[lama]

I have installed Kodi 15.1 on a thin itx build :

- pentium G3460
- asus h81t
- 8 gb ram
- ssd
- running on top of Linux Mint 17.2 xfce

I can't get video quality right.
I have tried Software render only, and various combinations of VAAPI enabled. It just goes from bad to worse.

First tried sound over PulseAudio, and also using Alsa (sound is sent thru hdmi)

- SD video plays, but there are artifacts, looks like waves across the screen. Some movies has green blocks.
- HD video plays 10-20 sek, but choppy/jerky, then crashes. Some HD movies doesn't start at all.

Does anyone have a similar setup, and hints for configuration? I'm interested in both audio and video setup, as apparently the hdmi audio can cause problems.

When i search the forums, i find a thousand permutations of settings, and so far none of them worked.

[fritsch]

No Debug Log no issue.

[lama]

Well I was just asking for hints to configure hdmi audio and VAAPI, since many forum posts state that this can cause video problems.

But anyways, a log from a clean restart, playing around 10 seconds of HD.

http://pastebin.com/LJFasute

[fritsch]

Three things

a) vaapi is not working
b) Your kernel causes kernel hangs
c) You are still using pulseaudio

To solve a)

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:wsnipex/vaapi
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:wsnipex/mesa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

After that you should have libva / libva-driver-intel 1.6.x - if the ppa does not work consider upgrading to a normal ubuntu. As your mint base with the compositor is bad for kodi anyways.

to solve b)

Code:

mkdir kernel
cd kernel
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.1.6-unstable/linux-headers-4.1.6-040106-generic_4.1.6-040106.201508170230_amd64.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.1.6-unstable/linux-headers-4.1.6-040106_4.1.6-040106.201508170230_all.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.1.6-unstable/linux-image-4.1.6-040106-generic_4.1.6-040106.201508170230_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i *deb
sudo reboot

c) your choice as you seem to need a desktop on that htpc?

[fritsch]

After you have fixed the above issues, post:


sudo apt-get install pastebinit
dmesg | pastebinit
vainfo | pastebint (needs proper vainfo, i965-va-driver installed)
dpkg -l |grep mesa | pastebinit

and recheck your kodi issues.

[lama]

Actually I tried to get ALSA by using :

AE_SINK=ALSA kodi-standalone


I used Linux Mint 17.2, because kodibuntu wouldn't install, and linux mint is my choice for desktop pc.

Would installing Lubuntu 15.04 perhaps be a better idea? It is not a big hazzle to reinstall.

[fritsch]

Try what I suggested in my previous post - if it works - no need to reinstall.

If you don't need pulseaudio: sudo apt-get remove --purge libasound2-plugins pulseaudio

[lama]

1. removed PulseAudio - now DTS-hd passthru works, and other varieties too.

2. SD seems to play fine without artifacts. Lanczos3 scaling chosen. (Edit : the artifact mentioned below, is here as well - just harder to notice)

3. HD videos plays better, but still has artifacts. Looks like top and bottom of picture is not aligned. Affects both VC-1 and H264.

4. "sudo apt-get install" yields 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

5. uname -r gives : 4.1.6-040106-generic

6. vainfo : http://pastebin.com/cPVZMVAq

7. dmesg : http://pastebin.com/NabYUFSd

8. dpkg -l |grep mesa : http://pastebin.com/Ppmr1wvP

[lama]

Experimenting with settings, it seems that render method "Basic Shaders" does not have those artifacts.

[lama]

"Tearing" as it apparently is called, fixed by putting :



Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Graphics"
Driver "intel"
Option "AccelMethod" "sna"
Option "TearFree" "true"
EndSection


in file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

Solution found here : http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.ph...19091.html

Everything looks like it is working for me now, includin advanced shaders and lanczos 3

[fritsch]

It make no sense to upscale 1080 content to a 1080 screen. So choose the option: "Use HQ scalers when scaling above: 20%".

Tearfree will enable triple buffering which is evil for your video / audio sync, this fix only fixes the incapabilities of the WM. Yes, the reason you get tearing is your desktop manager. Don't start kodi from the compositing mint thingy, which harms OpenGL applications, start it via the lightdm session.

[lama]

Regarding scaling, I was referring to SD content. I'm aware of the "scaling above" setting.

Anyways, I ditched the desktop manager, and you're absolutely right, no tearing.

Mint uses MDM, so i first replaced that with LightDM, since everybody is using that. Then changed the session to launch kodi directly.

I have been sitting 20cm in front the screen to check for quality issues, and it all looks fine to me. Passthru audio streams are recognized by receiver.

Oh, and all this trouble came from not being able to install Kodibuntu because of EFI bios issues. In my naivity I thought Mint 17.2 was the same, since it is based on Ubuntu14.04 too. Lesson learned.
I regard this issue as solved