Smpeg on PXA 270 - how to improve audio/video performance?

SDL Development
1

Hi everyone,
We are trying to use smpeg library to play mpeg videos on a PXA 270 (500
MHz, 64MB, 800x600 LCD) running linux 2.6.11. While plaympeg seems to be
able to play just the video without any problem, it struggles to play audio
simultaneously. The video frame rate drops drastically.

I tried hooking SDL_mixer into plaympeg to handle the audio but that
resulted in only a marginal improvement. Are there any smeg optimizations
that you could suggest to improve performance? Also, please suggest any
alternatives to smpeg that we could use on our platform.

Thank you,
Sriram

2

Hello Sriram,

Tuesday, April 25, 2006, 5:36:53 PM, you wrote:

SC> Hi everyone,
SC> We are trying to use smpeg library to play mpeg videos on a PXA 270 (500
SC> MHz, 64MB, 800x600 LCD) running linux 2.6.11. While plaympeg seems to be
SC> able to play just the video without any problem, it struggles to play audio
SC> simultaneously. The video frame rate drops drastically.

SC> I tried hooking SDL_mixer into plaympeg to handle the audio but that
SC> resulted in only a marginal improvement. Are there any smeg optimizations
SC> that you could suggest to improve performance? Also, please suggest any
SC> alternatives to smpeg that we could use on our platform.

If memory serves you really need to use threaded audio or SMPEG doesn’t
work very well. Not that it works particularly well anyway…

If you’re using Linux you are probably best off using ffmpeg, which is
more work but is far better at the job.–
Best regards,
Peter mailto:@Peter_Mulholland

3

Hi Peter,
I verified that threaded-audio is enabled as default by ‘configure’. I
also tried with the threaded-system and mmx options. But there was no
noticeable improvemen difference in performance.

Thanks for the ffmpeg suggestion. I am trying to build it for my platform
now.

Cheers,
Sriram

4

Hi Peter,
ffplay worked beautifully with the test videos. There are some issues of
audio/video losing sync if video window is resized, but overall, ffmpeg
looks quite promising.

Thanks,
Sriram

5

Hello Sriram,

Wednesday, April 26, 2006, 12:41:56 AM, you wrote:

SC> Hi Peter,
SC> ffplay worked beautifully with the test videos. There are some issues of
SC> audio/video losing sync if video window is resized, but overall, ffmpeg
SC> looks quite promising.

I’ve had it recommended to me plenty of times. The only catch for me
is I can’t really use it - it adds too much baggage and is too much of
a pain for a non-Linux system.

I would personally use Theora if it wasn’t currently too slow.–
Best regards,
Peter mailto:@Peter_Mulholland