The quest for HW accelerated video: ATI, VAAPI and Mplayer

[intheflesh]

I finally learned how to properly manage switching back and forth between priprietary and open-source drivers for my ATI Radeon HD 5750 (somehow, sometimes NVidia graphic drivers get installed and then the system can't load GLX modules), so I embarked on a quest to get hardware accelerated video playback on my machine since I decided to keep fglrx. Since I mostly use UMplayer for video playback, I found out I had to compile vaapi-enabled branch of it (from http://gitorious.org/vaapi/mplayer). Now, I did that and hardware accelerated playback seems to work.

CPU usage drops from about 50% to a mere 10% when I add -vo vaapi to the mplayer command to play a 720p video, but no matter what I do I can't get it to work in UMplayer nor SMplayer. I tried setting vaapi for Video output driver and adding -vo vaapi to the "Options for MPlayer", but all I get is a UMplayer logo instead of the movie being played.

How do I make videos play inside U/SMplayer?

UPDATE: Starting video with $ mplayer file.mp4-vo vaapi:gl -va vaapi seems to pause it at first frame. Maybe that's the problem?

Also, this is the output:

MPlayer SVN-r35107-4.6 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team

Playing file.mp4.
libavformat version 54.25.104 (internal)
libavformat file format detected.
[lavf] stream 0: video (h264), -vid 0
[lavf] stream 1: audio (ac3), -aid 0, -alang und
[lavf] stream 2: audio (aac), -aid 1, -alang und
VIDEO:  [H264]  1280x544  24bpp  23.976 fps  2619.1 kbps (319.7 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
 major_brand: isom
 minor_version: 1
 compatible_brands: isomavc1
 creation_time: 1940-08-15 17:43:07
Load subtitles in ./
[vo_vaapi] Using OpenGL rendering
libva: VA-API version 0.32.0
Xlib:  extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0".
libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri/fglrx_drv_video.so
libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
libavcodec version 54.53.100 (internal)
Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 384.0 kbit/25.00% (ratio: 48000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [ffac3] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg AC-3)
==========================================================================
[AO OSS] audio_setup: Can't open audio device /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
AO: [alsa] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
Unsupported PixelFormat 61
[VD_FFMPEG] Trying pixfmt=1.
Movie-Aspect is 2.35:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [vaapi] 1280x544 => 1280x544 H.264 VA-API Acceleration 
[VD_FFMPEG] XVMC-accelerated MPEG-2.
A:   0.5 V:   0.5 A-V: -0.080 ct: -0.029   0/  0 140% 16%  0.8% 8 0

UPDATE2: Okay, so I messed up compiling, two different versions were at /usr/bin and /usr/local/bin; players picked the latter while bash would choose the former. That is fixed now and I can play video in SMplayer (not in UMplayer - X11 Error (BadMatch) occurs whether I select vaapi or any other output driver). So i played the same movie in SMplayer and through command line. They use the same -vo settings. The SMplayer is still using 50% CPU while the command line one uses 9. This sucks.

[BicyclerBoy]

I would have thought bash would have picked the latter..

Install/run
vainfo

Did you install the vaapi driver for AMD video BS decoder:
xvba-va-driver

[intheflesh]

Yes, all that is installed (it was rather painless, but I of course had to purge everything before installing fglrx, fglrx-amdcccle, xvba-va-driver libva-glx1 libva-egl1 and vainfo packages). I seem to have found where the problem lies.

2011-03-26, Saturday :: MPlayer is now Multi Threaded
posted by Compn

Thanks to FFmpeg and its project in the Google Summer of Code program, we now have multi threaded support for playing back H.264 and other codecs.
To enable threading run mplayer -lavdopts threads=N file.mkv where N is the number of threads you want to use.

You will need to have the latest SVN MPlayer for this. Please report any bugs you find to our Bugzilla.

(from http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html)

When I run $ mplayer -lavdopts threads=4 -vo vaapi -va vaapi file.mp4, I get the same high CPU usage. Omitting -lavdopts switch puts it down at 8-9%.

