Stuttering on movement

dman777 · Jan 2, 2009

Here's my system:

2.0 dual core otperon

2 gigs memory

1.5 TB Seagate with updated firmware

Xine player

Nvidia card Tv Out to CRT Tv

I am having a problem when watching movies. There is alot of tiny stuttering. Not enough to throw the audio out of sync, but movements are not smooth. I did a hdparm -t and although I don't remember the number off the topof my head is was good. The problem exist on Windows but alot less and barely noticeable. On my linux system it's bad enough to where I don't want to watch the movie. Is there anything I can do to fix this problem?

quantumstate · Jan 2, 2009

Use KSysGuard or dstat to monitor the system. Hopefully we'll see the bottleneck.

MichaelZ · Jan 2, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by dman777 /forum/post/15436838

Here's my system:

2.0 dual core otperon

2 gigs memory

1.5 TB Seagate with updated firmware

Xine player

Nvidia card Tv Out to CRT Tv

I am having a problem when watching movies. There is alot of tiny stuttering. Not enough to throw the audio out of sync, but movements are not smooth. I did a hdparm -t and although I don't remember the number off the topof my head is was good. The problem exist on Windows but alot less and barely noticeable. On my linux system it's bad enough to where I don't want to watch the movie. Is there anything I can do to fix this problem?

Have you tried using mplayer or vlc to see if it still stutters? I set all my nvidia cards to "sync to vblank" allows a more in sync with less tearing than wide open fps. My $0.02.

quantumstate · Jan 2, 2009

Michael, can you please check your xorg.conf and let us know what setting "sync to vblank" is in Device there? I'm getting deinterlace artifacts on Dish channel 101 when panning. Every third and fourth line seems late, and is too far right.

newlinux · Jan 2, 2009

I think he is talking about in the nvidia-settings applet. That is where I set it. There are 3 different vsync settings in there. But then you probably need to restart any apps that want to use it... I think.

What app are you using to playback these video files?

quantumstate · Jan 2, 2009

Right, that's where you can set it, but that's not permanent. To make the settings stick on reboot you have to Save your settings, which modifies xorg.conf. However it takes massive liberties which I hate in rearranging xorg, such as removing all the carefully-constructed and learned comments I've entered. So I'd like to manually add that setting.

Sorry, Myth is my app. Happens while Watching TV on channel 101.

newlinux · Jan 2, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by quantumstate /forum/post/15439929

Right, that's where you can set it, but that's not permanent. To make the settings stick on reboot you have to Save your settings, which modifies xorg.conf. However it takes massive liberties which I hate in rearranging xorg, such as removing all the carefully-constructed and learned comments I've entered. So I'd like to manually add that setting.

Sorry, Myth is my app. Happens while Watching TV on channel 101.

If it doesn't keep for you can add
Code:

Code:

nvidia-settings --load-config-only

to your startup sequencing. Then you don't need to muck with xorg.conf. I don't know if I set this up a while ago or what but the settings stick for me...

MichaelZ · Jan 3, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by quantumstate /forum/post/15439644

Michael, can you please check your xorg.conf and let us know what setting "sync to vblank" is in Device there? I'm getting deinterlace artifacts on Dish channel 101 when panning. Every third and fourth line seems late, and is too far right.

I set it with nvidia-settings and it sticks in the nvidia firmware. If you run glxgears it should show the correct fps of the monitor you are attached to via the nvidia/xorg setup. If it is real fast then vblank is not on.

SeijiSensei · Jan 3, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelZ /forum/post/15443026

If it is real fast then vblank is not on.

I'm sorry, but I don't know how to interpret "real fast." glxgears reports frame rates in the 2600/sec range for my nVidia 6600 with a Sony KDL-40V3000 television using DVI->HDMI. Is that "real fast?"

nVidia-settings reports sync to vblank as enabled for textures, but not the "blitter." Should they both be enabled? What about sync to vblank in the OpenGL settings? Here mine is disabled.

