[davilla]

Ok, the strange delay was due to the presence of the 720p file in the same directory as the 1080i. Something that XBMC does not like about the 720p file. Why it causes the long delay in viewing the other content, not a clue. Renaming it from "720p.ts" to "720p.save" hides it from XBMC and long delay is gone.

[yuvalt]

Any updates on performance on an AppleTV?

[davilla]

720p mpeg2 is still troublesome and the existence of the 720p file in a scanned directory will cause problems with long delays viewing other formats. This makes no sense as mplayer and others has no problems with these 720p mpeg2 files.

It's an XBMC on Linux issue but I don't know enough about the internal video playback details to resolve. I do know that mplayer can handle 720p and almost 1080i mpeg2 using Vx. Using XvMC with 720p and 1080i mpeg2 is trivial but I don't know how to get XBMC to use XvMC. I see it listed in a config file.

It seems like I should be able to use mplayer instead of dvdplayer but the docs are sparse and circular on details of the video playback setup aside from what is present in the video setup screen. The different settings made no difference in 720p nor the other video resolutions. I'd have to dig into code and figure out how playback works, how it's really configured and what to do to fix it.

I've searched the forums for others with similar issue and found nothing relevant.

So unless someone can point me to instructions on how to tweek the video playback or use mplayer vs dvdplayer, there's not much more I can do besides wait for the next alpha release and try again.

I really need to get back to enhancements and refinements with atv-bootloader. I'd like to get direct boot LiveCD install of the OS working (oh so close) and much faster boot times and possibly a BIOS emulation layer (a truly obscene desire to boot WinXP on it just so show it can be done).

[davilla]

I redid some mplayer tests,

mplayer using -vo vx -- 720p is fine, and 1080i is fine but close to max cpu.

mplayer using -vo xvmc -- 720p is fine and 1080i is fine with plenty of cpu capacity remaining.

mplayer using -vo gl -- 720p bad as is 1080i.

mplayer using -vo gl2 -- 720p plays but stutters as does 1080i.

So using this info, XBMC has to use at least Xv for playback to do 720p and 1080i.

I did find a thread about enabling an external player for XBMC on Linux. Seem to be a sensitive issue with some devs.

I might try a build with this patch and see what happens if I have time.

[Gamester17]

MPlayer is not available in XBMC for Linux (and it probably never will be, any missing features will be added to XBMC's DVDPlayer instead), see previous discussion here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=29273

XBMC for Linux does not support XvMC yet, (XBMC's DVDPlayer uses FFmpeg as its base so it could be possible to enable it there, I do not know?), see here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=DVDPlayer
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Hardware_Acc...o_Decoding

[davilla]

MPlayer is not available in XBMC for Linux (and it probably never will be, any missing features will be added to XBMC's DVDPlayer instead), see previous discussion here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=29273

XBMC for Linux does not support XvMC yet, (XBMC's DVDPlayer uses FFmpeg as its base so it could be possible to enable it there, I do not know?), see here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=DVDPlayer
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Hardware_Acc...o_Decoding

I'm aware of the issue regarding mplayer and understand the concerns on both sides of the coin. So let's ignore mplayer for now.

Implementing XvMC would be a bold first step, I think doing Xv first would be a better first step. As I think I understand it, XBMC on Linux uses some form of gl for rendering. Has anyone looked into Xv support? Not asking for someone else to do it but it's always useful to check the state before starting to look into it.

[spiff]

nobody has looked into xv since we threw it away as a uninteresting solution in the first place. xv means overlays which means no blending and in general very bad for having nice transparent ui elements on top of the video. those who have tried the hw overlay render on xbox knows what i'm on about.

now, a xv based renderer would certainly be interesting to have nontheless, as an option. xvmc will be much more hassle though (as that involves codec level things such as mc dcts etc) and will require you to dig much further into the ffmpeg libs

as a first stop, you could use the patch sitting on our patch tracker that enables launching an external application to play vids. this ofc means even worse ui integration, but atleast you have a neat launcher for mplayer

[davilla]

I did a quick check through the XBMC code and it would be a large task to enable Xv. Maybe too large given the GL push. As GL seems fine for boxes with lots of ponies, the need for something like Xv is limited to boxes with restricted cpu resources. Maybe a lost cause give the current development priorities.

as a first stop, you could use the patch sitting on our patch tracker that enables launching an external application to play vids. this ofc means even worse ui integration, but atleast you have a neat launcher for mplayer

I did try the patch, aside from having to clean up the double insertion of ExtVideoPlayer.h and ExtVideoPlayer.cpp before it could build without errors. The external player did not appear after recompile so something else is missing. Given that the patch was in such sorry shape (the patch, not the content) to begin with that could mean some critical piece is missing/removed or I'm XBMC stupid which could certainly be true.

I was hoping to play a bit with the vf_overlay patch for MPlayer that provides an overlay surface that can be blended with low cpu overhead. The development Freevo code base seems to be using it with good results.

[davilla]

Guide to the backup and restore an AppleTV, see http://code.google.com/p/atv-bootloader/wiki/ATVBackup

This guide also includes a section on completely restoring an AppleTV to "Factory" without having a existing backup.

Note that this does not backup any content on "Media" or "OSBoot". This is method to backup and restore your AppleTV to "Factory" fresh condition.

Enjoy.

[davilla]

Oh and forgot to mention the new page on installing direct from a LiveCD. No more doner PC required for partitioning and installation.

[BLKMGK]

Nice updates Davilla! Appreciate the log too. I've yet to get back to working with my aTV but these pages make it look easier than it has been I will see if I can get another drive in there and give it a shot. I for one really appreciate the hard work you've put into this.

[s7mx1]

davilla,

Thanks for your great effort especially your detailed documents.

One thing I am not sure (cannot test right now) is that will the factory shipped ubuntu kernel to work in atv out of the box apart from the vesafb stuff? How about the clock patch?

Cheers,
s7mx1

[davilla]

davilla,

Thanks for your great effort especially your detailed documents.

One thing I am not sure (cannot test right now) is that will the factory shipped ubuntu kernel to work in atv out of the box apart from the vesafb stuff? How about the clock patch?

Cheers,
s7mx1

Yes, no patching of the kernel required to boot. The only patching required is for IR and analog audio and I think I can do them without patching the kernel with a module option for usbhid (IR) and patching ALSA instead of the kernel for snd-hda-intel. The dev blog on the wiki has details. I've not had time to verify and update the wiki regarding Ubuntu.

[s7mx1]

Yes, no patching of the kernel required to boot. The only patching required is for IR and analog audio and I think I can do them without patching the kernel with a module option for usbhid (IR) and patching ALSA instead of the kernel for snd-hda-intel. The dev blog on the wiki has details. I've not had time to verify and update the wiki regarding Ubuntu.

Thanks for the detailed info. I will give it try when I have time. The snd-hda-intel actually does not need to be patched. If you just want to get it working add the following line to the /etc/modprobe.d/options

options snd-hda-intel model=imac24

and you probably would need a recent kernel. Tested it with 2.6.23.9.

[davilla]

Thanks for the detailed info. I will give it try when I have time. The snd-hda-intel actually does not need to be patched. If you just want to get it working add the following line to the /etc/modprobe.d/options

options snd-hda-intel model=imac24

and you probably would need a recent kernel. Tested it with 2.6.23.9.

options snd-hda-intel model=macpro

can also work. It has the same un-mute the second gpio issue as the AppleTV and iMac24.