Jerky playback and dropped frames

[kastro68]

Hi,

I just need a little help with video playback. I'm getting dropped frames and jerky playback in fullscreen.

Do I need to update my nvidia drivers? I have tried Xine and Kaboodle as players. Do I need to install some codecs?

Sorry about the stupid question,

thanks.

[Manao]

Depends on your hardware configuration ( video card & processor ).

Anyway, you should check if you use xv ( it's not a player, it's a video output driver ) for playback, and you should try mplayer (http://www.MPlayerHQ.hu/homepage/design5/news.html) , which is far less time consuming. Finally, there is no codec system under linux. You have libavcodec which can decode all (most) mpeg-4 content ( it's the equivalent of ffdshow ). For the rest, you have a "plugin" system with mplayer which allow you to use windows binary for decoding content not natively supported ( download them here (/http://www.MPlayerHQ.hu/homepage/design5/dload.html) )

[BradChandler]

Is this when you're watching a dvd in your dvd drive? What distro are you using?

Try turning on dma:

hdparm -d 1 /dev/dvd

[kastro68]

I am using Mandrake 9.1 rc2. The computer I use as the net gateway is pretty outdated, P3 500mhz with very old Tnt2 card no dvd drive. I am also using this comp as a trial run for linux before I intall in on the main one.


I tried compiling Mplayer with gcc 3.2.2 but I got an error message somewhere when i typed ./configure --enable-gui. I still have yet to read more documents on this.

Where is the info for the kernel stored... I don't have a directory called /usr/src/linux

How do I check if I am using xv?

thanks

[Manao]

I tried compiling Mplayer with gcc 3.2.2 but I got an error message somewhere when i typed ./configure --enable-gui. I still have yet to read more documents on this.
You don't need mplayer's gui, you come from windows so you'll be very disappointed by it. If you really want it, it's a gnome gui, so you may want to search the source of the problem in this way. Also, you could try kmplayer ( never tried, though )
How do I check if I am using xv?
You can try a xine --help, it will give you the list of the video drivers available.

[kastro68]

Does anyone know how I can check if my linux sources are installed... I think they are needed to compile some appz. I don't have a /usr/src/linux directory which is where the linux kernel source should be located.

Is there anyway for me to install it if i don't already have it, without having to reformat?

Thanks.

[Belgabor]

/usr/src/linux is usually a symlink to the real sources which should reside in something like /usr/src/linux-2.4.20.

If you don't have them there should be a rpm on the mandrake cds (kernel-source-.....rpm or something). Be aware that they take a lot of space.

[ggef]

kastro68,

with a properly configured mplayer, try typing:

>mplayer -vo xv "file"

at the terminal. If xv is not available then you could try installing the nvidia drivers for linux. These should enable you to use the XVideo extension. Persevere as mplayer is a great project and I have achieved excellent results with a PC that has similar specs to yours.

-ggef

[kastro68]

>mplayer -vo xv "file"

Yep, I tried typing it... unfortunately xv is not installed, because when I type "xvinfo" it says no adapter found.

I am using mandrake 9.1 which means I have to use the .src.rpm to rebuild it because nvidia only has .rpm for mandrake 9.0.

I think I need the linux kernel source installed for me to be able to use the rpm --rebuild function. I only downloaded the first 2 cds for mandrake 9.1rc2, which is probably why I can't find the kernel source files.

What a predicament, I'll have to scour the net to look for just mdk kernel source files.

But I have successfully compiled Mplayer. I found out that gtk refers to the gnome shell, which I didn't install initially because I like kde. And I got used to pressing the tab button by now, so I don't really need a gui for Mplayer anymore.


Wish me luck.

[TexBill]

you should check Penguin Liberation Front (http://plf.zarb.org).
they made rpm for mplayer and others usefull software for mandrake.

hope this could help you.

Tex Bill

[ggef]

This nvidia linux driver (http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=linux_display_ia32_1.0-4349) claims to support Mandrake 9.1

Good Luck,

--ggef

[kastro68]

Thanks,

The links helped alot.