[MPlayer-users] VESA stopped working with Radeon.

[xi]

Dan wrote:
> [Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
> TJ wrote:
> 
> <snipped>
> 
>> I'm becoming desperate, having lost TV-out totally on Linux :( It's so 
>> frustrating to boot to Windows, and I have only about 10% of the HDD 
>> dedicated to Win so I can't even keep a lot of video files there, either.
> 
> 
> <snipped>
> 
> There are a number of alternatives for getting tv-out working still.
> While some of them bite, here they are anyway:
> 
> 1) Use the DirectFB driver.
> Pros:
> - Accelerated.
> - Very easy to set up.
> Cons:
> - You have to pick the right versions of mplayer & directfb. For example 
> the latest version of each don't seem to work together. But the latest 
> mplayer with the previous directfb seem to work.
> - The directfb driver is a little more flakey than the vesa driver - 
> audio sync doesn't seem to be as good, and it sometimes screws up the 
> terminal I'm using.
> 
> 2) Use the XDirectFB server.
> Pros:
> - You get a GUI! Not such a big deal for me, but my girlfriend 
> appreciates it.
> - Relatively easy to set up.
> Cons:
> - No acceleration. You need a VERY fast computer, and even then, it 
> isn't so good.
> 
> 3) Use the atitvout utility under X.
> Pros:
> - You get a GUI.
> - Accelerated.
> Cons:
> - Only works with XFree86-4.2.x, and then under _very_ special 
> circumstances. See the Gatos mailing list for details ...
> 
> 4) Use the 'devel' branch of the ati.2 driver to provide tv-out support.
> Pros:
> - Accelerated.
> - GUI.
> Cons:
> - A complete bitch to set up. Probably won't compile with any recent 
> version of X.
> - Against the law in the US and other countries with idiotic legal systems.
> 
> 5) Trick your Radeon into leaving tv-out activated when entering X.
> Pros:
> - Accelerated.
> - GUI
> Cons:
> - Very time consuming and annoying to set up. See the Gatos mailing list 
> for details. Others swear it works. I haven't tested, but believe them ...
> 
> 
> In conclusion, there are plently of alternatives for when the vesa 
> driver doesn't work.
> Personally I use the DirectFB driver. It _seems_ to be faster than the 
> vesa driver to me. And it 'just works' - as long as you don't use a 
> version of DirectFB which is incompatible.
> 
> Hope this helps someone!
> 
> Dan
> 

Ok, but vesa was very simple to use. It was quite impressive, you just 
start in text mode, and mplayer can play your movies, nothing to do, 
nothing to install.
And I did some tests on my laptop (P133 MMX), and vesa seemed to be the 
fastest (I can read some (few) small resolution divx using -framedrop).

Moreover vesa was able to support cards unsupported by X (I don't know 
for framebuffer)

Regards,
			Xavier

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