Video tearing with GNOME 3.x

RobotMarvin · 11-24-11, 01:48 AM

Morning all.

All over the net, there are reports of video tearing with Gnome 3.x and the official nvidia driver. Unfortunately there are no solutions or official words about it. So I'd like to bring this up here on the forum in the hopes that it sparks a response and maybe gets things moving into the right direction.

The problem is: There is no tearing with the desktop itself - only video playback has tearing and always at the same spot... in the upper 1/8 of the screen. No matter what I do. I tried VDPAU and OpenGL output, forced OpenGL sync via nvidia-settings and __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK but the tearing remained. Also from time to time, switching from the text console to X takes a few seconds for the desktop to appear. Everything is just fine under KDE with and without compositing though - no delays, no tearing, nothing at all.

Right now I am using the 290.10 drivers with kernel 3.0.9 on a Gentoo x86_64 system. The card is a Zotac GTX 470 AMP! (w/ msi active and no ondemandvblanks).

If you need any further informations and/or help testing potential fixes, please let me know and I will gladly help in any way possible.

Thanks.

So long,
matthias.

Belegdol · 11-24-11, 03:57 AM

How does it work on secondary screen?
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=651312
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/show...96&postcount=7

RobotMarvin · 11-24-11, 04:15 AM

Unfortunately I only have one TFT here, so I can't test with a two screen setup. By the way, I knew the other thread and the bug report but as you can see for yourself, there is nothing in there that comes even close to a solution unfortunately. The original reporter's static tear line is the same thing I am seeing, basically.

Hopefully there is an official word coming from the nvidia devs in here, please? :-)

sandipt · 11-25-11, 01:09 AM

Does tearing happens if you do `nvidia-xconfig --no-composite` and restartX ?

Dragoran · 11-25-11, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandipt

Does tearing happens if you do `nvidia-xconfig --no-composite` and restartX ?

That makes no sense, because gnome3 *requires* composite to work.

kokoko3k · 11-25-11, 06:05 AM

i don't use gnome, but in the past i solved that issue with tearing in the upper part of the screen by removing/stting false:
Option "TripleBuffer"
in xorg.conf in device section

Belegdol · 11-25-11, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobotMarvin

Unfortunately I only have one TFT here, so I can't test with a two screen setup. By the way, I knew the other thread and the bug report but as you can see for yourself, there is nothing in there that comes even close to a solution unfortunately. The original reporter's static tear line is the same thing I am seeing, basically.

Hopefully there is an official word coming from the nvidia devs in here, please? :-)

I am the original reporter

I pointed this thread to you in a hope that if we bring enough attention to the problem a solution might be found.

RobotMarvin · 11-26-11, 01:26 AM

@sandipt: I don't see why this should be relevant at all. Gnome 3.x requires composition to work like Dragoran already said.

@kokoko3k: Tried with both on and off - no difference at all, unfortunately.

@Belegdol: I doubt it, actually. This issue has been going on for a while now and there are still no official words. :-((

In the meantime maybe this leads to other clues: When composition is on, switching from the text console to X takes up to 3 seconds before the desktop fully appears. This happens with both KDE 4.{6,7,8} and Gnome 3.{0,2}. The problem disappears when composition is simply deactivated within KDE for example. I also tried with MSI off, no change at all.

Belegdol · 11-26-11, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandipt

Does tearing happens if you do `nvidia-xconfig --no-composite` and restartX ?

No, it does not. But, as others have written already, gnome-shell requires composite to work. As such, disabling it forces gnome to use the fallback mode, which uses metacity AFAIK.

zeroadhesion · 11-28-11, 03:53 PM

Hello all. I have absolutely the same problem. And found no solution at the moment. :/
Gnome 3.2.1
Fedora 16
NVIDIA DRIVERS 290.10
NVIDIA GTX 460
Gnome-MPlayer for player
and VDPAU for Video out.

Plagman · 11-28-11, 08:15 PM

Using VDPAU under a composited environment is documented to not be guaranteed tear-free. See appendix H of the README, VdpPresentationQueue section.

