[mythtv-users] Problems with VAAPI playback

[Michael T. Dean]

On 05/18/2012 10:12 AM, Geoff B wrote:
> On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 8:56 PM, Geoff B wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> I'm running 0.25-fixes on Mythbuntu 12.04 x64, and am using an Ivy Bridge
>> (3750K) CPU in an attempt to get VAAPI playback.
>>
>> Right now, when I play back a recording with VAAPI (no deinterlacing set)
>> the frontend gives me the usual black screen with "Please wait...", but
>> instead of the recording starting I get about a half-second of audio; the
>> screen goes black, then back to the 'Please wait' screen - and this repeats
>> 4-5 times. After that, the machine freezes completely, and I have to
>> hard-boot it.  If I'm lucky, I can press escape during the "Please wait"
>> cycle and get back to the Myth menus.
>>
>> vainfo returns:
>>
>> libva: VA-API version 0.32.0
>> libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
>> libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
>> libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
>> vainfo: VA-API version: 0.32 (libva 1.0.15)
>> vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver - 1.0.15
>> vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
>>        VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :    VAEntrypointVLD
>>        VAProfileMPEG2Main              :    VAEntrypointVLD
>>        VAProfileH264Baseline           :    VAEntrypointVLD
>>        VAProfileH264Baseline           :    VAEntrypointEncSlice
>>        VAProfileH264Main               :    VAEntrypointVLD
>>        VAProfileH264Main               :    VAEntrypointEncSlice
>>        VAProfileH264High               :    VAEntrypointVLD
>>        VAProfileH264High               :    VAEntrypointEncSlice
>>        VAProfileVC1Simple              :    VAEntrypointVLD
>>        VAProfileVC1Main                :    VAEntrypointVLD
>>        VAProfileVC1Advanced            :    VAEntrypointVLD
>>
>> I've seen references to environment variables like LIBVA_DRIVERS_PATH but
>> I don't have these set; do I need these?
>>
>> I assume the next request is to ask for a backtrace, but from my reading
>> this requires something to actually crash, right?  From what I can tell,
>> I'm not getting a crash, I'm getting a freeze (or a recovery back into the
>> frontend menus).  I'm more than happy to be wrong, and to put whatever
>> effort needed into debugging.  I ran mythfrontend-real>  mythdebug.log,
>> contents of which are here:
>> http://pastebin.com/T44DhReU
>>
>> (thiis is from one of the times I managed to recover with the escape key)
>>
>> In case it helps, there were several lines which 'escaped' into the
>> terminal window:
>>
>> QFont::setPixelSize: Pixel size<= 0 (0)
>> QFont::setPixelSize: Pixel size<= 0 (0)
>> QFont::setPixelSize: Pixel size<= 0 (0)
>> QFont::setPixelSize: Pixel size<= 0 (0)
>> libva: VA-API version 0.32.0
>> libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
>> libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
>>   libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
>> libva: VA-API version 0.32.0
>> libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
>> libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
>> libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
>>
>> Note that OpenGL works fine, albeit with 50%-70% CPU usage.  Videos work
>> fine too - it's just recordings that fail.
>> Any help greatly appreciated!
> Based on the silence on this one, there's not a simple solution to this; is
> this better suited to the developers mailing list?

No, actually, this (or some Mythbuntu/Ubuntu forum) is likely the best 
location to talk about it.  Developers wouldn't have any more 
information on how the Ubuntu packages are compiled and how the system 
is configured for VAAPI, so you're far more likely to find help from a 
user who's also trying to go down the same road.

>    Or is VAAPI just not
> really working yet?

It's, er, temperamental--meaning you/your packager/your system 
configuration has to do everything exactly right (from installing the 
right VAAPI libs, to installing the right graphics drivers, to 
configuring everything properly, to ...).  (And then, FWIW, once you get 
it working, you're left with something significantly less useful than 
VDPAU.)

Mike