AMD Catalyst 8.3 Linux Driver

[djdoo]

If you happen to need one of the formats which VideoOverlay supports and TexturedVideo does not support, then it's much better

We can add more modes to TexturedVideo support so over time it will probably displace VideoOverlay. For Avivo chips (which don't have the same degree of video processing built into the overlay) VideoOverlay is not an option.

Any hint if XvMC support can be true through Textured Video in the near future??

[bridgman]

If you happen to need one of the formats which VideoOverlay supports and TexturedVideo does not support, then it's much better

We can add more modes to TexturedVideo support so over time it will probably displace VideoOverlay. For Avivo chips (which don't have the same degree of video processing built into the overlay) VideoOverlay is not an option.

[Extreme Coder]

Does that mean that VideoOverlay is better?

[djdoo]

Alright!
That's the difference between TexturedVideo and VideoOverlay:

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: 0x59565955 (UYVY)
guid: 55595659-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 16
number of planes: 1

VideoOverlay supports 2 more modes than TexturedVideo! YUV2 and UYVY.
That's why tvtime works with VideoOverlay!

[tiagobt]

Well I cannot test myself if "VideoOverlay" "on" enables YUV2 overlays cause I use RS690 IGP and get this message:

(WW) fglrx(0): Video Overlay not supported on AVIVO based graphics cards. For XVideo support use Option "TexturedVideo".

So no other option for me than "TexturedVideo" "on"!!

But it would be really useful information if you would post the output of the xvinfo command with "VideoOverlay" "on".

I think the VideoOverlay mode works for me because I have an older video card (ATI Radeon X550). The output of xvinfo is the following:

X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
  Adaptor #0: "ATI Radeon Video Overlay"
    number of ports: 1
    port base: 131
    operations supported: PutImage
    supported visuals:
      depth 24, visualID 0x23
      depth 24, visualID 0x24
      depth 24, visualID 0x25
      depth 24, visualID 0x26
      depth 24, visualID 0x27
      depth 24, visualID 0x28
      depth 24, visualID 0x29
      depth 24, visualID 0x2a
      depth 24, visualID 0x2b
      depth 24, visualID 0x2c
      depth 24, visualID 0x2d
      depth 24, visualID 0x2e
      depth 24, visualID 0x2f
      depth 24, visualID 0x30
      depth 24, visualID 0x31
      depth 24, visualID 0x32
      depth 24, visualID 0x33
      depth 24, visualID 0x34
      depth 24, visualID 0x35
      depth 24, visualID 0x36
      depth 24, visualID 0x37
      depth 24, visualID 0x38
      depth 24, visualID 0x39
      depth 24, visualID 0x3a
      depth 24, visualID 0x3b
      depth 24, visualID 0x3c
      depth 24, visualID 0x3d
      depth 24, visualID 0x3e
      depth 24, visualID 0x3f
      depth 24, visualID 0x40
      depth 24, visualID 0x41
      depth 24, visualID 0x42
      depth 24, visualID 0x43
      depth 24, visualID 0x44
      depth 24, visualID 0x45
      depth 24, visualID 0x46
      depth 24, visualID 0x47
      depth 24, visualID 0x48
      depth 24, visualID 0x49
      depth 24, visualID 0x4a
      depth 24, visualID 0x4b
      depth 24, visualID 0x4c
      depth 24, visualID 0x4d
      depth 24, visualID 0x4e
      depth 24, visualID 0x4f
      depth 24, visualID 0x50
      depth 24, visualID 0x51
      depth 24, visualID 0x52
      depth 24, visualID 0x53
      depth 24, visualID 0x54
      depth 24, visualID 0x55
      depth 24, visualID 0x56
      depth 24, visualID 0x57
      depth 24, visualID 0x58
      depth 24, visualID 0x59
      depth 24, visualID 0x5a
      depth 24, visualID 0x5b
      depth 24, visualID 0x5c
      depth 24, visualID 0x5d
      depth 24, visualID 0x5e
      depth 24, visualID 0x5f
      depth 24, visualID 0x60
      depth 24, visualID 0x61
      depth 24, visualID 0x62
      depth 24, visualID 0x63
      depth 24, visualID 0x64
      depth 24, visualID 0x65
      depth 24, visualID 0x66
      depth 24, visualID 0x67
      depth 24, visualID 0x68
      depth 24, visualID 0x69
      depth 24, visualID 0x6a
      depth 24, visualID 0x6b
      depth 24, visualID 0x6c
      depth 24, visualID 0x6d
      depth 24, visualID 0x6e
      depth 24, visualID 0x6f
      depth 24, visualID 0x70
      depth 24, visualID 0x71
      depth 24, visualID 0x72
    number of attributes: 12
      "XV_SET_DEFAULTS" (range 0 to 1)
              client settable attribute
      "XV_AUTOPAINT_COLORKEY" (range 0 to 1)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 1)
      "XV_COLORKEY" (range 0 to -1)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 30)
      "XV_DOUBLE_BUFFER" (range 0 to 1)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 1)
      "XV_BRIGHTNESS" (range -1000 to 1000)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
      "XV_CONTRAST" (range -1000 to 1000)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
      "XV_SATURATION" (range -1000 to 1000)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
      "XV_COLOR" (range -1000 to 1000)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
      "XV_HUE" (range -1000 to 1000)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
      "XV_RED_INTENSITY" (range -1000 to 1000)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
      "XV_GREEN_INTENSITY" (range -1000 to 1000)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
      "XV_BLUE_INTENSITY" (range -1000 to 1000)
              client settable attribute
              client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
    maximum XvImage size: 2048 x 2048
    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: 0x59565955 (UYVY)
        guid: 55595659-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
        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)

