Need help and directions (OPi + Debian Server => Desktop Video)

[bozden]

I've been trying lots of stuff, read a lot but could not make it work.

 

What I need is to make a video player. If someone pushes a button a specific video will be played. So simple.

The device will be networked and I will add other stuff in time (sensors, Python scripts, IoT frameworks etc).

I chose Orange Pi One and Armbian Debian LEGACY (sorry NOT mainline) kernel.

I wrote scripts to to automate device setups.

All fine.

To play videos I installed LXDE and mpv.

The video did not work as there is no acceleration. Drivers seem to be broken (05.02.2017 compilation - I read about the broken drivers, but do not have the solution)

I read about "downgrading" the Ubuntu desktop - there are to many stuff on the desktop version. I want a clean setup. (Even software uninstalls got stuck).

In Ubuntu desktop, a video plays once, then I get a blank (black) mpv and cannot start another video as the system hangs.

 

What do you suggest?

How can I upgrade a server version into a video acceleration enabled desktop version?

Or...

Shall I ditch the Opi and go to RPi?

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by bozden
Corrected Mainline INTO Legacy :(

[zador.blood.stained]

16 minutes ago, bozden said:

The video did not work as there is no acceleration. Drivers seem to be broken (05.02.2017 compilation - I read about the broken drivers, but do not have the solution)

There is no HW accelerated video decoding in mainline kernel. Drivers are not broken - they don't exist at all.

For the multimedia tasks I can only recommend using legacy kernel based Ubuntu Xenial desktop images - they should include all necessary configuration for the mpv.

 

19 minutes ago, bozden said:

I read about "downgrading" the Ubuntu desktop - there are to many stuff on the desktop version. I want a clean setup. (Even software uninstalls got stuck).

In Ubuntu desktop, a video plays once, then I get a blank (bşack) mpv and cannot start another video as the system hangs.

This looks like a hardware problem (power supply, SD card), or there are problems with the video format that you used.

[bozden]

6 minutes ago, zador.blood.stained said:

There is no HW accelerated video decoding in mainline kernel. Drivers are not broken - they don't exist at all.

For the multimedia tasks I can only recommend using legacy kernel based Ubuntu Xenial desktop images - they should include all necessary configuration for the mpv.

 

This looks like a hardware problem (power supply, SD card), or there are problems with the video format that you used.

 

Thank you for the answer. I know, I don't touch mainline kernel. An SBC without working drivers is a hell :/ As stated above I use legacy.

 

I have my boards connected to quality power supplies and constant power/temperature monitoring equipment. These should not be the cause.

 

But you may be right about the file format... Original videos were large mpeg files and I recoded them to mp4's... I read mp4 problems here before...

Now uploading some large files. Will take a while...

 

BUT, being able to apt-get some packages to get accelerated video on (say) LXDE is somewhat crucial.  Is there no way to do this?

I don't want to write scripts removing libreoffice and stuff and have bloat files on the system.

 

[bozden]

BTW, does anybody know a resource listing currently supported codecs?

 

[zador.blood.stained]

4 minutes ago, bozden said:

Thank you for the answer. I know, I don't touch mainline kernel. An SBC without working drivers is a hell :/ As stated above I use legacy.

I'm still seeing this:

40 minutes ago, bozden said:

I chose Orange Pi One and Armbian Debian mainline kernel.

Please note that for the desktop/multimedia Ubuntu Xenial is recommended (and in fact it's the only currently provided desktop release)

 

6 minutes ago, bozden said:

But you may be right about the file format... Original videos were large mpeg files and I recoded them to mp4's... I read mp4 problems here before...

Now uploading some large files. Will take a while...

https://linux-sunxi.org/Cedrus

"libvdpau-sunxi" column is the current status of what kind of HW acceleration can be expected. As you see, MPEG4 may not work and 10bit H265 will not work too

 

9 minutes ago, bozden said:

BUT, being able to apt-get some packages to get accelerated video on (say) LXDE is somewhat crucial.  Is there no way to do this?

I don't want to write scripts removing libreoffice and stuff and have bloat files on the system.

Removing packages should work fine, it is also possible to customize with the build system. If you have some issues with apt-get remove, it's unlikely a software problem, most of such problems are solved by changing the storage and power supply even if users think they are good enough.

Upgrading server->desktop is possible but is not recommended since some additional build time configuration tweaks may not be included in this case.

[bozden]

Oh my... Thinking legacy, writing mainline... Sorry, rough night.

 

Thank you for the info.

 

BTW, I did not have problems with apt-get remove. I just tought it might cause problems.

I had problems with Ubuntu Software Center, working there endlessly showing a watch. Don't know the reason. This is the first time I use Ubuntu Desktop, maybe OPi One is not just enough... I used to stuck with Debian Server and install desktops on top of it if needed. I have lots of scripts to handle those tasks.

 

I'll also check storage and power supply as you suggest.

 

Anyway, I'll try and report back...

 

[bozden]

OK,

 

It was an mp4 decoding issue. It worked perfectly with mpeg2 files. I scripted them in loop worked fine. I'll all try H264 as m4v and mkv...

 

About the Ubuntu Software Center... I monitored with htop and a python script took more than 30 minutes to finish and show the contents...

 

I'll start to get rid off everything.

 

Thank you again...