Any clues about why there are so many "sync to vblank" settings?

quantumstate · Jan 4, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by dman777 /forum/post/15436838

I am having a problem when watching movies. There is alot of tiny stuttering. Not enough to throw the audio out of sync, but movements are not smooth. I did a hdparm -t and although I don't remember the number off the topof my head is was good. The problem exist on Windows but alot less and barely noticeable. On my linux system it's bad enough to where I don't want to watch the movie. Is there anything I can do to fix this problem?

Looks like he's absconded...

dman777 · Jan 4, 2009

i'm sorry for taking awhile to get back...

i am not at home right now, but i am 99% there is no bottleneck. my system has way more than enough power to play movies. i was thinking it could be personality of the nvidia drivers for linux, but if other nvidia users aren't having it then it's something else.

i also feared it may be the firmware of my seagate 1.5 hd and the linux system, but i hope not. I'm getting great readings with hdparm -t, so maybe this can rule out the hd.

ya, i've messed with the vsync settings(all the settings available) in the nvidia control panel. doesn't seem to have any effect on the stuttering.

I tried vlc and had the same stuttering. i couldn't use mplayer since all my dvds have menus.

on xine, i tried the de-interlace and i can't tell...but it may help just a fraction.

what else can i check?

quantumstate · Jan 4, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by dman777 /forum/post/15453728

i am not at home right now, but i am 99% there is no bottleneck.

Oh, well if you're 99% sure, then there's no need to try any of our suggestions...

We shouldn't have bothered.

MichaelZ · Jan 4, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by SeijiSensei /forum/post/15446991

I'm sorry, but I don't know how to interpret "real fast." glxgears reports frame rates in the 2600/sec range for my nVidia 6600 with a Sony KDL-40V3000 television using DVI->HDMI. Is that "real fast?"

nVidia-settings reports sync to vblank as enabled for textures, but not the "blitter." Should they both be enabled? What about sync to vblank in the OpenGL settings? Here mine is disabled.

Any clues about why there are so many "sync to vblank" settings?

I was referring to the fps as being "real fast" and 2600fps is fast. If you set the vblank check box in "open gl settings" in nvidia-settings you will see something more like 60fps. It matches its vertical blanking with the monitor.

dman777 · Jan 5, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by quantumstate /forum/post/15454300

Oh, well if you're 99% sure, then there's no need to try any of our suggestions...

We shouldn't have bothered.

This is while a movie is playing off of the HD to my crt tv. Standard definition:

Code:

Code:

GentooSys [7045\\503] one # iostat 1 5 ; mpstat 1 5; free
Linux 2.6.25-gentoo-r8 (GentooSys)      01/05/09

avg-cpu:  %user   %nice %system %iowait  %steal   %idle
           9.85    0.00   17.38    0.73    0.00   72.04

Device:            tps   Blk_read/s   Blk_wrtn/s   Blk_read   Blk_wrtn
sda               2.00       269.31         0.00     523233          0
sda1              1.99       269.22         0.00     523049          0
sdb               0.26        10.93         0.00      21242          0
sdb1              0.25        10.84         0.00      21058          0
sdc               6.59       139.03        61.96     270113     120370
sdc1              0.01         0.76         0.00       1480          0
sdc2              0.02         0.48         0.01        932         10
sdc3              6.44       133.28        61.95     258954     120360
sdc4              0.11         4.42         0.00       8595          0
sdd               0.02         0.83         0.00       1616          0

avg-cpu:  %user   %nice %system %iowait  %steal   %idle
          18.78    0.00   16.43    0.94    0.00   63.85

Device:            tps   Blk_read/s   Blk_wrtn/s   Blk_read   Blk_wrtn
sda              28.00      7168.00         0.00       7168          0
sda1             28.00      7168.00         0.00       7168          0
sdb               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdb1              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc1              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc2              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc3              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc4              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdd               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0

avg-cpu:  %user   %nice %system %iowait  %steal   %idle
          25.70    0.00   12.15    0.00    0.00   62.15

Device:            tps   Blk_read/s   Blk_wrtn/s   Blk_read   Blk_wrtn
sda              23.00      5888.00         0.00       5888          0
sda1             23.00      5888.00         0.00       5888          0
sdb               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdb1              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc1              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc2              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc3              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc4              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdd               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0

avg-cpu:  %user   %nice %system %iowait  %steal   %idle
          22.69    0.00   14.35    0.46    0.00   62.50

