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mbossman · 2008-08-29, 05:36

I cannot play back 1080p h264 movies. For example, i am playing Monster Inc. 1440 x 1040 h264 DTS passthrough with audio/video sync issues. When i click info, it shows my CPU0 at 75%, CPU1 15%, CPU2 15%, CPU3 10%. The fps: is usually 20 when it should be 24 min. The dvd player shows a/v 5.000+ with dropped frames constantly rising.

My system is set to 1920 x 1080 full screen (done through Nvidia setting control panel) When i play the same movie at 1280x720 then it plays fine. (changed in Nvidia control panel) No dropped frames. I do not have as bad playback in Mythtv (mplayer). I know it drops some frames but for the most part the audio/video is in sync.

I initially assumed that the low frame rate a/v sync was because my processor was clocked at only 2.4GHZ even though its a quad. So i bought a new heat sink and over clocked it to 3.0GHZ. Unfortunately, no change. So i must assume that the problem is the onboard video not able to hand 1080p. The 7150gpu claims to do 1080p (windows i assume) and i was under the impression that the gpu doesn't affect 1080p playback in linux. Maybe i am wrong. Any help is appreciated.

System
EVGA 630i/7150 motherboard
Intel Q6600 clocked at 2.8GHZ
2GB DDR RAM 800mhz
Video onboard Geforce 7150 hdmi to Panasonic plasma
dedicated movie hard drive is formated as Reiserfs
Using optical for AC3 / DTS passthrough to receiver
Ubuntu 8.04 Kernel 2.6.24-21 generic SMP
XBMC SVN:15111
skin - default Project Gotham III

**snappz** · 2008-08-29, 06:21

Try setting the resolution in XBMC as Auto, not fullscreen. Restart XBMC and toggle fullscreen with the \ key.
Then try playing it again.
I am assuming you meant skin Project Mayhem III?

DentArthurDent · 2008-08-29, 15:23

Hi.

I have had some trouble with alfa3 and alfa4, that ended up with a framrate around 20 even with CPU load under 75%

My system is very weak, only an AppleTV box, but i have not seen this before alfa3.

My contrast and brightness was 54% and when i changed that to 50 (default), my frame rate was fine again.

Dont know if this will help you??

Best regards, DentArthurDent

Geeba · 2008-08-29, 15:48

Apple TV?

Hmmmm 1ghz Pentium4M CPU and 1080p? eerrrrrrrrrrr.....

mbossman · 2008-08-29, 17:13

Snappz,

I assume you aren't having any problems playing 1080p? Did you compile XBMC and ffmpeg? Iinstalled using Ubuntu apt-get. I think i might remove ffmpeg, mplayer, xbmc and then try and compile from source.

I'll try the auto screen setting first though. And i did mean Project Mayhem III ... i must have Batman on the brain.

Mike

althekiller · 2008-08-29, 17:32

We don't use the system ffmpeg libs so uninstalling them and recompiling isn't going to do you any good. Sounds to me more like you've just got a bottleneck in the hardware (memory bus most likely). 1080p is A LOT of data, and if anything that quad core will only hurt you in that respect when it comes to XBMC. I'd recommend an OC to 3GHz (guarantees you can decode most anything XBMC can) and a dedicated gfx card (should alleviate some stress on the memory bus).

**snappz** · 2008-08-30, 01:15

mbossman
I can play 1080p no problem but only when I launch in windowed mode. If I launch fullscreen I get exactly what you are describing.
I am currently running an SVN build but it happened with Atlantis a3 too.
I just haven't been home enough lately to look into it further.
My system is almost identical to yours except I use a dual core 3Ghz.
I have built 2 identical systems and it happens on both.
When I was outputting via DVI to a 1368x768 LCD I never noticed it.

mbossman · 2008-08-30, 04:52

Looks like i may have resolved my issue.
First, it did not happen in windowed mode just as snappz suggested. So i decided to uninstall / remove the nvidia driver (installed via restricted driver module in ubuntu) and install the latest nvidia driver 173.14. After messing around a bit (had to see nvnews.net installation procedure for nvidia drivers) i loaded xmbc fullscreen and tried Monsters Inc. No audio / video sync issues so far. I will test a few other 1080p movies but so far so good.

I was also thinking about getting a dedicated GPU and trying a more aggressive over clock (think i need a new PSU for that cause the system is not very stable at 3.0ghz).

mbossman · 2008-08-30, 04:55

Gone in 60seconds works as well! A few dropped frames but audio/video is in sync. Thanks for everyone's suggestions and help.

**snappz** · 2008-08-30, 05:17

Sounds great! I have 173.14.12 installed via envy.
Any chance of a copy of your xorg.conf to see if there is any obvious differences with mine?

mbossman · 2008-08-30, 17:16

Well, it seems my problems still exists. I tried an overclock of 3.0ghz with the ram at 667 and I had frame rate issues and audio sync issues. It seems the problem is a bottleneck just like althekiller suggested. So i removed the over clock entirely and had better playback. I tested it on another fiele Happyfeet 1080p and it worked well. I think I will get a Nvidia 8500 GPU but i want somthing with HDMI. Any suggestions?

**BLKMGK** · 2008-08-30, 18:23

The video card in my sig is what you are after. Also, the Q6600 IME is right on the edge at 3Ghz and will run pretty hot - or at least mine does. A 45nm C2D might actually work better for you and run much cooler. Move the Q600 into a machine you use to ENCODE videos and do the decoding for playback on a C2D. Even at a slower clock overall the quad will encode faster. Nod

mbossman · 2008-08-30, 22:30

But i do use my HTPC to encode my HD-DVD's and SD-DVDs. At 3.0ghz and 1.40 volts the Q6600 shows temps under load (h264 encoding) 45-50C per core. I hope that is within acceptable temps. I'll look for a MSI 8500GT in my area... thanks for the suggestion.

**BLKMGK** · 2008-09-01, 00:24

Those are good temps, as good as I see with my 45nm C2D - am very surprised! If it's stable then it's acceptable IMO, I've seen CPUs darn near on fire run fine for many months FWIW. <shrug> I'm surprised it does that well if it's in a tight case like many HTPC. Hopefully the video card is what you need to solve this. Are you seeing issues while encoding is being done in the background perhaps or is playback the only thing grabbing CPU? I'm surprised you're seeing issues, is it possible the CPU is getting throttled back? Those temps seem low and the speed fast enough Sad

mbossman · 2008-09-01, 06:50

Stability is the problem. I don't think my psu is good enough to run over clocked. I am using the Antec Fusion 2400 with the stock psu. I keep getting random lockups. So for now, i'm back at stock until i upgrade the psu. As for the temps, they went higher ... in the mid 50's. I did upgrade the heat sink with a Ninja Scynthe Mini. I'll let you guys know once i upgrade the gpu and psu on my results.