[mythtv-users] VDPAU CreateOutputSurface error

Thu Aug 20 20:28:00 UTC 2020

On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 4:24 PM David Watkins <watkinshome at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Thu, 20 Aug 2020 at 13:26, Stephen Worthington <
> stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 20 Aug 2020 11:23:39 +0100, you wrote:
>>
>> >Dear All,
>> >
>> >After a hard disk failure I'm trying to rebuild a frontend/backend on an
>> >old Zotac Ion motherboard.
>> >
>> >It had been running Mythtv V25 and Fedora 16 on 2GB RAM with no problem,
>> >making multiple HD recordings from DVB-T while playing HD at the same
>> time.
>> >
>> >I installed lubuntu 20.04 over the weekend and Mythtv 31 from the repo
>> >which instantly revealed that 2GB RAM no longer cut the mustard.  (100%
>> of
>> >CPU dedicated to kswapd)
>> >
>> >I scrounged 2x2GB of RAM and with 4GB I no longer see any swapping with
>> >reasonable CPU and Memory loadings shown by 'top' .
>> >
>> >In fact after a couple of hours things were looking good.  I  had
>> >recording and nice smooth HD video playback -  albeit without sound
>> >because I hadn't configured that yet.
>> >
>> >I ran the frontend setup wizard, got sound working and both video test
>> >samples (SD and HD) played fine with sound and picture.
>> >
>> >However, after exiting the setup wizard my recordings don't play anymore.
>> >They play with sound but a black screen.
>> >
>> >Interestingly, cancelling the playback and immediately starting it again
>> >sometimes produced the video, which then played perfectly with the sound.
>> >(CPU at about 70%)
>> >
>> >Playback log from a failed startup is attached.  Lines of interest appear
>> >to be:
>> >
>> >*...*
>> >
>> >*E CoreContext decoders/mythvdpauhelper.cpp:381 (CreateOutputSurface)
>> >VDPAUHelp: Error at decoders/mythvdpauhelper.cpp:381 (#25, A catch-all
>> >error, used when no other error code applies.)*
>> >.....
>> >
>> >*E CoreContext opengl/mythvdpauinterop.cpp:196 (InitVDPAU) VDPAUInterop:
>> >Failed to register VdpOutputSurface. Will retry.*
>> >
>> >*E CoreContext decoders/mythvdpauhelper.cpp:474 (MixerRender) VDPAUHelp:
>> >Error at decoders/mythvdpauhelper.cpp:474 (#3, An invalid handle value
>> was
>> >provided.)*
>> >...
>> >
>> >zotac ion with 4GB Ram
>> >LUbuntu 20.04
>> >MythTV v31 from repo
>> >nVidia driver 340.108
>> >Playback profile vdpau with both deinterlacers at basic.
>> >
>> >I've since tried LUBUNTU 18.04 with Mythtv v29 (compiled by me) which
>> >suffers from the same problem in the log although this time the video
>> >either plays with sound and video or it just immediately bounces back to
>> >the frontend.  (Note the success:fail ratio is about 1:40)
>> >
>> >I've attached the playback log and if anyone can see anything useful in
>> >there I'd be grateful.
>> >
>> >Also, if anyone is successfully running a frontend on similar hardware
>> >please can you tell me your configuration  (OS version, Myth version,
>> >nVidia driver, setup tweaks etc...)
>> >
>> >I realise I can't assume 10 year old hardware will work but this doesn't
>> >quite feel like a hardware issue - and I don't want to throw the board
>> away
>> >unless I have to.  It's tantalising that occasionally it does work!
>> >
>> >I'm running out of ideas though.  I'm thinking to try:
>> > - a different distro
>> > - a 32 bit OS (I think I was running 32-bits before)
>> > - a different nVidia driver version.
>> >
>> >I do have a suspicion that the sound setup might be causing the problem.
>> >As I said, while I was setting up my tuner cards and channels I hadn't
>> >configured a sound device, and I didn't notice any playback issues then.
>> >It was only when I got audio playback working that the problems appeared
>> >(The ion sound driver is nVidia too). This could all be coincidence of
>> >course and I don't know how to investigate further anyway.
>> >
>> >Any help very welcome
>> >
>> >Regards,
>> >
>> >D
>>
>> MythTV v31 has new rendering code, so you may need to adjust your
>> settings for that to work well.  Take a look at the release notes.
>>
>> I am still on v30, so I am not familiar with what the log output for
>> playing a v31 recording looks like.  But the thing that struck me in
>> your log was that it did not seem to be using VDPAU to render the
>> recordings.  Instead it seems to be using opengl-hw.  Maybe it would
>> work better if VDPAU was doing the rendering also, so it was offloaded
>> onto the GPU.
>>
>
> Thanks for the reply Stephen,
>
> I did read the v31 release notes and my interpretation was that opengl is
> now always involved, even when using VDPAU?
>
> To be honest I think I tried all the playback settings and I can't
> remember which one that log is from but I'm pretty sure that whenever VDPAU
> was available as an option that's what I selected.  The problem is that
> whenever VDPAU is selected I only seem to have a 1/40 chance of the
> playback starting, whatever settings I use.  If the video does start then I
> can see the settings make a difference, but they don't seem to affect the
> chances of it starting in the first place.
>
> The changes in v31 were what made me try v29, but I had the same issue
> with that one.  I'm tending to think it's a lubuntu issue or maybe an
> nVidia one.
>
>
>
I have a frontend v29 running on ATOM 330 and Nvidia ION 1st gen:
Works perfect on h.264 HD recordings ( 720p and 1080i with mpeg h264
transport stream )

Below, some notes I did during installation:

General Note:
For ATOM CPUs, it is important that the 2 memory sticks run in "Dual
Channel Mode":
Check boot messages for correct size and mode of the RAM modules

Some notes I did during installation of Ubuntu 18.04 LXDE installation:
See https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Minimalinstallation/

On tasksel, select minimal lubuntu

Install nvidia drivers 340
>From Menu, run "Preferences" -> "Additional Drivers"
Select "Additional Drivers" from Lubuntu Menu and select nvidia 340
(it takes some time to react and finish)

reboot
- install nvidia-settings vdpauinfo

Setup mythbuntu ppa:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mythbuntu/0.29
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install mythtv-frontend

MythTV Frontend Configuration:
Tab Playback settings:
  Select 'vdpau normal' as profile
  Within that profile:
     Enable 4 CPUs (Max CPUs) for ATOM 330: 2 + 2 HT Cores
Tab General Playback:
  Deselect Big Audio Buffer, otherwise playback is very jittery

Check the frontend logs after start of a playback and follow the
instructions
to raise the audio buffer.
See log message:
ALSA: Try to manually increase audio buffer with: echo 192 | sudo tee
/proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/prealloc
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