Blue movies - literally!

[andy-101]

I am attempting to play a video file, but the image is just varying
shades of blue. I had this once before and logged out and back in, which
cleared it temporarily. However, now it has come back again. This is
despite the mediaplayer I am using - kaffeine or mplayer or vlc. What do
I look for to even debug it?

Thanks

A

--

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"


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[Raj Kiran Grandhi-3]

andy wrote:

> I am attempting to play a video file, but the image is just varying
> shades of blue. I had this once before and logged out and back in, which
> cleared it temporarily. However, now it has come back again. This is
> despite the mediaplayer I am using - kaffeine or mplayer or vlc. What do
> I look for to even debug it?
>
> Thanks
>
> A
>

It could be a hardware issue. Try changing the video output driver to a
software based one (`-vo x11 -zoom' in mplayer should do) and see if it
helps.

Alternatively, you can try playing from a newly created user account to
check if it has anything to do with your configuration setup.

--
Raj Kiran Grandhi
--
Politics is for the moment. An equation is for eternity.
                                        -- Albert Einstein


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[Ron Johnson]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 05/11/08 19:48, Raj Kiran Grandhi wrote:

> andy wrote:
>> I am attempting to play a video file, but the image is just varying
>> shades of blue. I had this once before and logged out and back in,
>> which cleared it temporarily. However, now it has come back again.
>> This is despite the mediaplayer I am using - kaffeine or mplayer or
>> vlc. What do I look for to even debug it?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> A
>>
>
> It could be a hardware issue. Try changing the video output driver to a
> software based one (`-vo x11 -zoom' in mplayer should do) and see if it
> helps.

Or blow the dust out of the computer case.

> Alternatively, you can try playing from a newly created user account to
> check if it has anything to do with your configuration setup.
>


- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA  USA

We want... a Shrubbery!!
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iD8DBQFIJ5TMS9HxQb37XmcRAjYtAJ9UGdcrjS5Fb2a0iWBvoEQcHohTvACg2cT3
ddOgE9smnUXh3v65R2MNL98=
=SeVD
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[Raj Kiran Grandhi-3]

Ron Johnson wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On 05/11/08 19:48, Raj Kiran Grandhi wrote:
>> andy wrote:
>>> I am attempting to play a video file, but the image is just varying
>>> shades of blue. I had this once before and logged out and back in,
>>> which cleared it temporarily. However, now it has come back again.
>>> This is despite the mediaplayer I am using - kaffeine or mplayer or
>>> vlc. What do I look for to even debug it?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> A
>>>
>> It could be a hardware issue. Try changing the video output driver to a
>> software based one (`-vo x11 -zoom' in mplayer should do) and see if it
>> helps.
>
> Or blow the dust out of the computer case.

Wow! How could you see my computer from there? :-)

>
>> Alternatively, you can try playing from a newly created user account to
>> check if it has anything to do with your configuration setup.
>>
>
>
> - --
> Ron Johnson, Jr.
> Jefferson LA  USA
>
> We want... a Shrubbery!!
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)
>
> iD8DBQFIJ5TMS9HxQb37XmcRAjYtAJ9UGdcrjS5Fb2a0iWBvoEQcHohTvACg2cT3
> ddOgE9smnUXh3v65R2MNL98=
> =SeVD
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
>

--
Raj Kiran Grandhi
--
Politics is for the moment. An equation is for eternity.
                                        -- Albert Einstein


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[andy-101]

Raj Kiran Grandhi wrote:

> andy wrote:
>> I am attempting to play a video file, but the image is just varying
>> shades of blue. I had this once before and logged out and back in,
>> which cleared it temporarily. However, now it has come back again.
>> This is despite the mediaplayer I am using - kaffeine or mplayer or
>> vlc. What do I look for to even debug it?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> A
>>
>
> It could be a hardware issue. Try changing the video output driver to
> a software based one (`-vo x11 -zoom' in mplayer should do) and see if
> it helps.
>
> Alternatively, you can try playing from a newly created user account
> to check if it has anything to do with your configuration setup.
>

Hi Raj

Yes, this *does* help. Now, how would I make this the default for apps
like vlc xine kaffeine and all of the rest? I guess that it is a
question of setting this up as a system default. Any ideas?

Cheers

Andy

--

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"


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[Raj Kiran Grandhi-3]

andy wrote:

> Raj Kiran Grandhi wrote:
>> andy wrote:
>>> I am attempting to play a video file, but the image is just varying
>>> shades of blue. I had this once before and logged out and back in,
>>> which cleared it temporarily. However, now it has come back again.
>>> This is despite the mediaplayer I am using - kaffeine or mplayer or
>>> vlc. What do I look for to even debug it?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> A
>>>
>>
>> It could be a hardware issue. Try changing the video output driver to
>> a software based one (`-vo x11 -zoom' in mplayer should do) and see if
>> it helps.
>>
>> Alternatively, you can try playing from a newly created user account
>> to check if it has anything to do with your configuration setup.
>>
> Hi Raj
>
> Yes, this *does* help. Now, how would I make this the default for apps
> like vlc xine kaffeine and all of the rest? I guess that it is a
> question of setting this up as a system default. Any ideas?
>

You can put it in /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf or ~/.mplayer/config. The
lines to add are:

vo=x11
zoom=yes

I am not so sure of vlc and others. Be aware, however, that the software
based rendering and scaling are significantly slower and highly cpu
intensive. It may be worth the effort to troubleshoot and video driver
issues you may be facing regarding hardware rendering.

> Cheers
>
> Andy
>


--
Raj Kiran Grandhi
--
Politics is for the moment. An equation is for eternity.
                                        -- Albert Einstein


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[Nicolas George-2]

Le septidi 27 floréal, an CCXVI, Raj Kiran Grandhi a écrit :
> I am not so sure of vlc and others. Be aware, however, that the software
> based rendering and scaling are significantly slower and highly cpu
> intensive.

With recent computers, that is not an issue except for very high-definition
video.

On the other hand, simple X11-based rendering does not do any screen blank
synchronization: it gives terrible tearing effects.

A color problem may be caused by incorrect parameters for brightness /
contrast / saturation. I suggest to install xvattr and play with its GUI. I
can not understand why this tool is not available in Debian.

Regards,

--
  Nicolas George

[andy-101]

Nicolas George wrote:

Le septidi 27 floréal, an CCXVI, Raj Kiran Grandhi a écrit :
  

I am not so sure of vlc and others. Be aware, however, that the software 
based rendering and scaling are significantly slower and highly cpu 
intensive.
    

With recent computers, that is not an issue except for very high-definition
video.

On the other hand, simple X11-based rendering does not do any screen blank
synchronization: it gives terrible tearing effects.

A color problem may be caused by incorrect parameters for brightness /
contrast / saturation. I suggest to install xvattr and play with its GUI. I
can not understand why this tool is not available in Debian.

Regards,

  

Hi Nick

Actually, xvattr *is* available - at least apt-cache search showed it, and I'm using Lenny. Anyway, on your advice, I downloaded and installed the app and ran it, set the video section to defaults and viola! Seemingly, the problem is fixed. I'll give it a few more days just to make sure, but looks good so far.

Many thanks

A