Mailing List Archive: My experience setting up a NUC 11

My experience setting up a NUC 11

Jan 12, 2022, 5:27 AM

Post #1 of 3 (392 views)

I just went through the process of setting up MythTV on a NUC 11 PAHi5
running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, and wanted to share some of the pain points I ran
into in case anyone else is trying to do the same.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/205040/intel-nuc-11-performance-kit-nuc11pahi5.html

1. Getting IR to work
There's a BIOS setting to enable/disable the IR receiver. If this is
unchecked -- mine was my default -- you won't see your receiver, and
ir-keytable will tell you there's no IR receiver available. Make sure to
enable it in the BIOS.

If you're using inputlirc make sure to use a udev rule to create a uniquely
named symlink. E.g., in /etc/udev/rules.d/10-persistent-ir.rules have:
KERNEL=="event*",ATTRS{name}=="ITE8708 CIR
transceiver",SYMLINK="input/irremote"
And retrigger the udev processing. Otherwise if you have a keyboard
attached and you try and use it, you'll get double key presses.

2. Getting sound to work
I couldn't get it working out of the gate. Apparently it is (was) a common
issue:
https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/NUC-11-Performance-No-audio-on-any-Ubuntu-based-OS/m-p/1277346
I installed the linux-image-oem-20.04d package (kernel 5.14.0-1018-oem) and
booted into it. That fixed the sound issue.

3. Getting video to work on a 4k display
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1364236/4k-graphics-problems-with-intel-nuc11-with-ubuntu-20-04-lts
My NUC runs through a Denon receiver and into a 4k TV. All the hardware and
cables should support 4k@60fps, but my screen was going blank every time I
tried to go above 1920x1080@60fps. It turns out that by default Ubuntu will
use the maximum possible color depth, which in my case was 12. 4k@60fps @
12 bits is above the maximum data rate for HDMI 2.0:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DeepColourDepthSupportPlan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Refresh_frequency_limits_for_standard_video
(uses 8 bits, so multiply by 1.5 to get 12 bit data rate)
Once I set the bit depth to 8, it started working again:
https://www.soi.pw/posts/10-bit-color-on-ubuntu-20.04-with-amdgpu-driver/

4. [unsolved] Getting 1920x1080@24 fps video to not tear
I have a bunch of movies in my video directory, and for the life of me I
couldn't get them to play without tearing when I was driving my video
display at 4k. I tried the "TearFree" option but it looked like this, and
playback kept blacking out:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/gDOkX.jpg
I also tried various combinations of DRI3, triple buffering, and Wayland,
but none of those seemed to work.

Ultimately I set my desktop and display to 1920x1080@120Hz@8bits and that
seems to have solved the tearing problem. I don't have a bunch of 4k
content but I was hoping to have this NUC be my future-proofed 4k@60fps and
full surround sound system. It's ... mostly there, but not fully.

Hopefully this email is useful to anyone looking to get a NUC 11 system as
a frontend, and if anyone figures out how to get 24fps video to not tear
I'd be thrilled. :)

Thanks to all the MythTV devs who have made this an awesome system over the
years!
-justin

Re: My experience setting up a NUC 11 [ In reply to ]

jam at tigger

Jan 12, 2022, 5:43 AM

Post #2 of 3 (392 views)

