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blue screen issue

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myth.matt.lutz at gmail

Apr 18, 2007, 5:21 AM

Post #1 of 6 (1153 views)
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blue screen issue

Hey all,

I'm trying to use an old laptop with a busted LCD screen as a front-end only
device. It's a p4 (2Ghz). I loaded FC6 onto it and most things seem to
work okay. Unfortunately when trying to watch live tv or recorded programs,
all I see is a blue screen. All of the menus & preview video is fine.

When I try to watch a recorded video with mplayer, the same thing happens.
However, if I do an "mplayer -vo gl [filename]" it plays fine. I'm assuming
the two are related, and it's the xvmc acceleration that's breaking things.
I started myth using "NO_XV=1 mythfrontend" and the video did play back, but
it was pretty choppy.

The laptop has an ATI Radeon 7500 Mobility graphics card. Is there anyway
to tell myth to use the equivalent of "-vo gl" option in mplayer?

Thanks,
Matt

mtdean at thirdcontact

Apr 18, 2007, 7:39 AM

Post #2 of 6 (1110 views)
Permalink

Re: blue screen issue [In reply to]

On 04/18/2007 08:21 AM, matt lutz wrote:
> I'm trying to use an old laptop with a busted LCD screen as a
> front-end only device. It's a p4 (2Ghz). I loaded FC6 onto it and
> most things seem to work okay. Unfortunately when trying to watch
> live tv or recorded programs, all I see is a blue screen. All of the
> menus & preview video is fine.

Your video drivers only support Xv output on the first display (as do
pretty much all of them--ATI, NVIDIA, ...). Therefore, the /right/
answer is to tell X /not/ to use the LCD (which becomes the first
display). Set up X to ignore the LCD and use /only/ the monitor. This
means, a default X configuration won't work.

> When I try to watch a recorded video with mplayer, the same thing
> happens. However, if I do an "mplayer -vo gl [filename]" it plays
> fine. I'm assuming the two are related, and it's the xvmc
> acceleration that's breaking things. I started myth using "NO_XV=1
> mythfrontend" and the video did play back, but it was pretty choppy.

NO_XV means no Xv. Granted, without Xv, XvMC is impossible, so it does
disable XvMC, but you /need/ Xv support.

> The laptop has an ATI Radeon 7500 Mobility graphics card. Is there
> anyway to tell myth to use the equivalent of "-vo gl" option in mplayer?

There's no way that you want to use.

Mike
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mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users[at]mythtv.org
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

myth.matt.lutz at gmail

Apr 18, 2007, 9:42 AM

Post #3 of 6 (1116 views)
Permalink

Re: blue screen issue [In reply to]

On 4/18/07, Michael T. Dean <mtdean[at]thirdcontact.com> wrote:
>
> On 04/18/2007 08:21 AM, matt lutz wrote:
> > I'm trying to use an old laptop with a busted LCD screen as a
> > front-end only device. It's a p4 (2Ghz). I loaded FC6 onto it and
> > most things seem to work okay. Unfortunately when trying to watch
> > live tv or recorded programs, all I see is a blue screen. All of the
> > menus & preview video is fine.
>
> Your video drivers only support Xv output on the first display (as do
> pretty much all of them--ATI, NVIDIA, ...). Therefore, the /right/
> answer is to tell X /not/ to use the LCD (which becomes the first
> display). Set up X to ignore the LCD and use /only/ the monitor. This
> means, a default X configuration won't work.
>
> > When I try to watch a recorded video with mplayer, the same thing
> > happens. However, if I do an "mplayer -vo gl [filename]" it plays
> > fine. I'm assuming the two are related, and it's the xvmc
> > acceleration that's breaking things. I started myth using "NO_XV=1
> > mythfrontend" and the video did play back, but it was pretty choppy.
>
> NO_XV means no Xv. Granted, without Xv, XvMC is impossible, so it does
> disable XvMC, but you /need/ Xv support.
>
> > The laptop has an ATI Radeon 7500 Mobility graphics card. Is there
> > anyway to tell myth to use the equivalent of "-vo gl" option in mplayer?
>
> There's no way that you want to use.
>
> Mike
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users[at]mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

Mike,

Thanks for the input. I thought it might have something to do with that,
but my xorg.conf only references a single screen. Here it is:

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Synaptics" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "radeon"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Is there anything you can see that I would need? Understand that I
physically ripped the LCD off of the laptop, so it may not be registering as
a valid output.

Thanks,
Matt

mtdean at thirdcontact

Apr 18, 2007, 11:27 AM

Post #4 of 6 (1106 views)
Permalink

Re: blue screen issue [In reply to]

On 04/18/2007 12:42 PM, matt lutz wrote:
> On 4/18/07, Michael T. Dean <mtdean[at]thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> >
> > On 04/18/2007 08:21 AM, matt lutz wrote:
> >
> >> I'm trying to use an old laptop with a busted LCD screen as a
> >> front-end only device. It's a p4 (2Ghz). I loaded FC6 onto it
> >> and most things seem to work okay. Unfortunately when trying to
> >> watch live tv or recorded programs, all I see is a blue screen.
> >> All of the menus & preview video is fine.
> >
> > Your video drivers only support Xv output on the first display (as
> > do pretty much all of them--ATI, NVIDIA, ...). Therefore, the
> > /right/ answer is to tell X /not/ to use the LCD (which becomes the
> > first display). Set up X to ignore the LCD and use /only/ the
> > monitor. This means, a default X configuration won't work.
>
> Thanks for the input. I thought it might have something to do with
> that, but my xorg.conf only references a single screen. Here it is:
>

...