[djdoo]

Starting with the R5xx and RS6xx parts (the AVIVO generation) we built less video processing capability into the overlay and started ramping up shader-based Textured Video instead. Tvtime doesn't work with any of the TexturedVideo modes we support today -- I'm told it is no longer being actively developed so I imagine we will need to add a compatible mode to the driver at some point.

On any of the earlier chips (essentially anything up to X1050) the video overlay generally gave you the best combination of quality and low CPU utilization (and does support more modes). For X12xx and up Textured Video is generally the way to go.

John I believe your post explains a lot! Thanks man!
I'm going to update my guide at Compiz-Fusion forum regarding this!

[djdoo]

I read somewhere that the option VideoOverlay is deprecated, but it seems to be the only way to make tvtime work.

Tiago

Well I cannot test myself if "VideoOverlay" "on" enables YUV2 overlays cause I use RS690 IGP and get this message:

(WW) fglrx(0): Video Overlay not supported on AVIVO based graphics cards. For XVideo support use Option "TexturedVideo".

So no other option for me than "TexturedVideo" "on"!!

But it would be really useful information if you would post the output of the xvinfo command with "VideoOverlay" "on".

[BlueKoala]

I'm quite happy with this driver.
I tried about 4 different guides on how to install it on Ubuntu 7.10, after many o' hours and a second re-install (I didn't feel like cleaning up). Even VESA drivers weren't working properly. I upgraded my Ubuntu to 8.04 Alpha. The restricted drivers manager picked up the hardware right away, I enabled the driver and rebooted a voila! A working Sapphire HD3650 512MB DDR2.

xxx@xxx-desktop:~$ glxgears
32411 frames in 5.0 seconds = 6482.056 FPS
32183 frames in 5.0 seconds = 6436.563 FPS
32453 frames in 5.0 seconds = 6490.549 FPS
32449 frames in 5.0 seconds = 6489.794 FPS
xxx@xxx-desktop:~$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series
OpenGL version string: 2.1.7412 Release

Youtube videos work very smoothly in fullscreen unlike my other PC with a nvidia 6600.

I'm also using the 2 dvi ports, one goes to my 56" TV, resolution at 1280X720. Looks weird on a crt, but who would use a 19"CRT when I can use my 56" TV as a monitor anyway?
I'm really happy and excited about this.

The only problem I get so far is that 3d games/apps keep flickering when I'm using compiz. I can see I'm not the only one having this issue, I'll just sit here and wait a few months until it irons itself out so to speak.

So far I'm very impressed with that catching up that ATI/AMD is doing. Good job guys!

[mathog]

The file that causes troubles for us is /etc/ati/amdpcsdb.
The fact is that driver loads whatever options are recorded there and completely ignores your xorg.conf setup.
It can be solved(I mean in order your changes to be recorded at amdpcsdb) if you change an option at xorg.conf via aticonfig command line tool. For example:

aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf --tls=1

I don't know yet about the other files' functions but we will see...

Well that would explain a lot.

Since that is not at all the expected behavior, aticonfig should drop something like this into xorg.conf:


#################################################
#
# WARNING! The ATI Driver normally loads its
# settings from /etc/ati/amdpcsdb.
# You may use this file to store settings
# for import into amdpcsdb via the command:
#
# aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf --tls=1
#
#################################################


Thanks for the info.

[bridgman]

Starting with the R5xx and RS6xx parts (the AVIVO generation) we built less video processing capability into the overlay and started ramping up shader-based Textured Video instead. Tvtime doesn't work with any of the TexturedVideo modes we support today -- I'm told it is no longer being actively developed so I imagine we will need to add a compatible mode to the driver at some point.

On any of the earlier chips (essentially anything up to X1050) the video overlay generally gave you the best combination of quality and low CPU utilization (and does support more modes). For X12xx and up Textured Video is generally the way to go.