Device:            tps   Blk_read/s   Blk_wrtn/s   Blk_read   Blk_wrtn
sda              29.00      7168.00         0.00       7168          0
sda1             29.00      7168.00         0.00       7168          0
sdb               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdb1              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc               2.00         0.00        16.00          0         16
sdc1              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc2              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc3              2.00         0.00        16.00          0         16
sdc4              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdd               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0

avg-cpu:  %user   %nice %system %iowait  %steal   %idle
          23.96    0.00   13.36    0.92    0.00   61.75

Device:            tps   Blk_read/s   Blk_wrtn/s   Blk_read   Blk_wrtn
sda              30.00      7680.00         0.00       7680          0
sda1             30.00      7680.00         0.00       7680          0
sdb               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdb1              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc1              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc2              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc3              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdc4              0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0
sdd               0.00         0.00         0.00          0          0

Linux 2.6.25-gentoo-r8 (GentooSys)      01/05/09

07:52:30     CPU   %user   %nice    %sys %iowait    %irq   %soft  %steal   %idle    intr/s
07:52:31     all   26.54    0.00   12.32    0.95    0.00    0.00    0.00   60.19    139.00
07:52:32     all   23.29    0.00   14.61    0.91    0.00    0.46    0.00   60.73    174.00
07:52:33     all   22.33    0.00   13.95    0.47    0.00    0.00    0.00   63.26    151.00
07:52:34     all   23.64    0.00   11.82    0.45    0.00    0.00    0.00   64.09    179.00
07:52:35     all   22.17    0.00   16.29    1.36    0.45    0.45    0.00   59.28    150.00
Average:     all   23.57    0.00   13.81    0.83    0.09    0.18    0.00   61.51    158.60
       

                      total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       2073680     933968    1139712          0     257836     408364
-/+ buffers/cache:     267768    1805912
Swap:            0          0          0


GentooSys [6920\\502] one # hdparm -t /dev/sda1

/dev/sda1:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  358 MB in  3.00 seconds = 119.24 MB/sec

Everything looks good to me, unless I am missing something.

If it is agreed that there is no bottleneck, then I need suggestions on where to problem solve to find the root cause of this problem please.

quantumstate · Jan 5, 2009

Yes, CPU and disk look fine. But there's still memory, paging, network, and video. Notice at the bottom of your code:
Code:

Code:

total       used       free
Mem:     2073680     933968    1139712          0

Apparently it's paging like mad.

Quote:
Originally Posted by quantumstate /forum/post/15438231

Use KSysGuard or dstat to monitor the system. Hopefully we'll see the bottleneck.

mythmaster · Jan 5, 2009

Code:
Quote:
Originally Posted by quantumstate /forum/post/15462105

Yes, CPU and disk look fine. But there's still memory, paging, network, and video. Notice at the bottom of your code:
Code:

Code:

total used free Mem: 2073680 933968 1139712 0

Apparently it's paging like mad.

Paging to what? Ain't no swap!
Code:

Code:

total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       2073680     933968    1139712          0     257836     408364
-/+ buffers/cache:     267768    1805912
Swap:            0          0          0

quantumstate · Jan 5, 2009

Gotta be to level 2 cache. Yeah, he has no swap so there is nothing else. It's taking emergency measures.

So far he needs to add memory and turn on swap.

mythmaster · Jan 5, 2009

Wait...he has 1139712 free -- labels aren't tabbed right in that post.

quantumstate · Jan 5, 2009

Oh for heaven's sake...

Quote:
Originally Posted by quantumstate /forum/post/15438231

Use KSysGuard or dstat to monitor the system. Hopefully we'll see the bottleneck.

dman777 · Jan 10, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by mythmaster /forum/post/15462623

Wait...he has 1139712 free -- labels aren't tabbed right in that post.

Correct.

I don't use swap- don't need it. Plenty of real memory free.

Stuttering on movement

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