PLAYDV(1)

💖 PLAYDV 💖

okay so bestie, let me introduce you to playdv — the manual page for it lives in the General Commands Manual section, and honestly? it's giving "small tool, big slay" energy. ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

playdv [ options ] file

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

playdv reads in DV-encoded video data from file and displays it on screen. that's it, that's the whole vibe. iconic behavior, no notes. 💅

• -v, --version — show the playdv version number. lil flex, love that for you ✨
• --disable-audio — skip audio decoding. no sound, only vibes 🎀
• --disable-video — skip video decoding. audio-only era, we love a switch-up 🦋
• -n, --num-frames=count — stop playing after count frames. your "okay that's enough" button 💀
• --dump-frames=pattern — save a PPM image of each frame to an individual file. pattern determines the file names and may be given in printf-style, taking one numeric argument that gets replaced with the current frame number. like capture%05d.ppm for files capture00001.ppm, capture00002.ppm, etc. use - to stream the frames to stdout. lowkey the screenshot queen behavior 👑
• --no-mmap — don't use mmap for reading (useful for pipes). fr fr, pipes will thank you 🫶
• -l, --loop-count=count — loop playback count times, 0 for infinite. infinite loop girlies, be careful 😭

🎧 Audio Output Options 🎧

• --audio-device=devicename — target audio device; e.g. /dev/dsp, which is also the default. yes bestie, that's the one you get for free 💜
• --audio-file=file — send raw decoded audio stream to file, skipping audio ioctls. no ioctls, only bytes ✨
• --audio-mix=(-16 .. 16) — mixing level of 4 channel audio for 32KHz 12bit. 0 [default]. -16 selects second channel, 16 selects first channel. channel-picking main character energy 🎀

🎬 Video Output Options 🎬

• -d, --display=(0|1|2|3) — method used to display video data on screen: 0=autoselect [default], 1=gtk, 2=Xv, 3=SDL. Xv is usually the fastest but requires XFree86 version 4.0 or higher with XVideo extensions. speed demon behavior 🔥
• --aspect=(n|w|normal|wide) — video display aspect ratio (for Xv only): n=normal 4:3, w=wide 16:9 . not all window manager support resizing at fixed aspect ratio. if they do, resizing is done at fixed aspect ratio. ngl this is so real of them 💅
• --size=(10 .. 100) — initial scaleing percentage (for Xv only): 10 <= n <= 100. yes, "scaleing" — the manpage said it like that and we're keeping it, periodt 🫶

🧚 Decoder Options 🧚

• -V, --video-system=(0|1|2|3) — sets the video standard of the incoming DV data: 0=autoselect [default], 1=525/60 4:1:1 (NTSC), 2=625/50 4:2:0 (PAL,IEC 61834 DV), 3=625/50 4:1:1 (PAL,SMPTE 314M DV). Autoselect usually works fine. only use this option if you know what you are doing.

⚠️ bestie, that last line is a warning wrapped in a sentence. if you don't know what you're doing, leave it on autoselect. no cap. 🙈

🌈 Video Decode Options 🌈

• -q, --quality=(1|2|3) — quality level of desired video decoding. the process of decoding DV data is split into several steps. each additional step enhances output quality, but of course also slows down decoding. if your machine is too slow to keep up an interactive frame rate, you might want to decrease this number: 1=DC and no ACs, 2=DC and single-pass for ACs, 3=DC and multi-pass for ACs [default]. trade-offs, the eternal struggle 😭
• -m, --monochrome — skip decoding of color blocks. another way to speed up the decoding process. sometimes grey is the moment 💀

🍓 Audio Decode Options 🍓

• -f, --frequency=(0|1|2|3) — frequency of audio data in the input stream: 0=autodetect [default], 1=32 kHz, 2=44.1 kHz, 3=48 kHz. let it autodetect, she knows ✨
• -Q, --quantization=(0|1|2) — dynamic range of audio data in the input stream: 0=autodetect [default], 1=12 bit, 2=16bit. (note: 16bit with no space, we don't fix, we respect 💅)
• -e, --emphasis=(0|1|2) — first-order preemphasis of 50/15 us: 0=autodetect [default], 1=on, 2=off. she's fancy like that 🎀

⭐ Help Options ⭐

• -?, --help — show help message. use this command to get a brief description of available options. the "girl help" but make it productive 🫶
• --usage — display brief usage message. even briefer, even cuter 🌸

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

dvconnect(1),dubdv(1),encodedv(1).

(yes, no space after the commas in the original — we keep the facts exact, always 💖)

🔥 AVAILABILITY 🔥

see http://libdv.sourceforge.net/ for the latest version. bookmark it bestie, that's where the fresh drops live ✨

💜 AUTHORS 💜

playdv was written by Charles 'Buck' Krasic <krasic@acm.org> and Erik Walthinsen <omega@cse.ogi.edu>. absolute legends, we stan 🌈

this manual page is based on playdv's help message and was written by Daniel Kobras <kobras@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others). shoutout to the Debian girlies 🫶

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 this lil cutie is dated January 2003 and belongs to PLAYDV(1) — vintage but still slaying, iykyk 💅✨