XvBA exists only as a library, which is for now useless. There's no documentation, header file or patches available so one could use it in opensource players.

VDPAU however... is documented, and has a header file which allows you to compile support for it in opensource players. Nvidia themselves have provided patches for ffmpeg/mplayer and the community has already coded vdpau support into MythTV, VLC and xine.


So, at least for now, VDPAU is the only one that matters, the only one already usable by mainstream users.

One last thing, it's a minor thing, but it's there: DXVA doesn't support h264 videos beyond level 4.1; VDPAU doesn't have that restriction, at least when it comes to number of reference frames.

[ggking7]

I'm all for vdpau and use it every day, but is there really linux support in vlc? Is it in the main branch? Do you know how xine support is coming and if it's headed for the main branch? I would really love that so I can use it with miro.

[yeye69]

I'm all for vdpau and use it every day, but is there really linux support in vlc? Is it in the main branch? Do you know how xine support is coming and if it's headed for the main branch? I would really love that so I can use it with miro.

vdpau for mythtv & xine is in their svn-branch, for vlc, I'm not sure, perhaps too. By-the-by, OSD and other feature works fine in mythtv unlike in mplayer.

[Gusar]

I'm all for vdpau and use it every day, but is there really linux support in vlc?I don't know where the code is, but it's been said on the VLC forums that people are working on bringing vdpau to VLC.

Do you know how xine support is coming and if it's headed for the main branch? I would really love that so I can use it with miro.Don't know any specific details, except that the code is at svn://jusst.de/xine-vdpau
You're a gentoo user aren't you? If so, there's a xine-vdpau ebuild available here (http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-5345990.html#5345990).

[Sharktooth]

Gusar, level 4.1 is not a DXVA restriction... it's a decoder restriction. MPC-HC h.264 decoder can decode level 5.1 streams thru DXVA.

[The_Rebel]

Gusar, level 4.1 is not a DXVA restriction... it's a decoder restriction. MPC-HC h.264 decoder can decode level 5.1 streams thru DXVA.

Well said Sharktooth, I'm still interested to see how the linux decoders handle h.264 streams with hw acceleration.

EDIT: It's about time linux caught up :P

[ggking7]

yeye69, is the "other feature" deinterlacing? It works in xine as well as mythtv right?

Gusar, thanks, I'm watching that thread very closely and I bet xine-vdpau shows up in the berkano overlay very soon. There is a xine-1.2 vdpau patch posted there now.

Edit: Is anyone else using miro?

[phusg]

Gusar, level 4.1 is not a DXVA restriction... it's a decoder restriction. MPC-HC h.264 decoder can decode level 5.1 streams thru DXVA.

You're not wrong, but it's a decoder and driver restriction. At the moment MPC-HC will only decode level 5.1 with nvidia detonator driver 178.24 or later. Earlier drivers or ATi drivers will not work with L5.1, see http://nunnally.ahmygoddess.net/watching-h264-videos-using-dxva/

[Sharktooth]

my was a reply to this:
One last thing, it's a minor thing, but it's there: DXVA doesn't support h264 videos beyond level 4.1; VDPAU doesn't have that restriction, at least when it comes to number of reference frames.