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<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1>2.3.1. Video output devices</A></B></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.1>2.3.1.1. Setting up MTRR</A></B></P>
<P>It is VERY recommended to check if the MTRR registers are set up properly,
because they can give a big performance boost.</P>
<P>Do a '<CODE>cat /proc/mtrr</CODE>' :</P>
<P><CODE>
--($:~)-- cat /proc/mtrr<BR>
reg00: base=0xe4000000 (3648MB), size= 16MB: write-combining, count=9<BR>
reg01: base=0xd8000000 (3456MB), size= 128MB: write-combining, count=1<BR>
</CODE></P>
<P>It's right, shows my Matrox G400 with 16Mb memory. I did this from
XFree 4.x.x , which sets up MTRR registers automatically.</P>
<P>If nothing worked, you have to do it manually. First, you have to find the base
address.
You have 3 ways to find it:</P>
<P><UL>
<LI>from X11 startup messages, for example:
<P><CODE>(--) SVGA: PCI: Matrox MGA G400 AGP rev 4, Memory @ 0xd8000000, 0xd4000000<BR>
(--) SVGA: Linear framebuffer at 0xD8000000</CODE></P></LI>
<LI>from /proc/pci (use lspci -v command):
<P>
<CODE>01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc.: Unknown device 0525</CODE>
<CODE>Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable)</CODE>
</P>
<LI>from mga_vid kernel driver messages (use dmesg):
<P><CODE>mga_mem_base = d8000000</CODE></P>
</UL></P>
<P>Then let's find the memory size. This is very easy, just convert video ram
size to hexadecimal, or use this table:</P>
<TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD> </TD><TD>1 MB</TD><TD WIDTH=10%></TD><TD>0x100000</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>2 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x200000</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>4 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x400000</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>8 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x800000</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>16 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x1000000</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>32 MB</TD><TD></TD><TD>0x2000000</TD><TR>
</TABLE>
<P>You know base address and memory size, let's setup mtrr registers!
For example, for the Matrox card above (base=0xd8000000) with 32MB
ram (size=0x2000000) just execute:</P>
<P><CODE> echo "base=0xd8000000 size=0x2000000 type=write-combining" >| /proc/mtrr</CODE></P>
<P>Not all CPUs support MTRRs. For example older K6-2's [around 266Mhz,
stepping 0] doesn't support MTRR, but stepping 12's do ('<CODE>cat /proc/cpuinfo</CODE>'
to check it').</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2>2.3.1.2. Xv</A></B></P>
<P>Under XFree86 4.0.2 or newer, you can use your card's hardware YUV routines
using the XVideo extension. This is what the option '-vo xv' uses. Also,
this is driver supports adjusting brightness/contrast/hue/etc (unless you use
the old, slow DirectShow DivX codec, which supports it everywhere), see the
manpage.</P>
<P>In order to make this work, be sure to check the following:</P>
<P><UL>
<LI>You have to use XFree86 4.0.2 or newer (former versions don't have XVideo)
<LI>Your card actually supports hardware acceleration (modern cards do)
<LI>X loads the XVideo extension, it's something like this:
<P><CODE> (II) Loading extension XVideo</CODE></P>
<P>in /var/log/XFree86.0.log</P>
<P>NOTE: this loads only the XFree86's extension. In a good install, this is
always loaded, and doesn't mean that the _card's_ XVideo support is loaded!</P>
<LI>Your card has Xv support under Linux. To check, try 'xvinfo', it is the
part of the XFree86 distribution. It should display a long text, similar
to this:
<PRE>
X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
Adaptor #0: "Savage Streams Engine"
number of ports: 1
port base: 43
operations supported: PutImage
supported visuals:
depth 16, visualID 0x22
depth 16, visualID 0x23
number of attributes: 5
(...)
Number of image formats: 7
id: 0x32595559 (YUY2)
guid: 59555932-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 16
number of planes: 1
type: YUV (packed)
id: 0x32315659 (YV12)
guid: 59563132-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 12
number of planes: 3
type: YUV (planar)
(...etc...)
</PRE>
<P>It must support YUY2 packed, and YV12 planar pixel formats to be
usable with <B>MPlayer</B>.</P>
<LI>And finally, check if <B>MPlayer</B> was compiled with 'xv' support.
./configure prints this.
</UL></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.1>2.3.1.2.1. 3dfx cards</A></B></P>
<P>Older 3dfx drivers were known to have problems with XVideo acceleration,
it didn't support either YUY2 or YV12, and so. Verify that you have
XFree86 version 4.2.0 or greater, it works ok with YV12 and YUY2. Previous
versions, including 4.1.0 <B>crashes with YV12</B>!
If you experience strange effects using -vo xv, try SDL (it has XVideo too)
and see if it helps. Check the <A HREF="#2.3.1.4">SDL section</A> for details.</P>
<P><B>OR</B>, try the NEW -vo tdfxfb driver! See the <A HREF=#2.3.1.9>2.3.1.9</A>
section!</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.2>2.3.1.2.2. S3 cards</A></B></P>
<P>S3 Savage3D's should work fine, but for Savage4, use XFree86 version 4.0.3
or greater (in case of image problems, try 16bpp). As for S3 Virge.. there is
xv support, but the card itself is very slow, so you better sell it.</P>
<P><B>NOTE</B>: Savage cards have a slow YV12 image displaying capability (it needs
to do YV12->YUY2 conversion, because the Savage hardware can't display YV12).
