In what linux distro ATI + Linux won't be tearing?

[RealNC]

Have you made sure that there actually is a platform on which it doesn't have tearing? If not, could be broken video file.

The video is perfectly fine (I made it myself, it's encoded with x264). It does not tear on the open drivers (xf86-video-ati, KMS, DRI2) and also not with fglrx with GL output and compositing disabled. And it plays perfectly on Windows too.

Also, a broken video would not tear anyway. It would have artifacts maybe, but tearing is not part of the video; it's part of the hardware.

[Suzuran]

I just started using fglrx on Ubuntu with my ATI 42xx (glxinfo says RS880, I think). I still had tearing on videos using GL output, but it went away when I installed the Compiz settings manager and checked "Unredirect Fullscreen Windows." You can probably find this option in gconf-editor as well. This only fixes it for GL output, not Xv. I still have tearing while dragging windows, but I don't do that very often and it doesn't last very long so it doesn't bother me.

(In case anyone was wondering, Metacity compositing has the same tearing issues as Compiz. I didn't notice that being addressed in this thread.)

[RealNC]

(In case anyone was wondering, Metacity compositing has the same tearing issues as Compiz. I didn't notice that being addressed in this thread.)

That's because the issue is not Metacity or Compiz or KDE or XFCE or whatever else offers compositing. The issue is the driver which does not support VSync with *any* kind of compositing.

[ragnarok2040]

@ragnarok2040

Since fglrx does not support GL VSync with compositing (desktop effects) enabled, and no VSync at all and under any circumstances with Xv, I have to wonder how it's possible at all that you don't have tearing...

Fglrx does support some sort of GL VSync with compositing but only if whatever was rendering used some specific fullscreen context. The only one I know of that worked was the fullscreen flash in Firefox. I used to switch my resolution down to 1024x768 using gpu scaling for Firefox but the performance improved enough over the last year that I didn't have to anymore. Things like Hulu Desktop and whatnot always would tear for me when fullscreen and I never did get Xv output to stop tearing prior to this month's driver.

I went back to the old XAA acceleration, to confirm my suspicions that it was only Direct2d that was tear free. To my surprise, XAA isn't tearing for me with this version, either. This may or may not be related but my Xorg log is now being spammed by "[ xxxxx.yyy] timer = 0xab0ae70" messages, too. I wish I knew what happened so I could replicate it in the future but the only thing that's changed is the driver.

[RealNC]

Fullscreen suspends compositing, so no, fullscreen doesn't count :P

[ragnarok2040]

Heh, mostly, it still uses an OpenGL render/flush/buffer swap loop, but they do simplify it down a lot since none of the other windows need painting (I think that's the right term...).

It's just weird that syncing just decided to work all of a sudden. The amdpcsdb file just had a couple changes from 10.6. A few additions for non standard timings and a few other other changes.

(probably from me experimenting with the ccc)
SYSTEM/BUSID-1:0:0-0/OpenGL
AntiAliasSamples=V0
AAF=V3
ASTT=V0
ASD=V2
TextureLod=V3

(new)
SYSTEM/MCIL
EnableDBDFeature=V1

(changed from Map=V128)
SYSTEM/LibXUtil/Display1
Map=V6

I'm going to keep investigating till I know what it was...

[ragnarok2040]

Can't edit my old post, :/. Changing the values back didn't have an effect. Maybe the other changes for the timings did it. Other than that, I'm out of clues for now...

[squirrl]

Alot of times it depends on the resolution you have your LCD-Monitor operating.


Drop the resolution down to 800x600 and test your video.
If you experience no tearing phenomenon then change the resolution to 1024x768 and continue until you notice the tearing.

[ragnarok2040]

I tested 800x600 at all the refresh rates, then 1024x768, and no tearing. I even shook the gnome-mplayer window while it was playing.

Changing the refresh rate caused the screen to become stretched and made my fonts look horrible, since gpu scaling doesn't work quite right if you're not at the same refresh rate as the preferred mode, or something like that. It still didn't tear.

I asked over at Arch's forums to see if anyone else's tearing was also fixed.