Permalink

> On 12 Jan 2022, at 9:27 pm, Justin Moore <justin.nonwork@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I just went through the process of setting up MythTV on a NUC 11 PAHi5 running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, and wanted to share some of the pain points I ran into in case anyone else is trying to do the same.
>
> https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/205040/intel-nuc-11-performance-kit-nuc11pahi5.html <https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/205040/intel-nuc-11-performance-kit-nuc11pahi5.html>
>
> 1. Getting IR to work
> There's a BIOS setting to enable/disable the IR receiver. If this is unchecked -- mine was my default -- you won't see your receiver, and ir-keytable will tell you there's no IR receiver available. Make sure to enable it in the BIOS.
>
> If you're using inputlirc make sure to use a udev rule to create a uniquely named symlink. E.g., in /etc/udev/rules.d/10-persistent-ir.rules have:
> KERNEL=="event*",ATTRS{name}=="ITE8708 CIR transceiver",SYMLINK="input/irremote"
> And retrigger the udev processing. Otherwise if you have a keyboard attached and you try and use it, you'll get double key presses.
>
> 2. Getting sound to work
> I couldn't get it working out of the gate. Apparently it is (was) a common issue:
> https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/NUC-11-Performance-No-audio-on-any-Ubuntu-based-OS/m-p/1277346 <https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/NUC-11-Performance-No-audio-on-any-Ubuntu-based-OS/m-p/1277346>
> I installed the linux-image-oem-20.04d package (kernel 5.14.0-1018-oem) and booted into it. That fixed the sound issue.
>
> 3. Getting video to work on a 4k display
> https://askubuntu.com/questions/1364236/4k-graphics-problems-with-intel-nuc11-with-ubuntu-20-04-lts <https://askubuntu.com/questions/1364236/4k-graphics-problems-with-intel-nuc11-with-ubuntu-20-04-lts>
> My NUC runs through a Denon receiver and into a 4k TV. All the hardware and cables should support 4k@60fps, but my screen was going blank every time I tried to go above 1920x1080@60fps. It turns out that by default Ubuntu will use the maximum possible color depth, which in my case was 12. 4k@60fps @ 12 bits is above the maximum data rate for HDMI 2.0:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DeepColourDepthSupportPlan <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DeepColourDepthSupportPlan>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Refresh_frequency_limits_for_standard_video <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Refresh_frequency_limits_for_standard_video> (uses 8 bits, so multiply by 1.5 to get 12 bit data rate)
> Once I set the bit depth to 8, it started working again:
> https://www.soi.pw/posts/10-bit-color-on-ubuntu-20.04-with-amdgpu-driver/ <https://www.soi.pw/posts/10-bit-color-on-ubuntu-20.04-with-amdgpu-driver/>
>
> 4. [unsolved] Getting 1920x1080@24 fps video to not tear
> I have a bunch of movies in my video directory, and for the life of me I couldn't get them to play without tearing when I was driving my video display at 4k. I tried the "TearFree" option but it looked like this, and playback kept blacking out:
> https://i.stack.imgur.com/gDOkX.jpg <https://i.stack.imgur.com/gDOkX.jpg>
> I also tried various combinations of DRI3, triple buffering, and Wayland, but none of those seemed to work.
>
> Ultimately I set my desktop and display to 1920x1080@120Hz@8bits and that seems to have solved the tearing problem. I don't have a bunch of 4k content but I was hoping to have this NUC be my future-proofed 4k@60fps and full surround sound system. It's ... mostly there, but not fully.
>
> Hopefully this email is useful to anyone looking to get a NUC 11 system as a frontend, and if anyone figures out how to get 24fps video to not tear I'd be thrilled. :)

Justin I solved video (but I have no 4k) and audio by using SUSE Tumbleweed. (It's intel gen-11 HW that's the issue) (and LXQT messes up the GUI) but useful input, thanks)

James

PS I'll try some of the jelly clips to see 4k but still using 1080 HW.

Re: My experience setting up a NUC 11 [ In reply to ]

jfabernathy at gmail

Jan 12, 2022, 6:16 AM

Post #3 of 3 (392 views)