So when this documentation says at some point "this has YV12 output use this,
it's faster", it's not sure. Try <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/contrib/Savage-driver/savage_drv.o.mmx2.bz2">this
driver</A>, it uses MMX2 for this task and is faster than the native X driver.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.3>2.3.1.2.3. nVidia cards</A></B></P>
<P>nVidia isn't a very good choice under Linux (according to NVidia, this
is <A HREF="users_against_developers.html#nvidia">not true</A>).. You'll have to use the
binary closed-source nVidia driver, available at nVidia's website. The standard XFree86
driver doesn't support XVideo for these cards, due to nVidia's closed
sources/specifications.</P>
<P>As far as I know the latest XFree86 driver contains XVideo support for
Geforce 2 and 3.</P>
<P><UL><LI>Riva128 cards don't have XVideo support even with the nvidia driver :(
Complain to NVidia.</UL></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.4>2.3.1.2.4. ATI cards</A></B></P>
<P>
<LI>The <A HREF="http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos">GATOS driver</A> (which you
should use, unless you have Rage128 or Radeon) has VSYNC enabled by default. It
means that decoding speed (!) is synced to the monitor's refresh rate. If
playing seems to be slow, try disabling VSYNC somehow, or set refresh rate to
n*(fps of the movie) Hz.</LI>
<LI>Radeon VE - currently only XFree86 CVS has driver for this card, version
4.1.0 doesn't. And no TV out support. Of course with <B>MPlayer</B> you can
happily get <B>accelerated</B> display, with or without <B>TV output</B>, and
no libraries or X are needed. Read <A HREF=#2.3.1.15>Vidix</A> section.</LI>
</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.5>2.3.1.2.5. NeoMagic cards</A></B></P>
<P>These cards can be found in many laptops. Unfortunately, the driver in
X 4.2.0 can't do Xv, but we have a modified, Xv-capable driver for you.
<A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/contrib/NeoMagic-driver/neomagic_drv.o.4.2.0.bz2">Download from here</A>.
Driver provided by Stefan Seyfried.</P>
<P>To allow playback of DVD sized content change your XF86Config like this :</P>
<P>
Section "Device"<BR>
<I>[...]</I><BR>
Driver "neomagic"<BR>
<B>Option "OverlayMem" "829440"</B><BR>
<I>[...]</I><BR>
EndSection
</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.2.6>2.3.1.2.6. Trident cards</A></B></P>
<P>If you want to use xv with a trident card, provided that it doesn't
work with 4.1.0, try the latest cvs of Xfree or wait for Xfree 4.2.0.
The latest cvs adds support for fullscreen xv support with the
Cyberblade XP card.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3>2.3.1.3. DGA</A></B></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.1>2.3.1.3.1. Summary</A></B></P>
<P>This document tries to explain in some words what DGA is in general and
what the DGA video output driver for mplayer can do (and what it can't).</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.2>2.3.1.3.2. What is DGA</A></B></P>
<P>DGA is short for Direct Graphics Access and is a means for a program to
bypass the X-Server and directly modifying the framebuffer memory.
Technically spoken this happens by mapping the framebuffer memory into
the memory range of your process. This is allowed by the kernel only
if you have superuser privileges. You can get these either by logging in
as root or by setting the suid bit on the mplayer excecutable (NOT
recommended!).</P>
<P>There are two versions of DGA: DGA1 is used by XFree 3.x.x and DGA2 was
introduced with XFree 4.0.1.</P>
<P>DGA1 provides only direct framebuffer access as described above. For
switching the resolution of the video signal you have to rely on the
XVidMode extension.</P>
<P>DGA2 incorporates the features of XVidMode extension and also allows
switching the depth of the display. So you may, although basically
running a 32 bit depth XServer, switch to a depth of 15 bits and vice
versa. </P>
<P>However DGA has some drawbacks. It seems it is somewhat dependent on the
graphics chip you use and on the implementation of the XServer's video
driver that controls this chip. So it does not work on every system ...</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.3>2.3.1.3.3. Installing DGA support for MPlayer</A></B></P>
<P>First make sure X loads the DGA extension, see in /var/log/XFree86.0.log:</P>
<P> <CODE>(II) Loading extension XFree86-DGA</CODE></P>
<P>See, XFree86 4.0.x or greater is VERY RECOMMENDED!
<B>MPlayer</B>'s DGA driver is autodetected on ./configure, or you can force it
with --enable-dga.</P>
<P>If the driver couldn't switch to a smaller resolution, experiment with
switches -vm (only with X 3.3.x), -fs, -bpp, -zoom to find a video mode that
the movie fits in. There is no converter right now.. :(</P>
<P>Become ROOT. DGA needs root access to be able to write directly video memory.
If you want to run it as user, then install <B>MPlayer</B> SUID root:</P>
<P><CODE>
chown root /usr/local/bin/mplayer<BR>
chmod 750 /usr/local/bin/mplayer<BR>
chmod +s /usr/local/bin/mplayer</CODE></P>
<P>Now it works as a simple user, too.</P>
<P><B>!!!! BUT STAY TUNED !!!!</B><BR>
This is a <B>BIG</B> security risk! Never do this on a server or on a computer
can be accessed by more people than only you because they can gain root
privilegies through suid root mplayer.<BR>
<B>!!!! SO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ... !!!!</B></P>
<P>Now use '-vo dga' option, and there you go! (hope so:)
You should also try if the '-vo sdl:dga' option works for you! It's much
faster!!!</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.4>2.3.1.3.4. Resolution switching</A></B></P>
<P>The DGA driver allows for switching the resolution of the output signal.
This avoids the need for doing (slow) software scaling and at the same
time provides a fullscreen image. Ideally it would switch to the exact
resolution (except for honouring aspect ratio) of the video data, but the
XServer only allows switching to resolutions predefined in
<CODE>/etc/X11/XF86Config</CODE> (<CODE>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</CODE> for XFree 4.0.X respectively).
Those are defined by so-called modelines and depend on the capabilites
of your video hardware. The XServer scans this config file on startup and
disables the modelines not suitable for your hardware. You can find
out which modes survive with the X11 log file. It can be found at:
<CODE>/var/log/XFree86.0.log</CODE>.</P>
<P>See appendix A for some sample modeline definitions.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.5>2.3.1.3.5. DGA & MPlayer</A></B></P>
<P>DGA is used in two places with <B>MPlayer</B>: The SDL driver can be made to make
use of it (-vo sdl:dga) and within the DGA driver (-vo dga).
The above said is true for both; in the following sections I'll explain
how the DGA driver for <B>MPlayer</B> works.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.6>2.3.1.3.6. Features of the DGA driver</A></B></P>
<P>The DGA driver is invoked by specifying -vo dga at the command line.
