kay - First let me give you some background:

System:

M/B: ABIT w/ NForce4 Chipset
Sound: Builtin
Video: eVGA e-GeForce 6200 (PCIe/64MB)
Capture: MCE-500
Proc: AMD 3000+ 64Bit (Socket 939)
KnoppMyth: 5A26
1GB RAM
200GB IDE HD (x2, the second is not configured yet)
TV - 36" Phillips Tube TV with SVideeo Connection to PC

I believe I am having video card problems. Here is the things I observe:

1) When Booting - The BIOS display and all related boot information is in grey scale while displaying to the TV - anything on the DSUB connection has color.

2) Once KnoppMyth brings up the GDM, everything is in color.

3) Watching the TV works well, but the screen is really jittery unless I use BOB for interlacing (All other Interlacing options look terrible with live action sports).

4) When I use BOB with XvMC Turned Off - Everything looks okay, but X is using ~89% of the CPU and really slows the system down. Any other processing also greatly disrupts playback.

5) When I use BOB with XvMC Turned On - Everything is in grey scale (Guide/Options/etc) The actaul TV playback is in color. CPU Utiliation is down in the 1-2%, But PIP does not work and the screen "jumps" every 2-3 minutes.


BOB with XvMC turned on seems to be my best option, but I do not understand the Grey Scale issue at all. I have checked here and via google with no joy.

I am using the nvidia 7174 drivers that shipped with KnoppMyth with the XF86Config-4.nvidia provided. I only changed the TVOut Option,

It could be the e-GeForce 6200. I made the mistake of seeing 256MB and buying the stupid thing (It is up to 256MB with TurboCache). I have tried replacing the svideo cable etc.

Does anyone have any ideas of what else to try?

I am very familar with Unix (RedHat) but not with Knoppix.

Thanks,

--Torrin

UPDATE:

In my .xsession-errors

2005-12-30 19:22:45.149 Using protocol version 15
2005-12-30 19:22:47.354 Opening audio device '/dev/dsp'.
2005-12-30 19:22:47.354 Opening OSS audio device '/dev/dsp'.
Using XvMC version: 1.0
XvMC found and using IDCT surface
2005-12-30 19:22:47.361 Using XV port 127
X Error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes) 8
Major opcode: 142
Minor opcode: 14
Resource id: 0x190
2005-12-30 19:22:47.366 Couldn't get the color key color, and we need it.
You likely won't get any video.
2005-12-30 19:22:47.474 Realtime priority would require SUID as root.
2005-12-30 19:22:47.529 Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2005-12-30 19:22:47.642 Video timing method: USleep with busy wait

_________________
System Specs:
Intel P4 3.2Ghz; Intel mobo; nVid 7600gs AGP (512MB); SoundBlaster Audigy2 Sound; R5.5; PVR-500; HD Homerun; Vizio 42" LCD

The grayscale menus when using XvMC are normal (bob or no bob), mythtv switches to a grayscale one automatically because the colored ones don't work with XvMC (yet). Xvmc is also pretty buggy so far and in the past I've experienced very fast jittering (when the OSD comes up), and also a slower one (after I've changed the aspect ratio). These look like some frames are being repeated, ie people seem to wiggle backward slightly while walking forward.

I'm just guessing on the error messages, but I've noticed that XvMC doesn't seem to work at all the very first time you try to watch tv after a boot and you have to exit Live TV and try again, whereupon it works. It could be from that. Is the error message coming up every time you watch live tv or just the once?

You really shouldn't have to use the BOB filter at all since you're outputting to a regular S-Video tv (interlaced). Have you tried the nvidia-settings tool? It has controls for reducing the flicker, which might improve the picture.

I have no info on the black-and-white BIOS: every NVIDIA card I've ever seen has put that in color, so it could be indicative of some sort of hardware problem. It might be worth trying with another tv or try using the s-video to composite adapter (assuming they still include those in the boxes) to see if that changes it.

you do have to use deinterlace on svideo, because as far as I'm aware nvidia cannot output a standard def interlace signal, at least I've never been able to make a working 480i modeline.

the only time I've seen b/w everywhere is when someone is using a composite/svid converter somewhere tv/vidcard then you need to specify the tv input type in the XF86Config-4 file composite/svideo. The problem is that svideo separates color and b/w where composite doesn't, so with the converters you can wind up with only the b/w if the driver autodetects incorrectly.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

I have tried using nvidea-settings to reduce flicker. It does not solve enough of the jitter to use without Bob. I have the same fast jitter you described with any Myth graphics displayed on the screen and also PIP does not display.

