[mythtv-users] Video card update fail

Wed Oct 10 17:34:43 UTC 2018

On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 1:16 AM Allen Edwards <allen.p.edwards at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, Oct 9, 2018 at 9:38 PM Greg Oliver <oliver.greg at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Oct 9, 2018 at 10:34 PM Allen Edwards <allen.p.edwards at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Oct 9, 2018 at 7:43 PM Stephen Worthington <
>>> stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Tue, 9 Oct 2018 14:02:43 -0700, you wrote:
>>>>
>>>> >On Sun, Oct 7, 2018 at 4:47 PM Greg Oliver <oliver.greg at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >> On Sun, Oct 7, 2018 at 6:18 PM Allen Edwards <
>>>> allen.p.edwards at gmail.com>
>>>> >> wrote:
>>>> >>
>>>> >>> My system is using a Nvidia 6200.  DVI out to the TV and analog to a
>>>> >>> monitor. I am running Mythbuntu 16 on an old AMD 5400.  Sound is
>>>> analog to
>>>> >>> the TV and SPDIF to a surround system we use for a few shows.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> After many hours I kind of got the new Nvidia 750ti card working.  I
>>>> >>> could not get the onboard audio to work no matter what my son and I
>>>> tried
>>>> >>> and he is a Google software engineer so it stumped us both.  I had
>>>> to cut
>>>> >>> down a HDMI connector to get the cable to fit but with that and
>>>> several
>>>> >>> hours I got sound to the TV.  Not a permanent solution as no
>>>> digital sound
>>>> >>> to the surround system.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> You should have immediately returned the card if HDMI did not fit.
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>> The final straw was that when I turned off the TV and turned it
>>>> back on,
>>>> >>> Myth was on the monitor and not on the TV.  I tried both checkboxes
>>>> on the
>>>> >>> find new devices and both acted the same.  The driver at that point
>>>> was
>>>> >>> 340.  The other choice was 361 which I used at first but switched
>>>> at some
>>>> >>> point to get a picture to display.  Lots of trouble with the video
>>>> card
>>>> >>> reading the TV EDIT wrong and sending out incorrect settings which
>>>> would
>>>> >>> not display at all. Not sure if the driver was the issue but long
>>>> story
>>>> >>> short, I ended up with the 340 driver.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> Finally I took out the 750ti and reinstalled my 6200 and sound
>>>> works,
>>>> >>> myth doesn't switch when the TV is off.  Only issue is I got a
>>>> little
>>>> >>> better picture quality with the 750 on VDPAU slim. Any higher level
>>>> setting
>>>> >>> just crashed myth.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> I am 7 hours into getting nothing done.  Two of us working most of
>>>> that
>>>> >>> time.  If anyone knows how to solve my problem I will put a few
>>>> more hours
>>>> >>> into it.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> By the way, on the sound, we tried at least three audio managers,
>>>> Alsa,
>>>> >>> Pulse, and one command line one to try and get audio out of the
>>>> >>> motherboard. Nothing worked.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> What does the speaker test produce in alsa and/or gnome/kde, etc..  I
>>>> >> believe long ago, Jean Yvess (sp?) killed pulse when mythfrontend
>>>> started
>>>> >> playback, but I do not know if that is still the case.  You
>>>> definitely do
>>>> >> not want anything except alsa for digital audio.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Also, when selecting the different modes from the TV GUI, I always
>>>> had to
>>>> >> restart mythfrontend (that was long ago though - YMMV).
>>>> >>
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >I have made significant progress but I am not done yet. It only took an
>>>> >additional 4 hours :-)
>>>> >
>>>> >The goal is DVI and analog audio to TV and SPDIF to amplifier but
>>>> using the
>>>> >750ti video card and VDPAU video processing.  The audio worked with
>>>> the old
>>>> >6200 video card but the video was crap after the upgrade to Mythbuntu
>>>> 14
>>>> >from 8.
>>>> >
>>>> >1) I left Pulse Audio installed. It was installed by my son accidently
>>>> (he
>>>> >did not realize the control panel brought in drivers) but the sound
>>>> works
>>>> >fine with the 6200 so I left it.
>>>> >2) I install the 750ti and updated the driver to 390 I used this method
>>>> >   1) sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
>>>> >   2) sudo apt update
>>>> >   3) Then launch Software & Updates -> Additional Driver utility,
>>>> choose
>>>> >the new driver from the list and apply changes.
>>>> >3) Check the driver using lsmod | grep nvidia
>>>> >4) Check the version using cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version.  It reports
>>>> >390.87 which is correct.
>>>> >5) Check pavucontrol (Digital Output - S/PDIF) and aslamixer (Front,
>>>> Main,
>>>> >and SPDIF) as before.
>>>> >6) Ran nvidia-settings and saved xorg.conf.  The file looked incorrect
>>>> and
>>>> >the TV still lost video when power cycled.
>>>> >7) Disable xfsettingsd in the GUI Settings under "Session and Startup":
>>>> >That fixed the TV power cycle problem.