The default behaviour is to switch to a resolution matching the original
resolution of the video as close as possible. It deliberately ignores the
-vm and -fs switches (enabling of video mode switching and fullscreen) -
it always tries to cover as much area of your screen as possible by switching
the video mode, thus refraining to use a single additional cycle of your CPU
to scale the image.
If you don't like the mode it chooses you may force it to choose the mode
matching closest the resolution you specify by -x and -y.
By providing the -v option, the DGA driver will print, among a lot of other
things, a list of all resolutions supported by your current XF86-Config
file.
Having DGA2 you may also force it to use a certain depth by using the -bpp
option. Valid depths are 15, 16, 24 and 32. It depends on your hardware
whether these depths are natively supported or if a (possibly slow)
conversion has to be done.</P>
<P>If you should be lucky enough to have enough offscreen memory left to
put a whole image there, the DGA driver will use doublebuffering, which
results in much smoother movie replaying. It will tell you whether double-
buffering is enabled or not.</P>
<P>Doublebuffering means that the next frame of your video is being drawn in
some offscreen memory while the current frame is being displayed. When the
next frame is ready, the graphics chip is just told the location in memory
of the new frame and simply fetches the data to be displayed from there.
In the meantime the other buffer in memory will be filled again with new
video data.</P>
Doublebuffering may be switched on by using the option -double and may be
disabled with -nodouble. Current default option is to disable
doublebuffering. When using the DGA driver, onscreen display (OSD) only
works with doublebuffering enabled. However, enabling doublebuffering may
result in a big speed penalty (on my K6-II+ 525 it used an additional 20% of
CPU time!) depending on the implementation of DGA for your hardware.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.7>2.3.1.3.7. Speed issues</A></B></P>
<P>Generally spoken, DGA framebuffer access should be at least as fast as using
the X11 driver with the additional benefit of getting a fullscreen image.
The percentage speed values printed by mplayer have to be interpreted with
some care, as for example, with the X11 driver they do not include the time
used by the X-Server needed for the actual drawing. Hook a terminal to a
serial line of your box and start top to see what is really going on in your
box ...</P>
<P>Generally spoken, the speedup done by using DGA against 'normal' use of X11
highly depends on your graphics card and how well the X-Server module for it
is optimized.</P>
<P>If you have a slow system, better use 15 or 16bit depth since they require
only half the memory bandwidth of a 32 bit display.</P>
<P>Using a depth of 24bit is even a good idea if your card natively just supports
32 bit depth since it transfers 25% less data compared to the 32/32 mode.</P>
<P>I've seen some avi files already be replayed on a Pentium MMX 266. AMD K6-2
CPUs might work at 400 MHZ and above.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.8>2.3.1.3.8. Known bugs</A></B></P>
<P>Well, according to some developpers of XFree, DGA is quite a beast. They
tell you better not to use it. Its implementation is not always flawless
with every chipset driver for XFree out there.</P>
<P><UL>
<LI>with XFree 4.0.3 and nv.o there is a bug resulting in strange colors
<LI>ATI driver requires to switch mode back more than once after finishing
using of DGA
<LI>some drivers simply fail to switch back to normal resolution (use
Ctrl-Alt-Keypad +, - to switch back manually)
<LI>some drivers simply display strange colors
<LI>some drivers lie about the amount of memory they map into the process's
address space, thus vo_dga won't use doublebuffering (SIS?)
<LI>some drivers seem to fail to report even a single valid mode. In this
case the DGA driver will crash telling you about a nonsense mode of
100000x100000 or the like ...
<LI>OSD only works with doublebuffering enabled
</UL></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.9>2.3.1.3.9. Future work</A></B></P>
<P><UL><LI>use of the new X11 render interface for OSD
<LI>where is my TODO list ???? :-(((</UL></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.A>2.3.1.3.A. Some modelines</A></B></P>
<PRE>
Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "800x600" 40 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628
Modeline "712x600" 35.0 712 740 850 900 400 410 412 425
Modeline "640x480" 25.175 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525
Modeline "400x300" 20 400 416 480 528 300 301 303 314 Doublescan
Modeline "352x288" 25.10 352 368 416 432 288 296 290 310
Modeline "352x240" 15.750 352 368 416 432 240 244 246 262 Doublescan
Modeline "320x240" 12.588 320 336 384 400 240 245 246 262 Doublescan
EndSection
</PRE>
<P>These entries work fine with my Riva128 chip, using nv.o XServer driver
module.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.3.B>2.3.1.3.B. Bug Reports</A></B></P>
<P>If you experience troubles with the DGA driver please feel free to file
a bug report to me (e-mail address below). Please start mplayer with the
-v option and include all lines in the bug report that start with vo_dga:</P>
<P>Please do also include the version of X11 you are using, the graphics card
and your CPU type. The X11 driver module (defined in XF86-Config) might
also help. Thanks!</P>
<P><I>Acki (acki@acki-netz.de, www.acki-netz.de)</I></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.4>2.3.1.4. SDL</A></B></P>
<P>SDL (Simple Directmedia Layer) is basically an unified video/audio
interface. Programs that use it know only about SDL, and not about what video
or audio driver does SDL actually use. For example a Doom port using SDL can
run on svgalib, aalib, X, fbdev, and others, you only have to specify the
(for example) video driver to use with the SDL_VIDEODRIVER environment
variable. Well, in theory.</P>
<P>With <B>MPlayer</B>, we used its X11 driver's software scaler ability for
cards/drivers that doesn't support XVideo, until we made our own (faster,
nicer) software scaler. Also we used its aalib output, but now we have ours
which is more comfortable. Its DGA mode was better than ours, until
recently. Get it now? :)</P>
<P>It also helps with some buggy drivers/cards if the video is jerky
(not slow system problem), or audio is lagging.</P>
<P>SDL video output supports displaying subtitles under the movie, on the (if
present) black bar.</P>
<P>Here are some notes about SDL out in <B>MPlayer</B>.</P>
<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT CLASS="text">There are several commandline switches for SDL:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD> </TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-vo sdl:name</TD><TD> </TD><TD>
<FONT CLASS="text">specifies sdl video driver to use (ie. aalib, dga, x11)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-ao sdl:name</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">specifies sdl audio driver to use (ie. dsp,
esd, arts)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-noxv</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">disables Xvideo hardware acceleration</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-forcexv</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">tries to force Xvideo acceleration</TD><TR>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT CLASS="text">SDL Keys:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">F</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">toggles fullscreen/windowed mode</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">C</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">cycles available fullscreen modes</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">W/S</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">mappings for * and / (mixer control)</TD><TR>
</TABLE></P>
<P><B>KNOWN BUGS:</B></P>
<P><UL><LI>Keys pressed under sdl:aalib console driver repeat forever. (use -vo aa !)
