Worse multimedia performance in Hardy?

[mgmiller]

Here is what fixed the skipping for me. I got this from another thread, but I forget which one.

1) sudo apt-get install --reinstall pulseaudio (don't know if absolutely necessary)

2) gksudo gedit /etc/pulse/daemon.conf ( I would suggest making a backup of this file before you edit it.)

3) replace the lines containing "high-priority" and "nice-level" with
Code:

high-priority = yes
nice-level = -15

and the lines containing "default-sample-rate", "default-fragments" and "default-fragment-size-msec" with
Code:

default-sample-rate = 48000
default-fragments = 8
default-fragment-size-msec = 10

4) log off and log in

[kristianz]

Thanks for the suggestion. It didn't make any difference, unfortunately. The skipping is still there in Amarok (but not VLC, which also uses PulseAudio) when I move about the desktop.

[mgmiller]

Here is the absolutely latest info on fixing sound skipping in Hardy:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4928900

[Zorael]

Blanket advice for everything: from what I understand Pulse takes some (in cases noticeable) cpu time, so you could try to disable it and see if things improve.

[cor2y]

Ever since playing around with the Beta version of Hardy i have learned my lesson.
DON'T DO UPGRADES ONLY CLEAN INSTALLS.
This sorted out like 85% of my hardy problems when i tried the beta and later the full version, from not being able to install the closed source nvidia drivers to audio/video problems and system freezes.
The others were the incomplete install of Pulse Audio in Hardy, to some kernel errors for the Beta and some kernel problems with virtualbox in the final version.

[47_MasoN_47]

I've noticed that videos don't look as clear on mine after going to 8.04. DVDs also seem to have trouble playing for some reason. I haven't had any problems with sound skipping though.

[Rob-e]

Here is what fixed the skipping for me. I got this from another thread, but I forget which one.

1) sudo apt-get install --reinstall pulseaudio (don't know if absolutely necessary)

2) gksudo gedit /etc/pulse/daemon.conf ( I would suggest making a backup of this file before you edit it.)

3) replace the lines containing "high-priority" and "nice-level" with
Code:

high-priority = yes
nice-level = -15

and the lines containing "default-sample-rate", "default-fragments" and "default-fragment-size-msec" with
Code:

default-sample-rate = 48000
default-fragments = 8
default-fragment-size-msec = 10

4) log off and log in

this actually fixed it for me, except first it broke it...
i reinstalled the package, and backed up the config file, made those changes, loged off and on and it broke it more (some error came up when playing a movie)
so i reverted to my backed up file, loged off/on and it was still broken. i restarted and now it works

soooooo install that package and restart works

[mgmiller]

This line seems to have a big influence depending on your sound card and system specs.

default-fragment-size-msec = 10

10 worked for me, but in the thread located here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4928900

This number has been changed to 5.

Read the thread I linked to if you are still having sound problems.

On one older system I have, the only thing that worked was going into System > Preferences > Sound and in the devices tab, changing everything from "Autodetect" to alsa. This effectively uses asla instead of pulse audio for pretty much everything.

This should only be looked at as a temporary work around, as, in the very near future, everything is going to use pulse audio. I understand there are kernel level fixes already in hardy proposed that fix this as well as other problems.

[mgmiller]

Ever since playing around with the Beta version of Hardy i have learned my lesson.
DON'T DO UPGRADES ONLY CLEAN INSTALLS.

For some hardware and software combinations, that is a true statement. But in my vast experience (of upgrading all of 2 systems that I built, one with ATI video and one with Nvidia), you can do upgrades pretty much painlessly. Look at my signature line to see how far I've gotten with one of my machines without doing a reinstall. My other one started with a clean install of 6.06 and has been upgraded right along to 8.04.

Admittedly, some of the earlier upgrades required a fair amount of tinkering to get working correctly, but the last 2 (from 7.04 to 7.10 to 8.04) have been damn near perfect.

[kristianz]

DON'T DO UPGRADES ONLY CLEAN INSTALLS.

Well, I know that's how they do it in Windows country, but for me that is simply out of the question. A properly designed OS should never have to be reinstalled.