<div id="mb_0">
<p>I'm experiencing the "dropping frame" problem that several people have reported recently:</p>
<p><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/270586?search_string=dropping%20frame;#270586" target="_blank">http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/270586?search_string=dropping%20frame;#270586
</a><br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/268718?search_string=dropping%20frame;#268718" target="_blank">http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/268718?search_string=dropping%20frame;#268718
</a></p>
<p>On the whole, my HD plackback is fantastic, but I occasionally (at random say 5-10 times per hour) get a quick stutter in the video and audio with the "dropping frame to catch up" message shown below. It is quite sporadic which makes it difficult to reproduce. It seems to be more prevalent while viewing 720p content than 1080i content... but it occasionally occurs with SD playback also. The problem is just as likely to occur when the system is playing back a single previously recorded program as when I put a heavy load on the system (all five tuners recording, one commflag job reading from disk, and playback of HD content).
</p>
<p> Library API version : 0.20.20070327-1<br> Source code version : 13416M<br> FC6 (2.6.20-1.2948.fc6) and KDE<br> nVidia driver 9755 </p>
<p> Intel DG965WH Motherboard<br> Core 2 Duo E6420<br> 2 GB Dual Channel DDR2<br> On-board Intel HD Audio (S/PDIF out)<br> (2) 500 GB SATA HDDs (no LVM; XFS used for the recordings)<br> (2) PVR-350s<br> (1) pcHDTV 3000
<br> (1) HDHR (OTA/ATSC) <br> GeForce 6200TC<br> DVI to HDMI converter outputting to Hitatchi RPTV (1080i Native Resolution) </p>
<p><br>I've tried the following with no improvement:</p>
<blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<div>*** Looked at PCI Interrupt Latency. My motherboard allows me to adjust the default latency of the PCI cards. Experimenting with different values made no difference. I am unable to use "setpci" to adjust the latency of the on-board SATA controller which shows a latency of 0.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>*** Switched from RTC timing to OpenGL-VSync. No difference that I could perceive between the two.</div>
<p>*** Added 'Option "Composite" "Disable"' to my xorg.conf</p>
<p>*** Added 'Option "UseEvents" "True"' to my xorg.conf</p>
<p>*** Trial and error with the settings in nvidia-settings. At the moment, I have "Sync to VBlank" checkboxes and "flipping" enabled. Honestly, I'm still not sure what the correct settings should be when using OpenGL-Vsync
</p>
<p>*** Extra audio buffering setting in MythTV</p>
<p>*** In MythTV, both GUI and playback output in 1080i for all video resolutions. I tried adding an additional <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:1280x720@60" target="_blank">1280x720@60
</a> mode and set the 720p content to use that mode. The "dropping frames" were still present. </p>
<p>*** Examined CPU utilization at various points. HD playback requires 20-40% and I run my commflagging jobs on a separate machine. There's always plenty of idle CPU available.</p>
<p>*** Examined relative disk access speed at various points (I used hdparm, but I'm not sure how valid it is with SATA. The problem occurs under normal conditions (judging by the activity as well as looking at direct disk read perf counters).
</p>
<p>*** Disabled the on-board sound card in favor of a different soundcard with optical output (using a different ALSA module). This made no difference.</p>
<p>*** One peculiar thing of note... nvidia-settings shows the GPU at <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:1920x540@60" target="_blank">1920x540@60</a> Hz, but the KDE GUI shows <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:1920x540@50" target="_blank">
1920x540@50</a> Hz. Further, after I added the 1280x720 mode, the KDE offered a choice betweeen 51 or 53 Hz. I'm not sure what to make of that, but I saw some postings that said to only worry about what the nvidia utility said the resolution was.
</p></blockquote>
<p><br>Any ideas which aspect is the most likely culprit? I've run out of things to try, and I'm hoping for suggestions on how to even troubleshoot this from here. I'd prefer to stay away from XvMC on this machine if possible. However, I'm willing to take this any direction which will iron out this issue.
