[mythtv-users] VDPAU woos

[Frank Merrill]

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Mitch Gore <mitchell.gore at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 9:09 AM, Brent Bolin <brent.bolin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 10:34 PM, Frank Merrill <fmerrill1 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 11:01 PM, Mitch Gore <mitchell.gore at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >> Hi,
>> >>
>> >> On my backend I always have this issue when starting to play a file:
>> >> 2010-02-07 15:43:13.509 VDPAU: Failed to add buffer 12 of 17
>> >> 2010-02-07 15:43:13.509 VidOutVDPAU Error: Unable to create VDPAU
>> >> buffers
>> >> 2010-02-07 15:43:13.510 VideoBuffers::DiscardFrames(): ERROR, A not in
>> >> available, pause, or displayed
>> >> 2010-02-07 15:43:13.510 VideoBuffers::DiscardFrames(): ERROR, B not in
>> >> available, pause, or displayed A
>> >> 2010-02-07 15:43:13.510 VideoBuffers::DiscardFrames(): ERROR, C not in
>> >>
>> >> Card info:
>> >> mitchell at mythtv:~$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/cards/0
>> >> Model:           GeForce 8400 GS
>> >> IRQ:             16
>> >> Video BIOS:      62.98.29.00.00
>> >> Card Type:       PCI-E
>> >> DMA Size:        40 bits
>> >> DMA Mask:        0xffffffffff
>> >> Bus Location:    01.00.0
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> > The 8400GS card you have only has 256MB of RAM, which means you would
>> > need to reduce the number of VDPAU buffers to get it to work.
>> > In general, it will not always work depending upon the content you are
>> > decoding with that much Video RAM, but in one FE I have that has such
>> > a card, setting the vdpaubuffersize=12 will allow most content to be
>> > played back using VDPAU, as long as I don't do any deinterlacing on
>> > the content.
>> >
>> > You set the vdpaubuffersize in the filter section of a playback profile.
>> >
>> > Frank
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>>
>> Where is there documentation about using filters?  I've seen some, but not
>> much.
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>
> All of my content is MPEG2 720p or 1080i.  I really need de-interlacing so
> are you saying I take it I should upgrade my card.  is 512mb really the min
> I should be looking at?
>
>

Well, your 720p content definitely doesn't need any deinterlacing, as
it isn't interlaced to begin with.
For 1080i, you can try one of the basic deinterlacers and see if you
feel it's suitable for your needs and still allows vdpau to function
properly.

If I remember correctly, Nvidia recently stated that VDPAU now
requires 512MB of video memory to work properly, and I have also seen
recent posts from others saying that anything above that doesn't seem
to be needed for any current VDPAU functionality. So it would seem
that 512MB is both the minimum and maximum actually required, although
having 1GB wouldn't hurt anything, it may just not all get used.

I would still try changing the buffers, as, again, I am using a 256MB
8400GS on one frontend and it works perfectly well for me on all the
content I normally play (which does include 720p and 1080i from a QAM
source), I just don't use any deinterlacing.  I did however at one
point use one of the basic deinterlacers on the 1080i content without
any real issues, I'm just not currently using it.  All of that can be
set up in a playback profile.

Of course, as always, YMMV.

Frank