[ric4rd0]

Hi to all

I hope this request is not dumb but after three day search through this forum and Googling everywhere else still no clue how to update nvidia drivers in XBMC LIVE 10. The thing is that XBMC LIVE 10 (the latest one I guess, installed on HDD) gives HD video playback quite choppy in scenes with higher video bitrates and the whole picture is bit darker in general through out the whole XBMC. I believe my PC has enough power to handle smooth HD video playback (Core2Duo CPU at 3GHz with 2Gigs of RAM and nVidia G210 graphic card with 512MB). All those HD videos works fine on other players (tested with Windows based SW players and with Popcorn Hour HD player too).
My friend who uses XBMC on fully installed Ubuntu (not the LIVE build) told me that the video drivers in my LIVE build are pretty old. I think this might be the reason as I've already been fiddling with every possible part of the system settings in XBMC without any sign of improvement.

I've only found following promising clues:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc

I don't know if this nice update feature will install a new nvidia drivers and if yes isn't there a risk that the default settings might be restored after the instalation and I won't be able to get to XBMC without console magic tricks?

or shall I try this HOWTO:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=92622

5). Install the latest nvidia binary drivers:

# cd /usr/src
# wget http://uk.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Li....19.36.run
# export CC=/usr/bin/gcc-4.1
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run

...and so on up to step 10. ?


I'm sorry for such a newbie request but I am a little desperate here.
:confused2:

[thethirdnut]

Download newest version from nvidia site; go through the GPU + OS selection menus.

Save that *.run file somewhere on the PC.

Open up a terminal, cd [change directory] to where that file is located.

Run 'sudo sh <file>.run'

This should start the nvidia driver install / uninstall old one dialog.

Reboot and you should have latest nvidia drivers.

Couple notes:
-- its best to run this installation when X isn't running; ie. dload file to easy location, reboot into recovery mode and run the installation through the terminal
-- every once in a while you may need to rerun this installation if kernel is updated; X won't load properly, will need to rerun through terminal anyways

[Bobby Blixberg]

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc

I don't know if this nice update feature will install a new nvidia drivers

No, it won't.

Just updated to the latest drivers without any issues quite similar as described in the linked thread, was a matter of a few minutes, and I'm not a Linux expert at all.
A backup of your userdata folder is always good

PS:

Code:

sudo -s
pkill x    
wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/260.19.36/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run (and follow the instructions)
reboot

That's how I always do it. Nothing magical.

[bmcclure937]

A backup of your userdata folder is always good

Can you elaborate on this? What exactly should be backed up?

[cowfodder]

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Nvidia warns against using the installer program to upgrade from drivers installed via apt. You're better off adding the x-swat repository and upgrading that way.

[GhostDog]

No, it won't.

Just updated to the latest drivers without any issues quite similar as described in the linked thread, was a matter of a few minutes, and I'm not a Linux expert at all.
A backup of your userdata folder is always good

PS:

Code:

sudo -s
pkill x    
wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/260.19.36/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run (and follow the instructions)
reboot

That's how I always do it. Nothing magical.

Followed your steps. Upgrade went perfect. Props.

[Bobby Blixberg]

Can you elaborate on this? What exactly should be backed up?

The whole userdata (\XBMC\home\xbmc\.xbmc\userdata) folder except for the Addons.db in the Database subfolder - XBMC will not start properly after you have reinstalled it and restored the backup, unless you install exactly the same addons you had installed when you made the backup.

But it depends on the size of your libraries and the work you put. It may be easier to just reinstall XBMC and rebuild the libraries.

I'm on Windows (mainly) and use robocopy combined with NetDrive which lets you assign a drive letter to an ftp adddress...but that's far too off topic now

[ric4rd0]

Hi guys,

thank you all for the tips!

Code:

wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/260.19.36/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run (and follow the instructions)
reboot

This did not end up well as after reboot the computer stucked in console trying to switch to X without success, so I would not recommend this one.
It surely put the newer drivers but X couldn't be stared. I tried CTRL-ALT-F7, sudo start x, but no luck.

While this

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

did as expected and promised with one little catch. Too many user interactions needed. It even asked what type of remote do I use, etc. I chose what I felt to be proper options and after reboot it got finally into X, keeping all the previous display and other system settings.
It put even newer drivers than 260.19.36.run, I think some 270.xx.xx

To be honest this whole effort was as good as nothing because it did not solve the problem.

I figured out few things: the bit rate in scenes where I'm getting choppy playback is not very high, it's not even 1080p, just 720p.
My video card is Geforce 210 (not G version) though the core GPU is the same - GT218. Is this what might cause it? I hope not as I tested the video on 8400GS (WinXP) and it worked smoothly.

Anyways big thanks to all of you again!

[GhostDog]

Hi guys,

thank you all for the tips!

Code:

wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/260.19.36/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run (and follow the instructions)
reboot

This did not end up well as after reboot the computer stucked in console trying to switch to X without success, so I would not recommend this one.
It surely put the newer drivers but X couldn't be stared. I tried CTRL-ALT-F7, sudo start x, but no luck.

Did you say "yes" to the option to run "nvidia-xconfig" at the end of the install? I said "no", which was selected by default. I think it updates/changes the xorg.conf fiile, which I figured would cause problems.

