[mythtv-users] Jumpy live tv

[Magnus Larsson]

Thanks for you reply.

I have now changed audio mixer to ALSA:default, and that error 
disappears from the log.

I also removed the propr driver, using the gui in gnome. I have tried 
running the system with vesa and radeon, but neither works very well. I 
get resolution 800x600 and no higher, and live tv is very very jumpy, at 
best. However, the xv-errors in the log disappeared.

Are there other FOSS drivers to try? I am right now trying to use the 
fglrx with Catalyst, following 
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Hardy_Installation_Guide, Metod 
2. However, as this takes some time and I need to return to work, I 
won't be able to do it fully until tonight (in some 14 hrs). Do you 
believe this is a fruitful route, or not worth the effort?

sudo xvinfo -display :0
gives me only
No protocol specified
xvinfo:  Unable to open display :0

Maybe I should run it differently (have not found instructions yet)?

Regards,


Magnus Larsson

Nick Morrott skrev:
> On 23/09/2008, Magnus Larsson <magnus at vista.se> wrote:
>   
>> Hello all!
>>
>>  I have a newly installed mythfrontend on a htpc, running mythbuntu 8.04.
>>  I have a problem with live TV that is jumpy. I did have an earlier
>>  installation on this same machine, where live TV worked fine - for other
>>  reasons I reinstalled and arrived at my previous state.
>>
>>  TV profile is now set to Slim. The frontend is connected to a backend
>>  over the LAN, with ethernet cable, that gives around 90 MBits/s
>>  according to iperf. The machine runs with an ATI graphics card, where I
>>  use fglrx driver, installed through ubuntu. The screen is a 42 inch
>>  plasma TV, connected via DVI-HDMI, at 1080p.
>>
>>  To add to the confusion, it seems to sometimes jumpy to another screen
>>  resolution during tv playback, so the image is drawn out vertically -
>>  and this affects the whole x session so that when I close mythtv, the
>>  desktop is drawn out. However, this might be a more spurious and not
>>  related issue....
>>
>>  Output from /var/log/mythtv/mythfrontend.og below. Anyone got any ideas
>>  on what to check or try (apart from "another graphics card" ...)?
>>     
>
> Looks like both your audio and video configuration are broken:
>
>   
>>  2008-09-23 20:33:12.706 Opening ALSA audio device 'default'.
>>  ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL /dev/mixer
>>  2008-09-23 20:33:12.761 AudioOutput Warning: Mixer attach error -2: No
>>  such file or directory
>>                         Check Mixer Name in Setup: '/dev/mixer'
>>  2008-09-23 20:33:12.939 VideoOutputXv Error: Could not find suitable
>>  XVideo surface.
>>  2008-09-23 20:33:12.939 VideoOutputXv: Falling back to X11 video output
>>  over a network socket.
>>                               *** May be very slow ***
>>  2008-09-23 20:33:12.994 VideoOutputXv Error: XCreateImage failed:
>>     
>
> Audio:
>
> If using ALSA in MythTV, "ALSA:default" is the mixer to use.
>
> Video:
>
> Your ATI video driver does not seem to be installed correctly, or at
> least the Xv acceleration is not. MythTV cannot use the acceleration
> during playback, so you see the jumpy TV picture.
>
> # xvinfo
>
> should report that Xv is working properly. If you don't have a brand
> new ATI card, can you try a removal/reinstallation of the fglrx
> driver, or try the FOSS radeon/ati driver instead?
>
>