Linux DTS-HD random dropouts and glitchy sounds
#1
I'm running Frodo 12.2. I cannot enjoy DTS-HD bitstreaming since the audio gets dropped out from time to time and with some movies I hear very irritating sound glitches.
It's so bad that I'm scared of ruining my speakers.

I played two movies where these problems occur "Django Unchained" and "Star Wars Ep1" and recorded a debug log.


System: Asus AT5IONT-I (ION2)
AV Receiver: Yamaha V673

Settings
- Video output: refresh rate 23.97
- Audio output HDMI - 7.1 - capable of anything
- Playback:
render method = auto detect
allow hardware acceleration = on
prefer VDPAU video mixer = on
Adjust refresh rate to match video = on start/stop
pause during refresh rate change = off
sync playback to display = on
A/V sync method = Video clock (drop/dup audio)
Platforms: macOS - iOS - OSMC
co-author: Red Bull TV add-on
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#2
Quote:15:10:35 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 35 ms, dec: 3, proc: 0, rend: 0
15:10:50 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 35 ms, dec: 2, proc: 0, rend: 1
15:11:49 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 33 ms, dec: 3, proc: 0, rend: 0
15:11:55 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 32 ms, dec: 3, proc: 0, rend: 0
15:12:00 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 39 ms, dec: 3, proc: 0, rend: 0
15:12:21 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 38 ms, dec: 2, proc: 1, rend: 0
15:12:28 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 35 ms, dec: 2, proc: 0, rend: 1
15:12:31 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 31 ms, dec: 2, proc: 1, rend: 0
15:12:35 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 32 ms, dec: 3, proc: 0, rend: 0
15:12:44 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 34 ms, dec: 2, proc: 0, rend: 1
15:13:04 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 33 ms, dec: 2, proc: 0, rend: 1
15:13:07 T:140109991102208 WARNING: CVDPAU:Big GrinrawSlice - VdpDecoderRender long decoding: 35 ms, dec: 3, proc: 0, rend: 0

It does not look good - whatever s going wrong there. Is this wireless lan?
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
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#3
(2013-05-20, 16:31)fritsch Wrote: It does not look good - whatever s going wrong there. Is this wireless lan?

Gigabit LAN Undecided
Platforms: macOS - iOS - OSMC
co-author: Red Bull TV add-on
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#4
Code:
16:11:59 T:140110020474624   DEBUG: CDVDPlayerAudio:: Skipping 6 packet(s) of 10.67 ms duration
16:12:01 T:140110020474624   DEBUG: CDVDPlayerAudio:: Skipping 3 packet(s) of 10.67 ms duration
16:12:05 T:140110020474624   DEBUG: CDVDPlayerAudio:: Duplicating 1 packet(s) of 10.67 ms duration

I think you have to live with this until we have an replacement/alternative for SoftAE.
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#5
(2013-05-20, 16:44)FernetMenta Wrote: I think you have to live with this until we have an replacement/alternative for SoftAE.

Could you clarify if it's not too much to ask?
Do you mean AudioEngine is software decoded a.t.m. and that is causing the issue? - Ok this is a stupid question since there is no decoding taking place in XBMC.
A faster HTPC would solve this then?
Platforms: macOS - iOS - OSMC
co-author: Red Bull TV add-on
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#6
SoftAE is just the internal name of the audio engine. It gets packets from player (decoded or raw) and feeds the audio device. One of its many flaws is that it doesn't calculate the time of all buffered audio samples correctly. As a result player alternately skips/drops packets in order to sync the stream with the clock.

I don't think a faster system would help.

As a crumb of comfort: This is the top most topic on my shit list and work on a new audio engine has already started.
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#7
(2013-05-20, 17:02)FernetMenta Wrote: As a crumb of comfort: This is the top most topic on my shit list and work on a new audio engine has already started.

Thanks, it is in fact a crumb of comfort Wink Good luck with the new AE. Is the new AE called PulseAE?
I'll stick to DTS for now.
Platforms: macOS - iOS - OSMC
co-author: Red Bull TV add-on
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#8
I got a tip from vicbitter on the Openelec forums to use these settings and it fixed my issue!

