[mythtv-users] 0.19, VIA, XvMC, Ezra/i586 - video corrupted - image enclosed

[Jules Gosnell]

Thought I would repost as I'm still seeing this sort of thing on _some_ 
recordings when XvMC is enabled:

http://www.gosnell.org.uk/tmp/00032.jpg

I'm living without XvMC, but it's not ideal - I have to put up with 
stuttering now and then.


I have just upgraded the box to the latest packages from 
washington.kelkoo.net/epia and atrpms (see below).


but, still no better.

Underneath this it is running a pretty much vanilla FC4 with all updates 
from standard repos applied.

The only unusual thing about my setup is that the cpu is an Ezra and 
therefore an i586 - this has caused problems in the past.

Does anyone have an Ezra running successfully with XvMC enabled ? If so, 
I would be very interested to compare notes.


I've just done a little more testing and found that the problem may be 
related to the channel - e.g. ITV2 and More4 (PAL, UK) seem to be the 
only channels on which I regularly record which produce recordings which 
do not demonstrate this problem (90% of the time). All other channels 
that I use generate recordings that I are not watchable with XvMC. Might 
different channels braodcast in slightly different formats, some of 
which work better with my hard/software ? any ideas ?


Thanks for your time,


Jules

kernel-2.6.17-1.2142_FC4
libmyth-0.19-130.fc4.at
mythbrowser-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythcontrols-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythdvd-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythflix-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythgallery-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythgame-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythmkmovie-1.1.4-5.fc4.at
mythmusic-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythnews-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythphone-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythplugins-0.19-126.fc4.at
myththemes-0.19-106.at
mythtv-0.19-130.fc4.at
mythtv-backend-0.19-130.fc4.at
mythtv-frontend-0.19-130.fc4.at
mythtv-setup-0.19-130.fc4.at
mythtv-suite-0.19-59.at
mythtv-theme-abstract-0.20040910-2.at
mythtv-theme-MediaCenter-0.17-4.at
mythtv-theme-photo-4-6.at
mythtv-theme-ProjectGrayhem-1.7-1.at
mythtv-theme-purplegalaxy-0.20031214-3.at
mythtv-theme-Retro-0.20051208-1.at
mythtv-themes-0.19-130.fc4.at
mythtv-theme-sleek-0.35-2.at
mythtv-theme-visor-0.16.2-5.at
mythvideo-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythweather-0.19-126.fc4.at
mythweb-0.19-78.at
xine-0.99.4-0.lvn.3.4
xine-lib-1.1.1-0.lvn.3.4.ucr.1
xine-skins-1.8-0.lvn.1.4
xorg-x11-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-deprecated-libs-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-deprecated-libs-devel-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-devel-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-doc-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-font-utils-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-libs-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-Mesa-libGL-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-Mesa-libGLU-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-sdk-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-tools-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-twm-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-xauth-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-xdm-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-xfs-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-Xnest-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12
xorg-x11-Xvfb-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.12


Jules Gosnell wrote:
> http://www.gosnell.org.uk/tmp/00032.jpg
> 
> Last night I did a completely clean install of FC4 onto my VIA Ezra. I 
> added yum configurations for Kelkoo (Epia Unichrome related RPMs), AT 
> (Myth RPMs), and Livna (Xine RPMs) and did a complete update of the 
> system, including MythTV-Suite and Xine.
> 
> The relevant pieces of my install now look like this :
> 
> xorg-x11-6.9-0.FC4.ucr.5
> mythtv-suite-0.19-57.at
> mythtv-frontend-0.19-124.rhfc4.at
> libmyth-0.19-124.rhfc4.at
> kernel-2.6.15-1.1833_FC4
> xine-0.99.4-0.lvn.3.4
> xine-lib-1.1.1-0.lvn.3.4.ucr.1
> 
> I no longer seem to need an /etc/X11/XvMCConfig or package, or special 
> kernel module - I think all of this is now built into the new kernel and 
> x server releases.
> 
> I have not rebuilt MythTV - I may try that today.
> 
> I had 0.18/FC3/XvMC running fine - but 0.19 offered tempting 
> improvements in so many areas...
> 
> After I upgrading 0.18->0.19 (still on FC3), I was seeing the same form 
> of corruption when running with 'VIA XvMC' decoding, plus a different 
> sort of corruption when playing the same recording with 'Standard' 
> decoding (Colours seemed washed out of video, then a few brighter 
> colours like orange were striped across the video and smeared upwards 
> and to the right slightly).
> 
> I figured I would be in better company if I moved from FC3->FC4 - now 
> 'Standard' decoding seems fixed - but my 1ghz cpu cannot keep up. 
> Unfortunately, 'VIA XvMC' playback still results in garbage being 
> displayed on large horizontal sections of the screen. Pausing or 
> changing position in the stream tends to corrupt the whole screen.
> 
> I've noted two other things that may help:
> 
> - some MPEG2 files (recorded on both 0.18 and 0.19) are not affected and 
> play perfectly - XvMC decoding is much improved over 0.18 for these :-). 
> Unfortunately, these recordings seem to be the exception.
> 
> - the files that cannot be played cleanly on VIA/MythTV playback fine on 
> the same machine using 'xine -xxmc' (load is reduced to 15-20%) and on 
> another non XvMC capable machine - so the files themselves are not 
> corrupted.
> 
> many issues that I have had with this box come down to the fact that it 
> is an i586 - an unusual arch - so that may be worth bearing in mind.
> 
> If anyone has any ideas, patches, things that they would like me to try 
> - just shout. I've fiddled with various settings, but to no avail. I may 
> try completely removing my ~/.mythtv in the hope that I have some 
> historical setting that is causing trouble.
> 
> Thanks for MythTV !
> 
> 
> Jules
> 


-- 
"Open Source is a self-assembling organism. You dangle a piece of
string into a super-saturated solution and a whole operating-system
crystallises out around it."

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  * Jules Gosnell
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