Latest Tear Free video in Ubuntu Intrepid

[siggma]

Warning, this process updates several key libraries that may prevent you from successfully compiling even the most simple package in Intrepid. I was unable to compile mplayer after doing this.


After much experimentation with Intrepid I was able to compile the xf86-video-ati driver but it still has some tearing during xv video playback. I discovered this trick to get the latest video. Tested to work on a fresh install of Intrepid Alternate CD. , Version will be: xserver-xorg-video-ati (1:6.11.0+git20090310.945ccbbd-0ubuntu1) as of this writing.

Here we go.
Install Intrepid from CD.
Log in and do the following in a terminal window.

#sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add these lines at the very bottom:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-proposed main restricted multiverse universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security main restricted multiverse universe

#sudo apt-get update
#sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg

This will replace the entire xserver with the latest version.

#sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Now remove all the jaunty lines you added before, then

#sudo apt-get update


Reboot and install smplayer! Not quite flawless but 100 times better than a base Intrepid install, and it works with desktop effects enabled. Don't even use an xorg.conf unless you need screen sections, let the drivers figure it out.

siggma@ubuntu:~$ xvinfo
X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
  Adaptor #0: "Radeon Textured Video"
    number of ports: 16
    port base: 57
    operations supported: PutImage 
    supported visuals:
      depth 24, visualID 0x21
    number of attributes: 2
      "XV_BICUBIC" (range 0 to 2)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 2)
      "XV_VSYNC" (range 0 to 1)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 1)
    maximum XvImage size: 4096 x 4096
    Number of image formats: 4
      id: 0x32595559 (YUY2)
        guid: 59555932-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        bits per pixel: 16
        number of planes: 1
        type: YUV (packed)
      id: 0x32315659 (YV12)
        guid: 59563132-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        bits per pixel: 12
        number of planes: 3
        type: YUV (planar)
      id: 0x30323449 (I420)
        guid: 49343230-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        bits per pixel: 12
        number of planes: 3
        type: YUV (planar)
      id: 0x59565955 (UYVY)
        guid: 55595659-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        bits per pixel: 16
        number of planes: 1
        type: YUV (packed)

-Tom

P.S., here are some torrents that I found entertaining and very useful for testing HD video.
This is a 5 part series from Nigel Marvin titled: Discovery Arctic Exposure with Nigel Marven
http://www.mininova.org/get/2296213

http://www.mininova.org/get/2296230

http://www.mininova.org/get/2297048

http://www.mininova.org/get/2299985

http://www.mininova.org/get/2300713

[highlandsun]

Thanks for posting this, worked fine for me.

At one point I had tried upgrading my entire Intrepid machine to Jaunty, but a lot of things broke so I reinstalled Intrepid. It's nice to still be able to use the new Xserver code on Intrepid...

[siggma]

Thanks for posting this, worked fine for me.

At one point I had tried upgrading my entire Intrepid machine to Jaunty, but a lot of things broke so I reinstalled Intrepid. It's nice to still be able to use the new Xserver code on Intrepid...

Don't know if you noticed but the video is much better in the Jaunty version, at least on my setup. And, xv works OK even with glx. Tiny bit of tearing on full frame changes but that nasty horizontal tearing people's heads off crap is finally gone!

Gigabyte GA-945-yada ydada
VisionTek X1650 (r535) 256 DDR2 PCIe
Intel 2140 @ 2.0 Ghz; (O-clocked from 200->255)
2 Gig Kingston RAM @ 7?? MHZ FSB (5-4-4-12 It think)
LG Flatron 19" display.
WD 350GB SATA2

It's enough to playback the HD videos. I do wish I'd done more research before I bought this stuff, but I need a new web server and this little gem will make a nice replacement for the ailing PIII.