Adjust refresh rate to match video = Always
sync playback to display = off
A/V sync method = Disabled
Platforms: macOS - iOS - OSMC
co-author: Red Bull TV add-on
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#9
Now you sacrifice video for audio. Without sync playback to display with video as master audio changes the clock rather than skip/drop audio packets. Now video has to adjust to a changing clock. It does so by dropping frames of displaying a frame twice. Same shit different flavor Smile
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#10
I posted in another thread reporting exactly the same problem as here, dropped DTSMA audio for a few seconds and various pops and clicks etc.

an XMBC team member in another thread suggested someone try the xbva builds to correct a problem similar to this...(could have been this, it's on front page as of posting this). Anyway, I went and removed the standard 12.2 frodo xbmc.bin and the repo source and added the xbva one and update/upgrade and followed the steps there...took 5 mins to swap installs and skins etc carry over.

First try didn't work and was even worse (Using the xbva frodo 12.2 build), DTSMA would literally just scratch and pop continuously as if a speaker was broken and the source light on receiver would flicker intermittently, I assume this is because I was using "audio clock" for sync.

Anyways...again.

Then used the xbva 13.0 gotham repo...and presto.

DTSMA works perfectly, no skipping, no dropped frames, no dropped audio...at least for the 20 mins I checked.


This had one adverse effect of tvheadend no longer working, but just had to do a command line update/upgrade and all was well as the tvheadend client addon then got update to a version that works with gotham.
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#11
(2013-05-20, 21:41)FernetMenta Wrote: Now you sacrifice video for audio. Without sync playback to display with video as master audio changes the clock rather than skip/drop audio packets. Now video has to adjust to a changing clock. It does so by dropping frames of displaying a frame twice. Same shit different flavor :)

Hey man, thanks for the clear explenation. How long do you think until I can enjoy XBMC with best of both worlds?
Platforms: macOS - iOS - OSMC
co-author: Red Bull TV add-on
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#12
(2013-05-20, 22:11)tripkip Wrote:
(2013-05-20, 21:41)FernetMenta Wrote: Now you sacrifice video for audio. Without sync playback to display with video as master audio changes the clock rather than skip/drop audio packets. Now video has to adjust to a changing clock. It does so by dropping frames of displaying a frame twice. Same shit different flavor Smile

Hey man, thanks for the clear explenation. How long do you think until I can enjoy XBMC with best of both worlds?

Did you not read previous post, give that a go before writing anything off.

You're looking at 6 months+ before this stuff gets fixed in an official release.
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#13
(2013-05-20, 22:09)robo989 Wrote: I posted in another thread reporting exactly the same problem as here, dropped DTSMA audio for a few seconds and various pops and clicks etc.

an XMBC team member in another thread suggested someone try the xbva builds to correct a problem similar to this...(could have been this, it's on front page as of posting this). Anyway, I went and removed the standard 12.2 frodo xbmc.bin and the repo source and added the xbva one and update/upgrade and followed the steps there...took 5 mins to swap installs and skins etc carry over.

First try didn't work and was even worse (Using the xbva frodo 12.2 build), DTSMA would literally just scratch and pop continuously as if a speaker was broken and the source light on receiver would flicker intermittently, I assume this is because I was using "audio clock" for sync.

Anyways...again.

Then used the xbva 13.0 gotham repo...and presto.

DTSMA works perfectly, no skipping, no dropped frames, no dropped audio...at least for the 20 mins I checked.


This had one adverse effect of tvheadend no longer working, but just had to do a command line update/upgrade and all was well as the tvheadend client addon then got update to a version that works with gotham.

