[mythtv-users] Troubleshooting video problems on my combined FE/BE

Hika van den Hoven hikavdh at gmail.com
Thu Mar 12 17:11:59 UTC 2015


Hoi Jerry,

Thursday, March 12, 2015, 5:09:16 PM, you wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 9:17 PM, Jerry <mythtv at hambone.e4ward.com> wrote:

>> I'm experiencing some video glitches on my FE/BE.  Typically, they occur
>> when there is a long shot of video where the camera pans an area for ten
>> seconds or so.  I also see other glitches at other times.  It is connected
>> to a 2014 Samsung Smart TV by an HDMI cable.  The system is a Core 2 Quad
>> Q9400 with 8 GB ram, and the OS runs on an SSD drive.  The recordings are
>> on a 3 TB hard drive.
>>
>> I have tried switching video playback modes.  I have a GTX 260 card and I
>> have been trying to use VDPAU Slim.  I have tried Normal as well, and Slim.
>>
>> I am not seeing these issues on my frontend running on a Core 2 Duo
>> machine on the wired network.  It has a GTX 9600 card.  I only just
>> installed it tonight to troubleshoot the problem.
>>
>> I produced this log with -v playback.  I apologize if it is too much
>> information, but I was unable to see any problems with the default
>> logging.  I'd be happy to run it again with different levels of debugging.
>>
>> I put a GTX 560 Ti in this machine and I still got the same dropping of
>> frames.  I followed JYA's guide for judder free playback in case it is due
>> to issues with the refresh rate.  I have all of the standard refresh rates
>> incorporated into my xorg.conf as per the instructions on the wiki.
>>
>> Does anyone have any ideas?  A few days ago, I was only a click away from
>> getting a new video card, but this does not seem to be the problem if my
>> oldest computer with the slowest video card has no problems with playback.
>>
>> I am not seeing any spikes in CPU usage during playback.  I do have a
>> number of other services running at the moment such as Plex, BubbleUPnP
>> Server and Serviio.  I disabled all but Plex just now and I'm still seeing
>> the video glitches.
>>
>> Thanks for any help!
>> Jerry
>>
>> http://filebin.ca/1uHt1b5x3ADK/mythfrontend.20150310002102.29005.log.bz2
>>

> Replying to myself here.

> Is this CPU usage normal?  I clipped it here, but basically one CPU hits
> 100% for each instance (60 instances) save for the first instance of 4 CPUs
> at 100%

> Search "jitterometer" (60 hits in 1 file)
>   C:\Users\freetacos\Desktop\mythfrontend.20150310002102.29005.log (60 hits)
>     Line 442: 2015-03-09 20:21:37.496352 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   24.35 Mean: 41076
> Std.Dev:  9575 CPUs: 100% 100% 100% 100%
>     Line 487: 2015-03-09 20:21:41.717137 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   28.20 Mean: 35466
> Std.Dev:  5568 CPUs: 5% 100% 9% 6%
>     Line 506: 2015-03-09 20:21:45.804480 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   29.12 Mean: 34345
> Std.Dev:  7950 CPUs: 3% 100% 8% 7%
>     Line 685: 2015-03-09 20:21:50.725992 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   24.18 Mean: 41354
> Std.Dev: 10016 CPUs: 5% 100% 10% 9%
>     Line 865: 2015-03-09 20:21:55.730891 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   23.78 Mean: 42055
> Std.Dev: 10504 CPUs: 4% 100% 8% 7%
>     Line 1044: 2015-03-09 20:22:00.685684 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   24.02 Mean: 41634
> Std.Dev: 10688 CPUs: 3% 100% 9% 8%
>     Line 1224: 2015-03-09 20:22:05.657227 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   23.94 Mean: 41775
> Std.Dev:  9301 CPUs: 2% 100% 9% 10%
>     Line 1378: 2015-03-09 20:22:10.478599 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   24.68 Mean: 40513
> Std.Dev:  9399 CPUs: 3% 100% 12% 10%
>     Line 1455: 2015-03-09 20:22:14.866176 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   27.12 Mean: 36868
> Std.Dev:  6817 CPUs: 4% 100% 9% 9%
>     Line 1602: 2015-03-09 20:22:19.654269 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   24.85 Mean: 40234
> Std.Dev:  8815 CPUs: 4% 100% 10% 10%
>     Line 1782: 2015-03-09 20:22:24.609198 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   24.02 Mean: 41635
> Std.Dev:  8314 CPUs: 5% 100% 8% 10%
>     Line 1962: 2015-03-09 20:22:29.580878 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   23.94 Mean: 41776
> Std.Dev:  8390 CPUs: 3% 100% 10% 9%
>     Line 2141: 2015-03-09 20:22:34.535486 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   24.02 Mean: 41633
> Std.Dev:  8375 CPUs: 3% 100% 10% 11%
>     Line 2328: 2015-03-09 20:22:39.507092 I [29005/29005] CoreContext
> jitterometer.cpp:119 (RecordEndTime) - Player(0): FPS:   23.94 Mean: 41775
> Std.Dev:  8333 CPUs: 3% 100% 13% 10%

> How about this bit?  Is the video skipping from progressive to interlaced?
> I don't know much of what is going on.  This fills up most of the above log.

