Kaffeine 0.7.1 findings
Hello,
I installed Kaffeine 0.7.1 and found the following problems:
1) xine engine doesn't work at all. Whenever I open a movie for playing,
Kaffeine crashes or at least exits silently. These are the last signs of
live:
kaffeine: PostFilter: Set parameter 'method' to value 'LinearBlend'
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 2 on offset 0
kaffeine: PostFilter: Set parameter 'enabled' to value '1'
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 1 on offset 4
kaffeine: PostFilter: Set parameter 'pulldown' to value 'none'
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 0 on offset 8
kaffeine: PostFilter: Set parameter 'framerate_mode' to value 'half_top'
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 1 on offset 12
kaffeine: PostFilter: Set parameter 'judder_correction' to value '0'
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 0 on offset 16
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 0 on offset 16
kaffeine: PostFilter: Set parameter 'use_progressive_frame_flag' to value
'1'
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 1 on offset 20
kaffeine: PostFilter: Set parameter 'chroma_filter' to value '0'
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 0 on offset 24
kaffeine: PostFilter: Set parameter 'cheap_mode' to value '1'
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 1 on offset 28
kaffeine: PostFilter: tvtime Apply integer value 1 on offset 28
kaffeine: KXineWidget: Deinterlace enabled: 1
kaffeine: PostFilter: Get output
kaffeine: PostFilter: Get input
kaffeine: KXineWidget: Playing: /home/martin/Filme/Jennifer Lopez - If You
had My Love.mpg
kaffeine: KXineWidget: Start event loop...
I have:
ii libxine1 1.0.1-1
2) gstreamer engine with artssink only plays the movie. I do not hear any
sound. The loud speaker beside the volume control is shown disabled and I
see no way to change that.
It tells me it uses artsdsink:
kaffeine: GStreamerPart: Using audio driver: artsdsink
kaffeine: GStreamerPart: Using video driver: xvimagesink
kaffeine: GStreamerPart: Using visualization plugin: goom
But I do not hear any sound. artsd is running nicely and playing the test
sound in KDE control center works.
I am using:
ii gstreamer0.8-artsd 0.8.8-3 aRtsd plugin for
GStreamer
Hmmm, I tried around a bit. I do not know exactly what I changed, but now
I get a running gstreamer alsasink concurrently to KDE control center
playing the test sound via artsd. I am quite a bit confused by this,
cause artsd should take complete control over the sound hardware while
playing sounds (and also during those 20 seconds I set after playing the
last sound). Thus gstreaminer using alsasink shouldn't be able to play a
sound concurrently to artsd. Does gstreamer switch over to artsdsink when
alsasink doesn't work?
It told me is uses
kaffeine: GStreamerPart: Using audio driver: artsdsink
tough and did not tell me that it changed its mind. And on my first tests
it told me the error I stated above (no default ALSA device) instead of
playing. AudaCity can't initialize ALSA, so how on earth does gstreamer
use alsasink if it really does?
Actually I have no clue whats going on here and would like to hear
feedback from others on this issue.
3) gstreamer engine with alsasink gives 'ALSA device "default" does not
exist'. Even even I made sure that artsd gone in "suspend mode", which I
set to go into after 20 seconds without a sound being played through it.
Well when I start with "killall artsd ; kaffeine" I get sound.
Well further testing yields that this seems to be a problem with my KDE
setup. Audacity can't initialize ALSA as well even when I wait rather
more than those 20 seconds in which artsd should be automatically
inactivated. This doesn't seem to work well anymore, but it used to work
just one week before.
I am using:
ii arts 1.4.2-4 sound system from the
official KDE release
ii gstreamer0.8-artsd 0.8.8-3 aRtsd plugin for
GStreamer
ii libarts1-mpeglib 3.4.2-2 mpeglib plugin for
aRts, supporting mp3 and mpeg audio/video
ii libarts1-xine 3.4.2-2 aRts plugin enabling
xine support
ii libarts1c2 1.4.2-4 aRts sound system core
components
ii libartsc0 1.4.2-4 aRts sound system C
support library
ii gstreamer0.8-alsa 0.8.8-3 ALSA plugin for
GStreamer
4) Using KPlayer Media part does not work. I get an error that
"libkplayerpart.la" cannot be found in my PATH. Well how true since
KPlayer only includes these binary files:
/.
/usr
/usr/bin
/usr/bin/kplayer
/usr/lib
/usr/lib/kde3
/usr/lib/kde3/libkplayerpart.so
/usr/lib/kde3/kfile_kplayer.so
5) The Kaffeine dialog for checking the installations comes up *every*
time I start Kaffeine. It should only come up for the first time I think
like it used to be before.
I made all this findings with a clean kaffeine setup. I
deleted .kde/share/config/kaffeinerc as well as .kde/share/apps/kaffeine
directory with contents.
I would like to hear feedback and I am willing to provide bug reports when
those issues could not be cleared up easily.
Actually all of this is not really that urgent as I can use KPlayer for
media files and xine-ui or Totem player for menu driven DVDs. But before
next Debian release these findings should be cleared up IMHO ;)
Sometimes I wished there would be exactly one *stable* media framework
that is used from all desktop environments. Or at least ONE low level
framework for *direct* hardware access (sound server, low level video
display) used by all media players.
Zack, this is not to put you down. I think you did a great job. I think
its more the involved software itself not handling the whole lot of
different combinations of audio driver low level layer (ALSA, OSS), sound
server (artsd, esd, jackd), audio driver high level framework (gstreamer
and xine audio plugins for artsd, alsa, oss, esd, jackd whatever), video
driver low level layer (XV, SDL whatever plugins in gstreamer, xine,
mplayer) and high level media framework (mplayer, gstreamer, xine) really
well.
I believe that reducing complexity here and supporting one or at maximum
two frameworks properly instead of all at once, could help. I also
believe that authors of the different frameworks should sit together and
possibly merge projects that just provide the very same functionality.
Actually a user IMHO doesn't give a bit about whether it used whatever
framework when the player plays want he/she wants. Whether you like it or
not, proprietary software at the moment may have some advantages here
(just one Windows Media Player and one QuickTime). But still I wouldn't
like to switch since I like free software and free standards ;-).
Regards,
--
Martin 'Helios' Steigerwald - http://www.Lichtvoll.de
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