 /usr/bin/mplayer -noquiet -nofs -nomouseinput -lavdopts threads=4 -sub-fuzziness 1 -identify -slave -vo vaapi:gl -ao pulse -nokeepaspect -dr -double -input nodefault-bindings:conf=/dev/null -stop-xscreensaver -wid 50331707 -monitorpixelaspect 1 -*** -msglevel ***=6 -embeddedfonts -***-line-spacing 0 -***-font-scale 1 -***-force-style PlayResX=512,PlayResY=320,Name=Default,Fontname=Arial,Fontsize=24,PrimaryColour=&H00ffffff,BackColour=&H00000000,OutlineColour=&H00000000,Bold=0,Italic=0,Alignment=2,BorderStyle=1,Outline=1,Shadow=2,MarginL=20,MarginR=20,MarginV=8 -fontconfig -font Arial -subfont-autoscale 0 -subfont-osd-scale 24 -subfont-text-scale 24 -subcp CP1250 -aid 0 -subpos 100 -volume 100 -cache 65536 -osdlevel 0 -vf-add pp -autoq 3 -vf-add eq2,hue -vf-add spp -noslices -channels 2 -af scaletempo -softvol -softvol-max 110 -vo vaapi -va vaapi "/data/Downloads/Totally not an illegally downloaded file.mp4" 
 

 MPlayer SVN-r35107-4.6 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
 Terminal type `unknown' is not defined.
 Playing /data/Downloads/Totally not an illegally downloaded file.mp4.
 Cache fill:  0.00% (0 bytes)   
 libavformat version 54.25.104 (internal)
 libavformat file format detected.
 Cache not responding! [performance issue]
 ID_VIDEO_ID=0
 [lavf] stream 0: video (h264), -vid 0
 ID_AUDIO_ID=0
 [lavf] stream 1: audio (ac3), -aid 0, -alang und
 ID_AUDIO_ID=1
 [lavf] stream 2: audio (aac), -aid 1, -alang und
 VIDEO:  [H264]  1280x544  24bpp  23.976 fps  2619.1 kbps (319.7 kbyte/s)
 Clip info:
  major_brand: isom
 ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME0=major_brand
 ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE0=isom
  minor_version: 1
 ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME1=minor_version
 ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE1=1
  compatible_brands: isomavc1
 ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME2=compatible_brands
 ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE2=isomavc1
  creation_time: 1940-08-15 17:43:07
 ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME3=creation_time
 ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE3=1940-08-15 17:43:07
 ID_CLIP_INFO_N=4
 Load subtitles in /data/Downloads/
 ID_FILENAME=/data/Downloads/Totally not an illegally downloaded file.mp4
 ID_DEMUXER=lavfpref
 ID_VIDEO_FORMAT=H264
 ID_VIDEO_BITRATE=2619056
 ID_VIDEO_WIDTH=1280
 ID_VIDEO_HEIGHT=544
 ID_VIDEO_FPS=23.976
 ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=2.3529
 ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=8192
 ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=384000
 ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
 ID_AUDIO_NCH=6
 ID_START_TIME=0.00
 ID_LENGTH=5706.69
 ID_SEEKABLE=1
 ID_CHAPTERS=0
 libva: VA-API version 0.32.0
 libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
 libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri/fglrx_drv_video.so
 libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
 Opening video filter: [*** auto=1]
 Couldn't open video filter '***'.
 ***: cannot add video filter
 Opening video filter: [spp]
 libavcodec version 54.53.100 (internal)
 Opening video filter: [hue]
 Opening video filter: [eq2]
 Opening video filter: [pp]
 [***] Raster: FreeType 2.4.8
 [***] Shaper:
 [***] Initialized
 [***] Updating font cache
 ==========================================================================
 Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
 Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
 ==========================================================================
 ID_VIDEO_CODEC=ffh264
 [PP] Using external postprocessing filter, max q = 6.
 ==========================================================================
 Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
 AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 384.0 kbit/25.00% (ratio: 48000->192000)
 ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=384000
 ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
 ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
 Selected audio codec: [ffac3] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg AC-3)
 ==========================================================================
 AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
 ID_AUDIO_CODEC=ffac3
 [Mixer] No hardware mixing, inserting volume filter.
 Starting playback...
 Unsupported PixelFormat 61
 [VD_FFMPEG] Trying pixfmt=1.
 [PP] Using external postprocessing filter, max q = 6.
 Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
 Opening video filter: [scale]
 The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
 Try appending the scale filter to your filter list,
 e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
 Unsupported PixelFormat 81
 Unsupported PixelFormat 61
 [VD_FFMPEG] Trying pixfmt=0.
 Unsupported PixelFormat 61
 [PP] Using external postprocessing filter, max q = 6.
 Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
 Opening video filter: [scale]
 The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
 Try appending the scale filter to your filter list,
 e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
 Unsupported PixelFormat 81
 [VD_FFMPEG] Trying pixfmt=2.
 Unsupported PixelFormat 81
 [PP] Using external postprocessing filter, max q = 6.
 Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
 Opening video filter: [scale]
 The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
 Try appending the scale filter to your filter list,
 e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
 [VD_FFMPEG] Trying pixfmt=3.
 [PP] Using external postprocessing filter, max q = 6.
 Movie-Aspect is undefined - no prescaling applied.
 VO: [vaapi] 1280x544 => 1280x544 Planar YV12 
 [PP] Using external postprocessing filter, max q = 6.
 Movie-Aspect is 2.35:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
 ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=2.3529
 VO: [vaapi] 1280x544 => 1280x544 Planar YV12

