GeForce GTX 260M and mplayer+vdpau causes "xv" video output to corrupt

[dankles]

Hello,
I have a GeForce GTX 260M, and i'm currently running the 195.36.08 graphics driver, though the problem happens on 195/190/185 and i dont know about any earlier...

When I play a video with mplayer and vdpau output, it works like a charm. No problems at all. But when I switch back to using xv video output in any video program (VLC, xine, gstreamer, mplayer, etc) it get really choppy video and eaten up CPU. It doesnt lock X up or anything, But to get video playback back to normal, I have to restart X. Then I can play xv output video no problem unless i used vdpau in the same X session again...

SDL doesnt seem to be affected, and when i get corrupted xv output, i can still play the same video with the vdpau/mplayer and run it fine. So i'm not sure what the problem is. I've had this problem on all versions of mplayer i've tryed in the past several months (both git and svn versions).

I've attached the log, any insight would be great! thanks!

[Stephen Warren]

dankles, can you please perform a little testing:

a) Restart X, run nvidia-settings, look at the PowerMizer page, and post all the information there (or just a screenshot)

b) Run an application that uses Xv, without any issues, and while it's running look at the nvidia-settings PowerMizer page. Which performance level is active?

c) Now run a VDPAU application. Which performance level is active.

d) Now run an Xv application, which I guess will stutter. Which performance level is active.

Finally, you'd mentioned that Xv becomes choppy, but later mentioned corrupted Xv output. I assume that was just a "slip of the tongue", and that you're only experiencing slow (choppy) playback, and not corruption (i.e. when frames are displayed, they look OK, there's just not enough of them).

Thanks.

[dankles]

Using the latest 195.36.08 video driver i performed the requested debuging:

a) Restart X, run nvidia-settings, look at the PowerMizer page, and post all the information there (or just a screenshot)

here is what it looks like after a clean X restart:

b) Run an application that uses Xv, without any issues, and while it's running look at the nvidia-settings PowerMizer page. Which performance level is active?

i ran mplayer with xv output and here is a screeny of PowerMizer:

c) Now run a VDPAU application. Which performance level is active.

mplayer with vdpau:

d) Now run an Xv application, which I guess will stutter. Which performance level is active.

Here is mplayer wiht xv output after running it with vdpau (stuttering video/Bad Frames):

Finally, you'd mentioned that Xv becomes choppy, but later mentioned corrupted Xv output. I assume that was just a "slip of the tongue", and that you're only experiencing slow (choppy) playback, and not corruption (i.e. when frames are displayed, they look OK, there's just not enough of them).

Yup. It was a slip of the tongue.


On another note, I tested this on a 32bit machine and had the same problem... dont know if that helps at all.

Thanks for the reply!

[dankles]

Update:

I set the "Preferred Mode" under PowerMizer from "Adaptive" to "Prefer Maximum Performance" and ran through all the steps without a problem. So i'm not sure what is going on here...


Edit:

Should I post my problem here? http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=157614

[Stephen Warren]

That other forum is mainly for Windows support. I'll file a Linux bug and see if we can repro this...

[dankles]

Thanks man!

[dankles]

has a bug been filed? and is the bug tracker public? I'd be more than happy to help in anyway that an end user can if they need testers to debug this problem.


thanks

[Stephen Warren]

Yes, a bug has been filed. It's in NVIDIA's internal bug tracker, so there's no public access. There is no public bug tracker.

[danix]

Does this happen with any video codec/resolution, or is it particular to certain types of files?

[danix]

dankles,

We are also curious whether your system is affected by another bug that we are tracking, where PowerMizer doesn't enter higher performance levels on laptops with GeForce GTX 260M/280M. It was interesting to see in your last screenshot that PowerMizer kicked up to the highest performance level when using xv, but not with vdpau. Could you run some GLX programs (glxgears should suffice) and watch PowerMizer and tell us what is the highest performance level it enters?

[cjb]

Originally Posted by danix

dankles,

We are also curious whether your system is affected by another bug that we are tracking, where PowerMizer doesn't enter higher performance levels on laptops with GeForce GTX 260M/280M. It was interesting to see in your last screenshot that PowerMizer kicked up to the highest performance level when using xv, but not with vdpau. Could you run some GLX programs (glxgears should suffice) and watch PowerMizer and tell us what is the highest performance level it enters?

Yes, I'm curious about that too, since I have a gtx260m that has never been anywhere near that level. I would even be willing to try the child-eating 195.36.08 driver if I could get my hands on it...

[danix]

Hi Dankles,

The new 256.29 beta sorts out some problems with ACPI on some high-end laptops that were causing problems with, among other things, PowerMizer. Could you try 256.29 and see how it works with your laptop?

Thanks.