Videosnaps wont play with omxplayer in emulationstation

subz

Pi Model or other hardware: pi 3
Power Supply used:
RetroPie Version Used 4.4.8
Emulationstation: 2.8.1
Built From: downloaded retropie 4.4 image (04/03/19)
USB Devices connected: xin mo 2 player
Controller used: xin mo 2 player
Error messages received:
Log found in /dev/shm/runcommand.log (if relevant):
Guide used:
File: Emulator: omxplayer hw accelerated in e.s
Attachment of config files:
How to replicate the problem:

Hello I am looking to add videosnaps to my main r-pi 3 setup, so to test the water without making any catastrophic mistakes.

I have downloaded the retropie image from the official source.
Installed onto a clean sd card
I have updated all the main packages today 04/03/89 to the retropie 4.4.8 emulationstation 2.8.1 retroarch 1.7.6
Installed Stephen self's scraper.

The problem I am having is with the portrait videos display squashed horizontally about 50% smaller. The landscape videos play ok
when I change the option in e.s. to use omxplayer which I know is reccomended for video previews,
there is no video or sound

I have tested with the carbon theme three variants and crt all the same results.
These are mame - arcade previews dont know if its relevant.

Thanks in advance for any advice or pointers

mitu

@subz said in Videosnaps wont play with omxplayer in emulationstation:

These are mame - arcade previews dont know if its relevant.

It is relevant - the source for arcade videos is by default Arcadeitalia, and some of their videos use a video codec unsupported by OMXPlayer. You can either use the VLC based player in ES or you can convert the videos - I think sscraper has a convert video optionm but there are also a few scripts to convert videos in the forum, created specially for this kind of situation.

GoldManSex778

Some arcade video snaps use wild resolutions which confuse ES/cause black screens, the Darius (3 panel-wide) games come to mind. With those I just loaded them in a video editor and rendered them at a proper resolution letterboxed. Though your portrait videos should be playing right, OMX can handle soft aspect ratios (I think) but the pixel aspect ratio should be 480x640.

If you want help with re-encoding those videos I can put up a batch script to do that, also I can help with editing the videos with a free video editor.

subz

@mitu yes the default is arcadeitalia and I tried the other two sources, still the same results. I have looked sscraper for a convert video and can not find the option.
@GoldManSex778 thanks for the advice I am more comfortable converting on pc and ftp the videos back into the pi. I will try re-encoding the videos in handbrake
with the resolution 480 x 640.
Is it not easier just to add the correct codec to omxplayer?

GoldManSex778

@subz Be sure you are using x264 video codec with aac audio. Also you may not need to fiddle with the resolution, as the software may have been forcing a 4:3 on a 3:4 PAR. So the resolution doesn't necessarily need to be 480x640 (most games run at half that but most videos are at that resolution) just be sure the output is 3:4 aspect ratio (either PAR or DAR, but PAR is preferred).

I can't find any info about the range of codecs OMX can handle, so I imagine its only h264. Therefore it is best to stick with simple baseline settings with x264. Adding codecs would merely bloat the program for little gain. If any codecs should be added it should be x265 or maybe vp9

There is the VLC alternative if you want to rebuild your pi ontop of Stretch, that could potentially solve your problem and add more functionality, but I dont know as I haven't tried it.

subz

@mitu @GoldManSex778 - Thanks for the advice. I converted with handbrake, basically opened the video in h/b and ran it through without messing around with the settings.
Now both the portrait and landscape videos display with the correct aspect ratio and work with omxplayer
Thanks so much.