[MPlayer-users] MPlayer playing video really fast

[aeiiyoup]

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 11:50:45 pm Reimar Döffinger wrote:
> Hello,
>
> On Sun, Feb 03, 2008 at 11:18:22PM +1030, aeiiyoup wrote:
> > The videos that cause MPlayer this grief can be found at: (Note it's
> > softcore pr0n).
> >
> > Length: 2,639,444 (2.5M) http://andi-pink.com/videos/ironingteaser.avi
> > Length: 2,816,342 (2.7M) http://andi-pink.com/videos/milkteaser.avi
> > Length: 2,823,600 (2.7M) http://andi-pink.com/videos/popcornteaser.avi
> > Length: 2,679,662 (2.6M) http://andi-pink.com/videos/orangeteaser.avi
>
> These use a misfeature called "packed bitstream". MPlayer does not
> support that and probably never will (luckily it is very, very raw).
> E.g. avidemux can remove that feature quickly, losslessly and often
> decreasing the file size as well.
>
> Greetings,
> Reimar Döffinger
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When I unpacked the above file of 2.5MB (2,639,444 bytes) I found it was 
reduced to 2.4MB (2,526,156 bytes). I'm expecting in larger files it could 
end up being quite a bit more.

I did a bit of research in google and found that packed bitstream can be bad 
for DivX certified DVD players, causing jerky playback, probably something 
like MPlayer does when playing back those files as it's unsupported.

I did read on a forum that packed bitstream means no frame lag and easier 
seeking for VfW (Video for Windows). Apparently it was created as a hack for 
encoding/decoding b frames via VfW.

It sounds like one of those things which was designed to fix a problem, and 
ended up becoming a messy feature of AVI which created more problems. 
Probably why it seems rare nowdays. (I've been using MPlayer for ages and 
this is the first file I've ever come across to use it.)

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showpost.php?p=410328&postcount=4
http://itsjustonesandzeros.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-is-packed-bitstream.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_for_Windows

-Aeiiyoup