Video Flicker/Tearing

[L815]

I have an Intel gm965 video card in my laptop. When I play videos full screen, or just large in general, there are tears when there is a lot of movement in the video.

This is related to Ubuntu since the video play in Windows is fine.

Anyone know a solution to this?
I've tried a few but none of them work :/

[lovinglinux]

I don't know if the issue I'm experiencing is the same as you, because I couldn't find a word in English to describe it. But since the effect is more visible when there is a lot of movement I guess it should be the same. Here is not drastic, but is kind of annoying. The effect is kind of a horizontal line, like if a line in the screen is misplaced. sometimes it fills the entire video width, sometimes is confined to a small area, sometimes multiple areas.

I don't know how to solve it, but I decided to bump the thread and follow the discussion. I hope someone can help us.

BTW, my graphics card is a nVidia 7300GT.

[L815]

That's the same exact problem. I read around while searching for a solution that it might have to do with the refresh rate of the video.

It's really annoying trying to watch flash and videos like that.
Since it is a problem with or without compiz, I can't just disable compiz

If they get this fixed, I'm sure I can finally go over 100%

[medic2000]

In ccsm change the automatic refresh rate detector to manual and enter 60Hz. Also in ccsm activate the SynctoVBlank. I hope they will work.

[lovinglinux]

In ccsm change the automatic refresh rate detector to manual and enter 60Hz. Also in ccsm activate the SynctoVBlank. I hope they will work.

Unfortunately, they don't.

[testbenchdude]

I am having the same problem, and it's going to make me have to resort to Windows again. I have this problem with any kind of video, through VLC or Totem; streaming via Flash, or watching downloaded avi and DVDs. The video plays fine in a small windowed screen but when I increase the size to half my screen or full screen, everything becomes horrendously choppy.

It's not my hardware because this laptop played any kind of video just fine full screen with Windows. I do not have desktop effects turned on and I am not using Compiz or any other eye candy. I have the latest ATI driver for my card and I'm using the latest Flash 10 install on Ubuntu Hardy 64.

This just flat out sucks. I'm tired of googling "x random problem ubuntu"--I've been doing that for three days straight now! Many thanks to everyone here who has already helped me with the problems I've had, but I'm done. Guess I'll try it again in a few years. ;(

[testbenchdude]

Aaaaaaand a partial retraction is in order here. I stumbled upon the idea that maybe my video driver might share some of the blame since everything seemed to be affected video-wise. In my internet meanderings I came across a program called Envy which is a front end for simple installation/removal of video drivers. I installed it, then uninstalled my ATI driver. Rebooted, then reinstalled the ATI driver via Envy, and rebooted.

Hoorah! Full screen DVD playback in VLC is Silky Smooth! Flash still bites but it *is* better than it was. Everything seems a little snappier too, from dragging windows around on the desktop to firing up something like the Synaptic Package Manager (screen used to stutter as the root password prompt came up). I must have mucked around too much and corrupted my display driver or something because this is much more akin to what I'd expect an OS to behave on modern hardware.

My suspicions were almost outright confirmed as I surfed around during the driver reinstallation--even with the crappy default resolution, web pages seemed much more responsive. So if you've been hitting your head against the wall like I have been, why not do a reinstall of your video drivers? I for one was pleasantly surprised. Now then, if only they could figure a way to get Flash to play without chop in full screen...

Holding off on switching back to Windows... for now. Cheers~

Envy:

http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

Thanks, Alberto!!!

[CazperII]

I don't know if the issue I'm experiencing is the same as you, because I couldn't find a word in English to describe it. But since the effect is more visible when there is a lot of movement I guess it should be the same. Here is not drastic, but is kind of annoying. The effect is kind of a horizontal line, like if a line in the screen is misplaced. sometimes it fills the entire video width, sometimes is confined to a small area, sometimes multiple areas.

I don't know how to solve it, but I decided to bump the thread and follow the discussion. I hope someone can help us.

BTW, my graphics card is a nVidia 7300GT.

I had the exact same thing until the recent kernel updates with nvidia-glx update (2.6.24-21). Then I started playing around with some settings. I changed the following:

In System -> Settings -> Advanced Desktop Settings (=ccsm) -> general options -> Dipslay settings:

detect refresh rate OFF
set refresh rate to 200
sync to vblank OFF
detect outputs OFF

in System -> Preferences -> Nvidia X Server Settings (=nvidia-settings) -> X server Xvideo settings:

Both sync to vblank OFF


After this reboot (not sure if it's really needed)

start a movie with the command:

mplayer -vo xv movie_with_tearing.avi

Or just use something like SMPlayer with the output driver set to xv

These steps resolved my video tearing problem. I also have a Geforce 7300.

Hope this helps!

[lovinglinux]

I had the exact same thing until the recent kernel updates with nvidia-glx update (2.6.24-21). Then I started playing around with some settings. I changed the following:

In System -> Settings -> Advanced Desktop Settings (=ccsm) -> general options -> Dipslay settings:

detect refresh rate OFF
set refresh rate to 200
sync to vblank OFF
detect outputs OFF

in System -> Preferences -> Nvidia X Server Settings (=nvidia-settings) -> X server Xvideo settings:

Both sync to vblank OFF


After this reboot (not sure if it's really needed)

start a movie with the command:

mplayer -vo xv movie_with_tearing.avi

Or just use something like SMPlayer with the output driver set to xv

These steps resolved my video tearing problem. I also have a Geforce 7300.

Hope this helps!

Thank you. It helps, but not entirely. I was afraid to raise the refresh rate to 200, so I'm using 75. Is it safe to use 200 with a LCD monitor?

[BMWDriver]

Refresh rate of an LCD is not measured in Hz, but in microseconds. So 60Hz will not affect video playback. Refresh rates really only concern CRT monitors (the big fat monitors of old). However, the 60Hz is there because LCD screens must co-exist with CRT in the market of today; see it as a compromise. So don't go to 200, it may not do good to the LCD.

The video playback has to do with the graphics drivers enabling the video card chip to kick in and give you that nice playback.

For example, I had to give a configuring command to my ATI card to enable 2D video acceleration. And first I had to install the ATI drivers properly, which required a lot of searching.

So, you'll have to find the drivers for your card and find instructions on how to enable 2D acceleration in order to take advantage of your respective video cards capabilities. But, it may also be that there is a solution for the default drivers installed by Ubuntu (GLX, Mesa...)

As far as ATI goes, this site was great : http://wiki.cchtml.com/