[mythtv] AVSync2 Refinements

Sat Dec 7 21:50:52 UTC 2019

On Sat, Dec 07, 2019 at 01:23:46PM -0500, Tim Pletcher wrote:
> First, I want to caveat this with the declaration that I am not a
> programmer however I do deal with process control as part of my day job as
> an engineer.
> 
> I have been running the render branch (now master) for a while and using
> AVSync2 for audio/video synchronization mostly with LiveTV. In evaluating,
> I have found the sync algorithm would only provides acceptably stable video
> performance if I use an AVSync2 timing setting of 1ms. Anything more than
> this results in jerky video performance along with frequent frame drops on
> my systems.
> 
> Investigating by spending some time studying the AVSync2 code and looking
> in more detail at playback,timestamp logs, I have come to the conclusion
> that there might be some potential for refinement of the AVSync2
> algorithm.
> 
> The current algorithm is much like a proportional control approach
> with fixed controller gain of 1 (with each adjustment, try to adjust the
> time sync exactly back to equilibrium) with clamping of the maximum
> fix_amount limited to the user defined setting of avsync2adjustms. I think
> the problem with this approach is that a controller gain of 1 seems to be
> too high and there is also occasionally some noise in the calculated sync
> measurement. Both of these issues destabilize the AV sync control. With a
> larger avsync2adjustms setting, the system never achieves stable control
> under many conditions with the sync oscillating over / under target. In
> turn, the calculated "lateness" value tends to also swing around causing
> more frequent frame drops further upsetting the control.
> 
> In an attempt to improve, I manually modified the AVSync2 algorithm as
> follows:
> 1. A control gain value is declared and included in the fix_amount
> calculation to allow for a code configured gain value less than 1.  In my
> case, I am currently using a value of 0.4.
> 2. A first order exponential smoothing filter is applied to dampen any
> noise in the sync measurement. A code configured filter coefficient is set
> to a value between 0 and 1. In my case, I am using 0.9.
> 
> Note that the 0.4 and 0.9 are the result of some limited eyeball tuning and
> are probably not optimum values.
> 
> After implementing these changes, my frontends seem to behave MUCH better
> in both achieving sync quickly and achieving more stable long term control
> of the av sync along with visually improved video smoothness. The modified
> approach allows the applied fix_amount to be larger initially when there is
> a big sync offset but avoids excessive overshoot / instability /
> overcontrol as the sync approaches equilibrium.
> 
> I throw this out there to share and to see if others that have looked at
> the AVSynce2 code have any thoughts on the approach at least.
> 
> In this scenario, the avsync2adjustms is no longer needed. However, if
> wanting to have user configurable/tuneable settings, the gain value (
> range: 0-1) and the filter coefficient (range: 0-1) could be exposed in the
> frontend setup menu under AVSync2 rather than hard-coded.

Hi Tim,

Your changes sound promising.  Perer Bennett wrote the AVSync2 code.
It was a big improvement over what we had before but it still has some
known issue that we could never make better.  I'm going to try to give
your changes a whirl tonight or tomorrow.

> Excerpted code with modifications shown in mythplayer.cpp AVSync2 function:

I think I see how to apply your changes.  However, can you please
create a standard, unidiff patch for them.  Than, please open a new
ticket at https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ and attach your patch.
Thanks.

David

> .....
>     auto playspeed1000 = static_cast<int64_t>(1000.0F / play_speed);
>     bool reset = false;
>     // controller gain
>     float av_control_gain = 0.4;
>     // variable to carry forward prior adjustment for smoothing filter
> calculation
>     float last_fix = 0;
>     // filter coefficient for the smoothing filter.
>     float sync_fc = 0.9;
> .......
>             int sign = audio_adjustment < 0 ? -1 : 1;
>             // Use proportional control with configured gain & add an
> exponential smoothing filter.
>             float fix_amount = (last_fix * sync_fc + (1 - sync_fc) *
> audio_adjustment) * sign * av_control_gain;
>             last_fix = fix_amount;
> 
>             //disable clamping of adjustment outputs
>             //if (fix_amount > avsync2adjustms)
>             //    fix_amount = avsync2adjustms;
>             // Faster catch-up when off by more than 200 ms
>             //if (audio_adjustment * sign > 200)
>                 // fix the sync within 15 - 20 frames
>                 //fix_amount = audio_adjustment * sign / 15;
>             auto speedup1000 = static_cast<int64_t>(1000 * play_speed);
>             rtcbase -= static_cast<int64_t>(1000000 * fix_amount * sign /
> speedup1000);
> ......
> 
> -Tim

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-- 
David Engel
david at istwok.net