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OK, I use Ubuntu on my media server and use it daily as a video player with KODI. However last week sometime doing the usual system updates and such, I noticed a studder in video. Audio keeps going, video would just freeze a second and continue. So finally I said screw it. Formatting Ubuntu is super fast so I just blew away the boot drive and redid it all. Install, apt-get update, upgrade, dist-upgrade, install kodi and the latest AMD driver, and test and it's still there.

I turned on debugging and did a tail -f kodi.log while watching the video and found that exactly when it happens the log gets a ton of these:


This is the server that holds the content so it is local. It does it on anything from tiny files, both AVI, MKV, etc. to ISOs. I now use VLC as an external player (though it doesn't work properly for BR ISOs, tends to skip when the m2ts changes... very annoying). Asside from the subtitle issues with the standard player, it worked fine till very recently.

At this point I'm out of ideas. Before the format, it used the standard AMD driver, this time I went to their site and got it, but it seems to be something else. System is quite overkill for any server. It's a retired gaming rig. AMD 1100T (6-core) 3.3G, 16G ram, SSDs, Old AMD 5770 (I think) and then the LSI raid card for the storage array. It is literally just what I had sitting around, but it shouldn't be a problem in any regard. With debug on, each CPU is sitting only around 20% while playing. Also tried all software modes, etc.

Full KODI Log File

We don't support AMD drivers at all - use the open source drivers. Every fglrx crap won't do hw acceleration at all.

If you read my post, before the format it did use the standard driver, the default open source one, not the one from AMD. Did it on both systems. Both with the same result in the log. And TBH, the one from AMD worked better then the open source one for 2D tearing removal, etc.

So again, that line is the notice from the log that is the problem. It dumps a ton of CDVDPlayerVideo::CalcDropRequirement messages and hangs the video. Watching the log on another terminal next to the video, they happen at the exact same time.

That means: Your system performance is too slow to decode videos, so it starts to drop / skip frames.

You currently do sw decoding of a video with just one core (as fglrx does not do any hw decoding) ... of a raw bluray ... set Video -> Acceleration -> Decoding Method: Software.

Concerning the oss drivers, you have most likely forgotten mesa-vdpau-drivers so that vdpau could have been used.

Probably not the main issue here, but as someone who has a similar CPU (phenom II x4) I've found that cpufreq on_demand can cause issues with getting good vid sometimes. The lowest for my 3.4Hz CPU is 800MHz and decoding that eg, used sse doesn't always seem to show as usage top wise, or maybe just the wildly different clock between lowest and next step hurts.Whatever the reason I habitually set my cpus to perf if I want to watch vid.

AMD had an issue in combination of "later" mesa + newer kernels - this also was fixed, which was btw. only an issue for non vdpau acceleration - which both have nothing to do with fglrx.

(2015-03-02, 09:07)fritsch Wrote: [ -> ]That means: Your system performance is too slow to decode videos, so it starts to drop / skip frames.

You currently do sw decoding of a video with just one core (as fglrx does not do any hw decoding) ... of a raw bluray ... set Video -> Acceleration -> Decoding Method: Software.

Concerning the oss drivers, you have most likely forgotten mesa-vdpau-drivers so that vdpau could have been used.

You just don't seem to get it do ya? I reformatted when it was doing this with the standard OPEN SOURCE driver also. Tried the AMD driver and it did the exact same thing. And it didn't do this before the latest apt-get dist-upgrade a week or so ago on the old system even.

And running system monitor at the same time, none of the cores hit 100%, not even close. They sit around 20% only. I reformatted again and ohh, still doing it. Without the fglrx driver...

(2015-03-02, 13:50)AndyFurniss Wrote: [ -> ]Probably not the main issue here, but as someone who has a similar CPU (phenom II x4) I've found that cpufreq on_demand can cause issues with getting good vid sometimes. The lowest for my 3.4Hz CPU is 800MHz and decoding that eg, used sse doesn't always seem to show as usage top wise, or maybe just the wildly different clock between lowest and next step hurts.Whatever the reason I habitually set my cpus to perf if I want to watch vid.

Thought about that, but from what I can see it's running up to speed. I'll double-check again. With the server in the closet, with 8 4TB drives and the raid card in it, my problem is keeping it cool. If my house was setup like an office and I had a dedicated AC for there and good air filtration, it wouldn't be so bad, but I have to dust it once a month or more as the cpu temps start to climb, and that's with a really nice Zalhman cooler.

To be hoenst, even on my windows boxes I don't use the built in player. For movie files I use the external launcher and use MPC-HC and ISOs run through PowerDVD or WinDVD. The built-in player just doesn't do things properly. I use it on the Ubuntu rig cause other then VLC there isn't anything else and VLC jumps at chapter changes on ISOs in it's current form since it doesn't keep up with windows versions (when a bluray changes .m2ts bits for example). But the player can't even get forced subtitles automatically, instead always playing the first subtitle track (which on blu-rays isn't even correct much of the time), and if there are forced subtitles mixed within the CC subtitles, the built in player can't tell the difference anyhow, so it's CC on or off period. I would have thought they would have fixed it by now...

