[mythtv-users] VDPAU "Serious hardware decoder error"

Sun Mar 7 16:11:29 UTC 2010

Hello everyone,

I'm encountering some problems with VDPAU playback that I wanted to share with the community to get some opinions on.  I have some very large mkv files that I have transcoded down to a more reasonable bitrate using HandBrakeCLI.  They were originally in the 30GB range, but are now between 3-12GB.  They start out in a variety of codecs, but I am transcoding them all to x264 with HandBrake.  Here is the CLI that I'm using in HandBrake:

HandBrakeCLI -i $CONFILE -o $MKVFILE -e x264 -E $DTSTRACK -q .55 -2 -T -x b-adapt=2:rc-lookahead=50

Pretty standard stuff there.  The issue I'm running into is that some of the files are not working with VDPAU and others work just fine.  Here's what happens when I play one of the "bad" files on one of my frontends:

2010-03-07 10:57:25.104 TV: Attempting to change from None to Watching Video
2010-03-07 10:57:25.294 TV: StartPlayer(0, Watching Video, main) -- begin
2010-03-07 10:57:26.539 AFD: Opened codec 0xa34ee3f0, id(H264) type(Video)
2010-03-07 10:57:26.539 AFD: codec DTS has 6 channels
2010-03-07 10:57:26.540 AFD: Opened codec 0xa34eea40, id(DTS) type(Audio)
2010-03-07 10:57:26.577 Opening audio device 'hdmi'. ch 2(2) sr 48000
2010-03-07 10:57:26.577 Opening ALSA audio device 'hdmi'.
2010-03-07 10:57:28.551 NVP(0): Forcing decode extra audio option on (Video method requires it).
2010-03-07 10:57:28.552 FilterManager: Failed to load filter 'colorspace', no such filter exists
2010-03-07 10:57:28.555 OSD Theme Dimensions W: 1280 H: 720
2010-03-07 10:57:29.483 TV: StartPlayer(0, Watching Video, main) -- end ok
2010-03-07 10:57:29.483 TV: Changing from None to Watching Video
2010-03-07 10:57:29.484 New DB connection, total: 3
2010-03-07 10:57:29.486 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: 192.168.0.103
2010-03-07 10:57:29.489 New DB connection, total: 4
2010-03-07 10:57:29.490 Realtime priority would require SUID as root.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.491 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: 192.168.0.103
2010-03-07 10:57:29.499 Video timing method: USleep with busy wait
2010-03-07 10:57:29.576 VDPAU Error: Error at util-vdpau.cpp:1013 (#20, The size of a supplied object does not match the object it is being used with.)
2010-03-07 10:57:29.577 ScreenSaverX11Private: DPMS Deactivated 1
2010-03-07 10:57:29.579 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.587 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.592 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.594 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.597 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.599 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.601 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.604 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.607 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.609 VDPAU Error: Picture format has changed.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.611 VidOutVDPAU Error: IsErrored() is true in DrawSlice()
2010-03-07 10:57:29.614 VidOutVDPAU Error: IsErrored() is true in DrawSlice()
2010-03-07 10:57:29.616 VidOutVDPAU Error: IsErrored() is true in DrawSlice()
2010-03-07 10:57:29.619 VidOutVDPAU Error: IsErrored() is true in DrawSlice()
2010-03-07 10:57:29.622 VidOutVDPAU Error: IsErrored() is true in DrawSlice()
2010-03-07 10:57:29.625 VidOutVDPAU Error: IsErrored() is true in DrawSlice()
2010-03-07 10:57:29.627 VidOutVDPAU Error: IsErrored() is true in Show()
2010-03-07 10:57:29.627 NVP: Error condition detected in videoOutput after Show(), aborting playback.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.627 VidOutVDPAU Error: IsErrored() in ProcessFrame()
2010-03-07 10:57:29.627 NVP(0), Error: AVSync: Unknown error in videoOutput, aborting playback.
2010-03-07 10:57:29.628 NVP(0), Error: Failed to initialize A/V Sync
2010-03-07 10:57:29.770 TV: Serious hardware decoder error detected. Disabling hardware decoders.
2010-03-07 10:57:30.063 TV: StartPlayer(0, Watching Video, main) -- begin
2010-03-07 10:57:30.350 AFD: Opened codec 0x9f8ffb10, id(H264) type(Video)
2010-03-07 10:57:30.351 AFD: codec DTS has 6 channels
2010-03-07 10:57:30.351 AFD: Opened codec 0xa34ee210, id(DTS) type(Audio)
2010-03-07 10:57:30.355 Opening audio device 'hdmi'. ch 2(2) sr 48000
2010-03-07 10:57:30.355 Opening ALSA audio device 'hdmi'.
2010-03-07 10:57:30.723 FilterManager: Failed to load filter 'colorspace', no such filter exists
2010-03-07 10:57:30.724 OSD Theme Dimensions W: 1280 H: 720
2010-03-07 10:57:31.551 TV: StartPlayer(0, Watching Video, main) -- end ok
2010-03-07 10:57:31.551 Realtime priority would require SUID as root.
2010-03-07 10:57:31.567 Video timing method: USleep with busy wait
2010-03-07 10:57:31.651 NVP(1): prebuffering pause
2010-03-07 10:57:31.859 NVP(1): prebuffering pause
2010-03-07 10:57:31.876 NVP(1): prebuffering pause

This prebuffering pause continues ad nauseum, of course, because this is a Zotac ION frontend attempting software decode.  Importantly, this exact problem occurs on my master BE/FE with a GeForce GT 220 512MB card.  So it's not just an ION issue.  I have googled this and searched the archives, and the consensus is that this is some type of VDPAU or Nvidia driver bug.  If this is the case, then why does it occur with some of my files, but not others?  Since they are all being converted to the same format using the exact same commandline options, I am having a hard time figuring out what could be different about the files that work as opposed to those that don't.  I have tried both the 185 and 190 nvidia drivers and am using the latest 0.22 mythtv-fixes from the mythbuntu auto-builds.

This line in particular seems to be important, but the two previous mentions of it seem to be in a much different context. 
VDPAU Error: Error at util-vdpau.cpp:1013 (#20, The size of a supplied object does not match the object it is being used with.)

Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Nick