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diff --git a/DOCS/OUTDATED-tech/general.txt b/DOCS/OUTDATED-tech/general.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 36a584b746..0000000000 --- a/DOCS/OUTDATED-tech/general.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,228 +0,0 @@ -So, I'll describe how this stuff works. - -The main modules: - -1. stream.c: this is the input layer, this reads the input media (file, stdin, - vcd, dvd, network etc). what it has to know: appropriate buffering by - sector, seek, skip functions, reading by bytes, or blocks with any size. - The stream_t (stream.h) structure describes the input stream, file/device. - - There is a stream cache layer (cache2.c), it's a wrapper for the stream - API. It does fork(), then emulates stream driver in the parent process, - and stream user in the child process, while proxying between them using - preallocated big memory chunk for FIFO buffer. - -2. demuxer.c: this does the demultiplexing (separating) of the input to - audio, video or dvdsub channels, and their reading by buffered packages. - The demuxer.c is basically a framework, which is the same for all the - input formats, and there are parsers for each of them (mpeg-es, - mpeg-ps, avi, avi-ni, asf), these are in the demux_*.c files. - The structure is the demuxer_t. There is only one demuxer. - -2.a. demux_packet_t, that is DP. - Contains one chunk (avi) or packet (asf,mpg). They are stored in memory as - in linked list, cause of their different size. - -2.b. demuxer stream, that is DS. - Struct: demux_stream_t - Every channel (a/v/s) has one. This contains the packets for the stream - (see 2.a). For now, there can be 3 for each demuxer : - - audio (d_audio) - - video (d_video) - - DVD subtitle (d_dvdsub) - -2.c. stream header. There are 2 types (for now): sh_audio_t and sh_video_t - This contains every parameter essential for decoding, such as input/output - buffers, chosen codec, fps, etc. There are each for every stream in - the file. At least one for video, if sound is present then another, - but if there are more, then there'll be one structure for each. - These are filled according to the header (avi/asf), or demux_mpg.c - does it (mpg) if it founds a new stream. If a new stream is found, - the ====> Found audio/video stream: <id> messages is displayed. - - The chosen stream header and its demuxer are connected together - (ds->sh and sh->ds) to simplify the usage. So it's enough to pass the - ds or the sh, depending on the function. - - For example: we have an asf file, 6 streams inside it, 1 audio, 5 - video. During the reading of the header, 6 sh structs are created, 1 - audio and 5 video. When it starts reading the packet, it chooses the - stream for the first found audio & video packet, and sets the sh - pointers of d_audio and d_video according to them. So later it reads - only these streams. Of course the user can force choosing a specific - stream with - -vid and -aid switches. - A good example for this is the DVD, where the english stream is not - always the first, so every VOB has different language :) - That's when we have to use for example the -aid 128 switch. - - Now, how this reading works? - - demuxer.c/demux_read_data() is called, it gets how many bytes, - and where (memory address), would we like to read, and from which - DS. The codecs call this. - - this checks if the given DS's buffer contains something, if so, it - reads from there as much as needed. If there isn't enough, it calls - ds_fill_buffer(), which: - - checks if the given DS has buffered packages (DP's), if so, it moves - the oldest to the buffer, and reads on. If the list is empty, it - calls demux_fill_buffer() : - - this calls the parser for the input format, which reads the file - onward, and moves the found packages to their buffers. - Well it we'd like an audio package, but only a bunch of video - packages are available, then sooner or later the: - DEMUXER: Too many (%d in %d bytes) audio packets in the buffer - error shows up. - -2.d. video.c: this file/function handle the reading and assembling of the - video frames. each call to video_read_frame() should read and return a - single video frame, and it's duration in seconds (float). - The implementation is splitted to 2 big parts - reading from mpeg-like - streams and reading from one-frame-per-chunk files (avi, asf, mov). - Then it calculates duration, either from fixed FPS value, or from the - PTS difference between and after reading the frame. - -2.e. other utility functions: there are some useful code there, like - AVI muxer, or mp3 header parser, but leave them for now. - -So everything is ok 'till now. It can be found in libmpdemux/ library. -It should compile outside of mplayer tree, you just have to implement few -simple functions, like mp_msg() to print messages, etc. -See libmpdemux/test.c for example. - -See also formats.txt, for description of common media file formats and their -implementation details in libmpdemux. - -Now, go on: - -3. mplayer.c - ooh, he's the boss :) - Its main purpose is connecting the other modules, and maintaining A/V - sync. - - The given stream's actual position is in the 'timer' field of the - corresponding stream header (sh_audio / sh_video). - - The structure of the playing loop : - while(not EOF) { - fill audio buffer (read & decode audio) + increase a_frame - read & decode a single video frame + increase v_frame - sleep (wait until a_frame>=v_frame) - display the frame - apply A-V PTS correction to a_frame - handle events (keys,lirc etc) -> pause,seek,... - } - - When playing (a/v), it