[MPlayer-dev-eng] [PATCH] Documentation/video.html

Sun Nov 4 17:55:49 CET 2001

Hello, Gabucino!

I suggest you the next patch for subj: additional notes for -vo vesa and ATI's cards.
Please, apply!

Best regards! Nick

--- video.html.old	Fri Nov  2 18:00:55 2001
+++ video.html	Sun Nov  4 19:50:19 2001
@@ -663,36 +663,38 @@
  - 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>
+ - <b>It's the slowest driver</b> from all the available ones for MPlayer.
+   (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>
 <TABLE BORDER=0>
 <TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>These switches of command line currently are available for VESA:</B></P></TD><TR>
-<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-vo vesa:opts</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>
-<FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>will be implemented soon. (Will specify mode parameters such as refresh rate, interlacing, doublescan and so on. Samples: i43,  85,  d100)</TD><TR>
+<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-vo vesa:opts</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>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 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-screenw, -screenh, -bpp</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>force userdefined mode</TD><TR>
 <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-x, -y</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>set userdefined prescaling</TD><TR>
 <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-zoom</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>enables userdefined prescaling</TD><TR>
 <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fs</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>scales image to fullscreen</TD><TR>
 <TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fs -zoom</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>scales userdefined prescaling to fullscreen</TD><TR>
+<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-double</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>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>
@@ -830,20 +832,23 @@
 </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#2.2.1.12">VESA</a> sections of this
 documentation.
 </P>
 
 