</p>
<p>Thanks very much for any help!</p>
<p>-John Liber</p>
<p> <br>XORG.CONF (relevant portions)<br>Section "Monitor"<br> Identifier "HDTV"<br> ModelName "51F710"<br> HorizSync 15.0 - 46.0<br> VertRefresh 59.0 - 61.0<br>
DisplaySize 160 90<br> ModeLine "Custom1080i" 74.2 1920 2008 2052 2200 540 542 547 562<br>EndSection<br>Section "Device"<br> Identifier "6200"<br> Driver "nvidia"
<br> Option "NoLogo" "True"<br> Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "True"<br> Option "UseEvents" "True"<br> #Option "UseEDID" "False"
<br> Option "ModeValidation" "NoVertRefreshCheck, NoHorizSyncCheck, NoXServerModes, NoVesaModes, NoPredefinedModes"<br>EndSection<br>Section "Screen"<br> Identifier "Screen0"
<br> Device "6200"<br> Monitor "HDTV"<br> DefaultDepth 24<br> SubSection "Display"<br> Viewport 0 0<br> Depth 24<br> Modes "Custom1080i" "1280x720_60"
<br> EndSubSection<br>EndSection<br>Section "Extensions"<br>Option "Composite" "Disable"<br>EndSection</p>
<p> </p>
<p><br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.613 TV: Attempting to change from None to WatchingRecording<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.667 RingBuf(/recordings/1121_20070525140000.mpg): OpenFile(/recordings/1121_20070525140000.mpg, 12)<br>2007-05-25 14:41:
59.680 RingBuf(/recordings/1121_20070525140000.mpg): CalcReadAheadThresh(161506544 KB)<br> -> threshhold(64 KB) min read(0 KB) blk size(32 KB)<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.681 Using protocol version 34<br>2007-05-25 14:41:
59.761 Avg read interval was 196 msec. 64K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.777 Avg read interval was 197 msec. 64K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.779 Avg read interval was 196 msec. 64K block size<br>0: start_time: 5486.513
duration: 226.383<br>1: start_time: 5486.476 duration: 226.382<br>stream: start_time: 60960.849 duration: 2515.766 bitrate=12831 kb/s<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.779 AFD: Stream #0, has id 0x49 codec id MPEG2VIDEO, type Video, bitrate 18900000 at 0x0x9ab0cd0
<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.784 Avg read interval was 196 msec. 64K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.792 Avg read interval was 196 msec. 96K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.824 Avg read interval was 198 msec. 128K block size
<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.836 detectInterlace(Detect Scan, Interlaced Scan, 59.9401, 720) ->Progressive Scan<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.836 AFD: Looking for decoder for MPEG2VIDEO<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.836 AFD: Opened codec 0xa663b10, id(MPEG2VIDEO) type(Video)
<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.837 AFD: Stream #1, has id 0x52 codec id AC3, type Audio, bitrate 384000 at 0x0x9a07070<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.837 AFD: Looking for decoder for AC3<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.837 AFD: Opened codec 0xa664060, id(AC3) type(Audio)
<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.847 RingBuf(/recordings/1121_20070525140000.mpg): CalcReadAheadThresh(61062378 KB)<br> -> threshhold(64 KB) min read(0 KB) blk size(32 KB)<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.849 Opening ALSA audio device 'default'.
