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#1 2007-12-20 04:16:54
- colbert
- Member
- Registered: 2007-12-16
- Posts: 809
Something causing a tiny jitter/slowdown in video playback...
I have tried MPlayer, totem movie player, vlc, xine, you name it-- every somewhere between 20-40 seconds in a .avi/.mpg, there's a tiny little few frames dropped, it's the briefest thing but it happens many times through a half-hour or hour episode or two hour movie 
I have looked at my running processes, I even played video right at log in with zero startup apps, am using fluxbox. I can't figure this out. I have a P4 3.4ee, 1.2gb ram, 7600 gs 512mb card, 2 x 320gb sata drives, can't be the hardware I am confident as it plays back perfectly otherwise.
It seems it's just something causing it to lose a few frames or something at these random intervals?? I'm completely out of ideas, I've been testing with so many different video files for the last couple of days, finally thought I'd post before I found the solution, but alas I cannot 
EDIT: I just tried the "xv" video output in Xine player and watched a tv episode (.avi), I noticed that it is almost every 1 minute that it does this little tiny frame drop/jitter. Could it be some process doing something at 1 minute intervals? I have an empty cron.
My process list:
bobby@dabox:~$ ps aux
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 1612 544 ? Ss 14:25 0:01 init [3]
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [kthreadd]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [migration/0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:01 [ksoftirqd/0]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [watchdog/0]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [migration/1]
root 7 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [ksoftirqd/1]
root 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [watchdog/1]
root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [events/0]
root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [events/1]
root 11 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [khelper]
root 47 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:01 [kblockd/0]
root 48 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [kblockd/1]
root 51 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [kacpid]
root 52 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [kacpi_notify]
root 151 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [kseriod]
root 181 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 14:25 0:00 [pdflush]
root 182 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 14:25 0:01 [pdflush]
root 183 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:02 [kswapd0]
root 235 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [aio/0]
root 236 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [aio/1]
root 319 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [khvcd]
root 383 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [rpciod/0]
root 384 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [rpciod/1]
root 395 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:02 [ata/0]
root 396 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [ata/1]
root 397 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [ata_aux]
root 402 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
root 404 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [scsi_eh_1]
root 422 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [scsi_eh_2]
root 424 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [scsi_eh_3]
root 987 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 18:36 0:00 [scsi_eh_4]
root 988 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 18:36 0:00 [usb-storage]
root 1082 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [ksuspend_usbd]
root 1139 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [khubd]
root 1486 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:02 [kjournald]
root 1533 0.0 0.0 1812 612 ? S<s 14:25 0:00 /sbin/udevd --daemon
root 2779 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:25 0:00 [kgameportd]
root 5776 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:26 0:00 [kpsmoused]
root 6994 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:00 [kjournald]
root 6995 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:00 [kjournald]
root 6996 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:00 [kjournald]
root 6997 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:01 [kjournald]
root 6998 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:00 [kjournald]
root 6999 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:00 [kjournald]
root 7000 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:00 [kjournald]
root 7001 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:00 [kjournald]
root 7002 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 14:35 0:00 [kjournald]
root 7298 0.0 0.0 2248 816 ? Ss 14:35 0:00 /usr/sbin/syslog-ng
root 7313 0.0 0.0 1772 264 ? Ss 14:35 0:00 /sbin/dhcpcd -N -R -t 30 -h dabox eth0
