"Failed to initialize A/V Sync" error trying to play HEVC h.265 with vdpau that supports hevc

[Dave Chiluk]

When trying to play HEVC / h265 / x265 video, frontend fails and reports "Failed to initialize A/V Sync" error when using vdpau.

This is identical to upstream
https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/12992

[Impact]
 * When trying to play HEVC / h265 / x265 video, frontend fails and reports "Failed to initialize
   A/V Sync" error when using vdpau.

 * Log shows
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: I CoreContext tv_play.cpp:5855 (StartPlayer) TV::StartPlayer(): Created player.
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: I CoreContext tv_play.cpp:2532 (HandleStateChange) TV::HandleStateChange(): Changing from None to WatchingVideo
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: E Decoder videoout_vdpau.cpp:649 (DrawSlice) VidOutVDPAU: Codec is not supported.
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: I CoreContext tv_play.cpp:2632 (HandleStateChange) TV::HandleStateChange(): Main UI disabled.
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: I CoreContext tv_play.cpp:424 (StartTV) TV::StartTV(): Entering main playback loop.
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: E Decoder videoout_vdpau.cpp:559 (DrawSlice) VidOutVDPAU: IsErrored() in DrawSlice
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: I CoreContext screensaver-dbus.cpp:82 (Inhibit) ScreenSaverDBus: Successfully inhibited screensaver via org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver. cookie 1810861299. nom nom
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: W CoreContext screensaver-dbus.cpp:87 (Inhibit) ScreenSaverDBus: Failed to disable screensaver: Type of message, '(ss)', does not match expected type '(susu)'
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: E Decoder videoout_vdpau.cpp:559 (DrawSlice) VidOutVDPAU: IsErrored() in DrawSlice
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: I CoreContext screensaver-x11.cpp:149 (DisableDPMS) ScreenSaverX11Private: DPMS Deactivated 1
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: E Decoder videoout_vdpau.cpp:559 (DrawSlice) VidOutVDPAU: IsErrored() in DrawSlice
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: E CoreContext mythplayer.cpp:1838 (AVSync) Player(0): AVSync: Unknown error in videoOutput, aborting playback.
mythfrontend.real: mythfrontend[19461]: I CoreContext tv_play.cpp:2275 (HandleStateChange) TV::HandleStateChange(): Attempting to change from WatchingVideo to None
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 * This is identical to upstream
   https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/12992

[Test Case]

 1. Set up mythtv
 2. Configure mythtv vdpau video decoder with de-interlacing
 3. On frontend play h265/hevc encoded media, with nvidia-375+ and a pascal or newer nvidia card.
 4. See error

[Regression Potential]

 * Fix is narrowly applied to hevc/h265 decoding in the vdpau decoder.
 * Possible but unlikely regressions may be deinterlacing being broken, or vdpau ceasing to function.

[Other Info]
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo . This will only affect video cards that have hevc decoding which is VDPAU Feature set E,F,G,H.
 * https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/12992

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: mythtv-frontend 2:0.28.0+fixes.20160413.15cf421-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-34.36~16.04.1-generic 4.8.11
Uname: Linux 4.8.0-34-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Thu Mar 16 09:44:08 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-01-15 (425 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64 (20160115)
Installed_mythtv_dbg: 2:0.28.0+fixes.20160413.15cf421-0ubuntu2
MythTVDirectoryPermissions:
 total 4
 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 7 2016 videos
SourcePackage: mythtv
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Dave Chiluk (chiluk)]

This patch solves the issue by disabling de-interlacing for hevc/h265 material. This is not the final solution, but just a hack to keep all our wives happy while the real solution is developed.

[Dave Chiluk (chiluk)]

FYI Sponsors patch needs to be cleaned up *(DEP3) and upstream work TBD. I'll handle that. I just wanted to document the bug here so that we can begin to see how many people may be affected.

Those of you that are affected don't add a comment. Instead select "This bug affects you" above on this page.

