The mp4 issue

[Anonymous]

What exactly is the issue with mp4 playback? Seems like it’s something that could be solved.

The main reason I say this is that I’ve yet to find an mp4 file that MPlayerCE couldn’t play perfectly without lag.

The problem with MPlayerCE is that the user interface is total garbage and when your SMB IP address is reset for whatever reason, you have to edit a config file on a PC with a text editor. WiiMC let’s you edit this value directly on the Wii. Lovely.

It’s so frustrating as WiiMC is pretty much the nicest app for any device ever, but it lacks that one crucial feature that MPlayerCE seems to handle without a problem. Perfect mp4 playback. IT’S ALMOST PERFECT!!

More and more stuff is being released in mp4 format now, and the converting is a bit of an annoyance.

[JromX]

I imagine your talking about H.264 encoded video. It’s a much heavier compression compared to xvid which is why it’s used for high resolution video. There’s a threshold where the data that must be decoded is more than the cpu can handle, so the video lags. Apart from these HD files, WiiMC handles MPEG-4 perfectly for me. It’s MPlayer, just like MPlayerCE. The only real differences are the interface, Wii-specific extra features, and the version of MPlayer/FFmpeg it’s currently synced with.

[Anonymous]

I just find it strange that the exact same files (Tested on tens of different files from different sources, but all are SD resolution, mp4, H.264) that WiiMC lags with, plays fine on MPlayerCE 100% of the time.

I’d really love to use WiiMC for everything as it’s so lovely, and not have to convert.

There must be a way to get the H.264 loveliness from MPlayerCE plugged into WiiMC no?

[JromX]

That’s odd, can you post the encoding information so I can reproduce? I plan to make some patches to added some features when I get the time/energy. Might as well look into this while I’m at it(as long as it’s not setting related).

[rodries]

Remember that WiiMC and MPlayer CE also have different audio/video handling and synchronization. And the ports aren’t identical. Another key factor (probably the biggest) is the memory usage. The Wii has two memory chips – MEM1 and MEM2. MEM2 is bigger but it’s also slower. So the more important routines that you can put in MEM1, the better the performance you’ll get. As MPlayer CE has a much smaller memory footprint (eg: no GUI, no picture viewer, etc) it’s easier to do this. rodries had been working on improving the performance but those changes haven’t been released – perhaps he never found the time to fully finish it.

[pregnontgz]

I have notice this problem as well. I have figured out how to fix this to convert all my DVDs over to MP4 that will play on WiiMC.

Basically, a standard DVD has a default resolution of 720 X 480
Reducing the resolution down to something like 640 X 368 seems to fix this problem. I am not sure why.
I do this using HandBrake. But it is a pain to convert over all these MP4 over using this method. It would be much easier if this MP4 problem could just be fixed.

I hope this helps. If everyone wishes, I can put up a guide that will give everyone step by step instructions on how to convert their DVD libraries over to MP4 so they can play it on WiiMC. It might be useful to some people. That is exactly what I have already done and for years now my TV does not play any discs, just video files. I got rid of my DVD player and just have a Wii and Media player hooked up to my TV. I would get rid of the Media player if this problem would get fixed.

[Anonymous]

Think I’ve found something?

• Open WiiMC, play .mp4 file (h264) on SMB. Lags like crazy, doesn’t ever catch up/sort itself out.
• Go back to menu, play random .avi file (h264) on SMB, file plays fine.*
• Go back to menu, re-open the original .mp4 file that was lagging, plays fine.

Could it be, that loading a .avi file sets some value that then allows the .mp4 file to play normally?

Either way, it’s a weird fix, no more converting needed.

*.avi file is just some short video downloaded from YouTube that I’ve converted with handbrake to be .avi(h264)

[bakeapples]

@elCroux wrote:

I just find it strange that the exact same files (Tested on tens of different files from different sources, but all are SD resolution, mp4, H.264) that WiiMC lags with, plays fine on MPlayerCE 100% of the time.

I also use MPlayer-CE to play some H.264 encoded MP4 files through SMB that stutter a lot (and are constantly buffering) in WiiMC but that on MPlayer-CE play just fine! 🙄

@fdm wrote:

I plan to make some patches to added some features when I get the time/energy.

That would be great! Have you found the time/energy to add them yet? 😉

@Tantric wrote:

rodries had been working on improving the performance but those changes haven’t been released – perhaps he never found the time to fully finish it.

That would also be extremely useful! Do you know if he ever finished it?
If not, even if incomplete, he should release it along with some tips about his plans, so other developers could continue his nice work! 😎

@elCroux wrote:

Could it be, that loading a .avi file sets some value that then allows the .mp4 file to play normally

I can confirm this too in some files! Did someone ever found the root of this bug and fix it?

Also, I found an interesting commit to the MPlayer-CE source (r642):

Added paired single optimized H.264 plane prediction.

Could this paired-single optimizations be the reason why MPlayer-CE is faster on such files? 🙄
And was this ever implemented in WiiMC too? 😛

[Author]

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