mplayer2 + PA over network/vm = audio plays okay, video doesn't

Evonat · 2013-08-13 22:23:02

For a while now I'm using a qemu-kvm VM for my daily needs. Since its emulated sound card made the videos I played with mplayer2 stutter (I tried without audio and they were fluid) I decided to give pulseaudio a try.
Well, now I can't even start to watch them: the audio continues to play while the video stays still in the first frames. Or sometimes it plays fluid for a few seconds then it stops.
Thinking maybe my machine wasn't powerful enough to manage pulseaudio's aggressive default niceness levels, I tried fiddling with them (realtime-scheduling, realtime-priority, high-priority, nice-level) on both client and server (that is, host and guest). Well, NOTHING changed.
And that wasn't really surprising: top tells me <1% of the CPU is being used, and I've got memory to sell, proved by the fact that I can launch expensive tasks and the machine doesn't slow down and the audio continues to play. But not the video.
So at this point I'm at a loss, since I've got no clue what could be causing it.
I don't think it's strictly related to the fact that I'm doing emulation. Right now I don't have the means to try, but probably I'd have the same problem if I were to use two separate computers, in that case partially justified by the fact that the physical network connection would be in fact slower than the virtio drivers I'm using right now.
My configuration is as default: pulseaudio --system running on the host with module-native-protocol-tcp and module-alsa-sink device=hw (no alsa dmix overhead); on the client just module-tunnel-sink.
Has anyone had a similar problem/has any idea what could be causing it?

EDIT:

I just noticed from pacmd in the client that the "current latency" of the sink while it starts playing is around 100000 ms, then it continues to advance normally (with the video still being still). That's just wong. Could that be the reason mplayer2's video halts?

Last edited by Evonat (2013-08-14 02:58:04)

Rasi · 2013-08-14 02:15:15

2 things:

1. do not use the avahi method with mplayer - it doesnt work too good. just define a default host in /etc/pulse/client.conf. if thats not enough export it in your shell configuration too:

export PULSE_SERVER=IP_OF_SERVER

If you dont want to export it globally you need to run mplayer with

PULSE_SEVER=IP_OF_SERVER mplayer FILE

2. Use mplayer2, it will simply use the PULSE_SERVER variable, when you define a pulseaudio output.

If you insist on using mplayer1, the syntax for pulseaudio is:

ao=pulse:X.X.X.X::

where X.X.X.X is the IP of your pulseserver

Last edited by Rasi (2013-08-14 02:18:20)

Evonat · 2013-08-14 02:57:10

Sorry, I AM using mplayer2 (I'll edit the first post), and unfortunately that method doesn't work.

For now I've solved using rsound for mplayer2, and the emulated sound card for the unimportant (youtube, etc) rest. No lag, fluid video.

Don't know if I should mark this as solved since the problem with pulseaudio isn't actually solved.

Rasi · 2013-08-14 05:24:02

Now thats odd, since this way it works on all my machines

Arch Linux

#1 2013-08-13 22:23:02

mplayer2 + PA over network/vm = audio plays okay, video doesn't

#2 2013-08-14 02:15:15

Re: mplayer2 + PA over network/vm = audio plays okay, video doesn't

#3 2013-08-14 02:57:10

Re: mplayer2 + PA over network/vm = audio plays okay, video doesn't

#4 2013-08-14 05:24:02

Re: mplayer2 + PA over network/vm = audio plays okay, video doesn't

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