Sounds promising. And you have Sync Playback to Display enabled?
I was confused because I thought that build is for AMD video cards but apparently it includes general improvements for Nvidia as well (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=116996). I rather wait for a more generic stable solution (hopefully in Gotham) for my living room setup.
Platforms: macOS - iOS - OSMC
co-author: Red Bull TV add-on
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#14
(2013-05-21, 11:32)tripkip Wrote:
(2013-05-20, 22:09)robo989 Wrote: I posted in another thread reporting exactly the same problem as here, dropped DTSMA audio for a few seconds and various pops and clicks etc.

an XMBC team member in another thread suggested someone try the xbva builds to correct a problem similar to this...(could have been this, it's on front page as of posting this). Anyway, I went and removed the standard 12.2 frodo xbmc.bin and the repo source and added the xbva one and update/upgrade and followed the steps there...took 5 mins to swap installs and skins etc carry over.

First try didn't work and was even worse (Using the xbva frodo 12.2 build), DTSMA would literally just scratch and pop continuously as if a speaker was broken and the source light on receiver would flicker intermittently, I assume this is because I was using "audio clock" for sync.

Anyways...again.

Then used the xbva 13.0 gotham repo...and presto.

DTSMA works perfectly, no skipping, no dropped frames, no dropped audio...at least for the 20 mins I checked.


This had one adverse effect of tvheadend no longer working, but just had to do a command line update/upgrade and all was well as the tvheadend client addon then got update to a version that works with gotham.

Sounds promising. And you have Sync Playback to Display enabled?
I was confused because I thought that build is for AMD video cards but apparently it includes general improvements for Nvidia as well (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=116996). I rather wait for a more generic stable solution (hopefully in Gotham) for my living room setup.

Think it was aimed at AMD initially but does indeed have improvements for nvidia too. I've tinkered around with versions of it in the past when master didn't have the new AudioEngine. I used to have all my films in FLAC for audio which has always worked fine but found even with the new AudioEngine it didn't sound quite right to my ears. So went back and decoded->encoded all that material to DTS-HD lossless.

Didn't realize this would cause any problems but obviously audioengine/xbmc isn't quite there on master for this kind of thing...maybe a "perfect" xorg would fix it but I'm doubtful personally.

I really would give it a go mate, I have literally no linux skills, if you want to give it a quick try out (fully reversible).

It's as simple as this, note I had a pretty advanced "Aeon MQ3" skin active with zero problems.

sudo apt-get remove xbmc xbmc-bin
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wsnipex/xbmc-xvba
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc xbmc-bin
sudo apt-get upgrade

Or you can follow the instructions here, but if you've already got an XBMCBuntu install done the above is all you should need.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...light=xvba

To reverse or if you get any errors etc...

sudo apt-get remove xbmc xbmc-bin
sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:wsnipex/xbmc-xvba

then just add your old repo you were using before followed by.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc xbmc-bin
sudo apt-get upgrade

It's pretty basic even for a total noob :p like myself.

Should take you all of 10 minutes to install test and decide if you like it, I've got a tvserver on same box and not noticed any issues...

Still, there's always a chance of a problem obviously but if you do a quick backup with TrueImage or similar first, it's worth a go as this solved my problem instantly.

Yes this is with
"sync playback to display" on Smile of course, if it wasn't. I wouldn't bother with it.

No stuttering, no glitching, no dropped frames. This is on some very high bit-rate scene video up to 75mbps for periods of time on a GT430.
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#15
(2013-05-21, 11:57)robo989 Wrote: Should take you all of 10 minutes to install test and decide if you like it, I've got a tvserver on same box and not noticed any issues...

Still, there's always a chance of a problem obviously but if you do a quick backup with TrueImage or similar first, it's worth a go as this solved my problem instantly.

Yes this is with
"sync playback to display" on Smile of course, if it wasn't. I wouldn't bother with it.

No stuttering, no glitching, no dropped frames. This is on some very high bit-rate scene video up to 75mbps for periods of time on a GT430.

Thanks! Cool

I'm using Openelec at the moment so I'll look into it and might switch to XBMCbuntu for this.
Platforms: macOS - iOS - OSMC
co-author: Red Bull TV add-on
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DTS-HD random dropouts and glitchy sounds0