It's bug in SDL, I can't change it (tested with SDL 1.2.1).
</UL></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.5>2.3.1.5. SVGAlib</A></B></P>
<P>If you don't have X, you can use the SVGAlib target! Be sure not to use the
-fs switch, since it toggles the usage of the software scaler, and it's
SLOOOW now, unless you have a real fast CPU (and/or MTRR?). :(</P>
<P>Of course you'll have to install svgalib and its development package in
order for <B>MPlayer</B> build its SVGAlib driver (autodetected, but can be
forced), and don't forget to edit /etc/vga/libvga.config to suit your
card & monitor.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.6>2.3.1.6. Framebuffer output (FBdev)</A></B></P>
<P>Whether to build the FBdev target is autodetected during ./configure .
Read the framebuffer documentation in the kernel sources
(Documentation/fb/*) for info on how to enable it, etc.. !</P>
<P>If your card doesn't support VBE 2.0 standard (older ISA/PCI
cards, such as S3 Trio64), only VBE 1.2 (or older?) :
Well, VESAfb is still available, but you'll have to load SciTech Display
Doctor (formerly UniVBE) before booting Linux. Use a DOS boot disk or
whatever. And don't forget to register your UniVBE ;))</P>
<P>The FBdev output takes some additional parameters above the others:</P>
<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD> </TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-fb</TD><TD> </TD><TD>
<FONT CLASS="text">specify the framebuffer device to use (/dev/fb0)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-fbmode</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">mode name to use (according to /etc/fb.modes)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-fbmodeconfig</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text"> config file of modes (default /etc/fb.modes)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-monitor_hfreq</TD><TD></TD><TD ROWSPAN=3><FONT CLASS="text">IMPORTANT values, see example.conf</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-monitor_vfreq</TD><TD></TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-monitor_dotclock</TD><TD></TD><TR>
</TABLE></P>
<P>If you want to change to a specific mode, then use</P>
<P><CODE> mplayer -vm -fbmode (NameOfMode) filename</CODE></P>
<P><UL><LI><B>-vm</B> alone will choose the most suitable mode from /etc/fb.modes . Can be
used together with -x and -y options too. The -flip option is supported only
if the movie's pixel format matches the video mode's pixel format.
Pay attention to the bpp value, fbdev driver tries to use the current,
or if you specify the -bpp option, then that.</LI>
<LI><B>-zoom</B> option isn't supported (software scaling is slow). -fs option
isn't supported. You can't use 8bpp (or less) modes.</LI>
<LI>you possibly want to turn the cursor off : <CODE>echo -e '\033[?25l'</CODE>
or <CODE>setterm -cursor off</CODE><BR>
and the screen saver: <CODE>setterm -blank 0</CODE><BR>
To turn the cursor back on : <CODE>echo -e '\033[?25h'</CODE>
or <CODE>setterm -cursor on</CODE>
</UL></P>
<P>NOTE: FBdev video mode changing _does not work_ with the VESA framebuffer,
and don't ask for it, since it's not an <B>MPlayer</B> limitation.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.7>2.3.1.7. Matrox framebuffer (mga_vid)</A></B></P>
<P>This section is about the Matrox G200/G400/G450/G550 BES (Back-End Scaler)
support, the mga_vid kernel driver. It's active developed by me (A'rpi), and
it has hardware VSYNC support with triple buffering. It works on both
framebuffer console and under X.</P>
<P><B>WARNING</B>: on non-Linux systems, use <A HREF=#2.3.1.15>Vidix</A> for
mga_vid !!!</P>
<P>To use it, you first have to compile mga_vid.o:</P>
<P><CODE> cd drivers<BR>
make</CODE></P>
<P>Then create /dev/mga_vid device:</P>
<P><CODE> mknod /dev/mga_vid c 178 0</CODE></P>
<P>and load the driver with</P>
<P><CODE> insmod mga_vid.o</CODE></P>
<P>You should verify the memory size detection using the 'dmesg' command. If
it's bad, use the mga_ram_size option (rmmod mga_vid first), specify card's
memory size in MB:</P>
<P><CODE> insmod mga_vid.o mga_ram_size=16</CODE></P>
<P>To make it load/unload automatically when needed, first insert the following line
at the end of /etc/modules.conf:</P>
<P><CODE> alias char-major-178 mga_vid</CODE></P>
<P>Then copy the <CODE>mga_vid.o</CODE> module to the appropriate place under
<CODE>/lib/modules/<kernel version>/somewhere</CODE>.</P>
<P>Then run</P>
<P><CODE> depmod -a</CODE></P>
<P>Now you have to (re)compile <B>MPlayer</B>, ./configure will detect /dev/mga_vid
and build the 'mga' driver. Using it from <B>MPlayer</B> goes by '-vo mga' if
you have matroxfb console, or '-vo xmga' under XFree86 3.x.x or 4.x.x.</P>
<P>The mga_vid driver cooperates with Xv.</P>
<P>The <CODE>/dev/mga_vid</CODE> device file can be read (for example by
<CODE>cat /dev/mga_vid</CODE>) for some info, and written for brightness
change : <CODE>echo "brightness=120" > /dev/mga_vid</CODE></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.8>2.3.1.8. SiS 6326 framebuffer (sis_vid)</A></B></P>
<P>SiS 6326 YUV Framebuffer driver -> sis_vid kernel driver</P>
<P>Its interface should be compatible with the mga_vid, but the driver was not
updated after the mga_vid changes, so it's outdated now. Volunteers
needed to test it and bring the code up-to-date.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.9>2.3.1.9. 3dfx YUV support (tdfxfb)</A></B></P>
<P>This driver uses the kernel's tdfx framebuffer driver to play movies with
YUV acceleration. You'll need a kernel with tdfxfb support, and recompile with
<CODE>./configure --enable-tdfxfb</CODE></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.10>2.3.1.10. OpenGL output</A></B></P>
<P><B>MPlayer</B> support displaying movies using OpenGL. Unfortunately, not all
drivers support this ability. For example the Utah-GLX drivers
(for XFree86 3.3.6) have it, with all cards.
