mplayer doesn't use 'pulse' audio output by default

[Neil Wilson]

Binary package hint: mplayer

mplayer doesn't use native pulseaudio by default. You have to specify the '-ao pulse' option on the command line.

It seems to use oss, or bypass the pulseaudio alsa redirector. This can mean sound comes out of a different sound card than the one selected in Sound Preferences.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: mplayer 2:1.0~rc3+svn20090426-1ubuntu15
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-17.26-generic 2.6.32.10+drm33.1
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-17-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Mar 28 22:41:46 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha amd64 (20100224.1)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: mplayer

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

It's definitely specified as such in /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf:

# Use pulse, then alsa, then SDL video with the aalib subdriver by default.
ao=pulse,alsa,sdl:aalib

Do you have ao overridden in ~/.mplayer/config?

[Neil Wilson (neil-aldur)]

No. Only just installed it. Completely default settings.

On 29 March 2010 01:43, Daniel T Chen <email address hidden> wrote:
> It's definitely specified as such in /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf:
>
> # Use pulse, then alsa, then SDL video with the aalib subdriver by default.
> ao=pulse,alsa,sdl:aalib
>
> Do you have ao overridden in ~/.mplayer/config?
>
> --
> mplayer doesn't use 'pulse' audio output by default
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/550517
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Neil Wilson

[Reinhard Tartler (siretart)]

are you using gmplayer or the non-gui version?

please also attach the full command line output.

[Neil Wilson (neil-aldur)]

sudo aptitude install get-iplayer, then install suggested packages (ffmpeg and mplayer).

There is no /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf created.

Command line is get-iplayer --stream 272 --player="mplayer -cache 128 -"

[Neil Wilson (neil-aldur)]

Output

libavformat file format detected.
64.136 kB / 0.51 sec (0.0%)[lavf] Video stream found, -vid 0
[lavf] Audio stream found, -aid 1
VIDEO: [H264] 640x360 0bpp 25.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
open: No such file or directory
[MGA] Couldn't open: /dev/mga_vid
open: No such file or directory
[MGA] Couldn't open: /dev/mga_vid
[VO_TDFXFB] Can't open /dev/fb0: Permission denied.
[VO_3DFX] Unable to open /dev/3dfx.
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [faad] AAC (MPEG2/4 Advanced Audio Coding)
FAAD: compressed input bitrate missing, assuming 128kbit/s!
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 128.0 kbit/8.33% (ratio: 16000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [faad] afm: faad (FAAD AAC (MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Audio))
==========================================================================
AO: [oss] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
VDec: vo config request - 640 x 360 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [xv] 640x360 => 640x360 Planar YV12

[Reinhard Tartler (siretart)]

thanks for your information, I can now confirm and reproduce. This is
actually a regression caused by the fact that I forgot to move the
configuration file /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf from mplayer-nogui ->
mplayer. Will do so in the next upload.

in the mean time, you can install the nearly empty package mplayer-nogui
as a workaround.

again, thanks for your time investigating the issue!