On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 at 15:29, David Watkins <watkinshome@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, 20 Aug 2020 at 21:29, Roland Ernst <rcrernst@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 4:24 PM David Watkins <watkinshome@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, 20 Aug 2020 at 13:26, Stephen Worthington <
>>> stephen_agent@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
>>
>>
>
> Thanks,
>
> That gives me some hope, and some help.
>
> I'll see how I get on.
>
> D
>
So one of the causes of the frontend playback error:
... 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.)*
is not having enough memory allocated to your onboard nvidia graphics. At
some point when I was having intermittent playback problems I did a factory
reset on my motherboard, which left it with 64MB assigned to Graphics
Setting it to 256MB and all looks good. I'm not sure what it was at when
it was working intermittently - possibly 128MB?
Anyway - I'm over that hurdle now.
Thanks for the help
D
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 20 Aug 2020 at 21:29, Roland Ernst <rcrernst@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 4:24 PM David Watkins <watkinshome@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, 20 Aug 2020 at 13:26, Stephen Worthington <
>>> stephen_agent@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
>>
>>
>
> Thanks,
>
> That gives me some hope, and some help.
>
> I'll see how I get on.
>
> D
>
So one of the causes of the frontend playback error:
... 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.)*
is not having enough memory allocated to your onboard nvidia graphics. At
some point when I was having intermittent playback problems I did a factory
reset on my motherboard, which left it with 64MB assigned to Graphics
Setting it to 256MB and all looks good. I'm not sure what it was at when
it was working intermittently - possibly 128MB?
Anyway - I'm over that hurdle now.
Thanks for the help
D
>
>
>
>