[mythtv-users] Frozen Video

[Robert Denier]

On Sat, 2005-11-05 at 16:09 -0800, Drew Tomlinson wrote:
> I have a Gentoo box running kernel version 2.6.13-r5, and MythTV 0.18.2 
> built from Gentoo's portage system.   I'm using a video card with the 
> nvida nv18 chipset (6600?).  I also have a custom xorg modeline for my 
> widescreen HDTV.  My video card is connected via a VGA to component 
> converter.  The screen looks good and regular desktop mode works fine.  
> The mouse moves.  MythTV menus are displayed and the cursor moves around 
> when I hit the arrow keys.
> 
> The problem is when I switch to a video mode.  The video freezes at the 
> first frame.  The audio continues and plays just fine.  The freezing 
> problem occurs whether I'm viewing LiveTV, previously recorded shows, 
> and even video files via MythVideo.  All of this used to work until I 
> upgraded hardware and rebuilt my system.
> 
> I have no idea what the cause might be or where to start looking.  Any 
> ideas?
> 
> Drew
> 

Since your information is relatively generic, I am just tossing out
possibilities.  You may be able to eliminate some right away..  Your
best bet is probably video card drivers though...

---

Does mplayer/xine/whatever play videos?  If so everything is probably
working well.  You say mythvideo does not play so I assume this will
fail too.

Can you play videos without sound?  Try 
mplayer -nosound <filename.avi>
If that works then you probably have sound card/driver issues.

You have an nvidia card.  What drivers are you using?  Get a pen and
paper, or whatever, and note down your current combination.  Sometimes
one just keeps trying different drivers and/or other things until a clue
appears.  If you run out of other things you might try more conservative
kernel options by turning off anything video card related..

Is there a card in the next slot next to your AGP? card?  Sometimes that
used to cause trouble.  Try removing it.  For that matter, at some point
trying the system with only the video card, and no other cards might be
worthwhile...

Perhaps you should connect a normal computer monitor for testing just to
remove that converter from the equation and be able to test
independently.  Still if the video is freezing, it seems unlikely to be
the converter unless the converter is actually sampling the signal,
which seems unlikely.  Then again I suppose it could be the tv doing the
freeze frame..

Finally, is this a new card, or a card that has never been fully tested
in that board before?  If so, can you try something else?

If that is not possible can you check the card elsewhere?  By check I
mean, make sure you at least get it playing back videos under as similar
a configuration as you can manage.  If that works, and you can't think
of anything else then perhaps the card doesn't like the motherboard..
If it doesn't work, the possibility of a bad card exists.

Does the card or your motherboard have spots for more power cables?  Is
the fan on the card running?

-good luck
-Robert