So, now only to find out how to disable threading.

[BicyclerBoy]

You should take care around mixing package managed shared libraries & your personal external packages..

The big problems occur around shared dynamic libraries.
All std *buntu package managed programs are built on the system shared libraries..they are a distro..

The easiest way to avoid problems is:
- not install the std *buntu applications that you build from source.
- build all programs full static & build no shared libraries.
- can use a private name for the executable.

This has the downside of large applications but insures you know exactly what is linked to what..

Maybe I read this thread wrong...
I'm not at all surprised that the std distro SMplayer does not work right with your mplayer built from source..
You should build SMplayer from source.

[tux-gamer]

sory if i bump old thread, i need help from intheflesh

i have try to compile mplayer vaapi from git://gitorious.org/vaapi/mplayer.git in Ubuntu 12.10
but i have no luck withthis error:

ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(mpeg12enc.o): In function `ff_mpeg1_encode_picture_header':
mpeg12enc.c:(.text+0x163f): undefined reference to `ff_write_quant_matrix'
mpeg12enc.c:(.text+0x1654): undefined reference to `ff_write_quant_matrix'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(mpeg12enc.o):(.data+0x54): undefined reference to `ff_MPV_encode_picture'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(mpeg12enc.o):(.data+0x5c): undefined reference to `ff_MPV_encode_end'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(mpeg12enc.o):(.data+0xd4): undefined reference to `ff_MPV_encode_picture'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(mpeg12enc.o):(.data+0xdc): undefined reference to `ff_MPV_encode_end'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(mpeg12enc.o): In function `encode_init':
mpeg12enc.c:(.text.unlikely+0x1a): undefined reference to `ff_MPV_encode_init'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(snowenc.o): In function `encode_q_branch':
snowenc.c:(.text+0x3dca): undefined reference to `ff_epzs_motion_search'
snowenc.c:(.text+0x3e99): undefined reference to `ff_get_mb_score'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(snowenc.o): In function `encode_q_branch.constprop.16':
snowenc.c:(.text+0x5b12): undefined reference to `ff_epzs_motion_search'
snowenc.c:(.text+0x5be1): undefined reference to `ff_get_mb_score'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(snowenc.o): In function `encode_frame':
snowenc.c:(.text+0xdf0f): undefined reference to `ff_write_pass1_stats'
snowenc.c:(.text+0xe619): undefined reference to `ff_init_me'
snowenc.c:(.text+0xfc1d): undefined reference to `ff_rate_estimate_qscale'
snowenc.c:(.text+0x11261): undefined reference to `ff_rate_estimate_qscale'
snowenc.c:(.text+0x119c9): undefined reference to `ff_rate_estimate_qscale'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(snowenc.o): In function `encode_init':
snowenc.c:(.text.unlikely+0x264): undefined reference to `ff_rate_control_init'
ffmpeg/libavcodec/libavcodec.a(ituh263enc.o): In function `ff_clean_h263_qscales':
ituh263enc.c:(.text+0x9c5): undefined reference to `ff_init_qscale_tab'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [mplayer] Error 1

please help, i need to compile my self to optimize with my cpu celeron 847

thanks



Edit:
I managed to compile it, found good howto in here http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=84825
lookslike because i disable alot of thing :

./configure --enable-vaapi --disable-mencoder --disable-v4l2 --disable-matrixview --disable-gif --disable-pnm --disable-jpeg --disable-dvb --disable-fbdev --disable-caca --disable-vidix --disable-dga2 --disable-dga1 --disable-directfb --disable-mga --disable-yuv4mpeg --disable-md5sum --disable-tga

then i do "make clean" and use only:

./configure --enable-vaapi --enable-x11

then it compiled successfully.

ps: sory for my bad english.