How to use Anime4K with mpv on Manjaro

To use Anime4K with mpv on Manjaro, you need to do the following steps:

1. Install Anime4K: Anime4K is available on the AUR. You can install it using any AUR helper like yay or pamac. Here's how you can do it with yay:

   yay -S anime4k-git
   

   Source 0

2. Install mpv: You can install mpv from the official Manjaro repositories using pacman:

   sudo pacman -S mpv
   

   Source 3

3. Download the Anime4K shaders: Depending on your GPU, you can download the optimized shaders for lower-end GPU or higher-end GPU from the Anime4K Github page. Extract the shaders and place them in the shaders folder. Source 3

4. Configure mpv to use Anime4K: You need to modify your mpv.conf file to use Anime4K. The mpv.conf file is usually located in ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf. If it doesn't exist, you can create it. Below is a sample configuration:

   profile=gpu-hq
   scale=ewa_lanczossharp
   cscale=ewa_lanczossharp
   dscale=mitchell
   tscale=oversample
   correct-downscaling=yes
   sigmoid-upscaling=yes
   scaler-resizes-only=yes
   deband=yes
   

   Add the path to the Anime4K shaders with the glsl-shaders-append option. For example:

   glsl-shaders-append="~~/shaders/Anime4K_Upscale_CNN_M_x2_Denoise_Bilateral_Mode.glsl"
   

   Replace "~~/shaders/Anime4K_Upscale_CNN_M_x2_Denoise_Bilateral_Mode.glsl" with the path to your shaders. Source 6

5. Use the correct mode for your content: Anime4K has 3 major modes: A, B, and C. Each mode is optimized for a different class of anime degradations. You can switch between these modes using CTRL+1 for Mode A (Optimized for 1080p Anime), CTRL+2 for Mode B (Optimized for 720p Anime), and CTRL+3 for Mode C (Optimized for 480p Anime). You can disable Anime4K using CTRL+0. Source 3

Remember that Anime4K is quite GPU-intensive, so ensure your hardware is capable of handling it. If you experience issues, try adjusting your mpv settings or use a lower-end GPU version of Anime4K.