How to use Mplayer with hardware graphics acceleration

You may wonder why it would be desirable to enable hardware graphics acceleration. The answer is very simple: eProcessor (CPU) consumption is incredibly less, which implies that your computer will go much faster when you are playing a video and will allow you to perform other tasks without the video slowing down everything and virtually drown your computer resources.

When using Mplayer if vdpau enabled, when playing a HD video (H.264 - 720p), an average of 24-52% of the microprocessor is consumed; When vdpau is enabled, this number drops to 0%. This may not always be the case, but the improvement will surely be noticeable.

To enjoy the benefits of vdpau, first make sure that your Nvidia card supports this feature and that you have the proprietary drivers installed. If so:


1. Install mplayer and vdpau:

sudo apt-get install mplayer libvdpau1

Restart the computer (or X, as you prefer).

2. How to use:

To play H.264 high definition videos using vdpau:

mplayer -vo vdpau -vc ffh264vdpau yourvideo.mkv

In case the video is not H.264, replace the parameters "-vc ffh264vdpau".

3. Optional: You don't have to use Mplayer, there are other great Mplayer-based players, like GNOME Mplayer:

sudo apt-get install gnome-mplayer

To enable hardware graphics acceleration in GNOME MPlayer, go to Edit> PreferencesIn the first tab (Player), under the option "Video output" select "vdpau".

Another very good option is SMplayer:

sudo apt-get install smplayer

In that case, go to Options> Preferences> General, in the Video tab, select «vdpau» under «Output driver».

Source: WebUpd8