Hello, MythTV experts. I just built a system last week and am in the process of finishing up setting up MythTV. For reference, my hardware specs are:

Hardware:
AMD Barton 3200+, 400MHz FSB
Asus A7N8X Rev 2.0 (onboard audio)
2x 256MB PC3200 RAM (dual channel)
AGP 8x Nvidia 5200 FX w/ 128MB RAM
HD3000 capture card
160GB/7200/8MB cache Maxtor hard drive

Software:
KnoppMyth R5A10 (MythTV 0.17, XvMC disabled)
Nvidia 6629 drivers (latest)

With that out of the way, on to the problem... When playing back recordings, some frames are being dropped when there is a lot of movement in the scene. It is even more noticable when playing back HiDef recordings. I would normally think that that would mean that my processor can't decode fast enough, but when I telnet in to check processor usage during playback, the highest it gets is 15%.

It doesn't drop enough frames to be labeled "very choppy" or "very jumpy" (at its worst, it probably drops 15-20 frames per second), but it is definitely noticable and somewhat irritating (my wife will not be happy because we are migrating from a Panasonic DVR that didn't drop any frames ). Since the processor isn't being maxed out, then what else could it be? DMA is enabled on the hard drive, I am using AGP 8X, and the FSB is 400MHz. I don't have a clue what the problem is! Does anybody have any recommendations for something else I should check to help troubleshoot this? Thanks in advance!

not sure what the problem is your system should have more than enough proc power, but have you tried the libmpeg option just to see if it does the same thing?

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Xsecrets

Yep, I tried that, and I tried disabling deinterlacing. It seemed to be a little bit better, but not much.

unless I missed it you did not specify if you loaded the nvidia drivers, if you did not that can make a huge difference.

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Xsecrets

Yes, I have loaded the 6629 drivers, and I also tried loading the 6111 drivers. Do I need to have any special options in my XF86Config-4 file? (I do load the driver in that file, but I don't enable any special options I don't think.)

Are you watching via VGA, DVI or S-Video out?

Something's wrong with your XF86 setup. Edit your config file again and make SURE it says "nvidia" for the driver and not "nv". Also double check the log file for X and see if it is using the driver. This is just too much like the symptoms you would see if not using the nvidia driver in your X setup.

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I am watching with a VGA cable attached to a projector. My XF86Config-4 file is loading the nvidia driver, not the nv driver, and it is verified in the X log file. One odd thing (I think) is that I have a 128MB graphics card, but in dmesg, it says "agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xd8000000".

I brought my dad over to look at it and he could barely notice the choppiness, but I can definitely see it. Are they just artifacts of normal HDTV broadcasts? I can notice it the most when they are panning over a scene, and I watch the background....the background objects always seem to be jumpy. Is this normal for everybody else? Am I just being to picky? I really don't think that I am, but who knows?!

Read my post about bob deinterlacing. http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3658 It doesn't apply directly to your situation since you are displaying on a progressive display, but It may be that you are seeing the artefact that prompted me to investigate in the first place. Are you deinterlacing? Are your source recordings interlaced?