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    Playing H.264 in Ubuntu

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by seiyafan, Nov 22, 2011.

  1. seiyafan

    seiyafan Notebook Evangelist

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    I've got a netbook with first-gen Intel Atom processor, which media player in Ubuntu would play H.264 video with the least CPU utilization, I tried VLC and it's not looking good. Thanks!
     
    seiyafan, Nov 22, 2011
    #1
  2. naticus

    naticus Notebook Deity

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    naticus, Nov 22, 2011
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  3. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    What GPU does that have? If it's the GMA500, maybe you can get it to do some hardware video decoding.
     
    namaiki, Nov 22, 2011
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  4. debguy

    debguy rip dmr

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    mplayer2 is already included in the current Ubuntu release [1]. According to its ITP Debian bug report it already has mt support [2] and given the fact that maintainer and version numbers for both distributions are identical I'm pretty sure it's the same package in Ubuntu.
    So there's no reason anymore to include 3rd party repositories for mplayer2-mt.

    [1] Ubuntu -- Details of package mplayer2 in oneiric
    [2] #613806 - ITP: mplayer2 -- next generation movie player for Unix-like systems - Debian Bug report logs
     
    debguy, Nov 23, 2011
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  5. ALLurGroceries

    ALLurGroceries  Vegan Vermin Super Moderator

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    Playing h.264 on an n270 is going to be pretty bad. 720p will be choppy and 1080p is going to be a slideshow. You can get away with some mplayer options for dropping frames but it's not going to be pretty.
     
    ALLurGroceries, Nov 23, 2011
    #5
  6. naticus

    naticus Notebook Deity

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    That's good news. I have been using that PPA for sometime now, looks like I can ditch it for good.
     
    naticus, Nov 23, 2011
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  7. seiyafan

    seiyafan Notebook Evangelist

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    I see a ton of options under Output Options for SMPlayer, which one is fastest for decoding X.264? I tried gl and got 24-40% CPU utilization, not bad.
     
    seiyafan, Nov 24, 2011
    #7
  8. v1k1ng1001

    v1k1ng1001 Notebook Deity

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    You can try installing the jupiter applet which will allow you to overclock your n270.

    I've gotten 720p to run very nicely on my atom 330/ion nettop but I've never tried to run HD on my netbook because it won't look that much better than standard def on a 9" screen anyway and HD files are too big for my 16gb ssd.
     
    v1k1ng1001, Nov 24, 2011
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  9. PopLap

    PopLap Notebook Evangelist

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    The ion is what lets you do it as it has hw acceleration of the video, the n270 will struggle with it, my netbook has the n270 and Ubuntu on it and the most i can get to work is 480p video no HD, but then again i never really tried as it is a 10" screen and not the best for viewing.
     
    PopLap, Nov 24, 2011
    #9