[mythtv-users] HD upgrade: new problems with playback

[Calvin Harrigan]

Willy Boyd wrote:
> On 2/17/07, Chad <masterclc at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> That's pretty much what I am running, and I have also built several
>> identical boxes.  The variable here is that the onboard SPDIF is used
>> and not an addon card.  I have no problem playing back HDTV recordings
>> (mpeg2) in both 720p and 1080i, and mpeg4 recordings up to 720p.  I
>> haven't tried 1080p yet on mpeg4 for 2 reasons:
>> 1.  I wasn't aware of the source video for it (thanks!); and 2.  I
>> don't have a 1080p set to utilize 1080p on.  I'll test it (on a
>> non-1080p set) and get back to you.
>>
>> But in general, this setup should be working just fine for HD, and
>> definitely for SD, with no prebuffering pauses or buffer overflow
>> messages.  My guess is that once you get the bracket and remove the
>> USB audio, those messages might be reduced.
>>
>> Good luck!
>>     
>
> FWIW, I've found some sort of "solution" for both of my problems.  But
> likely not something that will be helpful for most others.
>
> First, I did try removing the USB Audio and re-enabling the onboard
> sound (just as a test, no sound actually connected since I don't have
> the bracket).  This didn't make a difference.
>
> Then on a hunch I went back and checked my configure params.  I
> noticed that MMX wasn't enabled when I used cpu=i686, and so I took
> this out and just let configure detect the right architecture (which
> came out to like athlon-k8 or something like that).  I left in
> enable-proc-opts, which was there before.  I also disabled XvMC in my
> configure since I didn't plan on using it if I could get by without.
> Doing these things and using Extra Audio Buffering now allows me to
> watch LiveTV or pre-recorded mpeg2, with no hangs but still with
> prebuffering pause messages.  I just don't watch the logs anymore :)
> I figure as long as it's not stuttering again (or worse, crashing),
> I'll live with the warnings since I have no clue where they come from.
>
> Another strange thing, which I don't think is directly related, but
> who knows:  I discovered I had a bad network switch.  During trying to
> copy over a 1080i HD mpeg2 TS for testing, I noticed the lan speed in
> one direction was around 20kbps or less.  In the other direction 1.5M,
> but still low for a 100Mbit network.  I took out the switch and scp
> started averaging 5.5M again.  It may be a placebo but it sure seems
> like this affected the smooth playback as well.
>
> However, I still don't know why the Elephant's Dream clips will not
> play, but I will for now chalk that up to mpeg4 decoding issues with
> the internal player.  I have switched to VLC for now anyway.  Plays a
> few more formats, including h.264 HD trailers from apple.com and WMV9.
>
> - Willy
>
> <snip>

What distribution are you running?  I finally got my hardware which is
identical to yours.
m2npv-vm
x2 3800
1 gig ram
using the onboard video and audio.
gentoo
gentoo sources 2.6.18
mythtv-0.20_p12172
nvidia drivers-1.0.9746

I can watch 1080i and 720p programming without any prebuffering pauses.
One core peaks at about 55% with mythfrontend the other never gets above
10% running mainly X.
This is with no XVMC, all sync options turned on (yeah I know, overkill,
it was tearing) with bob deinterlacing.
The video output is fixed at 720p which is the native resolution of the
TV.  All material mpeg2.

Calvin...