[Dave Chiluk (chiluk)]

While testing zesty it appears that the patch does not resolve issues there, and will have to be rewritten for it and newer.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package mythtv - 2:0.28.0+fixes.20170206.03f4403-0ubuntu5

---------------
mythtv (2:0.28.0+fixes.20170206.03f4403-0ubuntu5) artful; urgency=medium

  * Fix for error "Failed to initialize A/V Sync" when trying to play
    hevc/h265 content with vdpau acceleration. (LP: #1673481)

 -- Dave Chiluk <email address hidden> Sun, 02 Jul 2017 11:22:34 -0500

[Dave Chiluk (chiluk)]

@Joe MC. What hardware do you have? I know this affects pascal (feature set h), but I think it might affect vdpau feature sets e,f,and g as well. Would you mind sharing what hardware you hit this with?

@else
Alright I've uploaded fixes for x+. I'm not uploading for T because if you have new enough hardware to hit this, you probably aren't running T.

Once the SRU team approves the uploads *(which may take a few days). This will land in the proposed pockets where it will need to be tested.

[Joe Mc (joe-mc)]

Thanks for working this Dave. I have a GeForce GTX 1050, Nivdia Driver 381.09 on Xubuntu 16.04. MythTV 0.28.1+fixes.20170621.

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

Hello Dave, or anyone else affected,

Accepted mythtv into zesty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mythtv/2:0.28.0+fixes.20170206.03f4403-0ubuntu3.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-zesty to verification-done-zesty. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-zesty. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

Hello Dave, or anyone else affected,

Accepted mythtv into xenial-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mythtv/2:0.28.0+fixes.20160413.15cf421-0ubuntu2.16.04.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-xenial to verification-done-xenial. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-xenial. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

Hello Dave, or anyone else affected,

Accepted mythtv into yakkety-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mythtv/2:0.28.0+fixes.20160413.15cf421-0ubuntu2.16.10.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-yakkety to verification-done-yakkety. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-yakkety. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

Hey Dave! Could you please give some additional feedback on the testing procedures? It can be just and overview of the test-steps performed, the environment and the version number of the package you have tested.

[Dave Chiluk (chiluk)]

@sil2100, I deployed this fix to my xenial based main mythtv frontend. I have been using the frontend to watch hevc encoded OTA 1080p recordings on my nvidia 1060 gpu with the . These recordings were generated using ffmpeg with the nvenc hevc hardware offload.

I have also explicitly installed and tested yakkety, zesty, and artful on my victim machine by, adding the nvidia-378, vdpau packages, and mythtv packages. I then configured mythtv to point at my repository of encoded media and attempted playback. I verified that the series was indeed still broken. Then installed the packages in -proposed, and verified that media played correctly.

It looks like I forgot to mark y and z as verification done, as I remember doing those on separate days from x and a. Fixing that now.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package mythtv - 2:0.28.0+fixes.20160413.15cf421-0ubuntu2.16.04.1

---------------
mythtv (2:0.28.0+fixes.20160413.15cf421-0ubuntu2.16.04.1) xenial; urgency=medium

  * Fix for error "Failed to initialize A/V Sync" when trying to play
    hevc/h265 content with vdpau acceleration. (LP: #1673481)

 -- Dave Chiluk <email address hidden> Sun, 02 Jul 2017 22:37:54 -0500

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for mythtv has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package mythtv - 2:0.28.0+fixes.20160413.15cf421-0ubuntu2.16.10.1

---------------
mythtv (2:0.28.0+fixes.20160413.15cf421-0ubuntu2.16.10.1) yakkety; urgency=medium

  * Include e4f6e011b6 from upstream mythtv to fix yakkety ftbfs.
    "error: call of overloaded ‘abs(double)’ is ambiguous"
  * Fix for error "Failed to initialize A/V Sync" when trying to play
    hevc/h265 content with vdpau acceleration. (LP: #1673481)

 -- Dave Chiluk <email address hidden> Sun, 02 Jul 2017 22:37:54 -0500

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package mythtv - 2:0.28.0+fixes.20170206.03f4403-0ubuntu3.1

---------------
mythtv (2:0.28.0+fixes.20170206.03f4403-0ubuntu3.1) zesty; urgency=medium

  * Fix for error "Failed to initialize A/V Sync" when trying to play
    hevc/h265 content with vdpau acceleration. (LP: #1673481)

 -- Dave Chiluk <email address hidden> Sun, 02 Jul 2017 12:29:50 -0500

[Peter Bennett (pgbennett)]

I have committed this fix upstream, in the MythTV repository. It will be in release 29.1.