How do you cure flash video flicker?

[boothruwindow]

I've got a flash video problem which I never see when watching the same clips through Vista on the same machine. At full-screen view, it graduates to broad black bands which flicker across the screen, making them impossible to watch. jmadero was good enough to point me to the xorg.conf file, which is a bit of an overload for anyone who hasn't used the command line since the dark ages when eveyone had to. . I fixed xorg.cof with what I knew wouldn't hurt it, which isn't much, here it is:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
VendorName "Acer"
ModelName "P221W"
HorizSync 30-82
VertRefresh 56-60
DisplaySize 518 400
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection



Just in case anyone knows which of so many choices of modes, etc apply with this video configuration, here's what I got when I did an lshw:


id: display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: RS690 [Radeon X1200 Series]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@0000:01:05.0
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency = 64

Please help if you can - I really want to join the revolution and help destroy Microsoft, but I've got to get a few more clues on how to actually get things to work under Linux first!

Thanks.

[dijetlo]

I've got a flash video problem which I never see when watching the same clips through Vista on the same machine. At full-screen view, it graduates to broad black bands which flicker across the screen, making them impossible to watch. jmadero was good enough to point me to the xorg.conf file, which is a bit of an overload for anyone who hasn't used the command line since the dark ages when eveyone had to. . I fixed xorg.cof with what I knew wouldn't hurt it, which isn't much, here it is:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
VendorName "Acer"
ModelName "P221W"
HorizSync 30-82
VertRefresh 56-60
DisplaySize 518 400
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection



Just in case anyone knows which of so many choices of modes, etc apply with this video configuration, here's what I got when I did an lshw:


id: display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: RS690 [Radeon X1200 Series]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@0000:01:05.0
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency = 64

Please help if you can - I really want to join the revolution and help destroy Microsoft, but I've got to get a few more clues on how to actually get things to work under Linux first!

Thanks.

run glxinfo and post it...if the problem isn't in X maybe it's under it?

[boothruwindow]

run glxinfo and post it...if the problem isn't in X maybe it's under it?

Here it is, and I notice there's a lot which reports in slow (I just googled gxlinfo) - why would that happen with a brand-new, flat LCD monitor, and how do you fix it?

name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer,
GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_SGIS_multisample,
GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group
client glx vendor string: SGI
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_allocate_memory,
GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer, GLX_MESA_swap_control,
GLX_MESA_swap_frame_usage, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_OML_sync_control,
GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_SGI_video_sync,
GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer,
GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap
GLX version: 1.2
GLX extensions:
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_swap_control,
GLX_MESA_swap_frame_usage, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_swap_control,
GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,
GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group
OpenGL vendor string: DRI R300 Project
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R300 20060815 x86/MMX+/3DNow!+/SSE2 NO-TCL
OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 7.2
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_ARB_fragment_program, GL_ARB_imaging,
GL_ARB_multisample, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_point_parameters,
GL_ARB_shadow, GL_ARB_shadow_ambient, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
GL_ARB_texture_compression, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map,
GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_texture_env_combine,
GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3,
GL_MESAX_texture_float, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat,
GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix,
GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object, GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_window_pos,
GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_EXT_blend_color,
GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate,
GL_EXT_blend_logic_op, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract,
GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array, GL_EXT_convolution,
GL_EXT_copy_texture, GL_EXT_draw_range_elements,
GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters, GL_EXT_histogram, GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays,
GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_point_parameters, GL_EXT_polygon_offset,
GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_EXT_secondary_color,
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_EXT_shadow_funcs,
GL_EXT_stencil_two_side, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap, GL_EXT_subtexture,
GL_EXT_texture, GL_EXT_texture3D, GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp,
GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_EXT_texture_env_combine,
GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3, GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic,
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_mirror_clamp,
GL_EXT_texture_object, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_vertex_array,
GL_APPLE_packed_pixels, GL_ATI_blend_equation_separate,
GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3, GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once,
GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat,
GL_INGR_blend_func_separate, GL_MESA_pack_invert, GL_MESA_ycbcr_texture,
GL_MESA_window_pos, GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_light_max_exponent,
GL_NV_texture_rectangle, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_NV_vertex_program,
GL_OES_read_format, GL_SGI_color_matrix, GL_SGI_color_table,
GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap, GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp,
GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp, GL_SGIS_texture_lod, GL_SGIX_depth_texture,
GL_SGIX_shadow_ambient, GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays

3 GLX Visuals
visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x21 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x22 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x63 32 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None

16 GLXFBConfigs:
visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x64 0 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x65 0 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x66 0 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x67 0 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x68 0 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x69 0 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x6a 0 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x6b 0 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x6c 0 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x6d 0 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x6e 0 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x6f 0 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x70 0 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x71 0 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x72 0 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x73 0 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow

[dijetlo]

direct rendering: Yes

That's what I was looking for.

there's a lot which reports in slow (I just googled gxlinfo) - why would that happen with a brand-new, flat LCD monitor, and how do you fix it?

