Video Playback re. FFMPEG core - Linux AppImage

Libretro Cores
#1

Hi, I have some old VHS recordings I’d like to play in Retroarch. The main reason is for the shader support; I’d like to try some CRT shaders to help improve the image.

I recall there was an FFMPEG core, but I believe this is now integrated into Retroarch?

I am currently using the Linux AppImage version 1.19.1. If I select Load Content none of the video files are recognised (they don’t show up).

So I was wondering, is FFMPEG integrated into the Linux AppImage version (or any Linux version). Or perhaps video playback is no longer supported in all versions?

#2

It’s not available in all versions, but if you go to main menu > information > system info and scroll down to the bottom, it should tell you if it has it or not.

#3

Thank you @hunterk

I checked, and unfortunately it is not available in my AppImage version.

I wondered if this was due to a dependency in Linux, but I do have ffmpeg installed.

I will try the Flatpak version.

#4

Is it integrated into the Windows version as well? Woukd having an old version of the Core Override the integrated version? Should I remove the old Core in order to have the latest features?

#5

Just a quick update; I tried the Flatpak version and it works fine.

I tried using the crt-hylian-3d and crtsim shaders and they look great :smiley:

Also, I forgot to mention; I am running MX Linux 23.4

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#6

I have some presets that you can check out for video playback in my Mega Bezel and my Uborder Packs and possibly also in my Uborder and miniLED packs. For any other packs my Genesis presets tend to work well for video use.

17350618901435998505398879633834
173506189014359985053988796338341332×1000 1.62 MB

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#7

There hasn’t been a lot of changes to it in quite some time, so the old core is likely identical (or possibly even better, as some things, like ASS subtitle support, have broken over time as ffmpeg has broken ABI upstream), as long as it still loads. If it uses shared FFmpeg libs–which I think it does–the version it was compiled with is probably invalid now.

But yes, if you manually load the core and then load content with it, it should use the separate core instead. You can make sure by loading from a command line, though.

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#8

Thank you @Cyber these look really good!

I also tried the 1.19.1 Windows version; I did not have an FFMPEG core in my install but it worked and opened video files without any issue.

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#9

@hunterk @retrogaming Thanks for the info! I added some examples from my Mega Bezel Preset Pack to my previous post.

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#10

Many videos in RetroArch have stutters in random places. The same videos play perfectly in every other player like Potplayer or VLC. I tried all different hardware decoder options. What else can i try to fix this issue?

#11

Are you using the same shaders in those other players?

#12

The videos will stutter in RA with or without any shaders. They don’t affect anything.

#13

Hmmm…what RetroArch should be doing is changing the display refresh rate to match the frame rate of video content even if VRR/GSYNC/FreeSYNC is disabled.

This can yield improvements in video playback performance by increasing the window in which processing/rendering needs to take place per frame.

Any hope that something like this can be implemented @hunterk?

In the interim @GemaH, maybe you can try manually doing that. Remember RetroArch wasn’t originally designed to be a video player so certain insufficiencies could be inherent because of this. For example in memory usage or the way RetroArch synchronizes with the display e.t.c.

Those video players are designed for a specific purpose and might be lean and mean when it comes to that purpose.

#14

As I recall, ffmpeg-libretro does interframe blending to produce 60 Hz output rather than allowing it to output weird refresh rates (VRR wasn’t really a thing back when it was made). This probably explains the stutters.

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#15

I have a bunch of 60fps longplay videos and i noticed that the ones that run at exactly 60fps don’t stutter.

The ones that run at 59.97 or 60.1 do have those stutters, but only in RetroArch. Like i said, the other players don’t have this issue.

I have a 60hz TV and a 240hz VRR monitor, the stutters appear in both. So i assume this has to do with the fact that these videos are not exact 60fps. Not sure what the other players do to sync the videos perfectly but whatever that is, the RA player does not do it.

Here is one of the videos that has those stutters in RA:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/wfw4a8ku2dbenft/[1991]+Tiny+Toon+Adventures.zip/file

You can see the stutters during scrolling every 10 or 15 seconds.

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