<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.878 Dec: Trying to select track (w/lang)<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.878 Dec: Selecting first track<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.878 Dec: Selected track #1 in the Unknown language(0)<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.878
Resyncing position map. posmapStarted = 0 livetv(0) watchingRec(1)<br>2007-05-25 14:41:59.883 Avg read interval was 180 msec. 64K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.015 Avg read interval was 187 msec. 96K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:42:
00.041 Avg read interval was 197 msec. 128K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.173 Avg read interval was 187 msec. 160K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.235 Avg read interval was 180 msec. 192K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:42:
00.438 Position map filled from DB to: 150150<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.438 SyncPositionMap watchingrecording, from DB: 5006 entries<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.439 Filling position map from 150151 to 150827<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.440
Position map filled from Encoder to: 150810<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.440 SyncPositionMap watchingrecording total: 5028 entries<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.440 SyncPositionMap, new totframes: 150810, new length: 2516, posMap size: 5028
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.440 AFD: Partial position map found<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.440 AFD: Successfully opened decoder for file: "/recordings/1121_20070525140000.mpg". novideo(0)<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.441 VideoOutputXv: ctor
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.441 Over/underscan. V: 0, H: 0, XOff: 0, YOff: 0<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.441 Display Rect left: 0, top: 67, width: 1920, height: 405, aspect: 1.33333<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.441 Video Rect left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect:
1.77778<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.450 VideoOutputXv: Pixel dimensions: Screen 1920x540, window 1920x540<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.450 VideoOutputXv: Estimated display dimensions: 160x90 mm Aspect: 1.77778<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.450
VideoOutputXv: Estimated window dimensions: 160x90 mm Aspect: 1.77778<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.451 VideoOutputXv: XvMCTex: Init failed<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.451 VideoOutputXv: @ j=3 Looking for flag[s]: XvInputMask XvImageMask
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.451 VideoOutputXv: Adaptor#0: NV17 Video Texture has flag[s]: XvInputMask XvImageMask <br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.451 VideoOutputXv: Grabbed xv port 275<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.451 VideoOutputXv: XVideo surface found on port 275
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.451 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Adaptor Name: 'NV17 Video Texture'<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.451 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Format #0 is 'YUY2'<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.451 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Format #1 is 'YV12'
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.452 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Format #2 is 'UYVY'<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.452 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Format #3 is 'I420'<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.452 VideoOutputXv: Using XVideo Format 'I420'
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.452 VideoOutputXv: CreateShmImages(32): video_dim: 1280x720<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.503 VideoOutputXv: Chromakeying not possible with this XVideo port.<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.503 Display Rect left: 0, top: 0, width: 1920, height: 540, aspect:
1.77778<br>2007-05-25 14:42:00.503 Video Rect left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect: 1.77778<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.467 NVP: ClearAfterSeek(1)<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.467 VideoOutputXv: ClearAfterSeek()<br>2007-05-25 14:42:
01.467 VideoOutputXv: DiscardFrames(0)<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.467 VideoBuffers::DiscardFrames(0): AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.467 VideoBuffers::DiscardFrames(0): AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA -- done
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.467 VideoOutputXv: DiscardFrames() 3: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA -- done()<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.467 The realtime priority setting is not enabled.<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.467 TV: StartPlayer(): took 1710 ms to start player.
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.468 TV: Changing from None to WatchingRecording<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.470 Using deinterlace method kerneldeint<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.570 nVidiaVideoSync: VBlank ioctl did not work, unimplemented in this driver?
