[Solved] Playing HD Video in VLC and SMPlayer on Asus 1215B

[manmath]

I'm running fully updated (till today) PCLinuxOS 2011 on Asus 1215B (with AMD Fusion APU C-50). Also I've install latest catalyst drivers. SMPlayer plays HD (1080p) videos quite well, but VLC is very choppy playing HD videos. Of course, it's not a big problem, I am enjoying SMplayer very much. But just out of curiosity I want to know what's wrong with VLC. Is there any way to make it play HD?

[wedgetail]

manmath
What does konsole output show if you start SMplayer from here? Any indications of problems ?  Look at the CPU loading while playing, does it hit the roof?

[OMSkates]

manmath
What does konsole output show if you start SMplayer from here? Any indications of problems ?  Look at the CPU loading while playing, does it hit the roof?

Can you start VLC from Konsole and post output please?

[wedgetail]

omskates
Thanks, that is much more useful.  I was a bit absentminded. 

[OMSkates]

omskates
Thanks, that is much more useful.  I was a bit absentminded. 

[manmath]

Here is the console output:

[manmath@localhost ~]$ vlc
VLC media player 1.1.11 The Luggage (revision exported)
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_ADDRESS")
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_BUS_TYPE")
Blocked: call to setlocale(6, "")
Blocked: call to setlocale(6, "")

[Just17]

While playing the video have a look at

Tools - Codec Information - Statistics

I suspect you will find that it is dropping Video frames.

What are the details of the video?

When playing a HD video in SMPlayer I get

Debug: MplayerProcess::parseLine: ''
Debug: MplayerProcess::parseLine: ''
Debug: MplayerProcess::parseLine: '           ************************************************'
Debug: MplayerProcess::parseLine: '           **** Your system is too SLOW to play this!  ****'
Debug: MplayerProcess::parseLine: '           ************************************************'
Debug: MplayerProcess::parseLine: ''

It 'seems' tp play much better than VLC, but there is still a problem -- my hardware is not up to the job.

Test video: Planet_Earth_From_Pole_to_Pole_1080p_sample.mkv

[manmath]

What are the details of the video?

General
Complete name                    : Exo_route-HD.mp4
Format                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : Base Media
Codec ID                         : isom
File size                        : 651 MiB
Duration                         : 29mn 49s
Overall bit rate                 : 3 051 Kbps

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                         : avc1
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                         : 29mn 49s
Bit rate                         : 3 000 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.109
Stream size                      : 640 MiB (98%)
Language                         : English
Tagged date                      : UTC 2011-08-19 09:31:33

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AAC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                   : LC
Codec ID                         : 40
Duration                         : 29mn 49s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 48.0 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L R
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Stream size                      : 10.3 MiB (2%)
Language                         : English
Tagged date                      : UTC 2011-08-19 09:31:33

The problem is with VLC. SMPlayer plays this video flawlessly.

[Just17]

The problem is with VLC. SMPlayer plays this video flawlessly.

Is VLC dropping frames?

[manmath]

no frame drops but it shows frames one by one as a slideshow, something like 3frames per sec.

[Just17]

no frame drops but it shows frames one by one as a slideshow, something like 3frames per sec.

Maybe it doesn't like something about the file ......  have you tried different files?

Does this one play in VLC (short clip)?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5838889/vlc-record-2011-09-03-20h08m14s-dvb%3A__frequency%3D690000000-Elephant%20Twilight.ts

[wedgetail]

manmath
When you have tested Just19 link.

Here is some interesting similarity, indicates where config files for vlc hide out (can't help with content of those. I have my own struggle with vlc and would like to use it, to be solved for for another time):

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=79003.0

 

[manmath]

wedgetail, thanks your suggestion worked!

[wedgetail]

manmath
What particular part worked?  Would be good to know for the next poor soul who may be sweating over this   

[manmath]

Actually I didn't know what to do with those config files, so I removed .config/vlc/vlc-qt-interface.conf and .config/vlc/vlcrc from my home directory, so that VLC can take up fresh setting.
On restarting vlc played those hd files quite well. imo, there was something wrong in those config files.