XBMCBuntu issue with Radeon HD
#1
Hello all,

I hope i am in the right section and apologize if this is not the case.

I am having a small mediacenter computer based on the Asrock 939A785GMH equipped with 2GB of RAM, Athlon 64 3200 and the onboard Radeon 4200 chipset. I am using XBMCBuntu Live 11.1 installed on the machine since a couple of months now and everything worked fine until i had couple of videos HD giving a lot of artifacts instead 99% of the other doesn't. I tested the same machine with Windows 7 and XBMC for Windows still in 11.1, i do not have that issue at all. When i press "o" key to get information about the decoder, i do not see anything special about dropping frames or whatever. The decoder used is exactly the same then the one for the 99% other movies i watched without any problem so i don't know exactly where to start ? Another strange issue is that if i update the catalyst driver to the latest release or any other than the 11.11 pre-installed with the OS, i am getting a slow videoplayback and many frames dropped by the system. I also have another mediacenter computer based on a shuttle Pentium4 3.0Ghz with 2GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 3650 512Mb of RAM which also playback slowly the videos but even with the 11.11 version of the Catalyst installed with XBMCBuntu. I didn't check on that one with Windows 7 however. As i am newbie with XBMC, i ask your help to know where to look before doing anything stupid.
thanks in advance.
Mauro
Reply
#2
look here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=116996

about the catalyst driver: you need fglrx-legacy for your card.
Reply
#3
Hello,

thanks for your reply. I already saw that topic, and this time i followed entirely all the different methods and package provided. The results are for the Asrock system with onboard Radeon HD4200 :

- with XBMC installed from Wsnipex/xbmc-xvba ppa, i get the same result as i had with stock live cd installation (both 11.1 and 12.1 beta), artefacts in some videos, and 95% of the other videos working fine.
- same with XBMC installed from wsnipex/xbmc-xvba-testing ppa.

Screenshot of a video not working :
http://imageshack.us/a/img254/1338/img20...135540.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img231/7858/img20...141051.jpg

and a screenshot of a fully working video :
http://imageshack.us/a/img507/9581/img20...135600.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img31/9871/img20121125141021.jpg

the strange thing is that every I-Frame for the non working videos is shown perfectly and only when P-frames get motion, the artefacts appear ... And it is not a question of high bandwidth of the video, i also playback some blu-rays @ more than 25Mbits/s without any problems.

The tests now on the Shuttle with the Radeon HD 3650 gave that :
- with the XBMC package coming from wsnipex/xbmc-xvba AND wsnipex/xbmc-xvba-testing are giving a black image when playing a video.
- The XBMC package coming from wsnipex/xbmc-xvba-eden give the same result as the stock live CD installation (both 11.1 and 12.1 beta).

I am getting a bit confused .... Sad especially because the test i did with the same hardware for the Asrock and Radeon HD 4200 system is working fine with the same videos.
Reply
#4
can you post a mediainfo of the file that gives artefacts?
Also make sure that you have reserved 512MB video RAM in bios.

I assume after the fglrx upgrade/install you did with X stopped:
sudo aticonfig --sync-vsync=on
sudo aticonfig --set-pcs-u32=MCIL,HWUVD_H264Level51Support,1

for now plz test with the 4200. A sample would be great too, as I have a HD4250 myself.
Reply
#5
Thanks wsnipex for your help.

Indeed, i stopped the X server with "sudo service lightdm stop" before doing anything else and the 2 other commands you wrote down about aticonfig has been done too.

This is the information from a non working file :

Video
ID :1
Format :AVC
Format/Info :Advanced Video Codec
Format profile :[email protected]
Format settings, CABAC :Yes
Format settings, ReFrames :11 frames
Codec ID :V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration :2h 22mn
Bit rate :18.5 Mbps
Width :1 920 pixels
Height :800 pixels
Display aspect ratio :2.40:1
Frame rate mode :Constant
Frame rate :23.976 fps
Color space :YUV
Chroma subsampling :4:2:0
Bit depth :8 bits
Scan type Tonguerogressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) :0.502
Stream size :18.0 GiB (90%)
Writing library :x264 core 116 r2057 0ba8a9c
Encoding settings :cabac=1 / ref=11 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=14 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=7 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=18500 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.65 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=40 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=50000 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.25 / pb_ratio=1.25 / aq=1:0.65
Language :English
Default :Yes
Forced :No



A Mediainfo from another file which is giving the same problems :

Video
ID :4
Format :AVC
Format/Info :Advanced Video Codec
Format profile :[email protected]
Format settings, CABAC :Yes
Format settings, ReFrames :5 frames
Muxing mode :Header stripping
Codec ID :V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration :1h 16mn
Bit rate :10.1 Mbps
Width :1 920 pixels
Height :1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio :16:9
Frame rate mode :Constant
Frame rate :23.976 fps
Color space :YUV
Chroma subsampling :4:2:0
Bit depth :8 bits
Scan type Tonguerogressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) :0.204
Stream size :5.27 GiB (81%)
Writing library :x264 core 120
Encoding settings :cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=6 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=10132 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language :English
Default :Yes
Forced :No
Color primaries :BT.709
Transfer characteristics :BT.709
Matrix coefficients :BT.709


