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evoweiss
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Joined: 07 Sep 2003
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Location: Edinburgh, UK
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 Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:11 pm Post subject: How to get xorg overlay support working? |
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Hi all,
I've been having problems when playing DVDs (video tearing) which goes away if I lower my screen resolution from 1680x1050 to 1280x1025. After a long time of trying different things, I think I have hit upon what the problem actually is, though I do not yet know how to test this possibility out by modifying xorg.conf. Anyway, the problem seems to be with video overlay support. I got that from reading this on some other forum:
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Problems with garbled or missing overlay output usually mean that you don't have enough video RAM to hold both the regular desktop display and the video overlay display at once. Typically you need twice as much video RAM as normal at a given video resolution in order to use hardware video overlay. In some cases you may even need 3 to 5 times more RAM because of internal buffering in the video card.
The only easy way to lower your video RAM requirements is to switch to a lower video resolution while playing videos.
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I have a 512 meg nvidia fx 5200 and a 2005FPW monitor from dell.
I see the options in xorg.conf to enable this, but do not know whether I should just set them both to true or whether there is something else involved.
Best,
Alex |
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Dan
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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I didn't think the 5200fx ever released with 512mb ram, If you want to run DVD's with those high resolutions seamlessly and still have full desktop functionality you probably need a new video card. I assume your board is AGP so you wouldn't have a PCI express slot. Therefore just about the best you can get for the $ is http://www.bfgtech.com/7800GS_256.html which has 256mb gddr3. Another option is http://www.bfgtech.com/7600GS_512.html which has 512mb ddr2, The 7800 with gddr3 is the better choice, I would take 256mb gddr3 over 512mb ddr2. Either can be purchased for around $150 now..... They are probably to be the last and best of the AGP cards with exception to the high end quadro cards and the like...
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evoweiss
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Location: Edinburgh, UK
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
Thanks... you're right right about the ram (I am not at home, so had to go from memory). Is there another way to deal with this save buying a new card?
Alex
| dcoats wrote: | | I didn't think the 5200fx ever released with 512mb ram, If you want to run DVD's with those high resolutions seamlessly and still have full desktop functionality you probably need a new video card. I assume your board is AGP so you wouldn't have a PCI express slot. Therefore just about the best you can get for the $ is http://www.bfgtech.com/7800GS_256.html which has 256mb gddr3. Another option is http://www.bfgtech.com/7600GS_512.html which has 512mb ddr2, The 7800 with gddr3 is the better choice, I would take 256mb gddr3 over 512mb ddr2. Either can be purchased for around $150 now..... They are probably to be the last and best of the AGP cards with exception to the high end quadro cards and the like... |
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Dan
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| Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 4:01 pm Post subject: |
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Sure, accept the fact that you need to run at a lower resolution than what you are trying. The 5200's are/were kinda poor cards even at the time of release (I own a few of them) but refuse to use them anymore.
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evoweiss
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Location: Edinburgh, UK
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| Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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Ok, thanks for that... I can run my desktop just fine with it and when I go to watch a movie I just drop the resolution. I'll likely update my card at some point, though now I am too busy with other things.
Thanks for the advice and for helping me confirm what the source of the troubles were!
Best,
Alex
| dcoats wrote: | | Sure, accept the fact that you need to run at a lower resolution than what you are trying. The 5200's are/were kinda poor cards even at the time of release (I own a few of them) but refuse to use them anymore. |
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