I figured out few things: the bit rate in scenes where I'm getting choppy playback is not very high, it's not even 1080p, just 720p.
My video card is Geforce 210 (not G version) though the core GPU is the same - GT218. Is this what might cause it? I hope not as I tested the video on 8400GS (WinXP) and it worked smoothly.

Anyways big thanks to all of you again!

This might be asking the obvious, but do you have "VDPAU" HW acceleration enabled in the video settings?

[ric4rd0]

Did you say "yes" to the option to run "nvidia-xconfig" at the end of the install? I said "no", which was selected by default. I think it updates/changes the xorg.conf fiile, which I figured would cause problems.

Yes, I probably did. I'm not very Linux expericed. Luckily I was able to get it working again but like I said in my previous post: the hd video issue has not been solved by this.

This might be asking the obvious, but do you have "VDPAU" HW acceleration enabled in the video settings?

Well it's not that obvious as there doesn't seem to be "pure on/off" VDPAU option in SYSTEM-VIDEO settings. A friend of mine who runs XBMC on full Ubuntu says he has that option but in my VIDEO settings the only VDPAU option relates to Studio Color conversion, precisely "VDPAU Studio Level Color Conversion". Damn I'm not sitting at my HTPC XBMC at the moment to tell you which options are there excatly. I tried to google the screens but no luck.


few minutes later: Got it, the option screen should probably look like this:

Code:

http://doityourselfhtpc.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/enable-vaapi-in-xbmc.png

but mine doesn't definitely have Allow hardware acceleration VDPAU nor Allow hardware acceleration VAAPI

[GhostDog]

Yes, I probably did. I'm not very Linux expericed. Luckily I was able to get it working again but like I said in my previous post: the hd video issue has not been solved by this.



Well it's not that obvious as there doesn't seem to be "pure on/off" VDPAU option in SYSTEM-VIDEO settings. A friend of mine who runs XBMC on full Ubuntu says he has that option but in my VIDEO settings the only VDPAU option relates to Studio Color conversion, precisely "VDPAU Studio Level Color Conversion". Damn I'm not sitting at my HTPC XBMC at the moment to tell you which options are there excatly. I tried to google the screens but no luck.


few minutes later: Got it, the option screen should probably look like this:

Code:

http://doityourselfhtpc.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/enable-vaapi-in-xbmc.png

but mine doesn't definitely have Allow hardware acceleration VDPAU nor Allow hardware acceleration VAAPI

Well, thats probably the problem. I'm using a Zotac motherboard, which as the Nvidia ION video chip, and VDPAU is an option by default with XBMC Live. The VAAPI option isn't available in my config. Your graphics chip does support VDPAU from what I've read.

You may need to try installing VDPAU manually (sudo apt-get install libvdpau1). Take a look at your debug log as well.

[ric4rd0]

Well, thats probably the problem. I'm using a Zotac motherboard, which as the Nvidia ION video chip, and VDPAU is an option by default with XBMC Live. The VAAPI option isn't available in my config. Your graphics chip does support VDPAU from what I've read.

You may need to try installing VDPAU manually (sudo apt-get install libvdpau1). Take a look at your debug log as well.

Thank you for your tip! Well THIS might be definitely the issue!
When I first ran XBMC LIVE from HDD I had ATI RADEONvideo card installed but I changed it to G210 soon after that. Maybe the system wasn't able to find VDPAU support on that HW I used at the beginning. This probably haven't changed yet even though I'm using VDPAU card now (at least I think this nVidia has enough power for the VDPAU support).
I will try apt-get it.
Thank you!

UPDATE:

It looks like it's been installed already but X GUI doesn't offer it:

Code:

root@XBMCLive:~# apt-get install libvdpau1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
libvdpau1 is already the newest version.
libvdpau1 set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.

[GhostDog]

Thank you for your tip! Well THIS might be definitely the issue!
When I first ran XBMC LIVE from HDD I had ATI RADEONvideo card installed but I changed it to G210 soon after that. Maybe the system wasn't able to find VDPAU support on that HW I used at the beginning. This probably haven't changed yet even though I'm using VDPAU card now (at least I think this nVidia has enough power for the VDPAU support).
I will try apt-get it.
Thank you!

UPDATE:

It looks like it's been installed already but X GUI doesn't offer it:

Code:

root@XBMCLive:~# apt-get install libvdpau1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
libvdpau1 is already the newest version.
libvdpau1 set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.

I'd try removing, then reinstalling libvdpau1.

Maybe as test, run a clean installation of XBMC Live off a spare USB stick to see if VDPAU is enabled. Worst case scenario, you may need to do a clean install with the Geforce card if you haven't done this yet.

[ric4rd0]

I finished a clean install from the live cd this morning with the same results. Well VDPAU option is finally there but doesn't seem to affect smoothness of the HD video.

So I tried to update nVidia drivers again

Code:

wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/260.19.36/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.36.run (and follow the instructions)
reboot

I chose NO to "nvidia-xconfig" at the end of the instalation. The XBMC's X did not come up after reboot again. Just the console. So updates/changes the xorg.conf file probably doesn't affect this.

I think my last hope is replacing the video card. I will probably get NVIDIA GeForce GT 240, instead of this Geforce 210.

The last thing I'm going to do before taking back my old video card to get better one is another clean instalation from live CD and updating the video drivers by these steps:

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

[ric4rd0]

Drives were updated OK, now running 3.7.0, but no change to the problem.
Switching VDPAU OFF will cause a small improvement to the performance but still some glitches appear.