See <A HREF="http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net">http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net</A>
for details about how to install it.</P>
<P>XFree86(DRI) >= 4.0.3 supports it only with Matrox, and Radeon cards.
See <A HREF="http://dri.sourceforge.net">http://dri.sourceforge.net</A> for download,
and installation instructions.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.11>2.3.1.11. AAlib - text mode displaying</B></P>
<P><B>AAlib</B> is a library for displaying graphics in text mode, using powerful
ASCII renderer. There are LOTS of programs already supporting it, like Doom,
Quake, etc. MPlayer contains a very usable driver for it.
If ./configure detects aalib installed, the aalib libvo driver will be built.</P>
<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT CLASS="text">You can use some keys in the AA Window to change rendering options:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD> </TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">1</TD><TD> </TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">decrease contrast</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">2</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">increase contrast</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">3</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">decrease brightness</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">4</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">increase brightness</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">5</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">switch fast rendering on/off</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">6</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">set dithering mode (none, error distribution, floyd steinberg)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">7</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">invert image</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">a</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">toggles between aa and mplayer control)</TD><TR>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT CLASS="text">The following command line options can be used:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-aaosdcolor=V</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">change osd color</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-aasubcolor=V</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">change subtitle color</TD><TR>
<TD COLSPAN=3></TD><TD><P><I><FONT CLASS="text">where V can be: (0/normal, 1/dark, 2/bold, 3/boldfont, 4/reverse, 5/special)</P></TD><TR>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT CLASS="text">AAlib itselves provides a large sum of options.
Here are some important:</P></B></TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-aadriver</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">set recommended aa driver (X11, curses, linux)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-aaextended</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">use all 256 characters</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-aaeight</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">use eight bit ascii</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-aahelp</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">prints out all aalib options</TD><TR>
</TABLE></P>
<P>NOTE: the rendering is very CPU intensive, especially when using AA-on-X
(using aalib on X), and it's least CPU intensive on standard,
non-framebuffer console. Use SVGATextMode to set up a big textmode,
then enjoy! (secondary head Hercules cards rock :)) (anyone can enhance
bdev to do conversion/dithering to hgafb? Would be neat :)</P>
<P>Use the -framedrop option if your comp isn't fast enough to render all frames!</P>
<P>Playing on terminal you'll get better speed and quality using the linux driver, not
curses (-aadriver linux). But therefore you need write access on /dev/vcsa<terminal>!
That isn't autodetected by aalib, bu vo_aa tries to find the best mode.
See <A HREF="http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/tune/">http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/tune/</A> for further tuning issues.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.12>2.3.1.12. VESA - output to VESA BIOS</B></P>
<P>
This driver was designed and introduced as <b>generic driver</b> for any video
card which has VESA VBE 2.0 compatible BIOS. But exists still one reason of
developing of this driver - it's multiple troubles with displaying movie on TV.<BR>
<b>VESA BIOS EXTENSION (VBE) Version 3.0 Date: September 16, 1998</b> (Page 70)
says:
</P>
<P>
<code><i>
<b>Dual-Controller Designs</b><br>
VBE 3.0 supports the dual-controller design by assuming that since both
controllers are typically provided by the same OEM, under control of a
single BIOS ROM on the same graphics card, it is possible to hide the fact
that two controllers are indeed present from the application. This has the
limitation of preventing simultaneous use of the independent controllers,
but allows applications released before VBE 3.0 to operate normally. The
VBE Function 00h (Return Controller Information) returns the combined
information of both controllers, including the combined list of available modes.
When the application selects a mode, the appropriate controller is activated.
Each of the remaining VBE functions then operates on the active controller.
</i></code>
</P>
<P>
So you have chances to get working TV-out by using this driver.<br>
(I guess that TV-out frequently is standalone head or standalone output
at least.)
</P>
<P>
<b>What are pluses:</b><BR>
- You have chances to watch movies <b>if Linux even doesn't know</b> your video hardware.<BR>
- You don't need to have installed any graphics' related things on your Linux
(like X11 (aka XFree86), fbdev and so on). This driver can be run from
<b>text-mode</b>.<BR>
- You have chances to get <b>working TV-out</b>. (It's known at least for ATI's cards).<BR>
- This driver calls <b>int 10h</b> handler thus it's not an emulator - it
calls <b>real</b> things of <b>real</b> BIOS in <b>real</b>-mode. (Finely -
in vm86 mode).<BR>
- Most important :) You can watch <b>DVD at 320x200</b> if you don't have a powerful CPU.<BR>
</P>
<P>
<b>What are minuses:</b><BR>
- It works only on <b>x86 systems</b>.<BR>
- <b>It's the slowest driver</b> from all the available ones for MPlayer.<BR>
(But only if your card doesn't support <b>DGA mode</b> - otherwise this
driver is comparable by speed with <b>-vo dga</b> and <b>-vo fbdev</b> ones.<BR>
- It can be used only by <b>ROOT</b>.<BR>
- Currently it's available only for <b>Linux</b>.<BR>
- It <b>doesn't use</b> any <b>hardware accelerations</b> (like YUV overlay or hw scaling).<BR>
</P>
<P>Don't use this driver with <B>GCC 2.96</B> ! It won't work !</P>
<P>
<TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT CLASS="text">These switches of command line currently are available for VESA:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD> </TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-vo vesa:opts</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">currently recognized: <b>dga</b> to force dga mode and <b>nodga</b> to disable dga mode. Note: you may omit these parameters to enable <b>autodetect</b> of dga mode. (In the future also will specify mode parameters such as refresh rate, interlacing, doublescan and so on. Samples: i43, 85, d100)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-screenw, -screenh, -bpp</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">force userdefined mode</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-x, -y</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">set userdefined prescaling</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-zoom</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">enables userdefined prescaling</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-fs</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">scales image to fullscreen</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-fs -zoom</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">scales userdefined prescaling to fullscreen</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">-double</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT CLASS="text">enables double buffering mode. (Available only in DGA mode). Should be slower of single buffering, but has no flickering effects.</TD><TR>
</TABLE>
</P>
<P>
<b>Known problems and workaround:</b><br>
- If you have installed <b>NLS</b> font on your Linux box and run VESA driver
from text-mode then after terminating mplayer you will have <b>ROM font</b> loaded instead
of national. You can load national font again by using <b><i>setsysfont</i></b> utility
from for example Mandrake distribution.<br>
(<b>Hint</b>: The same utility is used for localizating fbdev).<br>
- Some <b>Linux graphics drivers</b> don't update active <b>BIOS mode</b> in DOS memory. So if you have such
problem - always use VESA driver only from <b>text-mode</b>. Otherwise text-mode (#03) will be
activated anyway and you will need restart your computer.<br>
- Often after terminating VESA driver you get <b>black screen</b>. To return your screen
to original state - simply switch to other console (by pressing <b>Alt-Fx</b>) then switch
to your previous console by the same way.<br>
- To get <b>working TV-out</b> you need have plugged tv-connector in before booting
your PC since video BIOS initializes itself only once during POST procedure.