root 7342 0.0 0.0 1644 556 ? S 14:35 0:00 /usr/sbin/crond
dbus 7357 0.0 0.0 2392 1128 ? Ss 14:35 0:14 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system
hal 7360 0.0 0.2 5048 3344 ? Ss 14:35 0:09 /usr/sbin/hald
root 7361 0.0 0.0 3156 1140 ? S 14:35 0:00 hald-runner
root 7373 0.0 0.0 3244 1204 ? S 14:35 0:01 hald-addon-input: Listening on /dev/input/event5 /dev/input/event4 /dev/input/event3 /dev/input/event2
hal 7376 0.0 0.0 2060 884 ? S 14:35 0:00 hald-addon-acpi: listening on acpi kernel interface /proc/acpi/event
root 7391 0.0 0.0 3244 1200 ? S 14:35 0:08 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sr0 (every 2 sec)
root 7393 0.0 0.0 3244 1200 ? S 14:35 0:08 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sr1 (every 2 sec)
bin 7417 0.0 0.0 1720 460 ? Ss 14:36 0:00 /sbin/portmap
root 7420 0.0 0.0 3492 1196 ? Ss 14:36 0:04 /usr/sbin/famd -T 0 -c /etc/fam/fam.conf
root 7455 0.0 0.1 12848 1476 ? Ss 14:36 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm-binary
root 7458 0.0 0.2 13224 2784 ? S 14:36 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm-binary
root 7500 0.0 0.0 1612 500 tty1 Ss+ 14:36 0:00 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 vc/1 linux
root 7501 0.0 0.0 1612 504 tty2 Ss+ 14:36 0:00 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 vc/2 linux
root 7502 0.0 0.0 1612 504 tty3 Ss+ 14:36 0:00 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 vc/3 linux
root 7503 0.0 0.0 1612 500 tty4 Ss+ 14:36 0:00 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 vc/4 linux
root 7504 0.0 0.0 1612 500 tty5 Ss+ 14:36 0:00 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 vc/5 linux
root 7505 0.0 0.0 1612 504 tty6 Ss+ 14:36 0:00 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 vc/6 linux
bobby 7578 0.0 0.2 6708 3756 ? S 14:36 0:01 /usr/lib/GConf/gconfd-2 6
bobby 15763 0.0 0.0 2256 1128 ? Ss 21:01 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 13 --print-address 15 --session
bobby 15838 0.0 0.2 9652 3732 ? S 21:02 0:00 /usr/lib/gnome-vfs-2.0/gnome-vfs-daemon
root 26444 5.5 3.7 53900 48032 tty7 SLs+ 22:53 2:07 /usr/bin/Xorg :0 -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
bobby 26462 0.6 0.4 11160 6376 ? Ss 22:53 0:14 /usr/bin/fluxbox
bobby 26480 0.0 0.0 4868 604 ? Ss 22:53 0:00 /usr/bin/ssh-agent -- /usr/bin/startfluxbox
bobby 26499 0.0 0.3 19168 4992 ? Ss 22:53 0:01 gnome-volume-manager
bobby 26502 0.0 0.0 2256 1096 ? Ss 22:53 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 13 --print-address 15 --session
bobby 26505 0.3 0.2 19352 2836 ? Sl 22:53 0:07 conky
bobby 26506 0.0 0.5 22096 7620 ? Ss 22:53 0:00 gnome-power-manager
bobby 26508 0.1 0.2 13696 3560 ? Ss 22:53 0:03 gnome-screensaver
root 26536 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 22:53 0:00 [kjournald]
root 26550 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 22:53 0:00 [kjournald]
root 26566 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 22:53 0:00 [kjournald]
bobby 26607 0.0 0.2 9652 3624 ? S 22:53 0:00 /usr/lib/gnome-vfs-2.0/gnome-vfs-daemon
bobby 26634 0.3 1.8 77552 24140 ? Ss 22:54 0:08 /usr/bin/nautilus /mnt/video --no-desktop
bobby 26637 0.0 0.2 24332 2804 ? Ssl 22:54 0:00 /usr/lib/bonobo/bonobo-activation-server --ac-activate --ior-output-fd=22
bobby 26652 0.0 0.0 2444 792 ? S 22:54 0:00 /usr/lib/nautilus-cd-burner/mapping-daemon
bobby 27182 0.0 0.7 39688 10292 ? Sl 22:57 0:01 /usr/bin/gnome-settings-daemon
bobby 27239 0.0 0.0 2860 328 ? S 22:57 0:00 dbus-launch --autolaunch f1f99a3c140ac785a9aa54004765db00 --binary-syntax
bobby 27240 0.0 0.0 2256 1056 ? Ss 22:57 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 11 --print-address 14 --session
bobby 27242 0.0 0.2 9652 3624 ? S 22:57 0:00 /usr/lib/gnome-vfs-2.0/gnome-vfs-daemon
bobby 27422 0.0 2.0 42360 27016 ? Ss 22:59 0:01 nvidia-settings
bobby 27760 0.0 0.1 4228 1400 ? Ss 23:02 0:00 /bin/sh /opt/mozilla/bin/firefox
bobby 27764 0.0 0.1 4228 1424 ? S 23:02 0:00 /bin/sh /opt/mozilla/lib/firefox-2.0.0.11/run-mozilla.sh /opt/mozilla/lib/firefox-2.0.0.11/firefox-bin
bobby 27769 3.7 5.7 194596 74408 ? Sl 23:02 1:03 /opt/mozilla/lib/firefox-2.0.0.11/firefox-bin
bobby 30469 1.7 1.2 41288 15612 ? Ssl 23:30 0:00 gnome-terminal
bobby 30471 0.0 0.0 2444 644 ? S 23:30 0:00 gnome-pty-helper
bobby 30472 0.0 0.1 4536 1756 pts/0 Ss 23:30 0:00 bash
bobby 30537 0.0 0.0 3580 996 pts/0 R+ 23:31 0:00 ps aux
bobby@dabox:~$Last edited by colbert (2007-12-20 04:31:42)
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#2 2007-12-20 04:59:34
- colbert
- Member
- Registered: 2007-12-16
- Posts: 809
Re: Something causing a tiny jitter/slowdown in video playback...
Well it's amazing, the simplest answer is usually right, albeit the one most often overlooked! (At least by me;))
I had a random, Einsteinian thought to kill conky and whaddaya know, my video is playing superbly thus far 
I hope anyone that runs into this can reference this should they also be running conky. It normally takes up no cpu, but the flickering of it apparently randomly has the effect on the video.
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