[babil]

I am not sure if the title is entirely correct. I will try to put as much information possible to better explain the problem.


Problem statement:
With CrystalHD, everything plays smooth including most of the 1080p contents without stuttering or frame drops. But, the decoded video frame quality is visibly worse than without CrystalHD. Without CrystalHD, the playback is very jumpy due to the frame drops, but the decoded frames are very crisp for the same media. While with CrystalHD, the jumpy plackback becomes very smooth, but the decoded frames look worse. To be more specific, the edges of the objects in the displayed frame with CrystalHD looks very choppy. Please take a look at the following images for a better illustration of the problem.

This screen-shot is taken WITHOUT CrystalHD (ff-h264):


This screen-shot is taken WITH CrystalHD (chd-h264):


Please carefully observe the black edges of the cartoon characters. The border-lines of the drawn cartoon characters are choppy in "WITH CrystalHD" version, while "WITHOUT CrystalHD" looks very smooth.

Hardware

• Apple TV : 160GB
  
• Broadcom Card : BCM970015
  

Software and Driver Versions:

• CrystalHD Driver Version : 3.6.0
  
• XBMC SVN Version : 34416
  
• AppleTV OS : 2.2
  

XBMC Settings

In both cases of with and without CrystalHD, the following XBMC settings were used:

• TV Resolution : 1080p
  
• Connnection to TV : HDMI
  
  
• Renderer Method : Auto Detect
  
• Adjust Refresh Rate to Match Video : not selected
  
• Sync Playback to Display : not selected
  
• Display Resolution : 1280x720
  
• Display Mode : Full Screen #1
  
• Vertical blank sync : Always Enabled
  

Log Files:

• MediaInfo : http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506561/
  
• KextStat : http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506573/
  
• Dmesg : http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506574/
  
• XBMC.log WITHOUT CrystalHD : http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506575/
  
• XBMC.log WITH CrystalHD: http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506582/
  

What I have tried...

I have tried playing with different renderer methods with CrystalHD to fix the problem. They didn't fix anything. A summarized outcome is shown below due to different rendering method with CrystalHD:

• Auto Detect : choppy video as shown in the picture
  
• Basic shader (ARB) : choppy video as shown in the picture
  
• Advanced shader (GLSL) : choppy video as shown in the picture
  
• Software : greenish, unwatchable video
  

[davilla]

I am not sure if the title is entirely correct. I will try to put as much information possible to better explain the problem.

• Broadcom Card : BCM970015
  
• CrystalHD Driver Version : 3.6.0
  
• XBMC SVN Version : 34416
  
• AppleTV OS : 2.2
  
• TV Resolution : 1080p
  
• Connnection to TV : HDMI
  

Problem statement:
With CrystalHD, everything plays smooth including most of the 1080p contents without stuttering or frame drops. But, the decoded video frame quality is visibly worse than without CrystalHD. Without CrystalHD, the playback is very jumpy due to the frame drops, but the decoded frames are very crisp for the same media. While with CrystalHD, the jumpy plackback becomes very smooth, but the decoded frames look worse. To be more specific, the edges of the objects in the displayed frame with CrystalHD looks very choppy. Please take a look at the following images for a better illustration of the problem.

This screen-shot is taken WITHOUT CrystalHD (ff-h264):


This screen-shot is taken WITH CrystalHD (chd-h264):


Please carefully observe the black edges of the cartoon characters.

In both cases of with and without CrystalHD, the following XBMC settings were used:

• Renderer Method : Auto Detect
  
• Adjust Refresh Rate to Match Video : not selected
  
• Sync Playback to Display : not selected
  
• Display Resolution : 1280x720
  
• Display Mode : Full Screen #1
  
• Vertical blank sync : Always Enabled
  

Log Files:
MediaInfo : http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506561/
KextStat : http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506573/
Dmesg : http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506574/
XBMC.log WITHOUT CrystalHD : http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506575/
XBMC.log WITH CrystalHD: http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506582/

I have tried playing with different renderer methods with CrystalHD to fix the problem:

• Auto Detect : choppy video
  
• Basic shader (ARB) : choppy video
  
• Advanced shader (GLSL) : choppy video
  
• Software : greenish, unwatchable video
  

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=82478

[babil]

@Davilla: Thanks a lot for the very prompt reply. In [1], it is advised to use a version greater than 34428.

