VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

SyXbiT · 2016-03-27 05:07:13

I've been a longtime Nvidia user. I recently built a new computer and used the intel card until I could buy a good Nvidia GTX card.
The intel gfx actually worked pretty well. I added the Nvidia card, removed the intel drivers, install the nvidia stuff, and everything was fine.
However, when skipping through a film in VLC with hardware acceleration, VLC takes 3-4 seconds before it can start playing. It didn't do this on Intel, and it doesn't to it now if I disable hardware acceleration. Problem is, I want hardware acceleration.
I can confirm that hardware acceleration is working, by using nvidia-settings. During my readings of the arch wiki, I found a line that says to check which VDPAU drive you're using.

grep -i vdpau ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log
     7.888] (II) intel(0): [DRI2]   VDPAU driver: va_gl

va_gl is the intel driver. Is this some remnant of when I installed Intel? Or is it not a problem? Any idea what I can do to fix this?

Scimmia · 2016-03-27 05:13:41

Sounds to me like you're still using the intel card.

SyXbiT · 2016-03-27 06:26:03

Scimmia wrote:

Sounds to me like you're still using the intel card.

Why do you say that?
/var/log/Xorg.0.log shows:
[ 1.860] (II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[ 1.860] (II) NVIDIA GLX Module 361.28 Wed Feb 3 15:10:57 PST 2016
[ 1.861] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[ 1.862] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
[ 1.866] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"

AND

lspci -nnk | grep -i vga -A3 | grep 'in use'
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia

Last edited by SyXbiT (2016-03-27 06:27:03)

Scimmia · 2016-03-27 14:14:11

You're referencing two different xorg log files. Which one is current?

SyXbiT · 2016-03-27 18:50:54

Scimmia wrote:

You're referencing two different xorg log files. Which one is current?

There's something to that statement .
I had two xorg files. But they both referenced nvidia. I'd previously deleted the intel xorg file.
Still, the new nvidia wiki pages say that you don't need any xorg file. I removed all xorg files and rebooted, and:

lspci -nnk | grep -i vga -A3 | grep 'in use'
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia

So that's fixed. Thanks for the advice.
Of note though, VLC doesn't seem any better. Can someone using nvidia, VDPAU and VLC to play an h264 HD video confirm if this is normal?
I play back the video (I can confirm through nvidia-settings and the VLC log that VDPAU is active). When I skip forward in the video, the new frame freezes for 3-4 seconds before resuming playback (often the first couple of seconds will show lots of artifacts). If I switch VLC to not use hardware decoding, it works much better (though I'm burning lots of CPU cycles).

Last edited by SyXbiT (2016-03-27 18:59:01)

Arup · 2016-03-28 02:18:15

For nvidia card with nvidia driver, libva-vdpau-driver is a must for VLC's VAAPI based h/w acceleration.

SyXbiT · 2016-03-28 06:24:02

Arup wrote:

For nvidia card with nvidia driver, libva-vdpau-driver is a must for VLC's VAAPI based h/w acceleration.

I have that installed. As you can see from my previous post, VDPAU is working. It just has some serious downsides.

bernd_b · 2016-04-15 09:21:15

I cannot add anything specific but find vlc vdpau playback problematic too. When I skip from one position to another position, playback sometimes shutters, skipping to another position nearby helps most of the times.
But since this is hard to describe and even harder to repeat for a stranger, I just try to live with it. I have no such issues on another pc with intel-graphics.

Some of my problems seems to correspondent with the deinterlacing settings. I still wonder where deinterlacing is and/or should be done with vdpau:
Normally, I would address this to the graphic card - and under advanced settings you can choose between bob, temporal and temporal spatial. But how does this correspondent with the (software?)deinterlacer settings in the main menu? However fooling around with these settings seem at least to ease the problems I experience, but I would not say they are solved.

grmbrsp · 2017-03-15 20:14:48

I have the exact same problem. Playing with the deinterlacing settings did not work for me. Are there any solutions yet?

Arch Linux

#1 2016-03-27 05:07:13

VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

#2 2016-03-27 05:13:41

Re: VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

#3 2016-03-27 06:26:03

Re: VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

#4 2016-03-27 14:14:11

Re: VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

#5 2016-03-27 18:50:54

Re: VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

#6 2016-03-28 02:18:15

Re: VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

#7 2016-03-28 06:24:02

Re: VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

#8 2016-04-15 09:21:15

Re: VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

#9 2017-03-15 20:14:48

Re: VLC video playback issues (nvidia VDPAU)

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