XCD under Linux

[Nocturnus]

I have noticed several problem in playing data mode2 files with MPlayer.
After mounting cdfs partition, avi file is visible as .iso content. Any playback attempts are finishing unsuccesfully. Application shows hardcoded avi config
After few moments only audio stream is being detected inproperly and program shuts down.

[Monarc]

Do not mount anything. XCD are VCDs for Mplayer.
Try: mplayer -cache 4096 -vcd 2

Works perfect for me. But I use OGG no AVIs on XCD.
AVIs might be a bad idea on XCD.

[Nocturnus]

Thanx for reply.
Your tip didn't helped me too much. Video stream is still being undetected. Audio stream works inproperly and only if I set ffmp3 as decoder.

[Monarc]

Hm...

Play with the cache parameter.
If I set the cache too high, MPlayer cannot detect the structure
of the movie.

e.g.:
with cache = 8192
-> it does not work
with cache = 4096
-> it works

[Nocturnus]

I run Slackware 8.1 (v2.4.19) and Win XP Pro (v2600) on dual boot.
Under Win XP with Riff CD/XA filter installed I don't have any problems with playing my XCD movies.
Problems appearing only under linux, -cache parameter certainly has something common with detecting appriopriate disc structure, however it doesn't solve my problem. I have tried other values like 1024/2048/2352 with the same negative result.
I know AVI structure looks poor compared to more advanced streaming standards like MCF or OGM however it's possible to play it.

Thanx for reply once more.

[Monarc]

Update to CVS and try again.

If the bug remains, make a full bugreport to the mplayer-users ML. :)
Read DOCS/bugreports.html

[Nocturnus]

I always work on CVS version of MPlayer.
Reporting bug to them doesn't bring any serious consequences.
They sometimes resend report with classic RTFM....Read The F*cking Manual

[DeXT]

I don't know how mplayer does the reading of VCDs, but in case it just buffers a small portion of the beggining of the file, which is OK for MPEG and OGG, it may not work with AVI, since the index is located at the end of the file, so a seeking is needed in order to play it. On Windows the XCD filter exposes the file to the application in a transparent manner so it thinks it's a regular file.

[Monarc]

Originally posted by DeXT
I don't know how mplayer does the reading of VCDs, but in case it just buffers a small portion of the beggining of the file, which is OK for MPEG and OGG, it may not work with AVI, since the index is located at the end of the file, so a seeking is needed in order to play it. On Windows the XCD filter exposes the file to the application in a transparent manner so it thinks it's a regular file.
hm ...

I think MPlayer can play AVI without index.
I have a 10 MB AVI here.
If I cut it at 4 MB, MPlayer can still play it.
ZoomPlayer and other Windows player stop with an error.

Maybe you are right. I am not a demux expert. :)
Only the guys at mplayer knows that.

@Nocturnus
Maybe there is garbage at the beginning of the movie?.
You can try to skip the beginning with "mplayer -ss 10 -vcd 2".

[Nocturnus]

@Monarc

Seeking option (-ss 10) doesn't help, never mind which value I wrote and what partition type (cdfs or iso9660) I mount.
By the way -vcd 2 parameter is wrong in my case, it doesn't find track no. 2
I'm forced to use -vcd 1 instead.
Hopeless case I guess.

Thanx in advance :)

[DeXT]

Originally posted by Nocturnus
@Monarc
By the way -vcd 2 parameter is wrong in my case, it doesn't find track no. 2
I'm forced to use -vcd 1 instead.


OK I start to understand. Maybe you wrote that CD as a single track, and seems mplayer reads VCDs (and XCDs) in a track-basis, not in a filesystem-basis. On a normal XCD, each movie is located on a separate track, starting with track 2 (track 1 keeps the ISO FS). But if you burn it with Nero (or any other burn program) by just loading the BIN image (instead of the CUE) you'll end with a single track CD. Mplayer opens the first (and only) track and finds "trash" at the start of it (i.e. the ISO FS) so it cannot play it.

So in order to play XCDs with mplayer you need to burn them by using either the CUE or the TOC file, which are the only files which keeps the track layout. And unfortunately you cannot use the new "single track" feature on mode2cdmaker 1.5 :(, althought this has sense only when burning many small Form2 files such as MP3 collections (BTW, it's NOT the same as just burning the BIN file the old way, because this way there is no space gain at all).

This is a limitation in mplayer, but it's understandable since it was never intended to play XCDs.