Linux [SOLVED] XBMCbuntu - Impossible to change refresh rate?

daanwillems · 2012-04-27 10:23

Yesterday I upgraded my XBMC Eden / 11.10 Ubuntu box to 12.04LTS. This morning I experienced some judder in playback and discovered that in Settings/System/Video output some (fullscreen) options are 'locked'. To be precise; Resolution is locked to 1920x1080 (which is correct, but before I was able to change other resolutions) and Refresh Rate is locked to 0.00.

My xorg.conf does have some custom modelines for my Samsung HDTV, which have been working just fine. Disabling those didn't solve this problem.

In xbmc.log I found some errors:

# cat xbmc.log | grep ERR
10:05:26 T:139932101392256 ERROR: CXRandR::Query - unable to open xrandr xml
10:05:26 T:139932101392256 ERROR: GLX: Same window as before, refreshing context
10:05:29 T:139932101392256 ERROR: CheckDisplayEvents - no display event after 3 seconds

Xorg does not log any errors.

For reference:
xbmc 2:11.0~git20120423.cd20772-1
nvidia-current 295.40-0ubuntu1
linux-image-3.2.0-24-generic 3.2.0-24.37
xorg 1:7.6+12ubuntu1

Devaron · 2012-04-28 14:35

@ .:B:.

Thanks for your suggestion, however that never worked for me. For some reason my monitor didn't return the correct EDID values, so i had to manually edit them in an attempt to make the judder disappear. This took some time but i got it working almost perfectly in the end.

I do however wonder why the command "DISPLAY=:0.0 xrandr" returns the message "Can't open display" and not the list of possible refresh rates. I have ALWAYS had this, with all the previous XBMC Live and the current XBMCBuntu version of XBMC. Any ideas on that?

@ daanwillems

I believe the "locking" of resolution and refresh rate has been resolved in one of the recent Ubuntu updates. So if you do a "apt-get update" followed by a "apt-get upgrade" (at own risk) the problem should disappear.

I do find it strange nobody else reported this problem (both end-users and XBMC developers) as it appears to have been a software problem that really did exist for a while. But i'm glad it got resolved... Smile

I will mark this thread as solved.

daanwillems · 2012-04-28 15:05

(2012-04-28 14:35)Devaron Wrote: I believe the "locking" of resolution and refresh rate has been resolved in one of the recent Ubuntu updates. So if you do a "apt-get update" followed by a "apt-get upgrade" (at own risk) the problem should disappear.

I am afraid my HTPC has been completely upgraded but the issue still remains.

It would be helpful if you can provide a link to the related Ubuntu bug reports covering the mentioned issues.

Devaron · 2012-04-30 15:50

Hmmm ... weird ...

Can't help you with the bug reports because i never found any! Now maybe i didn't look good enough, or not in the right places, but the few reactions i got in this thread is the only "proof" i got that this bug indeed exists. That's the weird thing.

I THINK the update of the nvidia driver has resolved the problem for me. Don't know if you have an nvidia videocard, but can you do a "sudo cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version" to see which version of this driver you have installed? My driver version is 295.40.

daanwillems · 2012-04-30 21:45

I am running Nvidia GT215 [GeForce GT 240] (rev a2) and driver 295.40 as well, the one that came with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I also tried 295.33, but it had the same issue.

Meanwhile I learned that the problem is actually related to the xserver coming with 12.04 and the way it offers available display resolution/refresh rates through xrandr. For nvidia cards it is currently required to have "DynamicTwinView" "false" in xorg.conf to have a sane output. Then again, XBMC still doesn't pick up the proper values, so it requires a fix there too.

Also see:
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/848
http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/12799

Best solution is currently to stay away from 12.04 until this stuff is sorted and keep running 11.10 which has a working xserver/xbmc combination.

wiz561 · 2012-05-01 04:04

I'm running 12.04 LTS with the latest nvidia-current package. XBMC says 50 hz, and I must say that I haven't yet seen any flicker or jitter. I haven't used it much, but so far, it looks fine.

