[mythtv-users] video stutter with VDPAU and 1080i DVB

[Greg Oliver]

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 9:04 AM, Johnny Walker <johnnyjboss at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 11:53 AM, Michael T. Dean
> <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
>> On 01/09/2010 11:11 AM, Justin Smith wrote:
>>>
>>> I get a slight but annoying stutter in video playback of live TV on my
>>> mythTV box and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to
>>> troubleshoot this. It only occurs for one 1080i HD DVB channel - other HD
>>> channels are fine (FWIW: Ch9 HD in Australia).
>>>
>>> The stuttering is confirmed in the frontend log (-v playback) with lines
>>> like this:
>>>
>>> NVP(6): Video is 3.19567 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to
>>> catch up.
>>>
>>> When I set the audio output device to NULL, the stuttering (and log lines)
>>> disappear. But as I'm not too good at lip reading... :)
>>>
>>
>> I'd start with:
>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Troubleshooting:Prebuffering_pause .  Also, make
>> sure you're not using PulseAudio.
>
> I'm having tearing at the top of the screen during panning when I'm
> trying to just playback 720p from an HDPVR. I've turned off the
> de-interlacers (as someone pointed out I'm not using interlaced
> content) but I'm still getting issues.
>
> I was able to replace the ram in my Acer Revo 1600 to 2gbs and now
> Video ram is 512 and yet this issue persists.
>
> I've got the following in the logs:
>
> 2010-01-15 06:46:21.519 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: 10.0.1.199
> 2010-01-15 06:46:21.688 Using Idle Timer. 62 minutes
> 2010-01-15 06:46:21.691 TV: Attempting to change from None to Watching
> WatchingLiveTV
> 2010-01-15 06:46:21.695 MythContext: Connecting to backend server:
> 10.0.1.199:6543 (try 1 of 1)
> 2010-01-15 06:46:21.697 Using protocol version 50
> 2010-01-15 06:46:21.743 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- begin
> 2010-01-15 06:46:24.748 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- end
> 2010-01-15 06:46:24.776 We have a
> playbackURL(myth://10.0.1.199:6543/2025_20100115064624.mpg) &
> cardtype(HDPVR)
> 2010-01-15 06:46:25.212 We have a RingBuffer
> 2010-01-15 06:46:25.264 TV: StartPlayer(0, Watching WatchingLiveTV,
> main) -- begin
> 2010-01-15 06:46:25.735 AFD: Opened codec 0xae5b2890, id(H264) type(Video)
> 2010-01-15 06:46:25.735 AFD: codec AAC has 2 channels
> 2010-01-15 06:46:25.736 AFD: Opened codec 0xad7a1d90, id(AAC) type(Audio)
> 2010-01-15 06:46:25.991 Opening audio device 'default'. ch 2(2) sr 48000
> 2010-01-15 06:46:25.991 Opening ALSA audio device 'default'.
> 2010-01-15 06:46:26.103 mixer unable to find control Master 1
> 2010-01-15 06:46:26.467 NVP(2): Forcing decode extra audio option on
> (Video method requires it).
> 2010-01-15 06:46:26.469 OSD Theme Dimensions W: 1280 H: 720
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.291 TV: StartPlayer(0, Watching WatchingLiveTV,
> main) -- end ok
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.291 TV: Changing from None to Watching WatchingLiveTV
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.291 TV: State is LiveTV & mctx == ctx
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.292 Using realtime priority.
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.297 Video timing method: USleep with busy wait
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.297 TV: UpdateOSDInput done
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.297 TV: UpdateLCD done
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.305 TV: ITVRestart done
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.395 ScreenSaverX11Private: DPMS Deactivated 1
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.489 Loading window theme from
> /usr/share/mythtv/themes/Mythbuntu/schedule-ui.xml
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.862 NVP(2): prebuffering pause
> 2010-01-15 06:46:27.916 NVP(2): prebuffering pause
> 2010-01-15 06:46:46.580 New DB connection, total: 3
> 2010-01-15 06:46:46.583 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: 10.0.1.199
> 2010-01-15 06:46:48.753
> RingBuf(myth://10.0.1.199:6543/2025_20100115064624.mpg): Waited too
> long for ringbuffer pause..
> 2010-01-15 06:46:49.115 NVP(2): Forcing decode extra audio option on
> (Video method requires it).
> 2010-01-15 06:46:49.246 AFD: Opened codec 0xae5b2890, id(H264) type(Video)
> 2010-01-15 06:46:49.246 AFD: codec AAC has 2 channels
> 2010-01-15 06:46:49.247 AFD: Opened codec 0xae5d4460, id(AAC) type(Audio)
> 2010-01-15 06:46:49.803 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:49.946 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.079 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.113 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.213 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.346 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.380 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.445 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.511 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.578 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.645 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.711 NVP(2): prebuffering pause
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.712 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.713 NVP(2): prebuffering pause
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.717 NVP(2): prebuffering pause
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.737 NVP(2): prebuffering pause
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.745 NVP(2): prebuffering pause
> 2010-01-15 06:46:50.763 NVP(2): prebuffering pause
> 2010-01-15 06:49:13.558 TV: Attempting to change from Watching
> WatchingLiveTV to None
> 2010-01-15 06:49:13.732 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> 2010-01-15 06:49:15.738 TV: Changing from Watching WatchingLiveTV to None
>
> So I went through the
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Troubleshooting:Prebuffering_pause page and
> the nothing seems to help. The system is SNOOZING at 12% CPU in top
> during playback.
>
> Version is 0.22.0+fixes23097-0ubuntu0+mythbuntu3 and I've tried the
> 185, 190 and now even 195 beta nvidia driver.
>
> I changed the audio output from alsa:default to alsa:hdmi and to my
> surprise it actually worked - but there was still this flicker on the
> top of the image as if it was trying to keep up. Modern Family is
> filmed with this 'Mtv Style Camera work' where there's a great deal of
> panning and motion at the same time.
>
> What astounds me is that people are reporting this ion on the Revo
> 1600 plays back 1080i just fine but I'm working with 720p and it's got
> these prebuffering pauses.
>
> Of course Composite is already disabled in my xorg.conf.
>
I have this same issue with videos that are encoded with AVC with AAC
audio (6 channel)..

Every video I have that is AVC level 4.1 and 5.1 AAC audio has either
pixelation, or 1/2 speed playback..

A fresh (mythbuntu 9.10) install (no upgrades) nvidia 185/vdpau plays
it ok..  After I upgrade, I get 1/2 speed video due to the same audio
buffering pauses..

Using mplayer or vlc plays it perfect..   Of course, the new storage
groups keeps me from using an external player to alleviate this, so I
guess I will have to wait until it is fixed.

I can transcode them to another fromat and they play fine though..

-Greg