Reports slow? I'm not trying to bust your stones, Boo but slow is a really subjective assesment. Sometime it isn't how well the dancing bear dances, it's that he dances at all. How long did it take to run it, thirty seconds? A minute? Longer might start to worry me but we don't know what the machine was doing when you called for the gxlinfo, and we don't know how it was prioritizing the task cue.
Could you try an lsmod and we'll see if any of your card or rendering modules are crapping out. ?

[boothruwindow]

That's what I was looking for.

Reports slow? I'm not trying to bust your stones,

No problem, I sort of asked for it.

Boo but slow is a really subjective assesment. Sometime it isn't how well the dancing bear dances, it's that he dances at all. How long did it take to run it, thirty seconds? A minute?

Hardly two seconds - it could be much worse, but unless Vista video is a standard of perfection beyond all reasonable demands, I don't want to live with unresolveable quality problems with certain videos which play fine when I run them in Vista. Wouldn't it be better if all who were encouraged to dabble in Linux could endorse a system with no hard-to-fix quality issues?

Longer might start to worry me but we don't know what the machine was doing when you called for the gxlinfo, and we don't know how it was prioritizing the task cue.
Could you try an lsmod and we'll see if any of your card or rendering modules are crapping out. ?

Module Size Used by
isofs 40100 1
udf 88356 0
crc_itu_t 10112 1 udf
ipv6 263972 10
af_packet 25728 2
binfmt_misc 16904 1
radeon 147616 2
drm 86056 3 radeon
rfcomm 44432 0
bridge 56980 0
stp 10628 1 bridge
bnep 20480 2
sco 18308 2
l2cap 30464 6 rfcomm,bnep
bluetooth 61924 6 rfcomm,bnep,sco,l2cap
ppdev 15620 0
powernow_k8 22148 1
cpufreq_powersave 9856 0
cpufreq_conservative 14600 0
cpufreq_ondemand 14988 1
cpufreq_stats 13188 0
freq_table 12672 3 powernow_k8,cpufreq_ondemand,cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_userspace 11396 0
sbs 19464 0
sbshc 13440 1 sbs
video 25232 0
output 11008 1 video
pci_slot 12680 0
container 11520 0
battery 18436 0
iptable_filter 10752 0
ip_tables 19600 1 iptable_filter
x_tables 22916 1 ip_tables
ac 12292 0
sbp2 29324 0
lp 17156 0
snd_hda_intel 384176 5
snd_seq_dummy 10884 0
psmouse 45200 0
snd_seq_oss 38528 0
snd_pcm_oss 46848 0
snd_mixer_oss 22784 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 83204 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
led_class 12164 0
pcspkr 10624 0
snd_seq_midi 14336 0
i2c_piix4 16144 0
snd_rawmidi 29824 1 snd_seq_midi
wmi 14504 0
serio_raw 13444 0
k8temp 12416 0
snd_seq_midi_event 15232 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
i2c_core 31892 1 i2c_piix4
snd_seq 57776 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event
usblp 20480 0
evdev 17696 10
joydev 18368 0
snd_timer 29960 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 15116 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq
snd 63268 18 snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_oss,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_os s,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_de vice
soundcore 15328 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 16136 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
parport_pc 39204 1
parport 42604 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
button 14224 0
ati_agp 14988 0
shpchp 38036 0
pci_hotplug 34976 1 shpchp
agpgart 42184 2 drm,ati_agp
ext3 133256 1
jbd 55828 1 ext3
mbcache 16004 1 ext3
usb_storage 82752 0
libusual 30356 1 usb_storage
sr_mod 22212 1
sd_mod 42392 3
crc_t10dif 9984 1 sd_mod
cdrom 43168 1 sr_mod
usbhid 35840 0
hid 50560 1 usbhid
ata_generic 12932 0
pata_acpi 12160 0
sg 39732 0
ohci1394 37936 0
ieee1394 96324 2 sbp2,ohci1394
pata_atiixp 12800 0
ehci_hcd 43788 0
ohci_hcd 32016 0
sky2 53380 0
usbcore 149360 7 usblp,usb_storage,libusual,usbhid,ehci_hcd,ohci_hc d
ahci 37132 3
libata 178208 4 ata_generic,pata_acpi,pata_atiixp,ahci
scsi_mod 155212 6 sbp2,usb_storage,sr_mod,sd_mod,sg,libata
dock 16656 1 libata
thermal 23708 0
processor 42156 2 powernow_k8,thermal
fan 12548 0
fbcon 47648 0
tileblit 10880 1 fbcon
font 16512 1 fbcon
bitblit 13824 1 fbcon
softcursor 9984 1 bitblit
fuse 60828 3