increases the variables by the duration of the - played a/v. - - with audio this is played bytes / sh_audio->o_bps - Note: i_bps = number of compressed bytes for one second of audio - o_bps = number of uncompressed bytes for one second of audio - (this is = bps*samplerate*channels) - - with video this is usually == 1.0/fps, but I have to note that - fps doesn't really matters at video, for example asf doesn't have that, - instead there is "duration" and it can change per frame. - MPEG2 has "repeat_count" which delays the frame by 1-2.5 ... - Maybe only AVI and MPEG1 has fixed fps. - - So everything works right until the audio and video are in perfect - synchronity, since the audio goes, it gives the timing, and if the - time of a frame passed, the next frame is displayed. - But what if these two aren't synchronized in the input file? - PTS correction kicks in. The input demuxers read the PTS (presentation - timestamp) of the packages, and with it we can see if the streams - are synchronized. Then MPlayer can correct the a_frame, within - a given maximal bounder (see -mc option). The summary of the - corrections can be found in c_total . - - Of course this is not everything, several things suck. - For example the soundcards delay, which has to be corrected by - MPlayer! The audio delay is the sum of all these: - - bytes read since the last timestamp: - t1 = d_audio->pts_bytes/sh_audio->i_bps - - if Win32/ACM then the bytes stored in audio input buffer - t2 = a_in_buffer_len/sh_audio->i_bps - - uncompressed bytes in audio out buffer - t3 = a_buffer_len/sh_audio->o_bps - - not yet played bytes stored in the soundcard's (or DMA's) buffer - t4 = get_audio_delay()/sh_audio->o_bps - - From this we can calculate what PTS we need for the just played - audio, then after we compare this with the video's PTS, we have - the difference! - - Life didn't get simpler with AVI. There's the "official" timing - method, the BPS-based, so the header contains how many compressed - audio bytes or chunks belong to one second of frames. - In the AVI stream header there are 2 important fields, the - dwSampleSize, and dwRate/dwScale pairs: - - If the dwSampleSize is 0, then it's VBR stream, so its bitrate - isn't constant. It means that 1 chunk stores 1 sample, and - dwRate/dwScale gives the chunks/sec value. - - If the dwSampleSize is >0, then it's constant bitrate, and the - time can be measured this way: time = (bytepos/dwSampleSize) / - (dwRate/dwScale) (so the sample's number is divided with the - samplerate). Now the audio can be handled as a stream, which can - be cut to chunks, but can be one chunk also. - - The other method can be used only for interleaved files: from - the order of the chunks, a timestamp (PTS) value can be calculated. - The PTS of the video chunks are simple: chunk number * fps - The audio is the same as the previous video chunk was. - We have to pay attention to the so called "audio preload", that is, - there is a delay between the audio and video streams. This is - usually 0.5-1.0 sec, but can be totally different. - The exact value was measured until now, but now the demux_avi.c - handles it: at the audio chunk after the first video, it calculates - the A/V difference, and take this as a measure for audio preload. - -3.a. audio playback: - Some words on audio playback: - Not the playing is hard, but: - 1. knowing when to write into the buffer, without blocking - 2. knowing how much was played of what we wrote into - The first is needed for audio decoding, and to keep the buffer - full (so the audio will never skip). And the second is needed for - correct timing, because some soundcards delay even 3-7 seconds, - which can't be forgotten about. - To solve this, the OSS gives several possibilities: - - ioctl(SNDCTL_DSP_GETODELAY): tells how many unplayed bytes are in - the soundcard's buffer -> perfect for timing, but not all drivers - support it :( - - ioctl(SNDCTL_DSP_GETOSPACE): tells how much can we write into the - soundcard's buffer, without blocking. If the driver doesn't - support GETODELAY, we can use this to know how much the delay is. - - select(): should tell if we can write into the buffer without - blocking. Unfortunately it doesn't say how much we could :(( - Also, doesn't/badly works with some drivers. - Only used if none of the above works. - -4. Codecs. Consists of libmpcodecs/* and separate files or libs, - for example libmpeg2, loader, mp3lib. - - mplayer.c doesn't call them directly, but through the dec_audio.c and - dec_video.c files, so the mplayer.c doesn't have to know anything about - the codecs. - - libmpcodecs contains wrapper for every codecs, some of them include the - codec function implementation, some calls functions from other files - included with mplayer, some calls optional external libraries. - file naming convention in libmpcodecs: - ad_*.c - audio decoder (called through dec_audio.c) - vd_*.c - video decoder (called through dec_video.c) - ve_*.c - video encoder (used by mencoder) - vf_*.c - video filter (see option -vf) - - On this topic, see also: - libmpcodecs.txt - The structure of the codec-filter path, with explanation - dr-methods.txt - Direct rendering, MPI buffer management for video codecs - codecs.conf.txt - How to write/edit codec configuration file (codecs.conf) - codec-devel.txt - Mike's hints about codec development - a bit OUTDATED - hwac3.txt - about SP/DIF audio passthrough - -5. libvo: this displays the frame. - - for details on this, read libvo.txt - -6. libao2: this control audio playing -6.a audio plugins - - for details on this, read libao2.txt |