[mythtv-users] Finally updated my system, but VDPAU doesn't work

[Mike Perkins]

On 20/10/15 02:53, backuppc at sundquist.imapmail.org wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 16, 2009, at 10:49 PM, backuppc at sundquist.imapmail.org wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:56:43 -0500,
>> backuppc at sundquist.imapmail.org said:
>>>>> Don't want to just get "another 8300", but the GT210 referenced
>>>>> above has 1 GB of memory,
>>>>
>>>> Just to be clear, it only has 512MB. Not sure what difference that
>>>> would make for VDPAU
>>>
>>> That's right.  I got mixed up with another card I was looking at.
>>>
>>> I'm going to give it a try.  I'll report back when I see how well
>>> it works.
>>
>> OK I got it.  Actually came Monday but just had a chance now to put it
>> in.  The good, the bad, and the ugly:
>>
>> Good:  VDPAU works with this card.   No update to the driver or
>> anything.  I have a hunch my dell OEM 8300GS was really a 7000-
>> based card.
>
> <<SNIP the rest of this stuff>>
>
> That quoted stuff above is just a blast from the past  when I got a new
> video card.  I had been happily running mythbuntu 10.04 LTS the last
> five years except it was starting to get less happy as it got long in
> the tooth (i.e. live tv didn't work any more, had troubles running newer
> browsers when I wanted to watch through-the-browser streaming stuff.)  I
> did the "if  it ain't broke, don't fix it" for as long as I could, but
> it was time.
>
> The mythbuntu update wouldn't run (too old I guess) and clean installs
> are better so I downloaded  both 12.04 LTS and 14.04 LTS.  I could only
> get the 12.04 DVD to boot however, and that was after I figured out to
> add acpi=off and irqpoll to the boot options.  So I now have only a
> three year old system ;-)
>
> I restored a backup of my old 10.04 system and mythtv upgraded the
> database and I had a new system.  However, I could not get it to play
> any shows.  I'd get a couple of seconds of sound, then some more, and
> then nothing, with Xorg taking up 100% of a core.  I had to ssh to
> reboot - only option.
>
> Looking at the logs, I see that it was timing out waiting for video
> buffers.  I did a search on this and the few instances I saw didn't
> seem to apply.
>
> Finally, I switched from VDPAU (normal) to OpenGL for playback and
> everything worked.  So yes, I can watch my shows now.  However, I
> have to turn the volume  up since the fan starts churning keeping the
> CPU cool.  This processing is supposed to be done on the card, but I
> can't get it to work.  I quoted my 6-year-old message above to
> indicate that yes, this card does indeed work with VDPAU (or at least
> it did back then).
>
> To try the usual suspects, I activated the fixes options and upgraded
> all the way to Myth 0.27 (12.04 is just 0.25 normally).  I did a
> complete dist-upgrade so I have everything latest (at least for the old
> LTS release).  I am running the 304 driver, and vdpauinfo says I have
> VDPAU available.
>
> The only thing I can think of is that card has only 512 MB of on board
> memory.  Has the minimum gone up to 1 GB in the last few years?
>
> The motherboard/CPU is old (core 2 duo), but that shouldn't be a
> problem, since even atoms work so long as you have a good nvidia card.
>
> Any suggestions welcome!
>
> Thanks.
>
> JS.
>
> If it is insufficient memory, maybe it's time for this:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125427&cm_re=nvidia_gt610-_-14-125-427-_-Product
>
If "the motherboard/CPU is old", then I would check whether this card is going to fit your board. 
Did you need PCI Express or PCI? What revision of PCI Express?

Also, check if you have room for the heat sink. That thing looks chunky. There are similar boards 
around which may fit better.

-- 

Mike Perkins