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.571 DRMVideoSync: Could not open device /dev/dri/card0, No such file or directory<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.572 OpenGLVideoSync: GLX extensions: GLX_EXT_visual_info GLX_EXT_visual_rating GLX_SGIX_fbconfig GLX_SGIX_pbuffer GLX_SGI_video_sync GLX_SGI_swap_control GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap GLX_ARB_multisample GLX_NV_float_buffer GLX_ARB_fbconfig_float GLX_ARB_get_proc_address
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.572 OpenGLVideoSync: x,y -> 960, 270<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.585 Using OpenGLVideoSync<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.593 Using audio as timebase<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.593 Video timing method: SGI OpenGL
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.593 Refresh rate: 16663, frame interval: 16683<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.610 NVP: progressive frame seen after 2 interlaced frames<br>2007-05-25 14:42:01.648 Disabled deinterlacing<br>2007-05-25 14:42:
02.032 Avg read interval was 189 msec. 224K block size<br>2007-05-25 14:42:02.313 Dec: Selected track #1 in the Unknown language(0)<br>2007-05-25 14:42:02.641 Avg read interval was 183 msec. 256K block size<br>'video_output' mean = '
16648.30', std. dev. = '178.49', fps = '60.07'<br>2007-05-25 14:42:03.501 Resyncing position map. posmapStarted = 1 livetv(0) watchingRec(1)<br>2007-05-25 14:42:03.502 Filling position map from 150811 to 151011
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:03.502 Position map filled from Encoder to: 150990<br>2007-05-25 14:42:03.502 SyncPositionMap watchingrecording total: 5034 entries<br>2007-05-25 14:42:03.502 SyncPositionMap, new totframes: 150990, new length: 2519, posMap size: 5034
<br>2007-05-25 14:42:04.039 Avg read interval was 197 msec. 288K block size<br>'video_output' mean = '16786.39', std. dev. = '1363.87', fps = '59.57'<br>2007-05-25 14:42:06.497 Avg read interval was 199 msec. 320K block size
<br>'video_output' mean = '16682.80', std. dev. = '354.00', fps = '59.94'<br>2007-05-25 14:42:08.275 NVP: 400 progressive frames seen.<br>'video_output' mean = '16650.32', std. dev. = '
148.32', fps = '60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16649.28', std. dev. = '111.32', fps = '60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16648.83', std. dev. = '151.16', fps = '
60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16816.98', std. dev. = '1407.63', fps = '59.46'</p>
<p><SNIP></p>
<p>2007-05-25 14:57:43.152 NVP: 51600 progressive frames seen.<br>'video_output' mean = '16816.31', std. dev. = '1400.28', fps = '59.47'<br>'video_output' mean = '16648.79', std. dev. = '
205.55', fps = '60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16652.11', std. dev. = '163.56', fps = '60.05'<br>'video_output' mean = '16648.26', std. dev. = '155.60', fps = '
60.07'<br>2007-05-25 14:57:49.813 NVP: 52000 progressive frames seen.<br>'video_output' mean = '16651.36', std. dev. = '150.86', fps = '60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16816.23
', std. dev. = '1401.95', fps = '59.47'<br>'video_output' mean = '16653.38', std. dev. = '191.54', fps = '60.05'<br>'video_output' mean = '16647.75', std. dev. = '
151.73', fps = '60.07'<br>2007-05-25 14:57:55.924 NVP: Video is 3.22388 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.<br>2007-05-25 14:57:55.924 NVP: Video is 3.69166 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
<br>2007-05-25 14:57:55.924 NVP: Video is 3.78775 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.<br>2007-05-25 14:57:55.924 NVP: Video is 3.62003 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.<br>
2007-05-25 14:57:55.924 NVP: Video is 3.23947 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.<br>2007-05-25 14:57:56.523 NVP: 52400 progressive frames seen.<br>'video_output' mean = '16983.43', std. dev. = '
13306.39', fps = '58.88'<br>'video_output' mean = '16651.65', std. dev. = '140.66', fps = '60.05'<br>'video_output' mean = '16649.55', std. dev. = '251.85', fps = '
60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16651.96', std. dev. = '208.49', fps = '60.05'<br>2007-05-25 14:58:03.184 NVP: 52800 progressive frames seen.<br>'video_output' mean = '16649.61
', std. dev. = '317.74', fps = '60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16649.55', std. dev. = '263.46', fps = '60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16650.39', std. dev. = '
175.93', fps = '60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16656.35', std. dev. = '220.06', fps = '60.04'<br>2007-05-25 14:58:09.845 NVP: 53200 progressive frames seen.<br>'video_output' mean = '
16646.57', std. dev. = '154.08', fps = '60.07'<br>'video_output' mean = '16651.28', std. dev. = '183.81', fps = '60.06'<br>'video_output' mean = '16648.13', std. dev. = '
152.34', fps = '60.07'<br>'video_output' mean = '16653.27', std. dev. = '125.38', fps = '60.05'<br>2007-05-25 14:58:16.505 NVP: 53600 progressive frames seen.<br>'video_output' mean = '
16648.21', std. dev. = '141.44', fps = '60.07'<br>'video_output' mean = '16817.87', std. dev. = '1401.07', fps = '59.46'<br>'video_output' mean = '16648.51', std. dev. = '
147.95', fps = '60.07'<br>'video_output' mean = '16652.30', std. dev. = '143.73', fps = '60.05<br></p></div>