Please test: Using OMXPlayer as video renderer

robertybob

@pjft Attract Mode can use hardware accelerated FFmpeg and it seems to work ok (for my purposes anyway), presumably you've looked into that already? Why isn't it a viable alternative to VLC or OMXPlayer?

fieldofcows

@robertybob said in Please test: Using OMXPlayer as video renderer:

@pjft Attract Mode can use hardware accelerated FFmpeg and it seems to work ok (for my purposes anyway), presumably you've looked into that already? Why isn't it a viable alternative to VLC or OMXPlayer?

You're absolutely right and I've been looking through the source code over the last few days. It's definitely something we could look into trying to port to ES.

pjft

@robertybob That would have just been to easy.

:P

I joke. It is certainly a viable alternative - thanks for bringing it up again. I believe I mentioned it in passing earlier, following @BuZz 's suggestion but truth is we never followed up on it and it was forgotten.

I'm happy to know that AttractMode uses it, though, and especially that @fieldofcows is looking into it already. If it works well for AttractMode, it is probably a good option for us as well.

@fieldofcows : if/when you end up managing to put together a small test build (really, don't worry about polish - just get it to render the video) I'll put it running here for a while and check the performance and temperatures. And if you need any help with the development, feel free to share the code. Happy to look into it as well.

Thanks!

alaindesjardins

After doing this, the carbon theme is broken where the videos are not the right aspect and are over the rom list. Is there something I can do to fix it? I was DESPERATELY needing this omxplayer because none of my videos played using vlc without hardware acceleration. OMXPlayer is playing them FLAWLESSLY but yeah... here's what it looks like: imgur

You can see the video, even the marquee is in the incorrect position.

I'm new to this so don't mind me if it's dumb to ask. I'm just so close to having things work right and I want to continue this project.

THANKS!

pjft

@alaindesjardins

Hm. Interesting.

I don't quite know why the Carbon theme is broken, as that's the one I'm using. Maybe there's a revamped Carbon theme, based on the new ES theme changes that aren't part of what this build supports?

Anyways, feel free to install this particular version of Carbon, which is the one I'm using. I think it should be good, though I don't quite recall if I edited all that was needed.

https://mega.nz/#!MJEXUZpT!kEBemgjgE_LIkXDHPmPoPu-GhB9pMAUlPWGPoYSs_so

Just unzip this into the themes folder (/etc/emulationstation/themes, I believe?).

Just to confirm, in case it isn't clear: this build is not up to date with the recent changes to ES, namely changes to themes. Use this only if you're fine with not updating your ES for a while, as it's not clear when these changes will make it to the main ES.

Best.

alaindesjardins

@pjft OMG you rock. I'm so glad I asked :) It's working flawlessly now. I'm just using the theme that came with ES 4.2 (fresh image installed a couple of days ago). I don't know why it was broken... I even went and redownloaded it and they all have problems for me. The one you provided works great.

pjft

@alaindesjardins My suspicion is that it's using features that were developed after this one was developed.

Glad it's working out correctly. You need to select "enable experimental player". Hope you also enjoy the screensaver, and random game launch abilities :)

pjft

@alaindesjardins Actually, wait!

If you're planning on using OMXPlayer, use this one instead:

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/8734/please-test-random-game-selection-launch-via-video-screensaver/

It's an update version of it, with the features I described. Slightly more stable, I believe, and with a few critical updates.

Nismo

@alaindesjardins @pjft I know that @jdrassa made some changes to carbon theme to add new features and maybe he removed video support.

Anyway as far I know OMX player was experimental and will be deprecated so you need better videos adapted to your rpi.

You can try the ones I'm uploading here: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/8019/oldroom-theme-w-i-p-new-1-9-beta-media-packs

I'm still need to upload more systems, but that videos should play without problems.

Regards.

jdrassa

@Nismo @pjft the latest version of carbon uses the feature element to hide the video element from older versions is ES that it may break.

fnkngrv

Was there any further movement on this? Is there a new thread regarding it with the updates over the last couple months to ES? I am curious because I am working on adding video snaps to my Pi Zero W and trying to figure out optimization for temps on that board and performance hits. Thanks in advance and all the hard work being done! Kudos.

pjft

@fnkngrv yeah. This is now part of the main ES. You'll have OMX Player as an option there.

fnkngrv

@pjft said in Please test: Using OMXPlayer as video renderer:

@fnkngrv yeah. This is now part of the main ES. You'll have OMX Player as an option there.

So how do you adjust the delay for video snaps to start when moving through your gamelists? I can't seen to find any info on it and it is annoying as heck having to wait five to seven seconds scrolling thru each game.

pjft

The delay for the video to start is a theme setting. There has never been a "way" to adjust it other than that.

You'll likely want to edit the video view in the theme to add the delay. Add, to the video element,

<delay>2</delay>
<showSnapshotDelay>true</showSnapshotDelay>

The "2" is the number of seconds to wait.

fnkngrv

@pjft very interesting. I'll check it out. Thank you!

As a sidenote I think that maybe part of the issue is the fact I am on a Zero? I'm using the same theme on my Pi 3 and do not have the same issue. On my three it has a very minimal delay. Perhaps I need to drop the encoding specs on my video files.

pjft

@fnkngrv Correct. That is likely the case.

Out of curiosity, does it happen on both VLC and OMX? Just one?

fnkngrv

@pjft I had to switch to OMX from VLC because no matter how I encode the snaps the audio is choppy and the video is very slow; almost choppy and that is even at 320*240 23.9fps or 25 or 29. I have tried MP4 and divx with the same results.

pjft

@fnkngrv Correct. I am personally a fan of OMXPlayer, even though it has its limitations.

Best of luck then.

fnkngrv

@pjft said in Please test: Using OMXPlayer as video renderer:

The delay for the video to start is a theme setting. There has never been a "way" to adjust it other than that.

You'll likely want to edit the video view in the theme to add the delay. Add, to the video element,
<delay>2</delay>
<showSnapshotDelay>true</showSnapshotDelay>
The "2" is the number of seconds to wait.

So the current delay on the theme that I want is set to:

<delay>0.01</delay>
<showSnapshotNoVideo>false</showSnapshotNoVideo>
<showSnapshotDelay>false</showSnapshotDelay>

Perhaps that delay setting is too small for the Pi which is what is causing a much longer delay due to processing. I'll test and report back for others that may follow this thread.

pjft

@fnkngrv Yeah. That's 0.01 seconds :)

You'll need to set

<showSnapshotDelay>false</showSnapshotDelay>

to true, and add a number of seconds there - you may try 1 to start with.