The original reported also mentioned that the OpenGL output path was tearing. Do other OpenGL applications running under GNOME 3 also exhibit the same behavior, even when forcing VSync?

kokoko3k · 11-29-11, 01:55 AM

As a side note in case opengl output path would be fixed in the future, mplayer-vaapi allows you to use opengl output and vdpau decoding togheter.

11-24-11, 01:48 AM	#1
RobotMarvin Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 77	Video tearing with GNOME 3.x Morning all. All over the net, there are reports of video tearing with Gnome 3.x and the official nvidia driver. Unfortunately there are no solutions or official words about it. So I'd like to bring this up here on the forum in the hopes that it sparks a response and maybe gets things moving into the right direction. The problem is: There is no tearing with the desktop itself - only video playback has tearing and always at the same spot... in the upper 1/8 of the screen. No matter what I do. I tried VDPAU and OpenGL output, forced OpenGL sync via nvidia-settings and __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK but the tearing remained. Also from time to time, switching from the text console to X takes a few seconds for the desktop to appear. Everything is just fine under KDE with and without compositing though - no delays, no tearing, nothing at all. Right now I am using the 290.10 drivers with kernel 3.0.9 on a Gentoo x86_64 system. The card is a Zotac GTX 470 AMP! (w/ msi active and no ondemandvblanks). If you need any further informations and/or help testing potential fixes, please let me know and I will gladly help in any way possible. Thanks. So long, matthias.

11-24-11, 03:57 AM	#2
Belegdol Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 118	Re: Video tearing with GNOME 3.x How does it work on secondary screen? https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=651312 http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/show...96&postcount=7

11-24-11, 04:15 AM	#3
RobotMarvin Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 77	Re: Video tearing with GNOME 3.x Unfortunately I only have one TFT here, so I can't test with a two screen setup. By the way, I knew the other thread and the bug report but as you can see for yourself, there is nothing in there that comes even close to a solution unfortunately. The original reporter's static tear line is the same thing I am seeing, basically. Hopefully there is an official word coming from the nvidia devs in here, please? :-)

11-25-11, 01:09 AM	#4
sandipt NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 259	Re: Video tearing with GNOME 3.x Does tearing happens if you do `nvidia-xconfig --no-composite` and restartX ?

11-25-11, 06:05 AM	#6
kokoko3k Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 119	Re: Video tearing with GNOME 3.x i don't use gnome, but in the past i solved that issue with tearing in the upper part of the screen by removing/stting false: Option "TripleBuffer" in xorg.conf in device section

11-26-11, 01:26 AM	#8
RobotMarvin Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 77	Re: Video tearing with GNOME 3.x @sandipt: I don't see why this should be relevant at all. Gnome 3.x requires composition to work like Dragoran already said. @kokoko3k: Tried with both on and off - no difference at all, unfortunately. @Belegdol: I doubt it, actually. This issue has been going on for a while now and there are still no official words. :-(( In the meantime maybe this leads to other clues: When composition is on, switching from the text console to X takes up to 3 seconds before the desktop fully appears. This happens with both KDE 4.{6,7,8} and Gnome 3.{0,2}. The problem disappears when composition is simply deactivated within KDE for example. I also tried with MSI off, no change at all.

11-28-11, 03:53 PM	#10
zeroadhesion Registered User Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 1	Re: Video tearing with GNOME 3.x Hello all. I have absolutely the same problem. And found no solution at the moment. :/ Gnome 3.2.1 Fedora 16 NVIDIA DRIVERS 290.10 NVIDIA GTX 460 Gnome-MPlayer for player and VDPAU for Video out.

11-28-11, 08:15 PM	#11
Plagman NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 254	Re: Video tearing with GNOME 3.x Using VDPAU under a composited environment is documented to not be guaranteed tear-free. See appendix H of the README, VdpPresentationQueue section. The original reported also mentioned that the OpenGL output path was tearing. Do other OpenGL applications running under GNOME 3 also exhibit the same behavior, even when forcing VSync?

11-29-11, 01:55 AM	#12
kokoko3k Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 119	Re: Video tearing with GNOME 3.x As a side note in case opengl output path would be fixed in the future, mplayer-vaapi allows you to use opengl output and vdpau decoding togheter.