</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.13>2.3.1.13. X11</B></P>
<P>Avoid if possible. Outputs to X11 (uses shared memory extension), with no
hardware acceleration at all. Supports (MMX/3DNow/SSE accelerated, but still
slow) software scaling, use the options <CODE>-fs -zoom</CODE>. Most cards have
hardware scaling support, use the <CODE>-vo xv</CODE> output for them, or
<CODE>-vo xmga</CODE> for Matroxes.</P>
<P>The problem is that most cards' driver doesn't support
hardware acceleration on the second head/TV. In those cases, you see green/blue
coloured window instead of the movie. This is where this driver comes in
handy, but you need powerful CPU to use software scaling. Don't use the
SDL driver's software output+scaler, it has worse image quality !</P>
<P>Software scaling is very slow, you better try changing video modes instead.
It's very simple. See the <A HREF=#2.3.1.3.A>DGA section's modelines</A>, and
insert them into your XF86Config.
<UL>
<LI>If you have XFree86 4.x.x - use the <CODE>-vm</CODE> option. It will
change to a resolution your movie fits in. If it doesn't :</LI>
<LI>With XFree86 3.x.x - you have to cycle through available resolutions
with the <B>CTRL-ALT-plus</B> and <B>minus</B> keys.</LI>
</UL>
If you can't find the modes you inserted, browse XFree86's output. Some
drivers can't use low pixelclocks that are needed for low resolution
video modes.</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.14>2.3.1.14. Rage128 (Pro) / Radeon video overlay (radeon_vid)</A></B></P>
<P>This section is OBSOLETED ! Use Vidix !</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.15>2.3.1.15. VIDIX</A></B></P>
<P><B><I>WHAT IS VIDIX</I></B></P>
<P>VIDIX is the abbreviation for <b>VID</b>eo <b>I</b>nterface for
*ni<b>X</b>.<BR>
VIDIX was designed and introduced as an interface for fast user-space drivers
providing <b>DGA</b> everywhere where it's possible (<b>unlike X11</b>). I
hope that these drivers will be as portable as X11 (<b>not only on
*nix</b>).<BR>
What is it:
<LI>It's a portable successor of mga_vid technology, but it's located in
user-space.</LI>
<LI>Unlike X11 it provides DGA everywhere it's possible</LI>
<LI>Unlike v4l it provides interface for video playback</LI>
<LI>Unlike linux's drivers it uses mathematics library</LI>
</P>
<P>I can tell you in bold capital letters :<BR>
<b>VIDIX PROVIDES DIRECT GRAPHICS ACCESS TO BES YUV MEMORY.</b>
</P>
<P><i>Well (it's in my todo) - implement DGA to MPEG2 decoder.</i></P>
<P>This interface was designed as an attempt to fit existing video acceleration
interfaces (known as mga_vid, mga_yuv, radeon_vid) into a fixed scheme. It
provides highlevel interface to chips which are known as BES (BackEnd
scalers) or OV (Video Overlays). It doesn't provide lowlevel interface to
things which are known as graphics servers. (I don't want to compete with X11
team in graphics mode switching). I.e. main goal of this interface is to
provide maximal speed of video playback but not putting video signal on
screen of your TV or on tape of your VCR. Although these things are also very
significant - it's perfectly other task. (However I guess that it would be
possible to implement something like mini-X (don't mix it with Minix ;) in
the future, if some number of volunteers will be found.
</P>
<P><B><I>USAGE</I></B></P>
<P>
<LI>You can use standalone video output driver: <CODE>-vo xvidix</CODE><BR>
This driver was developed as X11's front end to VIDIX technology. It
requires XServer and can work only under XServer.</LI>
<LI>You can use VIDIX subdevice which was applied to several video output
drivers, such as:<BR>
<CODE>-vo vesa:vidix</CODE> and <CODE>-vo fbdev:vidix</CODE></LI>
Indeed it doesn't matter which video output driver is used with <b>VIDIX</b>.
</P>
<P><B><I>REQUIREMENTS</I></B></P>
<P>
<LI>video card should be in graphics mode (I write <b>should</b> simply
because I tested it in text mode - it works but has awful output ;) Use
AAlib for that).<BR>
<I>Note: Everyone can try this trick by commenting out mode switching in
vo_vesa driver.</I></LI>
<LI><B>MPlayer</B>'s video output driver should know active video mode and be
able to tell to VIDIX subdevice some video characteristics of server.</LI>
I hope that probably every video output driver of <B>MPlayer</B> will
recognize <CODE>:vidix</CODE> subdevice.