> 2015-03-09 20:21:44.186046 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:723
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): progressive frame seen after 166 interlaced frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:44.219490 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:706
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): interlaced frame seen after 1 progressive frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:44.219499 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:710
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): Locking scan to Interlaced.
> 2015-03-09 20:21:44.269431 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:723
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): progressive frame seen after 2 interlaced frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:44.302852 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:706
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): interlaced frame seen after 1 progressive frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:44.302863 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:710
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): Locking scan to Interlaced.
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.520706 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:723
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): progressive frame seen after 37 interlaced frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.554065 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:706
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): interlaced frame seen after 1 progressive frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.554073 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:710
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): Locking scan to Interlaced.
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.604103 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:723
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): progressive frame seen after 2 interlaced frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.637487 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:706
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): interlaced frame seen after 1 progressive frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.637496 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:710
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): Locking scan to Interlaced.
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.687534 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:723
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): progressive frame seen after 2 interlaced frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.720878 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:706
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): interlaced frame seen after 1 progressive frames
> 2015-03-09 20:21:45.720885 I [29005/29005] CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:710
> (AutoDeint) - Player(0): Locking scan to Interlaced.

> This is a recording of Better Caul Saul on AMC from a HDHR Prime (mpeg2
> file).  Mythfrontend says it is in 1080p.  I tried turning off the
> interlacing options in the VDPAU Slim profile but I'm still getting the
> same results.

> I've only recently been able to record in HD.  There was some mixup with my
> cablecard, and they had all the HD channels switched off.  I called up the
> cable company to ask them about it, and they told me that I had to pay for
> a rental for a set top box.  Then, about a week later, I did a scan and the
> channels were there.  Jackpot!

> I found that my system was fine for SD, but I'm wondering if I'm a little
> underpowered?  To recap, I have a Core 2 Quad Q9400 with 8 GB ram and a GTX
> 260.  I thought that this would be fast enough.  My other slower Core 2 Duo
> with the 9600 seems to play this video fine.  It is connected with the VGA
> output.  My BE/FE is connected with an HDMI output to the TV.  I don't know
> if this makes a difference for interlacing or not.

> I could solve this problem by throwing a pile of money at a new computer,
> but I'd rather not.  This machine serves media just fine as a Plex server
> and does a few other tasks.  The CPU utilization from top after a fresh
> reboot and no mythfrontend usage reads:

> top - 11:47:46 up 51 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.15, 0.12, 0.14
> Tasks: 214 total,   2 running, 210 sleeping,   0 stopped,   2 zombie
> %Cpu(s):  4.7 us,  1.3 sy,  0.0 ni, 92.9 id,  1.1 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,
> 0.0 st
> KiB Mem :  8175884 total,  4945172 free,  1528544 used,  1702168 buff/cache
> KiB Swap:  8388604 total,  8388604 free,        0 used.  6417796 avail Mem

> With that video playing:

> top - 11:52:10 up 55 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.22, 0.11, 0.13
> Tasks: 212 total,   2 running, 208 sleeping,   0 stopped,   2 zombie
> %Cpu(s):  1.5 us,  0.7 sy,  0.0 ni, 97.4 id,  0.3 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,
> 0.0 st
> KiB Mem :  8175884 total,  4808588 free,  1631484 used,  1735812 buff/cache
> KiB Swap:  8388604 total,  8388604 free,        0 used.  6313316 avail Mem

>   PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
>  1649 jerry   20   0 6604608 444136 152696 S   5.0  5.4   0:23.31
> mythfrontend
>    32 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.3  0.0   0:00.41 rcuos/3
>   807 root      20   0 4218064 350772  18644 S   0.3  4.3   1:34.53 java
>  1090 root      20   0  187604  61196  39824 S   0.3  0.7   0:06.78 Xorg.bin
>  1394 mythtv    20   0 4667032  84984  56128 S   0.3  1.0   0:02.98
> mythbackend
>  1651 jerry   20   0  113640   3276   2964 S   0.3  0.0   0:10.10
> scroll_hdd_led_
>  9836 plex      35  15 1847428  55956  10840 S   0.3  0.7   0:06.04 python
> 10994 jerry   20   0  146496   3920   3236 R   0.3  0.0   0:00.59 top

> I have tried setting the computer to run in 720p as well as 1080p.  Things
> might possibly be better in 720p, but I really can't tell the difference.
> To my eyes, watching my TV sitting about 12 feet away, I can't tell the
> difference between 720p and 1080p anyway.  But I do notice the hiccups in
> motion.

> I guess I'll have to live with the little hiccups until I upgrade this
> system.  I'm starting to see those little hiccups everywhere now.  I
> thought that Kodi was playing the media cleanly, but that doesn't seem to
> be the case.

> I'd appreciate any guidance or things to try as I'm a little lost.  I feel
> as if I'm hitting my BE with a hammer and screwdriver trying to tweak
> things.  I've been searching the web like a fiend, but I'm coming up
> short.  :)

> Thanks!
> Jerry


Check if you have multiple instances of mythlogserver running.
ps -A
If so kill them: sudo pkill mythlogserver

Tot mails,
  Hika                            mailto:hikavdh at gmail.com

"Zonder hoop kun je niet leven
Zonder leven is er geen hoop
Het eeuwige dilemma
Zeker als je hoop moet vernietigen om te kunnen overleven!"

De lerende Mens



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