How To: Using CoreAVC on Linux for fast HD video playback

CoreAVC is a fast proprietary codec for decoding H.264/AVC video. It enables low-end systems to play videos without any lag, present in other decoders.

Step 1: Preparing for installation

1. First of all, remove any existing MPlayer installations. On OpenSuSE this can be done by:

zypper rm MPlayer

2. Next, install the dependencies for MPlayer by
   

   zypper si -d MPlayer

3. Install wine
   

   zypper in wine

Step 2: Install dshowserver

1. Install CoreAVC. You will need a licensed copy to get beyond this step.
   

   wine CoreAVC-Setup.exe

2. Download the source:
   

   svn co http://coreavc-for-linux.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ coreavc-for-linux
   cd coreavc-for-linux/dshowserver

3. Compile and install:
   

   make && make install
   sudo cp “$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/CoreCodec/CoreAVC Professional Edition/CoreAVCDecoder.ax” /usr/local/share/dshowserver

4. Verify whether dshowserver is installed correctly
   

   dshowserver -c CoreAVCDecoder.ax

   should show something like:

   Starting wine dshowserver.exe.so
   No id specified, assuming test mode
   Using default width for CoreAVCDecoder.ax: 1280
   Using default height for CoreAVCDecoder.ax: 720
   Using default fourcc for CoreAVCDecoder.ax: 0×34363248
   Using default outfmt for CoreAVCDecoder.ax: 0×30323449
   Using default outbit for CoreAVCDecoder.ax: 12
   Using default GUID for CoreAVCDecoder.ax: 09571a4b-f1fe-4c60-9760de6d310c7c31
   Opening device (port is 0)
   len: 992
   ProductVersion: 2.0.0
   fixme:thread:SetThreadIdealProcessor (0x8c): stub
   fixme:thread:SetThreadIdealProcessor (0×90): stub
   Decoder supports the following YUV formats: YUY2 UYVY YV12 I420
   Decoder is capable of YUV output (flags 0x2b)
   Setting fmt
   Starting
   Initialization is complete

Step 3: Install Mplayer

1. Download the source:
   

   cd ..
   wget http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/mplayer-checkout-snapshot.tar.bz2
   tar xvjf mplayer-checkout-snapshot.tar.bz2
   cd mplayer-export-*

2. Patch the source:
   

   patch -p0 < ./mplayer/dshowserver.patch

3. Compile and install. Grab a cup of coffee while it compiles, it takes a few minutes.
   

   ./configure && make && sudo make install

Step 4: Final steps

Copy this codecs.conf to your $HOME/.mplayer/ directory.

Test out playback with

mplayer -vc coreserve <filename>