</P>
<P><B><I>USAGE METHODS</I></B></P>
<P>When VIDIX is used as <b>subdevice</b> (<CODE>-vo vesa:vidix</CODE>) then
video mode configuration is performed by video output device
(<b>vo_server</b> in short). Therefore you can pass into command line of
<B>MPlayer</B> the same keys as for vo_server. In addition it understands
<CODE>-double</CODE> key as globally visible parameter. (I recommend using
this key with VIDIX at least for ATI's card).<BR>
As for <CODE>-vo xvidix</CODE> : currently it recognizes the following
options: <CODE>-fs -zoom -x -y -double</CODE>.<BR>
</P>
<P>Also you can specify VIDIX's driver directly as third subargument in command
line :<BR>
<BR>
<code>mplayer -vo xvidix:mga_vid.so -fs -zoom -double
file.avi</code><BR>
or<BR>
<code>mplayer -vo vesa:vidix:radeon_vid.so -fs -zoom -double -bpp
32 file.avi</code><BR>
<BR>
But it's dangerous, and you shouldn't do that. In this case given driver will
be forced and result is unpredictable (it may <b>freeze</b> your
computer). You should do that ONLY if you are absolutely sure it will work,
and <B>MPlayer</B> doesn't do it automatically. Please tell about it to the
developers. The Right Way is to use VIDIX without arguments to enable driver
autodetection.
</P>
<P>
VIDIX is very new technology and it's extremely possible that on your system
(OS=abc CPU=xyz) it won't work. In this case only solution for you it's port
it (mainly libdha). But there is hope that it will work on those systems
where X11 does.
</P>
<P>And the last <b>WARNING</b>: (un)fortunately you <b>MUST</b> have
<b>ROOT</b> privileges to use VIDIX due to direct hardware access. At least
set the <b>suid</b> bit on the <B>MPlayer</B> excecutable.
</P>
<P><B><I>VIDEO EQUALIZER</I></B></P>
<P>
This is a video equalizer implemented especially for Vidix. You can use
it either with <B>1-8</B> keys as described in the manpage, or
by command line arguments. <B>MPlayer</B> recognizes the
following options :
</P>
<P>
<CODE>-brightness</CODE> - adjust <B>BRIGHTNESS</B> of video
output. It's not equal to brightness adjusting on monitor panel or on TV. It
changes intensity of RGB components of video signal from black to white
screen.<BR>
<CODE>-contrast</CODE> - adjust <B>CONTRAST</B> of video output.
Works in similar manner as brightness.<BR>
<CODE>-saturation</CODE> - adjust <B>SATURATION</B> of video
output. You can get grayscale output with this option.<BR>
<CODE>-hue</CODE> - adjust <B>HUE</B> of video signal. You can
get colored negative of image with this option.<BR>
<CODE>-red_intensity</CODE> - adjust intensity of <B>RED</B>
component of video signal.<BR>
<CODE>-green_intensity</CODE> - adjust intensity of <B>GREEN</B>
component of video signal.<BR>
<CODE>-blue_intensity</CODE> - adjust intensity of <B>BLUE</B>
component of video signal.
</P>
<P>
Each parameter can accept values from <B>-1000</B> to <B>+1000</B>.<BR>
Default value for each parameter is <B>0</B>.
</P>
<P>
<B>Note:</B> Not every driver provides support for each of those parameters.
Currently only <B>radeon_vid.so</B> provides full support for video eqalizing.
Other drivers only partly support these options.
</P>
<P><B>Examples:</B><BR>
<CODE>mplayer -vo vesa:vidix -brightness -300 -contrast 200
filename.avi</CODE><BR>
or<BR>
<CODE>mplayer -vo xvidix -red_intensity -50 -saturation 400 -hue 300
filename.vob</CODE>
</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.16>2.3.1.16. Zr</A></B></P>
<P>This is a display-driver (<CODE>-vo zr</CODE>) for a number of MJPEG
capture/playback cards (tested for DC10+ and Buz, and it should work for the
LML33, the DC10). The driver works by encoding the frame to jpeg and then
sending it to the card. For the jpeg encoding <B>libavcodec</B> is
used, and required.</P>
<P>This driver talks to the kernel driver available at
<A HREF="http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net">http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net</A>, so
you must get it working first. Then recompile <B>MPlayer</B> with
<CODE>--enable-zr</CODE>.</P>
<P>Some remarks:
<UL>
<LI>don't start or stop XawTV on the playback device during playback,
it will crash your computer. It is, however, fine to <B>FIRST</B> start
XawTV, <B>THEN</B> start <B>MPlayer</B>, wait for <B>MPlayer</B> to finish
and <B>THEN</B> stop XawTV.</LI>
<LI>this driver adds <CODE>-zr*</CODE> commandline options. The explanation
of these options can be viewed with <CODE>-zrhelp</CODE>. It is possible to
crop the input frame (cut borders to make it fit or to enhance performace)
and to do other things.</LI>
<LI>the driver takes data in YV12 and YUY2 format, this means that some
codecs won't work. Some old VfW (Video for Windows) codecs, for example,
are incompatible with this driver. The errormessage that you will see is:
<CODE>Sorry, selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
</CODE></LI>
<LI>OSD is currently not supported, so you won't see
subtitles.</LI>
</UL>
</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.A>2.3.1.A. TV-out support</A></B></P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.A.1>2.3.1.A.1. Matrox G400 cards</A></B></P>
<P>Under Linux you have 2 methods to get G400 TV out working :</P>
<P><B>IMPORTANT:</B> Only Matrox G400DH/G400MAX has TV-out support under Linux, others (G450, G550) has <B>NOT!</B></P>
<P>
<UL>
<LI><B>XFree86</B>: using the driver and the HAL module, available from
<A HREF="http://www.matrox.com">Matrox's site</A>. This will give you X on
the TV.<BR> <B>This method doesn't give you accelerated playback</B> as
under Windoze! The second head has only YUV framebuffer, the <I>BES</I>
(Back End Scaler, the YUV scaler on G200/G400/G450/G550 cards) doesn't work
on it! The windows driver somehow workarounds this, probably by using the
3D engine to zoom, and the YUV framebuffer to display the zoomed
image. If you really want to use X, use the <CODE>-vo x11 -fs -zoom</CODE>
options, but it will be <B>SLOW</B>, and has <B>Macrovision</B> copyprotection
enabled (you can "workaround" Macrovision using
<A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net/mgamacro.pl">this</A> perl
script.</LI>
<LI><B>Framebuffer</B>: using the <B>matroxfb modules</B> in the 2.4 kernels.
