Streaming Video Quality

[Detonate]

I don't really have a problem. Just a minor annoyance I may have to learn to live with, but I would like your thoughts on this. I have MLB.TV subscription, and it is working just fine this year, unlike prior years when MLB threw Silverlight and all the crap that goes with it in the mix. Plays fine with 64 bit flash this year. The only problem I have is that fast motion, such as a pitched or hit ball is blurry. Funny thing is, it looks fine on instant replay. I don't know if this is a connection speed problem, a caching problem, or do I need a more powerful video card? Glx gears shows over 4000 fps with my Nvidia Geforce 9500. I have a Roku box on order and I will see if I have the same effect on the TV instead of the computer when I get it hooked up and working. I don't see this problem when running Netflix in XP in Virtualbox. I have not tried MLB.TV in Virtualbox XP. Of course the VB video capability will be much less due to the limitations of the virtual machine.

Any thoughts?

[oshunluvr]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

Right off the top - glxgears isn't really a speed test. It was designed to verify glx function. Try gtkperf to test performance. For comparasion, using a single 8800gt (see sig) with kwin desktop effects, a full load of software running, six windows open on four desktops and twinview dual monitors I get about a 5.2 result running "All Tests" with gtkperf. Same setup, no effects, nothing open I can get that down to 3. Huge percentage difference but not real noticeable in actual use.

Since you're using nvidia - I assume you've created an xorg.conf and you've enabled all beneficial options. At a minimum I suggest;

  Option "UseCompositeWrapper" "True" # Enables the X server's composite wrapper instead of the builtin one. 
  Option "BackingStore" "True" # Cache overlayed areas in case they get redisplayed later 
  Option "OnDemandVBlankInterrupts" "True" # only fire VBlank interrupts in modes where they are needed

I also use triple buffering but it can cause latency and that's part of your issue. Could be a monitor issue rather than a video card issue.

I too have a Roku, but I'm not a sports fan. It's as clear as my Verizon on a HD tv for whatever thats worth. I use Roksbox to stream from my media server to my Roku - works awesome. See you at the Roku forums!

[Detonate]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

Yes, I understand about glx gears. I just used it for comparison purposes as most people are familiar with it. I am going toput those options in my xorg file and see if that helps.
Here is the ouput from gtkperf:
GtkPerf 0.40 - Starting testing: Sun Apr 3 11:10:18 2011

GtkEntry - time: 0.02
GtkComboBox - time: 0.33
GtkComboBoxEntry - time: 0.26
GtkSpinButton - time: 0.02
GtkProgressBar - time: 0.02
GtkToggleButton - time: 0.05
GtkCheckButton - time: 0.03
GtkRadioButton - time: 0.07
GtkTextView - Add text - time: 0.34
GtkTextView - Scroll - time: 0.06
GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time: 0.19
GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time: 0.26
GtkDrawingArea - Text - time: 0.23
GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time: 0.07
---
Total time: 1.95

This is with a browser, email, watching TV with my PVR card and VLC running.

[Detonate]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

I did not get much of a chance to play around with this today. See my other post at:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3116220.0

However I did make the additions to my xorg.conf file you suggested, and it did seem to improve my picture with VLC playing TV with my PVR device.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

I don't think you can expect much of an improvement over that score.

I really wonder about the specs of your monitor - 60hz no doubt but what response time?

[Detonate]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

This is my monitor.

http://www.hannspree.com/US/product_...7&key=hf237hpb

[Detonate]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

After a few days of experimentation with every configuration I could think of, I have come to the conclusion that the problem is flash. If you want to watch your MLB.TV, the best way is to download and installBoxee to watch it on your computer, or get a box like the Roku to watch it on your TV.

http://www.boxee.tv/download

The only drawback for me with Boxee is that when you have it running you do not have access to anything else on your computer. If there is a way I have not figured it out yet.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

Try this (from boxee forums)

Edit the kmenu entry and add two "\" to the start up command.

[Detonate]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

That did not work. The start up command is a shell script and by adding anything to the end of the command, you just get and error message that it is not a directory. The start up command is "/opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop". I tried "/opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop\\" and "/opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop\" and "/opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop//" with no success.

Here is the script invoked by "/opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop".

#!/bin/sh

BOXEE_HOME=/opt/boxee
BOXEE_PROC=Boxee
BOXEE_HOME=${XBMC_HOME=${BOXEE_HOME}}
export XBMC_HOME=${BOXEE_HOME}
export BOXEE_HOME
BOXEE_PID=/tmp/run-boxee.pid
CURRENT_PATH=`pwd`
ALREADY_RUN=0
LC_ALL="en.gb"

if [ -f ${BOXEE_PID} ] ; then
CURRENT_PID=`cat ${BOXEE_PID}`
COMPARE_PID=`ps -ef | grep run-boxee | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}' | xargs`
for pid in ${COMPARE_PID}
do
if [ ${CURRENT_PID} -eq ${pid} ]; then
ALREADY_RUN=1
BLOCKING_PROC='run-boxee'
fi
done
fi

if [ ${ALREADY_RUN} -ne 1 ] && `pgrep Boxee > /dev/null` ; then
ALREADY_RUN=1
BLOCKING_PROC='boxee'
fi

if [ ${ALREADY_RUN} -ne 0 ]; then
echo "BOXEE is already running... (${BLOCKING_PROC})"
exit
else
echo $$ >${BOXEE_PID}
${BOXEE_HOME}/${BOXEE_PROC}
fi
pkill -9 Boxee
rm ${BOXEE_PID}

[Detonate]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

I figured it out!! There is a setting that allows you to select "Windowed". Now it is working exactly as I wish.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Streaming Video Quality

Sorry - the thing I read said add the "\\" after the startup command as in:

I tried "/opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop \\"

I should have been more specific. At least you got it going.

[Detonate]

Re: Streaming Video Quality MLB.TV

A followup on my experience with Boxee. It runs just fine. I use it mostly to watch MLB.TV. Of course, you can't use it to watch Netflix because Netflix will not run on any Linux setup. They block it because of DRM issues. I have to open it in my XP running in virtualbox. Not a great solution because of the limitations of the video in virtualbox.

I had one major issue with Boxee. It was running with very high CPU usage. A Google search provided the info that this is only a bug in the 64 bit version for Linux, and the solution is to disable the http server. You do this by going to the "Tools" menu and look under "Network" and uncheck the "Web Server" function. Once I did this CPU usage dropped back to normal for a program running HD streaming video. I added MLB.TV to the subject line so that anyone doing future searches will be able to find this thread easily.