Permalink

On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 8:27 AM Justin Moore <justin.nonwork@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I just went through the process of setting up MythTV on a NUC 11 PAHi5
> running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, and wanted to share some of the pain points I ran
> into in case anyone else is trying to do the same.
>
>
> https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/205040/intel-nuc-11-performance-kit-nuc11pahi5.html
>
> 1. Getting IR to work
> There's a BIOS setting to enable/disable the IR receiver. If this is
> unchecked -- mine was my default -- you won't see your receiver, and
> ir-keytable will tell you there's no IR receiver available. Make sure to
> enable it in the BIOS.
>
> If you're using inputlirc make sure to use a udev rule to create a
> uniquely named symlink. E.g., in /etc/udev/rules.d/10-persistent-ir.rules
> have:
> KERNEL=="event*",ATTRS{name}=="ITE8708 CIR
> transceiver",SYMLINK="input/irremote"
> And retrigger the udev processing. Otherwise if you have a keyboard
> attached and you try and use it, you'll get double key presses.
>
> 2. Getting sound to work
> I couldn't get it working out of the gate. Apparently it is (was) a common
> issue:
>
> https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/NUC-11-Performance-No-audio-on-any-Ubuntu-based-OS/m-p/1277346
> I installed the linux-image-oem-20.04d package (kernel 5.14.0-1018-oem)
> and booted into it. That fixed the sound issue.
>
> 3. Getting video to work on a 4k display
>
> https://askubuntu.com/questions/1364236/4k-graphics-problems-with-intel-nuc11-with-ubuntu-20-04-lts
> My NUC runs through a Denon receiver and into a 4k TV. All the hardware
> and cables should support 4k@60fps, but my screen was going blank every
> time I tried to go above 1920x1080@60fps. It turns out that by default
> Ubuntu will use the maximum possible color depth, which in my case was 12.
> 4k@60fps @ 12 bits is above the maximum data rate for HDMI 2.0:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DeepColourDepthSupportPlan
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Refresh_frequency_limits_for_standard_video
> (uses 8 bits, so multiply by 1.5 to get 12 bit data rate)
> Once I set the bit depth to 8, it started working again:
> https://www.soi.pw/posts/10-bit-color-on-ubuntu-20.04-with-amdgpu-driver/
>
> 4. [unsolved] Getting 1920x1080@24 fps video to not tear
> I have a bunch of movies in my video directory, and for the life of me I
> couldn't get them to play without tearing when I was driving my video
> display at 4k. I tried the "TearFree" option but it looked like this, and
> playback kept blacking out:
> https://i.stack.imgur.com/gDOkX.jpg
> I also tried various combinations of DRI3, triple buffering, and Wayland,
> but none of those seemed to work.
>
> Ultimately I set my desktop and display to 1920x1080@120Hz@8bits and that
> seems to have solved the tearing problem. I don't have a bunch of 4k
> content but I was hoping to have this NUC be my future-proofed 4k@60fps
> and full surround sound system. It's ... mostly there, but not fully.
>
> Hopefully this email is useful to anyone looking to get a NUC 11 system as
> a frontend, and if anyone figures out how to get 24fps video to not tear
> I'd be thrilled. :)
>
> Thanks to all the MythTV devs who have made this an awesome system over
> the years!
> -justin
>

I have an 11th gen NUC from ASRock Ind. It's a NUC 1165G7. I could not get
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS to work until I installed the OEM kernel and eventually
HWE kernel. That fixed most of the sound and video problems with Iris GFX.
I found that my BIOS had a setting that defaulted the 3.5mm jack to
something that was not line-out, so I could not get it to work with power
PC speakers. I didn't find that until I'd already moved that NUC to a
different job where HDMI audio works.

My current setup with the den TV will not let the NUC work at 4k@60, even
though all the other devices connected to that TV can and do run at 4k@60.
I tested the NUC on another 4k TV and it works at 60. So HDMI 2.0 is maybe
a standard or not.

I have found that the quality of the 4K@60 of the NUC on the other TV is
not very good for motion scenes. At the time I was testing it with Ubuntu
20.04 with HWE kernel, it's playback of UHD content from youtube was not as
good as a FireTV 4k stick. There have been many updates of the Iris gfx
drivers since I did that test, so it may be better.

Since MythTV can only do 1080P MPEG2 videos for OTA TV in the USA, I have
the PC always boot to 1080P. It works great at that.

Jim A