Intel Sandy Bridge Linux Graphics? It's A Challenge

[kenyee]

hardware accelerated video was tested here:

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=15756

So the answer is yes, quicksync does work (at least for certain video codecs).

Thanks...missed that article.
It also sounds like quicksync encoding doesn't work yet, but Intel is committed to adding it which is a plus :-)

[baddog]

Put that in MKV and you are set. One hard drive is worth a pile of bluerays. You can throw your purchased bluerays in trashbin then, collecting only the caselabels as proof for customs or such that you actually purchased them should you travel xross the country with your films.

Off topic but mkvs won't support all of the menus, extras, etc at the same time, AFAIK. Also repacking to mkv is a lot of extra work for blu-ray rentals. Unfortunately windows provides a better WAF for this important format (the best quality available for premium content).

[crazycheese]

Personally I don't think linux is a great htpc choice since the players can't even navigate a blu-ray, even if one goes to the trouble to strip the DRM first.

Put that in MKV and you are set. One hard drive is worth a pile of bluerays. You can throw your purchased bluerays in trashbin then, collecting only the caselabels as proof for customs or such that you actually purchased them should you travel xross the country with your films.

[kenyee]

hardware accelerated video was tested here:

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=15756

So the answer is yes, quicksync does work (at least for certain video codecs).

Thanks...totally missed that article.
Looks like quicksync for video transcoding will be added eventually:
"Soon it has also been said that Intel will provide VA-API video encoding support for Sandy Bridge hardware too, which will require updating the DRM and VA-API library once more."

Bluray use doesn't matter that much to me yet...I'd prefer having a standalone bluray 3D player since AFAIK, bluray 3D isn't accelerated in low power hardware yet.

[baddog]

That's more interesting to me for HTPC/MythTV usage than slow 3D graphics off an embedded graphics chip

It's as if nobody is actually trying these things...

hardware accelerated video was tested here:

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=15756

So the answer is yes, quicksync does work (at least for certain video codecs).

Personally I don't think linux is a great htpc choice since the players can't even navigate a blu-ray, even if one goes to the trouble to strip the DRM first.

[kenyee]

Does QuickSync and audio over HDMI work on Linux?

That's more interesting to me for HTPC/MythTV usage than slow 3D graphics off an embedded graphics chip

[indezign]

Track Mesa 7.11 -devel. If you can successfully run and render Unigine's Heaven and OilRush game on it, I'll be amazed...

[psycho_driver]

Perhaps you should just wait for the phoronix test results. I'm really only interested in 2D and video rendering myself.

Thanks for trying

[baddog]

Out of the open source stuff used for benchmarking within the suite, Warsow is one that I personally think is fun to play. It should be in Redhat's package manager. ~400MB download. Once you start, use ` to bring up a console and type /set cg_showfps 1 (if I'm remembering correctly). You would probably need to go into the advanced graphical settings and raise your max FPS value. To make it easier for us to get an idea of what kind of performance you're getting I would suggest using the predefined quality settings (low, medium, high).

Warsow bombs out with:

...
====== Warsow Initialized ======
cl_demoavi_fps value has been adjusted to 30.3030
X Error of failed request:  GLXUnsupportedPrivateRequest
  Major opcode of failed request:  153 (GLX)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  16 (X_GLXVendorPrivate)
  Serial number of failed request:  247
  Current serial number in output stream:  248
%

Perhaps you should just wait for the phoronix test results. I'm really only interested in 2D and video rendering myself.

[baddog]

i guess you could give http://unigine.com/products/heaven/ benchmark a try, it says it has Support of DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.0 hardware
and lists a Linux version (233 Mb): download so i assume you will get some form of consistent result at least

Doesn't work. I also tried the recommended workaround of setting the following environment variable: MESA_EXTENSION_OVERRIDE=+GL_ARB_map_buffer_range
but it made no difference.

% sh x64_1024x768_windowed_tess_normal.sh
Xlib:  extension "NV-GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Loading "/u1/home/x/sandy/bench/Unigine_Heaven/bin/../data/heaven_2.1.cfg"...
Engine::init(): clear video settings for "Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Desktop GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT  1.4 (2.1 Mesa 7.9)"
Loading "libGL.so.1"...
Loading "libopenal.so.1"...
Set 1024x768 windowed video mode
Xlib:  extension "NV-GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Set 1.00 gamma value
Unigine engine http://unigine.com/
Binary: Linux 64bit GCC 4.3.2 Release May 20 2010
App path:  /u1/home/x/sandy/bench/Unigine_Heaven/bin/
Data path: /u1/home/x/sandy/bench/Unigine_Heaven/data/
Save path: /home/x/.Unigine Heaven/

---- System ----
System: Linux 2.6.37-2.fc15.x86_64 x86_64
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz 3391MHz MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE41 SSE42 HTT
GPU: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Desktop GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT  1.4 (2.1 Mesa 7.9)
System memory: 7920 Mb
Video memory:  256 Mb

---- MathLib ----
Set SSE3 simd processor

---- Sound ----
Renderer: PulseAudio Software
OpenAL vendor:   OpenAL Community
OpenAL renderer: OpenAL Soft
OpenAL version:  1.1 ALSOFT 1.12.854
Found AL_EXT_LINEAR_DISTANCE
Found AL_EXT_OFFSET
Found ALC_EXT_EFX
Found EFX Filter
Found EFX Reverb
Found EAX Reverb
Found QUAD16 format
Found 51CHN16 format
Found 61CHN16 format
Found 71CHN16 format
Maximum sources:         256
Maximum effect slots:    4
Maximum auxiliary sends: 2

---- Render ----
GLRender::GLRender(): Unknown GPU
OpenGL vendor:   Tungsten Graphics, Inc
OpenGL renderer: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Desktop GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT 
OpenGL version:  1.4 (2.1 Mesa 7.9)

Unigine fatal error
Engine::init(): clear video settings for "Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Desktop GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT  1.4 (2.1 Mesa 7.9)"
GLRender::GLRender(): Unknown GPU
GLRender::require_extension(): required extension GL_ARB_map_buffer_range is not supported
Shutdown
AL lib: ALc.c:1879: exit(): closing 1 Device
AL lib: ALc.c:1808: alcCloseDevice(): destroying 1 Context(s)
AL lib: ALc.c:1420: alcDestroyContext(): deleting 256 Source(s)
AL lib: ALc.c:1427: alcDestroyContext(): deleting 4 AuxiliaryEffectSlot(s)
AL lib: ALc.c:1825: alcCloseDevice(): deleting 16 Effect(s)
AL lib: ALc.c:1832: alcCloseDevice(): deleting 256 Filter(s)
% glxgears -info

Xlib:  extension "NV-GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
GL_RENDERER   = Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Desktop GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT 
GL_VERSION    = 1.4 (2.1 Mesa 7.9)
GL_VENDOR     = Tungsten Graphics, Inc
GL_EXTENSIONS = GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_draw_buffers GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_multitexture GL_ARB_occlusion_query GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_point_sprite GL_ARB_shadow 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_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_window_pos GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_stencil_wrap 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_object GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_depth_clamp GL_NV_light_max_exponent GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_NV_texture_env_combine4 GL_NV_texture_rectangle GL_NV_vertex_program1_1 GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_texture_lod