>>>> >8) Using Myth Setup search for an audio setting that plays both TV and
>>>> >amplifier. The existing setting that worked with the 6200 card was
>>>> >ALSA:pulghw:CARD=SB,DEV=0 Stereo.  I tried all settings.
>>>> >
>>>> >Results
>>>> >Audio) I was unable to find a setting that played both.  I could play
>>>> >digital or analog.  I tired both DVI and HDMI connections to the TV and
>>>> >multiple settings of pavucontrol.  There are a lot of settings but
>>>> unlike
>>>> >before I put in the new video card, none would play both analog and
>>>> digital
>>>> >off the motherboard. I could also not get digital from HDMI and SPDIF
>>>> at
>>>> >the same time. Just one or the other.
>>>> >
>>>> >Video) Using VDPAU Slim the picture looks much improved.  VDPAU Normal
>>>> >crashes the frontend.  That was very disappointing.
>>>> >
>>>> >Wife) Wife is happy with this setup so at least I have stable hardware
>>>> >until I can get some help to solve the remaining problems.
>>>> >
>>>> >Goals:
>>>> >1) I would like to get a higher version of VDPAU as I have been led to
>>>> >believe that should work.
>>>>
>>>> You are right that a 750ti should be able to do all VDPAU modes, but
>>>> we will have to debug that problem.  Now that you are running the 390
>>>> drivers, I have no idea why it would crash.  There should be
>>>> information in the logs that will help.  What setting are you using
>>>> for Setup > Appearance > Theme / Screen Settings > Paint engine?  Some
>>>> of those settings are incompatible with VDPAU.
>>>>
>>>> >2) I need to get digital and analog sound working at the same time.
>>>>
>>>> The digital sound is going out the HDMI port on the video card's sound
>>>> device and the analogue sound is going out the analogue port on the
>>>> motherboard's sound device - two completely separate devices.  So
>>>> there is no setting in MythTV that will ever be able to send the sound
>>>> to both devices at once.  In order to do that, you will need to write
>>>> some specific ALSA configuration that will send the sound to both
>>>> devices.  That con goes in a file /etc/asound, which you will need
>>>> to create.  I have never done this, but others on this list have, so
>>>> they may be able to provide more specific help.  ALSA config is not
>>>> easy to understand and even less easy to write.  But there are lots of
>>>> examples on the web.
>>>>
>>>> You can get SPDIF and analogue output from the motherboard sound
>>>> device at the same time just by enabling both outputs on that device
>>>> in alsamixer.
>>>>
>>>> Re Sound.  I am using DVI and not HDMI and want SPDIF and analog out
>>> from the motherboard at the same time.  That worked with the 6200 video
>>> card but does not work with the 750 card even though I am not using the
>>> HDMI output on the 750 card. SPDIF and analog are enabled in alsa mixer but
>>> there is no setting in Myth Audio settings that will play both as there was
>>> before the new card was installed.  I can get either one depending on the
>>> setting but not both. I tried the HDMI cable thinking I might get better
>>> results but when I didn't, I went back to my target configuration which
>>> does not use the HDMI output.
>>>
>>
>> The best way to achieve this is with an .asoundrc or asound.conf (you can
>> name the config what you wish) that plays out both devices.  I do not know
>> how to tell Mythtv to do it, but alsa can definitely do it and also give
>> MythTV a uniqie alsa name to select in the config.
>>
>> I have never done it except to swap speakers, etc, but it is possible.
>> Google returns many hits.
>>
>>
>>> Re VDPAU.  The Paint Engine is Qt and with that VDPAU Normal will crash
>>> when you play a video.  It is fine with the menus. When the Paint Engine is
>>> set to Auto, OpenGL1 or 2, VDPAU Normal does not crash when playing the
>>> video but the video is several distorted. It looks like the vertical is
>>> stretched so the heads look too tall and thin and the aspect ratio is wrong.
>>>
>>
>> I have been using nVidia and MythTV for as long as I can remember and
>> always use OpenGL with VDPAU and have never had an issue.  I would suggest
>> changing it, or setting it to autO (which should select OpenGL).
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>>
> AUDIO) Interesting experiment.  Myth as setup right now and plays only
> through the analog output.  Youtube plays only through the digital output.
> Go figure. Alsa is set to output both.  Pulse Audio, which got installed as
> part of troubleshooting, will mute Youtube if set to analog.  I would have
> expected it to play through the TV. Maybe I need to uninstall Pulse Audio...
>

It does not matter what Alsa is set for - myth overrides it and is only
capable of using a single device.  There are entries in the wiki about this
exact thing:

https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Simultaneous_Audio_Output_to_Independent_Devices

> VIDEO) Doesn't work on anything except Qt when VDPAU Normal is selected.
> I mean it technically works, but on Auto or OpenGL when VDPAU is set to
> Normal, the picture is stretched vertically a lot, maybe almost double.
> With it set to Auto and VDPAU set to Slim, my wife complained about lots of
> strange lines in the playback.
>
>
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