Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

göteborg-johan · 2009-04-18 21:35:42

Hello, recently I've noticed a lot of tearing when playing movies with xcompmgr loaded. When i kill xcompmgr it goes away (almost) completely and when I enable it again the tearing starts to reappear. I'm running kernel 2.6.29, xorg 1.6 and the latest nvidia beta.

I run into this tearing no matter what video output i select, xv, vdpau or gl, it doesn't matter, video still tears.

Since I really like the effects of xcompmgr + openbox (fast but still reasonably looking) and don't really want to do without xcompmgr, I was wondering if anyone here have experienced the issue and came up with some kind of solution to this issue.

Thanks, GBG-Johan.

I forgot to mention that the video tearing still occurs when i use xine-ui instead of mplayer, so I guess it's not an issue related to which player i use.

Last edited by göteborg-johan (2009-04-18 21:46:59)

bredin · 2009-04-19 16:37:01

intel graphics?

göteborg-johan · 2009-04-19 18:48:14

bredin wrote:

intel graphics?

nvidia, sorry for not mentioning that

bredin · 2009-04-20 18:47:51

Just noticed that I have the same problem after updating my videodriver to xf86-video-intel-newest. I randomly ran fluxbox without xcompmgr.

So any ideas how to slove this problem?

geoisis · 2009-06-11 15:33:24

i'm having the same problem. nvidia here.

göteborg-johan · 2009-06-11 20:23:21

Based on what I read at the nvidia forums, the problem is caused of certain composite managers that use the graphics card in a way that makes it basically impossible to force it to vsync. Though, I feel that the problem is somewhat lessened by using the 185.18.14 drivers(which is stable now btw, but isnt in the arch repo yet).

brisbin33 · 2009-06-11 20:31:43

it could be worth it to try nvidia-beta and either xcompmgr-git or xcompmgr-dana (all in AUR) to see if any combination offers improvements.

i've been using the nvidia-beta stuff in AUR for the past couple versions, it's usually better than the repo version IMHO. xcompmgr-dana seems to be less buggy overall but it draws shadows on my conky so i go with xcompmgr-git.

göteborg-johan · 2009-06-14 16:36:09

well, i was always using xcompmgr-dana all along, but i tried updating the drivers to nvidia-beta and disabled everything related to vsync in the nvidia-settings. this seems to have solved it for me.

im also using vdpau as video output.

Last edited by göteborg-johan (2009-06-14 16:36:30)

Prozzaks · 2010-02-19 03:19:24

System info :
Dell Studio 14z
NVidia 9400 M
built-in monitor and Sharp 1080p TV connected via HDMI
KDE 4.4
X.Org version: 1.7.5
NVidia Driver Version: 190.53
uname -a :

Linux shinny 2.6.32-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Feb 9 15:12:10 CET 2010 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6600 @ 2.20GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

I am experiencing video tearing when using VDPAU output with mplayer. If I use XV output instead, there is no tearing. If I use Dragon Player (which doesn't support VDPAU) there is also no tearing. Playing around with the VSync option in nvidia-settings only has an effect if I'm using XV.

On my other box running Funtoo, I had experienced the same issue. After some searching on the Web, I found that someone suggested to add :

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

to /etc/X11/xorg.conf. On my Funtoo system this fixed the issue. However, doing the same on my Archlinux Studio 14z didn't fix the problem.

I also tried recompiling mplayer (as if that would change anything...) to no avail.

The issue also occurs even if I use the laptop screen without any external monitor connected.

Does anyone have a clue of what else I should try? The suggestion to use only XV is not suitable because I have some 1080p content that I can not decode fast enough using only the CPU.

Another test I might try is to run my Funtoo on my laptop. This will tedious and it might not be exactly the same, since the kernel on my Funtoo machine is custom built with only the drivers for the hardware in that box.

Last edited by Prozzaks (2010-02-19 03:28:19)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-04-18 21:35:42

Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

#2 2009-04-19 16:37:01

Re: Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

#3 2009-04-19 18:48:14

Re: Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

#4 2009-04-20 18:47:51

Re: Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

#5 2009-06-11 15:33:24

Re: Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

#6 2009-06-11 20:23:21

Re: Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

#7 2009-06-11 20:31:43

Re: Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

#8 2009-06-14 16:36:09

Re: Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

#9 2010-02-19 03:19:24

Re: Video tearing with xcompmgr and mplayer

Board footer