[2009-08-18 20:47] installed catalyst-utils (9.8-1)
[2009-08-18 20:51] installed catalyst (9.8-1)
[2009-08-20 16:53] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-08-20 16:54] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-08-24 01:49] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-08-26 20:51] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-08-26 20:54] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-08-26 20:54] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-09-07 08:36] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-09-08 07:23] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-09-08 07:23] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-09-11 12:05] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-09-11 18:59] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-09-11 19:00] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-09-11 19:01] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.8-1)
[2009-09-13 11:22] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.8-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-09-13 11:24] upgraded catalyst (9.8-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-09-27 14:59] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-09-27 15:01] upgraded catalyst (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-09-28 13:15] upgraded catalyst (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-09-28 13:15] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-09-28 13:48] removed catalyst-utils (9.9-1)
[2009-09-28 13:50] catalyst-$kernel and stock kernel module is catalyst
[2009-09-28 13:50] installed catalyst-utils (9.9-1)
[2009-10-01 11:05] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-10-01 11:10] upgraded catalyst (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-12-05 12:50] upgraded catalyst (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2009-12-05 12:51] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2010-02-02 16:21] upgraded catalyst-utils (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2010-02-02 16:21] upgraded catalyst (9.9-1 -> 9.9-1)
[2010-03-24 12:10] removed catalyst (9.9-1)
[2010-03-24 12:10] removed catalyst-utils (9.9-1)
[2010-03-24 12:11] installed catalyst-test (10.4-444)
[2010-03-24 12:27] upgraded catalyst-test (10.4-444 -> 10.4-444)
[2010-03-24 13:21] upgraded catalyst-test (10.4-444 -> 10.4-444)
[2010-03-31 18:40] upgraded catalyst-test (10.4-444 -> 10.4-444)
[2010-04-09 09:06] upgraded catalyst-test (10.4-444 -> 10.4-444)
[2010-06-23 17:04] Running 'pacman -Rs catalyst-test'
[2010-06-23 17:04] Running 'pacman -R catalyst-test'
[2010-06-23 17:04] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.6-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-06-23 17:04] removed catalyst-test (10.4-444)
[2010-06-23 17:04] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-06-23 17:04] installed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-06-23 17:29] removed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-06-23 17:40] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.6-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-06-23 17:40] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-06-23 17:40] installed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-06-23 17:47] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.6-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-06-23 17:48] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-06-23 17:48] upgraded catalyst (10.6-1 -> 10.6-1)
[2010-06-23 18:08] Running 'pacman -Rd catalyst'
[2010-06-23 18:08] removed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-06-23 18:09] Running 'pacman -U catalyst'
[2010-06-23 18:09] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.6-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-06-23 18:09] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-06-23 18:09] installed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-06-23 19:25] Running 'pacman -Rd catalyst'
[2010-06-23 19:25] removed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-06-23 19:38] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.6-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-06-23 19:38] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-06-23 19:38] installed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-06-24 12:03] Running 'pacman -Rd catalyst'
[2010-06-24 12:03] removed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-06-24 12:03] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.6-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-06-24 12:04] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-06-24 12:04] installed catalyst (10.6-1)
[2010-09-10 11:33] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.8-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-09-10 11:33] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-09-10 11:33] upgraded catalyst (10.6-1 -> 10.8-1)
[2010-09-10 11:38] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.8-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-09-10 11:38] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-09-10 11:38] upgraded catalyst (10.8-1 -> 10.8-1)
[2010-09-15 14:39] Running 'pacman -U catalyst-10.9-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz'
[2010-09-15 14:40] you may get it from [catalyst] repo, more here:
[2010-09-15 14:40] upgraded catalyst (10.8-1 -> 10.9-1)

I've been using catalyst since July of '08, and did a reinstall August of last year, and had tearing, until 10.9. Maybe it's a specific fix related to my monitor, which is an Asus 236H. I'm still clueless, .

[ragnarok2040]

I got confirmation that vsync is working with 10.9 on HD 4850 cards, from the catalyst maintainer over at Arch's forums. He had to generate a new xorg.conf using aticonfig. He also reported that 10.10 wasn't syncing quite right again on xorg 1.9, .

I posted my ATI System configuration report here:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=830055#p830055

@ragnarok2040:
you have got same cpu and same gpu as me even my gfx's bios is just a few days newer, and yes - i also got this strange timer spam in Xorg log...
basically only our xorg.conf files were different so i've generated new one with aticonfig.... and...
LOOOOOOOOL!
You are right! v-sync is always working, simply always, i cannot believe this...