They do not include the svideo to composite converter anymore, but since I do get color on the actual KnoppMyth desktop and the TV shows are in color, it would not appear to be a physical cable problem. I have posted a message on the eVGA site, but thus far there has been no response.

Thanks for the info on XvMC outputting in greyscale. That solves most of my issue. If only I could use BOB without XvMC with the same processor load as with XvMC. <sigh>

--Torrin

_________________
System Specs:
Intel P4 3.2Ghz; Intel mobo; nVid 7600gs AGP (512MB); SoundBlaster Audigy2 Sound; R5.5; PVR-500; HD Homerun; Vizio 42" LCD

I read a lot of those posts, but since I get color while watching TV and the KnoppMyth desktop is in color, it should not be a physical cabling problem. I hate the idea of buying a new video card (I already dropped much more on this box than my wife would like!)

Perhaps I should just buy a new TV with a DMI interface!

_________________
System Specs:
Intel P4 3.2Ghz; Intel mobo; nVid 7600gs AGP (512MB); SoundBlaster Audigy2 Sound; R5.5; PVR-500; HD Homerun; Vizio 42" LCD

Xsecrets, what I thought was that the nvidia drivers do output an interlaced signal over tv-out because the tv encoder chip is used. If you try to put out an interlaced signal over vga however, it always looks to me like it's just cutting off half the lines and looks really lousy (if it works at all).

I forgot to mention that PIP won't work with xvmc, probably not ever, since its just too complicated for the hardware to manage. Also the option 'extra audio buffering' seems to help my xvmc output with the stuttering.

Does anyone else think that 89% cpu usage is way too high for a 2+gHz processor even with deinterlacing turned on? I remember hearing somewhere that xorg performed better with xvideo than XFree86 (is that what ships with R5A26?) I can't be sure of that, but my system is running xorg and it works well.

as the other person stated pip doesn't work with xvmc. That processor utilization sounds a bit high, my athlonXP 1700+ runs about 60% with bob and no xvmc.

All I know is that on my svid tvout I have to use bob to have good looking video playback. However on my other box using 1080i output it displays interlace video just fine.

And yes Knoppmyth is still running Xfree not xorg, but it should be using xv output instead of X11 by default.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

The CPU utilization bounces quite a bit. I am concerned with the heat of running at high CPU utilization. The box is in my living room in a cabinet with little breathing room. Here is my top:

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
5553 root 16 0 110m 42m 13m R 17.0 4.2 1:50.85 XFree86
5627 mythtv 15 0 163m 52m 29m S 11.0 5.2 17:42.00 mythfrontend
2004 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.3 0.0 0:52.28 ivtv-enc
3635 mythtv 15 0 163m 30m 12m S 0.3 3.1 0:29.84 mythbackend
1 root 16 0 156 80 52 S 0.0 0.0 0:01.42 init
2 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0

But then it jumps up a bit:


PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
5553 root 25 0 111m 43m 13m R 89.9 4.3 6:49.60 XFree86
5627 mythtv 15 0 187m 52m 29m S 10.3 5.2 18:29.93 mythfrontend
1 root 16 0 156 80 52 S 0.0 0.0 0:01.42 init

_________________
System Specs:
Intel P4 3.2Ghz; Intel mobo; nVid 7600gs AGP (512MB); SoundBlaster Audigy2 Sound; R5.5; PVR-500; HD Homerun; Vizio 42" LCD

My AGP GeForce 6200 starts X completely garbled and dark, and when I switch to a terminal, the terminal is dark (with the 7174 drivers - see http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7667 for the whole story), and XvMC won't work at all with any newer drivers. Please let me know what you find on this...I suppose I'll have to trade in my 6200 for something else...

Have you looked at your X logs? http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=CheckingLogFiles
Are there any valid modes? Are they something that your TV can sync to?