MP 1.0 RC2 Flickering above/below Video

bean · 2008-07-23, 07:00

Updating to MediaPortal 1.0 RC2 suddenly caused flickering above and below the video playback.

After updating from RC1 (which worked great, and 0.2.3.0 before that, which also worked great), when playing back XVID video, the video playback has a very obnoxious flickering above and below the video playback on the screen. I'm playing back on a 4:3 TV, with a laptop driving the television. The video that is being played is a widescreen video, so above and below the video there are normally black areas. The video playback is mirrored on both displays. The flickering section of the screen appears to contain some elements / colors of the GUI that was on the screen before beginning to play the video. The audio plays fine, I can see no video, just black.

I have tested with Directshow "exclusive mode" checked and I get this problem. If I enabled advanced mode, and uncheck exclusive mode in the DirectShow Filter Control/Video Renderer Settings, I get jerky video and tearing when the camera pans in the movie, although no more flickering, and I can see the video. Unfortunately the quality is poor enough that I'm rolling back to RC1. I tried the Enhanced Video Renderer (EVR) and I just got audio, no video. Anyone else having this issue?

TV-Server Version: I don't use this for TV, only video/audio files
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC2
MediaPortal Skin: Default 4:3 aspect ratio
Windows Version: XP SP3
CPU Type: Pentium M 1.6GHz
HDD: 150GB 5400 RPM
Memory: 1GB RAM
Video Card: Radeon 9200 - 32MB RAM
Video Card Driver: 6.14.10.6422 - Jan/20/2004
Sound Card: builtin laptop SoundMAX sound
MPEG2 Video Codec: FFDSHOW
h.264 Video Codec: FFDSHOW
Power Supply: LAPTOP
Remote: Microsoft

KevL · 2008-07-23, 13:35

Check that your graphics card meets minimum requirements.

32MB ram sounds a tad light. I think 128MB is needed and there is a need to support Direct X v9 (as far as I remember). Wiki specs minimum hardware requirements.

Kev

bean · 2008-07-24, 06:06

Yes, looks like you are right. From the wiki:

DirectX 9 compatible video card with at least 128 MB of video memory such as:

*ATI Radeon series (9600 and above or X300 and above)
*NVIDIA GeForce, GeForce FX (5200 or above) and NForce series
*Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (integrated i865G)
*Matrox Parhelia
*SiS Xabre series

I guess I've just been lucky all this time that my paltry 32MB video card with DirectX 8 in hardware, and DirectX 9 in software has worked with every MediaPortal build from 0.2.3.0 up to 1.0 RC1. Looks like somebody flipped a switch with the RC2 build that rendered my old hardware obsolete. Looks like I'm staying with older builds or upgrading hardware, unless this is something that someone can fix easily in the build.

payload · 2008-08-10, 09:44

I am having the same problem. I too am running below spec hardware, in my case a laptop with only 16MB video RAM. RC1 worked perfectly with Exclusive Mode on. Strangely the My TV module works perfectly, it's only playback from the My Video module that doesn't work. Maybe there needs to be a low spec mode , from my experience older hardware can be pretty capable, but I can understand that it is impossible to test for compatibility with older hardware. My thinking is a render mode that is known to work with older hardware, but with a feature freeze just to keep us cheapskate users happy :-)

2008-07-23, 07:00	#1 (permalink)
bean Portal Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Age: 37 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	MP 1.0 RC2 Flickering above/below Video Updating to MediaPortal 1.0 RC2 suddenly caused flickering above and below the video playback. After updating from RC1 (which worked great, and 0.2.3.0 before that, which also worked great), when playing back XVID video, the video playback has a very obnoxious flickering above and below the video playback on the screen. I'm playing back on a 4:3 TV, with a laptop driving the television. The video that is being played is a widescreen video, so above and below the video there are normally black areas. The video playback is mirrored on both displays. The flickering section of the screen appears to contain some elements / colors of the GUI that was on the screen before beginning to play the video. The audio plays fine, I can see no video, just black. I have tested with Directshow "exclusive mode" checked and I get this problem. If I enabled advanced mode, and uncheck exclusive mode in the DirectShow Filter Control/Video Renderer Settings, I get jerky video and tearing when the camera pans in the movie, although no more flickering, and I can see the video. Unfortunately the quality is poor enough that I'm rolling back to RC1. I tried the Enhanced Video Renderer (EVR) and I just got audio, no video. Anyone else having this issue? TV-Server Version: I don't use this for TV, only video/audio files MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC2 MediaPortal Skin: Default 4:3 aspect ratio Windows Version: XP SP3 CPU Type: Pentium M 1.6GHz HDD: 150GB 5400 RPM Memory: 1GB RAM Video Card: Radeon 9200 - 32MB RAM Video Card Driver: 6.14.10.6422 - Jan/20/2004 Sound Card: builtin laptop SoundMAX sound MPEG2 Video Codec: FFDSHOW h.264 Video Codec: FFDSHOW Power Supply: LAPTOP Remote: Microsoft Last edited by bean; 2008-07-23 at 07:26..

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2008-07-23, 13:35	#2 (permalink)
KevL Portal Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 167 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Country: My System	Check that your graphics card meets minimum requirements. 32MB ram sounds a tad light. I think 128MB is needed and there is a need to support Direct X v9 (as far as I remember). Wiki specs minimum hardware requirements. Kev

2008-07-24, 06:06	#3 (permalink)
bean Portal Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Age: 37 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Yes, looks like you are right. From the wiki: DirectX 9 compatible video card with at least 128 MB of video memory such as: ATI Radeon series (9600 and above or X300 and above) NVIDIA GeForce, GeForce FX (5200 or above) and NForce series Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (integrated i865G) Matrox Parhelia *SiS Xabre series I guess I've just been lucky all this time that my paltry 32MB video card with DirectX 8 in hardware, and DirectX 9 in software has worked with every MediaPortal build from 0.2.3.0 up to 1.0 RC1. Looks like somebody flipped a switch with the RC2 build that rendered my old hardware obsolete. Looks like I'm staying with older builds or upgrading hardware, unless this is something that someone can fix easily in the build.

2008-08-10, 09:44	#4 (permalink)
payload Portal Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 10 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I am having the same problem. I too am running below spec hardware, in my case a laptop with only 16MB video RAM. RC1 worked perfectly with Exclusive Mode on. Strangely the My TV module works perfectly, it's only playback from the My Video module that doesn't work. Maybe there needs to be a low spec mode , from my experience older hardware can be pretty capable, but I can understand that it is impossible to test for compatibility with older hardware. My thinking is a render mode that is known to work with older hardware, but with a feature freeze just to keep us cheapskate users happy :-)