Bug#647491: Never updates the display until the next frame appears; interface non-responsive with low or variable frame rates

[Josh Triplett]

Package: mplayer
Version: 2:1.0~rc4.dfsg1+svn33713-5
Severity: normal

As far as I can tell, mplayer only updates the display when showing a
new video frame.  Any OSD updates, window size changes, or fullscreening
will only show up when the video supplies the next frame.  Thus, if
playing a video with low FPS, or a video with a variable frame rate,
mplayer's interface takes a long time to respond when using the OSD,
resizing the window, or hitting 'f' for fullscreen.

I notice this frequently when playing videos encoded in H.264 which
include periods of time with entirely static images, such as direct
digital recordings of video games.  I can observe the low frame rate
during these periods by looking at mplayer's console output; the 'A'
timestamp for audio advances by small increments, but the 'V' timestamp
for video advances by large chunks of a second at a time.  During these
periods, I observe the non-responsiveness noted above.  When the image
becomes more dynamic, the 'V' timestamp begins advancing by smaller
increments, and the interface becomes more responsive.

- Josh Triplett

-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.0.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages mplayer depends on:
ii  libaa1                    1.4p5-39                 
ii  libasound2                1.0.24.1-4               
ii  libaudio2                 1.9.3-1                  
ii  libavcodec53              4:0.7.2-1+b1             
ii  libavformat53             4:0.7.2-1+b1             
ii  libavutil51               4:0.7.2-1+b1             
ii  libc6                     2.13-21                  
ii  libcaca0                  0.99.beta17-2.1          
ii  libcdparanoia0            3.10.2+debian-10         
ii  libdca0                   0.0.5-5                  
ii  libdirectfb-1.2-9         1.2.10.0-4.3             
ii  libdvdnav4                4.1.4-1219-4             
ii  libdvdread4               4.1.4-1219-4             
ii  libenca0                  1.13-4                   
ii  libesd0                   0.2.41-10                
ii  libfaad2                  2.7-7                    
ii  libfontconfig1            2.8.0-3                  
ii  libfreetype6              2.4.7-2                  
ii  libfribidi0               0.19.2-1                 
ii  libgif4                   4.1.6-9                  
ii  libgl1-mesa-glx [libgl1]  7.11-6                   
ii  libjack0 [libjack-0.116]  1:0.121.0+svn4538-3      
ii  libjpeg8                  8c-2                     
ii  liblircclient0            0.9.0~pre1-1             
ii  liblzo2-2                 2.05-2                   
ii  libmp3lame0               3.98.4+repack2-6         
ii  libncurses5               5.9-3                    
ii  libogg0                   1.2.2~dfsg-1             
ii  libopenal1                1:1.13-4                 
ii  libpng12-0                1.2.46-3                 
ii  libpostproc52             4:0.7.2-1+b1             
ii  libpulse0                 1.1-1                    
ii  libsdl1.2debian           1.2.14-6.4               
ii  libsmbclient              2:3.5.11~dfsg-4          
ii  libspeex1                 1.2~rc1-1                
ii  libsvga1                  1:1.4.3-31               
ii  libswscale2               4:0.7.2-1+b1             
ii  libtheora0                1.1.1+dfsg.1-3           
ii  libtinfo5                 5.9-3                    
ii  libvdpau1                 0.4.1-3                  
ii  libx11-6                  2:1.4.4-2                
ii  libx264-118               2:0.118.2092+git6eac7c3-1
ii  libxext6                  2:1.3.0-3                
ii  libxinerama1              2:1.1.1-3                
ii  libxt6                    1:1.1.1-2                
ii  libxv1                    2:1.0.6-2                
ii  libxvidcore4              2:1.3.2-6                
ii  libxvmc1                  2:1.0.6-1                
ii  libxxf86dga1              2:1.1.2-1                
ii  libxxf86vm1               1:1.1.1-2                
ii  zlib1g                    1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3         

mplayer recommends no packages.

Versions of packages mplayer suggests:
ii  bzip2              1.0.5-7   
ii  fontconfig         2.8.0-3   
ii  mplayer-doc        <none>    
ii  netselect | fping  <none>    
ii  ttf-freefont       20100919-1

-- no debconf information