And finally a Mediainfo of a movie which is working well :

Video
ID :4
Format :AVC
Format/Info :Advanced Video Codec
Format profile :[email protected]
Format settings, CABAC :Yes
Format settings, ReFrames :5 frames
Muxing mode :Header stripping
Codec ID :V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration :1h 16mn
Bit rate :10.1 Mbps
Width :1 920 pixels
Height :1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio :16:9
Frame rate mode :Constant
Frame rate :23.976 fps
Color space :YUV
Chroma subsampling :4:2:0
Bit depth :8 bits
Scan type Tonguerogressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) :0.204
Stream size :5.27 GiB (81%)
Writing library :x264 core 120
Encoding settings :cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=6 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=10132 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language :English
Default :Yes
Forced :No
Color primaries :BT.709
Transfer characteristics :BT.709
Matrix coefficients :BT.709



------------

I am not an expert to analyze all the encodings settings, but i do not really see huge difference in between a non working videos and a working one ....

I can put a sample if needed, just tell me if you want that i do it or not.
Thanks again.
Mauro
Reply
#6
as expected both are out of spec and are indeed [email protected].

plz pastebin your /etc/ati/amdpcsdb

edit: did you check your bios for the video RAM?
Reply
#7
Hi again,

i don't understand why you said that both are out of spec ? The second movie i posted which is also giving artefacts is a [email protected] and the first who is not working a [email protected]. What did i understood wrong in your explanations ?

Concerning the RAM value, on the Asrock system with Radeon HD 4200, i already put AGP Aperture size to 512MB of RAM. This was done from the beginning. However, but we can check that later on, i indeed can't put higher value than 256MB of RAM on the Shuttle system with the Radeon HD 3650. It is the maximum value in the Bios. Perhaps there is a possibility to override this in Linux manually ?

This is the link to download the file http://www.gogofile.com/Default.aspx?p=s...87500_4766 because the content of that file is very long ...

thanks again.

Reply
#8
both files have >4 Reframes and therefore are out of spec for anything below [email protected]. There are many broken encoders out there. Xvba should handle them nonetheless, if L5.1 is enabled in the AMD driver. Thats why I asked you to pastebin amdpcsdb

about the hd 3650: 512MB ram are needed for L5.1 files, nothing we can do about it.
Reply
#9
Ok, i got it that there is a maximum number of reframe for each profile. What i do not understand then is that for the second video posted and the third, profiles and number of reframe are the same but the second video is not working and the third is working without any problem. Also, if i run XBMC in Windows environment, the second video is working too, only with Linux i get problem ...

Did you saw anything special in the amdpcsdb file ?

About the HD 3650, a chance to force that setting in Linux, i tried to google that, but i didn't find anything special ?

Thanks a lot.
Reply
#10
@mauro2306:

I looked at your amdpcsdb file, the HWUVDLevel51 entry is missing. It cannot work this way.

Do again, what wsnipex says, stop every running X process, make sure that no X is running. To be totally sure, also rmmod fglrx.

Code:
sudo service lightdm stop
sudo killall -9 X
sudo rmmod fglrx
sudo aticonfig --set-pcs-u32=MCIL,HWUVD_H264Level51Support,1

and reboot the computer. After restart you should see HWUVD_H264Level51Support in your /etc/ati/amdpcsdb file. If it is not there, there is no chance that it works. Please use the version wsnipex supplies in his xbmc-xvba package. I changed the heuristics to detect "broken" files, out of spec. AMD is very exact on those - if you tell them "Hey, I am level 4.1 or Hey I am level 5.0" it trusts you and therefore only computes a special number of Reframes, wich results in artefacts. In the newest version, I recalc every spec, when the ReFrames are more than 4.

So good luck.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
Reply
#11
I will do that (again Smile ? ) and let you know. Thanks for these clear explanation fritsch. I will give you feedback asap.
Reply
#12
Ok guys, tested like you said fritsch and it is working well, thank you Smile. However, i tried to set up a new system from blank using again the Xbmcbuntu live cd, and i don't know why, i can't make it again .. i am a looser damn ... I get problem everytime i install the proprietary driver 12.6 getting xvba driver working. After install the 12.6, vainfo is giving me an error with the xvba driver ... i am getting confused ... I did a clone image from the old system, but i would like to understand why it isn't working like the first time using exactly the same package ...
Reply
#13
you could try this one: http://members.a1.net/wsnipex/xbmcbuntu-...legacy.iso

it contains fglrx-legacy 12.6
Reply
#14
Thanks wsnipex, the only problem is that i am using an Intel Pentium 4 for one of my htpc system and so i would need a 32bits package as the one you gave me is 64bits only..

Thanks in advance.
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
XBMCBuntu issue with Radeon HD0