2.2 kernels don't have the TVout feature in them, thus unusable for this.
You have to enable ALL matroxfb-specific feature during compilation (except
MultiHead), and compile them into <B>modules</B>! You'll also need I2C
enabled.
<UL>
<LI>
Enter <CODE>TVout/matroxset</CODE> and type <CODE>make</CODE>. Install
<CODE>matroxset</CODE> into somewhere in your PATH.</LI>
<LI>
If you don't have <CODE>fbset</CODE> installed, enter
<CODE>TVout/fbset</CODE> and type <CODE>make</CODE>. Install
<CODE>fbset</CODE> into somewhere in your PATH.</LI>
<LI>
Then enter into the <CODE>TVout/</CODE> directory in the <B>MPlayer</B>
source, and execute <CODE>./modules</CODE> as root. Your text-mode console
will enter into framebuffer mode (no way back!).</LI>
<LI>Next, run the <CODE>./matroxtv</CODE> script. This will present you
to a very simple menu. Press <B>2</B> and <B>ENTER</B>. Now you should
have the same picture on your monitor, and TV. The <B>3.</B> option
will turn on independent display, but then you <B>can't use X</B>! If
the TV (PAL !) picture has some weird stripes on it, the script wasn't able to
set the resolution correctly (to 640x512 by default). Use other menu
items randomly and it'll be OK :)</LI>
</UL>
<P>
Yoh. Next task is to make the cursor on tty1 (or whatever) to disappear,
and turn off screen blanking. Execute the following commands:</P>
<P>
<CODE>echo -e '\033[?25l'</CODE> or <CODE>setterm -cursor off<BR>
setterm -blank 0</CODE>
</P>
<P>
You possibly want to put the above into a script, and also clear
the screen.. To turn the cursor back :<BR><CODE>echo -e '\033[?25h'</CODE>
or <CODE>setterm -cursor on</CODE>
</P>
<P>Yeah kewl. Start movie playing with <CODE>mplayer -vo mga -fs -screenw 640
-screenh 512 <filename></CODE><BR>
(if you use X, now change to matroxfb with for example CTRL-ALT-F1 !)<BR>
Change 640x512 if you set the resolution to other..<BR>
<B>Enjoy the ultra-fast ultra-featured Matrox TV output (better than Xv) !</B>
</P>
</LI>
</LI>
</UL>
</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.A.2>2.3.1.A.2. ATI cards</A></B></P>
<P>
<b>A few word about ATI's TV-out:</b><BR>
Currently ATI doesn't want to support any of its TV-out chips under Linux.
Below is official answer from ATI Inc.:
<P>
<code>
<i>
<br>> Hello!
<br>>
<br>> On your pages you wrote that you support linux developers.
<br>> Currently I participate with mplayer project (www.mplayerhq.hu)
<br>> I'm interesting with enabling TV-out on Radeon VE chips during
<br>> movie playback. I would be glad to add this feature to radeonfb driver
<br>> (which can be found in CVS tree of mplayer project at main/drivers/radeon).
<br>> Do I have a chance to get any official technical documenation?
</i>
<br>We will not provide TV out related documents due to macrovision concerns.
<br>Also mpeg2 decoding is something that we MAY consider in the future but not
<br>at this current time. This is again due to proprietary and 3rd party
<br>information.
</code>
</P>
<P>Pity isn't?</P>
<P>
<code>
<B>Q:What is Macrovision?</B><BR>
A:It's copy protection mechanism.</code>
</P>
<P>It means that if they open any TV-out related information then
hackers will be able to disable copy protection on their chips. Therefore
we have no chance to get working TV-out on ATI.</P>
<P>What's status of ATI's tv-out chips under Linux:
<LI><b>ATI Mach64</b> has <i>ImpacTV</i> which is supported by <A HREF="http://gatos.sf.net">gatos</A>.
<LI><b>ASIC Radeon VIVO</b> has <i>Rage Theatre</i> which is supported by <A HREF="http://gatos.sf.net">gatos</A>.
<LI><b>Radeon VE</b> and <b>Rage PRO LT</b> have <i>ImpacTV2+</i> which is not supported under Linux.
But with <B>MPlayer</B> you get <B>full hardware acceleration</B> and <B>TV out</B>
for Radeons !
Check <a href=#2.3.1.12>VESA driver</a> and <A HREF=#2.3.1.14>Radeon
acceleration</A> sections.</P>
<P>
Fortunately, owners of fast enough CPUs (Duron, Celeron2 and better) <b>can watch
movies on their TV</b> through <a href=#2.3.1.12>VESA drivers</a>.
</P>
<P>
I should say good words to ATI Inc. too:<br>
<b>they produce top quality BIOSes.</b>
</P>
<P>
<b>VESA drivers</b> don't use any hardware acceleration but it simulates
<b>DGA</b> through 64K window, which is configured through 32-bit mode
functions of BIOS. ATI cards have enough <b>fast video memory</b> (DIMM or DDR
chips with 64 - 128-bit access) so it's not bottleneck for them. There are no
limitations on which video mode can be displayed on your TV (like on other
cards) so you can use <b>any video mode</b> on your <b>TV</b> (from
<b>320x200</b> up to <b>1024x768</b>).<br>
From other side (it's known at least for <b>Radeons</b>) there is <b>DGA</b>
mode which is detected automatically and in this case you'll get comparable
with <b>-vo dga</b> and <b>-vo fbdev</b> drivers speed.<br>
Only thing you need to do - <b>have TV connector plugged in before booting your
PC</b> since video BIOS initializes itself only once during POST procedure.
</P>
<P>
For detail see <a href="video.html#2.3.1.12">VESA</a> sections of this
documentation.
</P>
<P><B><A NAME=2.3.1.A.3>2.3.1.A.3. Voodoo 3</A></B></P>
<P>
Check <A HREF="http://www.iki.fi/too/tvout-voodoo3-3000-xfree">this URL</A>.
</P>
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