> Is there anything you can see that I would need? Understand that I
> physically ripped the LCD off of the laptop, so it may not be
> registering as a valid output.

Basically, it comes down to your integrated "video card" and the ATI
drivers knowing that the laptop has an output for the LCD and one for
the VGA.

Things to try, disable the dual-output in the BIOS and ensure only the
VGA output is enabled (disable the LCD and TV-out and any other
output). Then, if that doesn't work, you'll have to dig through the ATI
driver documentation. If you're not using the VGA output (and are using
a TV-out output), things will definitely be more difficult.

Unfortunately, I don't use the ATI Linux drivers, so I won't be any help
with them.

Mike
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users[at]mythtv.org
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

myth.matt.lutz at gmail

Apr 18, 2007, 11:40 AM

Post #5 of 6 (1101 views)
Permalink

Re: blue screen issue [In reply to]

On 4/18/07, Michael T. Dean <mtdean[at]thirdcontact.com> wrote:
>
> On 04/18/2007 12:42 PM, matt lutz wrote:
> > On 4/18/07, Michael T. Dean <mtdean[at]thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On 04/18/2007 08:21 AM, matt lutz wrote:
> > >
> > >> I'm trying to use an old laptop with a busted LCD screen as a
> > >> front-end only device. It's a p4 (2Ghz). I loaded FC6 onto it
> > >> and most things seem to work okay. Unfortunately when trying to
> > >> watch live tv or recorded programs, all I see is a blue screen.
> > >> All of the menus & preview video is fine.
> > >
> > > Your video drivers only support Xv output on the first display (as
> > > do pretty much all of them--ATI, NVIDIA, ...). Therefore, the
> > > /right/ answer is to tell X /not/ to use the LCD (which becomes the
> > > first display). Set up X to ignore the LCD and use /only/ the
> > > monitor. This means, a default X configuration won't work.
> >
> > Thanks for the input. I thought it might have something to do with
> > that, but my xorg.conf only references a single screen. Here it is:
> >
>
> ...
>
> > Is there anything you can see that I would need? Understand that I
> > physically ripped the LCD off of the laptop, so it may not be
> > registering as a valid output.
>
> Basically, it comes down to your integrated "video card" and the ATI
> drivers knowing that the laptop has an output for the LCD and one for
> the VGA.
>
> Things to try, disable the dual-output in the BIOS and ensure only the
> VGA output is enabled (disable the LCD and TV-out and any other
> output). Then, if that doesn't work, you'll have to dig through the ATI
> driver documentation. If you're not using the VGA output (and are using
> a TV-out output), things will definitely be more difficult.
>
> Unfortunately, I don't use the ATI Linux drivers, so I won't be any help
> with them.
>
> Mike
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users[at]mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

Got it, thanks. I'll see what I can figure out.

Matt

myth.matt.lutz at gmail

May 17, 2007, 9:53 AM

Post #6 of 6 (995 views)
Permalink

Re: blue screen issue [In reply to]

Just to update this thread...

I did some hunting around on the radeon specs (documentation is pretty hard
to find).

Anyway - there's an xorg.conf option that is supposed to work (Option
XV_SWITCHCRT2 ON), but doesn't. However, I'm able to use an xvattr command
from the CLI to do the same thing: "xvattr -a XV_SWITCHCRT -v 1"

Just in case someone was looking for the same answer.

On 4/18/07, matt lutz <myth.matt.lutz[at]gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 4/18/07, Michael T. Dean <mtdean[at]thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> >
> > On 04/18/2007 12:42 PM, matt lutz wrote:
> > > On 4/18/07, Michael T. Dean < mtdean[at]thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On 04/18/2007 08:21 AM, matt lutz wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> I'm trying to use an old laptop with a busted LCD screen as a
> > > >> front-end only device. It's a p4 (2Ghz). I loaded FC6 onto it
> > > >> and most things seem to work okay. Unfortunately when trying to
> > > >> watch live tv or recorded programs, all I see is a blue screen.
> > > >> All of the menus & preview video is fine.
> > > >
> > > > Your video drivers only support Xv output on the first display (as
> > > > do pretty much all of them--ATI, NVIDIA, ...). Therefore, the
> > > > /right/ answer is to tell X /not/ to use the LCD (which becomes the
> > > > first display). Set up X to ignore the LCD and use /only/ the
> > > > monitor. This means, a default X configuration won't work.
> > >
> > > Thanks for the input. I thought it might have something to do with
> > > that, but my xorg.conf only references a single screen. Here it is:
> > >
> >
> > ...
> >
> > > Is there anything you can see that I would need? Understand that I
> > > physically ripped the LCD off of the laptop, so it may not be
> > > registering as a valid output.
> >
> > Basically, it comes down to your integrated "video card" and the ATI
> > drivers knowing that the laptop has an output for the LCD and one for
> > the VGA.
> >
> > Things to try, disable the dual-output in the BIOS and ensure only the
> > VGA output is enabled (disable the LCD and TV-out and any other
> > output). Then, if that doesn't work, you'll have to dig through the ATI
> > driver documentation. If you're not using the VGA output (and are using
> >
> > a TV-out output), things will definitely be more difficult.
> >
> > Unfortunately, I don't use the ATI Linux drivers, so I won't be any help
> > with them.
> >
> > Mike
> > _______________________________________________
> > mythtv-users mailing list
> > mythtv-users[at]mythtv.org
> > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> >
>
>
> Got it, thanks. I'll see what I can figure out.
>
> Matt
>
>
>

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