[MPlayer-users] -cache problems ( 'Cache not filling' OR 'Cache not responding!' errors)

[Reimar Döffinger]

On Tue, Aug 09, 2011 at 10:51:08AM -0700, Lonni J Friedman wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 10:38 AM, Reimar Döffinger
> <Reimar.Doeffinger at gmx.de> wrote:
> > On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 10:59:22AM -0700, Lonni J Friedman wrote:
> >> The playback seems to work fine even with the errors present,
> >> so I'm not yet sure whether the caching functionality is truly
> >> failing, or if something else (cosmetic?) is wrong.
> >
> > Those are no errors, just warnings.
> > And it's mostly a performance issue, meaning MPlayer sits there waiting
> > for data when it could already decode the next frame.
> > I changed the messages to indicate that it is a performance issue.
> > Better suggestions on how to formulate the messages welcome!
> 
> Thanks for your reply.  If those aren't errors, then why isn't the
> cache filling?  Even if I didn't see the warnings, something is wrong,
> as the content stutters as mplayer waits for data.  This problem
> definitely wasn't present with the older version of mplayer, and if I
> switch to using the old mplayer binary, the stuttering goes away (as
> the cache successfully is kept full).

That might depend on format etc., but try pausing a short while after
starting to allow the cache to fill.
Problem then is that -cache-min is not working in some case.

> I guess I'm not clear on what "Cache not responding!" really means, if
> its merely a warning.  Where is the mplayer cache stored?  Is this in
> RAM, or on disk?   What would cause it to not respond, when it
> seemingly responds & works for the older mplayer version?

It generally won't respond when it is busy reading data.

> With respect to "Cache not filling, consider increasing -cache and/or
> -cache-min!", is this a side effect of the "Cache not responding",
> which then causes the cache not to fill?  I'm not understanding how
> increasing the value for -cache and/or -cache-min would fix a problem
> where the cache is not filling.

More the other way round, when the cache is busy filling itself right
at the time when MPlayer needs data both messages are most likely.
When -cache-min is working correctly it will reduce the likelyhood
if that, and the cache will be refilling itself while MPlayer is
decoding a frame or waiting until it is time to display it, but not
when new data is needed.