Video playback stuck in 'fast forward'? (plus sound issues)

[imrowan]

Sound: Using Ubuntu 8.04 i386, I get no sound when playing back movies or music. Console gives this error:


ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:874:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave

May be related to the various Pulseaudio issues in Ubuntu?

Video playback: Appears "stuck in fast forward", as movies play at approximately double or triple normal speed. I tested this with both an MPEG-4 (Xvid/ffodivx) and an MPEG-2 .VOB (stored on my hard drive).

More details (hardware, software, etc) available on request.

[tsella]

might be. you can try following http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=601522

video at x2 is the result of failing to sync to audio.

is this a clean hardy install or upgrade?

[imrowan]

Tom - installing libsdl1.2debian-all as per that link fixed both problems -- I've got audio, and video plays normal speed!

This was an install from Ubuntu Server 8.04, then "apt-get install ubuntu-desktop" and the other dependencies.

[imrowan]

Replying to myself - I was also still running the -server kernel! Switched to the generic desktop kernel and Boxee now uses a few metric assloads less CPU. The default build appears to have debugging symbols built-in, so I'm leaving it running through gdb and playing a movie which as far as I know is in my library. Web page profile still not updating, and we'll see if it crashes...but in the meantime, playback is much improved :) EDIT: Profile is updating now, no crashes yet!

[tsella]

great! actually, if you are looking at running boxee as standalone on that box, i can give you some pointers based on some stuff done on a mac mini:

- clean ubuntu server install
- get desktop kernel (used to do that because apple remote was broken in server kernel in gutsy - interesting to note what you are saying about cpu)
- apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel xfonts-base xterm libgl1-mesa-dri xfonts-75dpi xfonts-100dpi libfaad2-0 xzip libcurl3 openssh-server (note: based on an Intel video)
- craft a script (or PM me) to run xinit and loop around Boxee, so if it crashes it runs again.

this way, no gnome is needed - boxee as appliance :)

[DaveMan]

Hi,

I have the exact problem you are having but installing libsdl1.2debian-all did not help.
Still double speed video and no audio.
Using a fully updated Ubuntu 8.04.
Not an upgrade but not a fresh install (been using it since beta).

Any ideas how to fix this?

Thanks.
Dave.

[Bogus83]

Hi all. I am having the same problem- superfast video without sound. I can play the same videos outside of BOXEE correctly (with sound, normal speed). I installed libsdl1.2debian-all. Interestingly, this allowed the theme sounds to work (the beeping noise when navigating menus) but did not affect playback at all.

For the record, I'm using Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 (32-bit). I am using the OSSv4 sound drivers, which I HAVE to use because of my Sound Blaster X-Fi card. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that that's the root of the problem right there, but any assistance would be awesome. Everything else in the program works great.

[Bogus83]

Thought this might provide more information. Does Boxee only use ALSA? Or can it be made to use OSS?


Running Boxee test...
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3985:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2145:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
is rtorrent running: 0
boxee-rtorrent: no process killed
open /dev/sequencer or /dev/snd/seq: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3985:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2145:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
open /dev/sequencer or /dev/snd/seq: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2145:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM SB046x
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3985:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2145:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
open /dev/sequencer or /dev/snd/seq: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3985:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2145:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default

[Bogus83]

Sorry to keep replying to myself. A bit more digging revealed the following post and info: http://forum.boxee.tv/showpost.php?p=718&postcount=3


vulkan

basically we use alsa for both music and video playback.

If that's true and cannot be changed, that needs to go in the supported specs list! What that would mean is that no users with an X-Fi card can use this program, period. Since Creative Labs decided to pretty much tell the linux community we're on our own for drivers, the X-Fi card can ONLY be made to work with OSS drivers. It's lame because the OSS drivers only do stereo sound, and not especially well. But in this case it completely cripples the application.

Unless there's some way to use OSS with Boxee... maybe? Please? :D