Ben, As you probably have now read, I did upgrade. However, I stopped at 9.04 and then used the backport of VDPAU to mythtv-0.21. It was hard to tell if upgrading to the beta version of 9.10 mythbuntu was going to keep me in the beta versions forever or if I would smoothly transition into the standard distribution. I'm hoping that next month (or whenever I get around to it), I can still upgrade to 9.10 even though I'm using a patched version of mythtv. Btw, I suspected the PCI might cause problems, but I figured that the problem would give me an excuse to upgrade to a current version to get the VDPAU.
Basically everything works now (including the screen size). The only exception is a couple mpeg4 videos that the card, I believe, doesn't hardware decode. I think these files are being decoded by the CPU, resulting in PCI bus problems and the video stutters. However, those files can be easily converted. Thanks again for the help! Cheers, --Christer Watson On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 11:56 AM, Ben Dailey <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> Simón Ruiz<[email protected]> 10/03/09 11:02 AM >>> > FWIW > > It seems the PCI bus is about half as fast as AGP, plus if you have > any other PCI devices they're sharing the same bandwidth. > > http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/buses/types/agpBus-c.html > > Probably more related to the stuttering than the zoomy effect. > > Just a quick thought. > > Simón > > On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 1:16 PM, Watson, Christer <[email protected]> > wrote: >> Okay, I'm looking for some pointers on a mythtv problem. I just bought a >> NVidia Geforce 8400 GS (PCI) to replace a GeForce 5200 FX (AGP). I put the >> card in and my mythbuntu 8.04 system seems to be running and recognizing the >> new card using the same driver. However, there are two problems: >> >> 1) I do not actually see the entire desktop. About the outer 10% is cut-off. >> This is somewhat annoying. I've used the nvidia-settings program to mess >> with the "resolution" of the TV. However I don't really understand what that >> even means. When I adjust from 1024x768 to lower resolutions, the problem >> appears to get a bit worse. >> >> 2) When I watch live TV, there is a very strong stutter in the picture. >> Audio appears to be okay. It appears as if every frame appears for about 1 >> sec, then it skips to another frame about 1 sec later, etc. Not really >> watchable. I've measured the CPU load while watching live TV and it is quite >> high (mythfront.end -> 70%, Xorg -> 60%, I have hyperthreading so all the >> percentages can add up to 200%). I suspect the problem is either in the >> driver or xorg settings passed to the driver. I am worried, however, that >> the problem is that I'm using a PCI slot (not PCI express, PCI). I have >> tried to install more recent nvidia drivers, but I have run into some >> problems with my first attempts. I downloaded the most recent binary blob >> (NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.36-pkg1.run) and ran it. After reboot, Xorg >> complained that it could only boot into low graphics mode (VESA driver, I >> believe). I am in the process of investigating why this install didn't seem >> to work as expected. >> >> In any case, I thought I'd put a call out on this list to see if anyone had >> suggestions. >> >> --Christer > > </[email protected]></[email protected]> > <[email protected]><[email protected]>Christer,</[email protected]></[email protected]> > <[email protected]><[email protected]> > </[email protected]></[email protected]> > <[email protected]><[email protected]>Simón is correct about the > bandwidth of the PCI bus it is not fast enough to carry the uncompressed > video to the pci video card. So even if your HT cpu is fast enough to decode > your content the PCI Bus isn't fast enough. Good news though all is not lost > the PCI bus should be fast enough to carry the compressed video. But to be > able to carry the compressed video along the PCI bus you need to be using > VDPAU to decode the video on the GPU. So I hope you are up for some upgrades. > You need to be running Ubuntu 9.10 beta Karmic Kola with mythtv 0.22 beta. > Have fun and let me know if have any questions. Also when you get upgraded to > the newest Nvidia Drivers and MythTV you should be able to use the screen > wizard to correct for overscan. What model TV are you using and what type of > connection?</[email protected]></[email protected]> > <[email protected]><[email protected]> > </[email protected]></[email protected]> > <[email protected]><[email protected]>HTH,</[email protected]></[email protected]> > <[email protected]><[email protected]>Ben</[email protected]></[email protected]> > > > _______________________________________________ > Fwlug mailing list > [email protected] > http://fortwaynelug.org/mailman/listinfo/fwlug_fortwaynelug.org > > _______________________________________________ Fwlug mailing list [email protected] http://fortwaynelug.org/mailman/listinfo/fwlug_fortwaynelug.org