I don't know what to do about the text alignment, which is a nice, ruler-edge courier before it's cut n' paste into this (changing the font doesn't cure it, once it's been pasted in).

[dijetlo]

No problem, I sort of asked for it.

I didn't mean it in a mean or aggressive way. The entire monologue can be boiled down to "video is a known bad, let's concentrate on video."

Vista video is a standard of perfection beyond all reasonable demands,

I'm not a video guy, Boo. I know everybody claims their stuff is the best, that means most folks are lying. I only get interested when it doesn't work.

Wouldn't it be better if all who were encouraged to dabble in Linux could endorse a system with no hard-to-fix quality issues?

Hard to fix? Boo, I've asked 1 (one) question so far.
OK, now two

drm                    86056  3 radeon

DRM is a content protector, it's running on your installation. DRM is funny, if you buy a cd or dvd and burn a copy, DRM can cause it to fail. Vista has a less strict implementation I'm told. It isn't every file that causes a problem, is it? Some files that play well on vista. Could Digital Rights Management (DRM) be causing that? Let me know.
It's late, I'll dig around a little bit in the morning and see if I can find someplace in the threads this problem was identified and resolved. Nothing jumps out at me as I'm looking at this but I'm not an expert on xserver, I may have to break down and read the Xserver documentation . Since it's Sunday we'll call it penitence. G'night, talk 2morrow.

[boothruwindow]

I didn't mean it in a mean or aggressive way.

Hey, I'm cool on that - really! Anyway, I'm happy that your're trying to help.

The entire monologue can be boiled down to "video is a known bad, let's concentrate on video. I'm not a video guy, Boo. I know everybody claims their stuff is the best, that means most folks are lying.

I only get interested when it doesn't work.

Hard to fix? Boo, I've asked 1 (one) question so far.
OK, now two

drm                    86056  3 radeon

DRM is a content protector, it's running on your installation. DRM is funny, if you buy a cd or dvd and burn a copy, DRM can cause it to fail. Vista has a less strict implementation I'm told. It isn't every file that causes a problem, is it? Some files that play well on vista. Could Digital Rights Management (DRM) be causing that? Let me know.

So far I've only looked at FLV-type video streams. I know quality is rarely ever high in surfthechannel-world, which I've come to rely on more or less as a Time/Warner alternative, but the flickering black bands or holes which appeared in certain videos turned out to be a Linux-only issue - can DRM be effective when a file is converted to FLV?

It's late, I'll dig around a little bit in the morning and see if I can find someplace in the threads this problem was identified and resolved. Nothing jumps out at me as I'm looking at this but I'm not an expert on xserver, I may have to break down and read the Xserver documentation . Since it's Sunday we'll call it penitence. G'night, talk 2morrow.

Thanks so much for trying to help, and I'm sorry that it's got you frustrated too! I really am feeling lost with all the possible settings for the xorg.conf, which could have no effect or make the problem worse, if that's even where the problem is. Someday I'll how to use diagnostic tools for Linux (you gave me two which I hadn't heard of). It's been a frustrating two weeks trying to find setup info which goes beyond how to use the installation CD - when it isn't that, it's either the huge list of commands, or the distro page, referring me to files and commands with the presumption that you already know what they are. This is where I realize that it could take months or years (a long time to be rebooting into Vista any time you want to watch TV) before I will figure out on my own whether the problem can be fixed at all, but that the problem can't be too unusual for someone else to have a fix for it already (as we, and all who read this post and said nothing can see, this is sadly not the case).

[matthijskooijman]

This thread is ancient, but just to prevent others from getting the wrong idea by reading it, one correction.

drm                    86056  3 radeon

DRM is a content protector,

This is not true. DRM in this context is the Direct Rendering Manager, the kernel module that is responsible for (a part of) direct rendering (acceleration).