So really, the only time I use the built-in player is on that one box and only for ISOs. FWIW, it did do the same thing to movie files also but I moved those to external VLC also.

However, one thing I have noticed, it seems to do it every time it is queuing up the UPS's status... There's something interesting for ya... If I remove the UPS USB, it stops. But that uses no CPU at all. Running nothing, even with the CPU on minimal, it doesn't even create the tiniest bump on the CPU monitor. Even running a TOP report every 10ms (100 reports a second), top is the only thing actually using any CPU. (and a tiny, tiny bit running the script that does the TOP command).

I've used this player on this system for the last year, even with it's subtitle issues as it's what I see while I work on the neighboring systems. Do a system update and there it is. I can reformat and it's fine until I do another latest system update. That's running Ubuntu 64 Server though, not desktop. But if it is a CPU issue, the software isn't using the CPU properly as it seems to 'cap out' in that case at 25% of one core (though all cores report utilization up around the 20's with XBMC/KODI going). It'll spike fast when doing a file update, but that's for like 2 seconds when it's querying a 36TB array (quite fast I will say). But that's it.

Unless perhaps it is trying to sleep a processor while using it with the latest update... That might be a clue... Hmm... But then why would the UPS query make a difference?

Sorry when I waste your time. The difference between me and you is most likely, that I have written part of the code - you are currently running. I am out of here.

Heh, if you wrote it, then it's your fault? Or you can't read to see what I've tried to say in multiple threads about the subtitles and I'm not the only one who notices this...

I'm a programmer also by trade, but I don't instantly blame everything on someone else's stuff. You continue to blame the AMD specific driver when the system has been reformatted TWICE since then without it and the problem continues... Not like it takes long, about 15 minutes to wipe and reformat the OS SSD... Much nicer then windows...

Nore the fact that the latest updates are the culprit... You just want to jump on the AMD driver... Ya, you rock. Thanks for leaving. AndyFurniss had much better suggestions and thoughts then you've offered anyhow...

I did not see a single log from you with proper drivers.

Post one with mesa-vdpau-driver installed.

Additionally get me vdpauinfo | pastebinit after you did so.

mind trying a nightly?

(2015-03-02, 22:41)FernetMenta Wrote: [ -> ]mind trying a nightly?

I've reformatted a dozen times trying out different things. No problem; Where is the nightly? I've only ever used the release changes through the package server. Doing this while I work also (put in 114 hours last week, heading that way this week... Sometimes being salary sucks...) so I can swing over to type things and capture things but I can't spend a ton of time hunting for things till the weekend.

However, I do think AndyFurniss was on to something, and it wold make sense with the UPS issue also. Regardless, even if it is doing software decoding, the CPU is far more then capable. I use it for live H.264 transcoding and it can do that without even trying and I do that all software only on purpose. I think one of the new updates is making it drop the CPU speed when it query the UPS. In any mode, it might show something. Doesn't make sense I know but it fits the problem. XBMC is just the one to show it. Ironically though, the only one to show it. Even flash video doesn't show it (watching TV on the various websites) which is usually the worst offender for showing these types of things.

Ironically, I run VLC in software mode also and it doesn't show it. FWIW. I let XBMC/KODI run in whatever it's setup as since I'm not doing anything with what it's showing, I just let it run. Checking settings, it's got hardware acceleration all enabled.

Also, any news on fixing the subtitle issues? I know there are many topics on it but this brought all that up to a forethought again. The reason I never use the built in player on the other systems. I have KODI on 6 systems, all feeding off THIS server (files here are all local). But they all use it just as a media display tool and use other players to actually enjoy the content. Mostly cause if they are speaking foreign languages and there are forced subtitles or some specific subtitle track (most movies today it seems), I like to know what they are saying. That's a universal problem on every system running the release I'm aware of. I'll try the nightly.

I type super fast but I must return to the server that just finished (other project). It might be a few days before I can do more work on this as the floodgates I've been waiting for just opened at work and I must attend that first.

First rule of media players, if it ain't broken, don't fix it! That was my first reaction when I saw this:

Quote:However last week sometime doing the usual system updates and such

And your subtitle problems should probably go in another thread.

(2015-03-02, 23:16)IamSGC Wrote: [ -> ]

(2015-03-02, 22:41)FernetMenta Wrote: [ -> ]mind trying a nightly?

I've reformatted a dozen times trying out different things. No problem; Where is the nightly?

http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Kod...ment_build

You might check if fgrlx isnt installed. I had it a few times after upgrading ubuntu that it installed fgrlx (sigh)..