Using [2], I can supposedly download and install 34458 (at least that's what it shows on the Launcher menu), but it seems to be messed up somewhere. I have downloaded and installed twice now and every time 34416 gets installed.

On a different note, I have connected my USB keyboard to Apple TV. Usual keystrokes work, but the "PRNTSCRN" button doesn't take or save any screen-shot. Would you know why ?

[1] http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=82478
[2] http://www.sshcs.com/xbmc/Info.asp

P.S.

[2] definitely looks messed up with 34458 and 34416, I just manually downloaded 34458 [4] and installed with [4], it still gives me 34416. I will try again later when the new build is uploaded. Thanks a lot.

[3] http://www.sshcs.com/xbmc/?mode=DLC&FA=X...458&TF=tgz
[4] http://www.sshcs.com/xbmc/xbmc-9.04_update_sshcs.sh

[davilla]

@Davilla: Thanks a lot for the very prompt reply. In [1], it is advised to use a version greater than 34428.

Using [2], I can supposedly download and install 34458 (at least that's what it shows on the Launcher menu), but it seems to be messed up somewhere. I have downloaded and installed twice now and every time 34416 gets installed.

On a different note, I have connected my USB keyboard to Apple TV. Usual keystrokes work, but the "PRNTSCRN" button doesn't take or save any screen-shot. Would you know why ?

[1] http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=82478
[2] http://www.sshcs.com/xbmc/Info.asp

P.S.

[2] definitely looks messed up with 34458 and 34416, I just manually downloaded 34458 [4] and installed with [4], it still gives me 34416. I will try again later when the new build is uploaded. Thanks a lot.

[3] http://www.sshcs.com/xbmc/?mode=DLC&FA=X...458&TF=tgz
[4] http://www.sshcs.com/xbmc/xbmc-9.04_update_sshcs.sh

sshcs typically borks their build, I don't use them. You never know what they have done as they don't follow strict XBMC building procedures.

PRNTSCRN would be a keymap issue maybe. My MCE USB remote has no problems doing a screen print and I know other's have done it using USB keyboards.

[bobo1on1]

You can also use ctrl-s to take a screenshot.

[babil]

@bobo1on1: Thanks. I will give "ctrl+s" a shot.

For reference: I am using an ...

• ASUS - Ultra Flat Keyboard
  
• M/N - Y-BP62a
  
• P/N - 820-001891
  
• PID - SY839UK
  

@Davilla:
Is it possible to download XBMC nightly builds from elsewhere? I don't have any other MAC machine to build one myself. Is it possible to cross-compile on Linux ?

[davilla]

@bobo1on1: Thanks. I will give "ctrl+s" a shot.

For reference: I am using an ...

• ASUS - Ultra Flat Keyboard
  
• M/N - Y-BP62a
  
• P/N - 820-001891
  
• PID - SY839UK
  

@Davilla:
Is it possible to download XBMC nightly builds from elsewhere? I don't have any other MAC machine to build one myself. Is it possible to cross-compile on Linux ?

There should be another Dharma rc build soon. Cross-compiling an OSX app under Linux would be very, very difficult.

[babil]

Scaling Problem Solved
I just installed SVN build 34458. Everything seems fine. Screen-shot below:




I am occasionally getting DEBUG: CrystalHD: device open failed , returning(0x6) and playback will fall back to software rendering (ff-h264).

XBMC.log is here: http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/507176/
MediaInfo: http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/506561/

I tried unloading and reloading the Driver kext by doing the following:

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/BroadcomCrystalHD.kext
sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/BroadcomCrystalHD.kext


XBMC still fails to use hardware rendering (chd-h264) till I restart Apple TV.

[davilla]

@babil, which crystalhd version ? dmesg ?

[babil]

@babil, which crystalhd version ? dmesg ?

CrystalHD card: BCM970015
CrystalHD driver version: 3.6.0
Dmesg: (couldn't save as I rebooted quickly)

I have an assumption that it happens when I seek forward/backward a lot during the movie.

Also, when I seek forward/backward a lot, the audio and video goes out of the sync.

I saw you posted 3.8.0 driver on Google-code then it disappeared. Do you believe I may have any luck for better playback using 3.8.0 ? In that case, is it possible to download compiled 3.8.0 from anywhere?

[babil]

Moved post here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...Correction