I did read that the nvidia driver does funky things with the refresh rate, as other posters had mentioned. However, even though it says a goofy refresh rate for me, it still looks fine.

gpborges · 2012-07-05 23:25

People, I've also setup the modlines for my TV and Onkyo receiver. I have a pretty smooth playback and so I think XBMC should be adjusting the refresh rates accordingly. This is my output of the command:

Code:

sudo DISPLAY=:0.0 xrandr

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192

VGA-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

DVI-D-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

HDMI-0 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm

   1920x1080      30.0 +   59.9*    50.0     30.0     25.0  

   1280x720       60.0     59.9     50.0  

   720x576        50.0     25.0  

   720x480        59.9     30.0  

   640x480        59.9  

   480x576        50.0  

   480x480        59.9  

   411x576        50.1  

   411x480        60.0

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 (minimal/server install) and xbmc from oficial repo. My nvidia driver is:

Code:

xbmc@gpborges-htpc:~$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia

ii  nvidia-common                      1:0.2.44                                Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers

ii  nvidia-current                     302.17-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1            NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library

ii  nvidia-settings                    302.17-0ubuntu1~precise~xup3            Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

xbmc@gpborges-htpc:~$

My overall playback experience is very good but for dvd and ISO playback which is very choppy. I was suspecting it could be something related to the refresh rate thingy when playing DVD disks and DVD ISOs.

If you guys can sheed some light on that, please take a look here (I've added various debug logs there)

***** DVD / ISO Playback stutter ******

Linux Choppy playback / Video stutter with Eden
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=131393

[LINUX] Iso/DVD files playback issues
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=117828

Linux XBMCBuntu/Eden - DVD playback speed
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1141350

UPDATE: It doesn't happen for bluray ISOs!!! I have the full Toy Story bluray ISO and my daughter is watching it just now. PERFECT playback... I can see the refresh rates at 23.97 (or pretty close to that).

I've noticed that for other DVD disks and DVD ISOs that I tried I had the refresh rate varying a lot... one fixed at 59.94Hz and the other floating around 23.97.

Could anyone point me in any direction to debug this refresh rate adjustments for DVD disks and DVD ISOs? I'm willing to help to get this fixed![/color]

Thx in advance!

tekno · 2012-08-10 03:14

59.94 is a standard field rate for interlaced DVDs. It is probably an older DVD or a 4x3 aspect ratio. 23.97 is a standard film rate . You will likely find 29.97 FPS to be common as well.

If you have any PAL DVDs or RIPS you may see 25 FPS as well

waltermalter · 2012-12-07 15:04

(2012-04-27 02:56).:B:. Wrote: Actually you should not need to fiddle with your Xorg modelines. Xorg should run pretty well without you needing to add any.

Try this in a terminal on Ubuntu (you can switch between Ubuntu and Xbmc):

Code:

$ DISPLAY=:0.0 xrandr
That will list you the supported resolutions and refresh rates, with an asterisk next to the active one. If all is well you should see 60 Hz, 50 Hz and (if your TV supports it) 24 Hz. Since 60 and 50 are multiples of respectively 30 and 25, you do not need any refresh rates at that frequency; those would be redundant.

If that looks allright, then set Xbmc to match the refresh rate of the display to refresh rate of the material you're displaying, not the other way around. It's somewhere in Video/Playback settings. That way Xbmc will make the TV switch refresh rate automatically when needed. Do this only if your TV supports 24 Hz (60 and 50 Hz aren't usually a problem).

After installind XBMCbuntu (Eden) to my HTPC with Intel i3 (HD Graphics) xrandr shows only 50 and 60 Hz and no 24 (25). I have a Panasonic Plasma as TV that definitely supports 24/25 Hz. Can somesone tell me how to add 24/25 Hz manually?

Right now, there is no xorg.conf, should I create one? Isn't it possible to add refresh rates manually to randr?

Cheers,
Walter

**wsnipex** · 2012-12-07 16:53

yes its possible. But start off with a pastebin of /usr/lib/xbmc/xbmc-xrandr

we had a curious issue on IRC with a Panasonic Plasma + i3 3220 only getting 23,976 when using THX cinema mode. Could be a similar issue for you.

tekno Member Posts: 62 Joined: Feb 2012 Reputation: 0	2012-08-10 03:14 Post: #18 59.94 is a standard field rate for interlaced DVDs. It is probably an older DVD or a 4x3 aspect ratio. 23.97 is a standard film rate . You will likely find 29.97 FPS to be common as well. If you have any PAL DVDs or RIPS you may see 25 FPS as well
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wsnipex Team-XBMC packaging monkey Posts: 1,801 Joined: Jun 2011 Reputation: 49	2012-12-07 16:53 Post: #20 yes its possible. But start off with a pastebin of /usr/lib/xbmc/xbmc-xrandr we had a curious issue on IRC with a Panasonic Plasma + i3 3220 only getting 23,976 when using THX cinema mode. Could be a similar issue for you. XBMC Xvba PPA -- Team XBMC nightly PPA -- Frodo linux FAQ -- DEBUG log (This post was last modified: 2012-12-07 16:54 by wsnipex.)
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