Softhddevice randomly corrupt picture

I am having random problems with softhddevice. There are random glitches in the image, looks exactly the same as with invalid mpeg stream.. Mosaic, picture "breaking apart" etc. The picture is usually fine for several minutes, then bugs for a few seconds, and then again fine for several minutes. Sometimes it works nicely for the whole evening, sometimes bugs so often than it's nearly unwatchable.

I first thought I have bad reception, but this is not the case. If I hit "record" while corrupted video is on screen, I can watch the program later without corruption, or at least the errors move the different place. So it must be softhddevice problem?

It makes no difference if it's HD or SD channel. Also channel makes no difference, same on every channel from Thor 1W..

I think it is some sort of AV sync problem perhaps? I have a separate PCI audio card which I use for SPDIF output. I guess most users are using hdmi audio? Perhaps there is too much clock difference between video/audio because I have them on separate cards?

When the picture is fine, I get almost no AV messages in syslog.. But the video problem is showing, I get a lot of messages like this:

Jan 24 12:35:58 yavdr vdr: video: speed up video, droping frame
Jan 24 12:35:58 yavdr vdr: video: slow down video, duping frame
Jan 24 12:35:58 yavdr vdr: video: 17:52:46.371 +330 340 0/\ms 37+8 v-buf
Jan 24 12:35:59 yavdr vdr: video: slow down video, duping frame
Jan 24 12:35:59 yavdr vdr: video: speed up video, droping frame
Jan 24 12:35:59 yavdr vdr: video: 17:52:46.851 -65 296 0/\ms 52+6 v-buf
Jan 24 12:35:59 yavdr vdr: video: speed up video, droping frame
Jan 24 12:35:59 yavdr vdr: video: slow down video, duping frame
Jan 24 12:35:59 yavdr vdr: video: 17:52:47.031 +58 336 0/\ms 52+7 v-buf
Jan 24 12:36:02 yavdr vdr: video: slow down video, duping frame
Jan 24 12:36:02 yavdr vdr: video: speed up video, droping frame
Jan 24 12:36:02 yavdr vdr: video: 17:52:49.931 -30 195 0/\ms 47+6 v-buf
Jan 24 12:36:05 yavdr vdr: video: speed up video, droping frame
Jan 24 12:36:05 yavdr vdr: video: slow down video, duping frame
Jan 24 12:36:05 yavdr vdr: video: 17:52:53.891 +64 139 0/\ms 39+8 v-buf
Jan 24 12:36:06 yavdr vdr: audio/alsa: wait underrun error? 'Broken pipe'
Jan 24 12:36:07 yavdr vdr: video: slow down video, duping frame
Jan 24 12:36:07 yavdr vdr: video: speed up video, droping frame
Jan 24 12:36:07 yavdr vdr: video: 17:52:55.791 -17 269 0/\ms 44+5 v-buf
Jan 24 12:36:08 yavdr vdr: video: slow down video, duping frame
Jan 24 12:36:08 yavdr vdr: video: 17:52:56.051 +82 269 0/\ms 45+8 v-buf

Looks suspicious, what's the point to do duping frame and then droping frame right after, during the same second? The AV sync code must somehow "oscillate" so it corrects too much and then has to fix again?

I'm using yavdr 0.5.0, and the latest softhddevice that comes from apt-get.. Geforce GT210 graphics card.

I have tried changing the interlacing and scale settings, no change. Also as I said, there is no difference if I watch HD or SD channels, both have the problem.

And also, sometimes it can work many hours without a single glitch. I sometimes change some setting and think that the problem is gone, until it starts again the next day..

If I make a recording while it is bugging, I can later watch the recording without any problem.. there's probably no point to send any recordings to you, I'm sure it will play without glitches.

I built it with -DDEBUG two days ago, obviously it now has worked without problems after that. So no news..

The problem was present with DVB-S and DVB-T tuners, and also while watching recordings.

I don't think it's temperature. I have the machine running 24h, "nvidia-smi -a" shows GPU core temperature of 31C..

Ok, now it happened again.

I think it is somehow related to my PCI audio card, perhaps it's simply broken or bad drivers? I now ordered a HDMI switcher with SPDIF output, so I can use audio out though HDMI and discard this PCI card.

In the log you see that audio is stopped and started again for some reason? I can also hear a small "cut" in the sound at the same time when the video is corrupted.

Jan 30 12:35:16 yavdr vdr: audio/alsa: wait underrun error? 'Broken pipe'
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: [softhddev] empty video packet 142 bytes
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio/alsa: writei underrun error? 'Broken pipe'
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio/alsa: stopping play 'PREPARED'
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: wait on start condition
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 32ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 64ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 96ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 128ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 160ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 192ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 224ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 256ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: video/vdpau: 19:33:54.611: decoder render too slow 142ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 288ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 320ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: video/vdpau: 1359531738506809 display time 100000
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: video: speed up video, droping frame
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: video/vdpau: missed frame (4/16174)
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: start? 352ms skip 0ms
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: audio: ----> 352ms start
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: video: slow down video, duping frame
Jan 30 12:35:17 yavdr vdr: video: 19:33:54.591 +160 381 0/\ms 62+7 v-buf

Hmm.. This is from satellite, and it is snowing.. But femon-plugin shows really good signal levels.

Also, as I tested before, if I record, I can later watch same show without problem!