[mythtv-users] NVP: prebuffering pause on older Athlon XP/NVidia machine

[Mark Knecht]

Hi,
   I've got a very pokey old Athlon XP 1600+ machine that I sort of
wanted to use as a mythfrontend machine if possible. I've built Myth
and it runs but as soon as I try to display video, whether a program
or even the thumbnail video in the listing guide, I get jerky video
and NVP: prebuffering messages.

   What causes this and how do I fix it?

   I've emerged Myth with xvmc support but I'm not sure how to tell if
it's working. I don't get error messages of any type in xorg.conf when
I run Myth.

   The video card is a somewhat older NVidia GeForce4 MX 4000 AGP 8x.
Not the fastest but glxgears runs OK so I think Myth shouldn't be
acting this bad.

   What have I missed?

Thanks,
Mark

Rocker ~ # emerge -pv mythtv

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild   R   ] media-tv/mythtv-0.20.1_p13344  USE="alsa dvd
frontendonly jack mmx perl xvmc (-altivec) -autostart -backendonly
-crciprec -dbox2 -debug -dts -dvb -freebox -hdhomerun -ieee1394 -ivtv
-joystick -lcd -lirc -opengl -vorbis" VIDEO_CARDS="nvidia -i810 -via"
0 kB

Total: 1 package (1 reinstall), Size of downloads: 0 kB
Rocker ~ #


mark at Rocker ~ $ !myth
mythfrontend --geometry 640x480
2007-07-02 10:05:57.883 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2007-07-02 10:05:57.989 DPMS is active.
2007-07-02 10:05:58.226 New DB connection, total: 1
2007-07-02 10:05:58.336 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: dragonfly
2007-07-02 10:05:58.417 Total desktop dim: 1280x1024, with 1 screen[s].
2007-07-02 10:05:58.498 Running in a window
2007-07-02 10:05:58.501 Using screen 0, 1280x999 at 0,0
2007-07-02 10:05:58.667 Overriding GUI, width=640, height=480 at 0,0
2007-07-02 10:05:58.679 Current Schema Version: 1160
2007-07-02 10:05:58.754 mythfrontend version: 0.20.20060828-4 www.mythtv.org
2007-07-02 10:05:58.756 Enabled verbose msgs:  important general
2007-07-02 10:06:00.551 Switching to square mode (Titivillus)
2007-07-02 10:06:00.730 Using the Qt painter
2007-07-02 10:06:02.712 Loading from: /usr/share/mythtv/themes/default/base.xml
2007-07-02 10:06:04.440 Registering Internal as a media playback plugin.
2007-07-02 10:06:27.672 XMLParse::LoadTheme using
/usr/share/mythtv/themes/Titivillus/ui.xml
2007-07-02 10:06:28.405 Connecting to backend server:
192.168.1.55:6543 (try 1 of 5)
2007-07-02 10:06:28.415 Using protocol version 31
0: start_time: 0.036 duration: 34.363
1: start_time: 0.017 duration: 34.353
stream: start_time: 0.189 duration: 382.026 bitrate=5198 kb/s
2007-07-02 10:06:29.984 AFD: Opened codec 0xa46b070, id(MPEG2VIDEO) type(Video)
2007-07-02 10:06:30.199 AFD: Opened codec 0xa46b470, id(MP2) type(Audio)
2007-07-02 10:06:31.722 NVP: prebuffering pause
2007-07-02 10:06:32.930 NVP: prebuffering pause
2007-07-02 10:06:34.793 NVP: prebuffering pause
2007-07-02 10:06:36.007 NVP: prebuffering pause
2007-07-02 10:06:37.427 NVP: prebuffering pause

mark at Rocker ~ $ glxgears
8961 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1791.980 FPS
8928 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1785.469 FPS
8037 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1607.243 FPS


mark at Rocker ~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 6
model           : 6
model name      : AMD Athlon(TM) XP1600+
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 1412.180
cache size      : 256 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca
cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mp mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow ts
bogomips        : 2847.33
clflush size    : 32

mark at Rocker ~ $




Rocker ~ # lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333]
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333 AGP]
00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
00:06.0 Mass storage controller: Promise Technology, Inc. PDC20265
(FastTrak100 Lite/Ultra100) (rev 02)
00:0c.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB12LV23 IEEE-1394 Controller
00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro
100] (rev 05)
00:0f.0 Multimedia audio controller: Xilinx Corporation RME Digi9652
(Hammerfall) (rev 08)
00:10.0 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies Inc. ICE1712
[Envy24] PCI Multi-Channel I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233 PCI to ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc.
VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:11.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1
Controller (rev 1b)
00:11.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1
Controller (rev 1b)
00:11.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1
Controller (rev 1b)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4
MX 4000 AGP 8x] (rev c1)
Rocker ~ #