[mythtv-users] Problems with vdpau decoding HD content

[Scott]

On May 14, 2010, at 1:29 PM, Scott Russell wrote:

> 
> On May 13, 2010, at 1:14 AM, Scott wrote:
> 
>> This is a general query to help me with my troubleshooting of a playback problem on my FE. 
>> 
>> I have an ASRock 330 ION loaded with Mythbuntu 10.04 and the 0.23-fixes SVN 24572. The system uses the VDPAU Normal profile and is configured for 512MB of GPU RAM in BIOS.
>> 
>> Playback with both recorded 720p and 1080i (OTA ATSC from a HDHR) shows seems to run into a glitch. The show starts off fine and pausing, FF/RW, and commercial skip all work fine. At some point, usually 12-30 minutes, the video starts jumping and sometimes the audio too. I see "prebuffering pause" messages logged in mythfrontend.log. 
>> 
>> To resolve the problem I have to reboot the system. To be sure, the following does NOT resolve the problem:
>> 
>> 1) pause/unpause the show
>> 2) stop/start playback again
>> 3) exit mythfrontned and start mythfrontend again
>> 4) exit X11 and start it again
>> 
>> Thoughts? Is anyone else having trouble with vdpau and HD recordings on 0.23?
> 
> 
> This is an update based on the suggestions given in this thread. Summary is that so far the root cause has not been found and the problem continues.
> 
> I've done the following and continue to see a problem when watching 720p or 1080i content:
> 
> 1) Verified bios is set for 512MB of video memory
> 2) Modified xorg.conf as shown below.
> 3) Verified from the nvidia settings utility that the display is showing 1920x1080 at 60hz. The TV menus confirm this is a 1080p signal.
> 4) Simplified the network connection; changed from 3 switches to one switch (DLink DGS 1216T) and used only store bought cables.
> 5) Reset all FE settings and then made the following changes:
> 	- Using VDPAU Normal Profile
> 	- Using ALSA:hdmi with DTS/AC3 pass through
> 6) Followed VDPAU troubleshooting recommendations form the wiki making changes to MythTV FE settings as indicated
> 7) Verified CPU is not over heating, scaling, or running excessive (3-5% usage in TOP)
> 
> 
> Open Items to explore:
> 
> 1) Network trace to ensure nothing funny is going on. Look for dup acks, retransmissions, or out of order packets. This isn't expected to reveal anything
> 2) Investigate exactly what the "Always stream recordings" option does. Can recordings be played from an NFS mount instead and would that make a difference?
> 3) The ASRock 330 has a CPU fan and there is no indication of overheating. I tried to check the Nvidia GPU temp but received no output. Need to follow up on this.
> 
> Current suspect:
> 
> I think the problem is with the nvidia driver or a vdpau playback bug in 0.23. I state this assumption because with JYA 0.22 on Mythbuntu Karmic playback was working okay. However, because this was a major upgrade of both OS and MythTV I have not yet ruled out OS level problems either. That's why I'm looking at things outside of MythTV too.
> 
> I've also been rapidly eliminating problems outside of MythTV through testing (as shown). I'm also suspicious of vdpau/nvidia driver problems because once the issue happens so far the only way I can clear it is to reboot the FE. 
> 
> I'm not sure yet how to collect debug logs on VDPAU problems other than mythfrontend -v 'general,important,playback'. I've done that much already but would like to get a new set. Can the users list help analyze the logs or should a bug be opened? 
> 
> 
> My current xorg.conf:
> =================================
> 
> Section "Screen"
>        Identifier      "Default Screen"
>        DefaultDepth    24
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Device"
>        Identifier      "Default Device"
>        Driver  "nvidia"
>        Option  "DPI"           "100x100"
>        Option  "NoLogo"        "1"
>        Option  "UseEvents"     "1"
>        Option  "TripleBuffer"  "1"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Serverflags"
>        Option  "BlankTime"     "0"
>        Option  "StandbyTime"   "0"
>        Option  "SuspendTime"   "0"
>        Option  "OffTime"       "0"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Extensions"
>        Option "Composite" "Disable"
> EndSection


errrrr... the TripleBuffer option was causing problems with mythtv crashes and X failing. I had to remove it. 

--
Scott <catfather at donpoo.net>
AIM: BlueCame1