VSync Issue when Watching Video

rushfan · n00b Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 46

When I watch video on my 22" Widescreen (which is set in nvidia-settings as my primary settings), I get annoying tearlines down the center of the video. On my 17" LCD there are no such lines. This is most likely because nvidia is vsyncing the wrong monitor. Apparently I should have an option like this in my nvidia-settings (I have the latest version), but I dont (the option Im referring to is the radio buttons letting you select the monitor to sync):

http://scs.carleton.ca/~cwalton3/nvset.png

Anyone have an idea as to why it isnt there? This is what my nvidia-settings looks like:

http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nidia1ly3.jpg

piercey · Apprentice Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 182

Are you sure you have the latest version and latest drivers? The latest version of nvidia-settings in portage is 171.05. I'm also using the latest beta driver 173.08, but 169.xx should be sufficient since this driver has very slow 2d rendering (well for 8xxx/9xxx series cards anyway, its not noticeable on my 7600GT). Also, what way did you setup dual screens? Twinview? Xinerama? Separate X screens? I recently had similar issues with Twinview, however with Xinerama I didn't have any tearing.

In the end I used nvidia-settings to make a xorg.conf with a twinview configuration for my screens (1920x1200 samsung lcd monitor and 1920x1080 samsung hdtv). I enabled sync to vblank and specifically chose my tv.

Apparently twinview doesnt support handling monitors with two different refresh rates well (which is why the primary monitor doesnt have tearing). My lcd is 59.95hz, and my tv is 60.02hz and that's what causes the tearing. If you were to use separate X screens you also wouldnt have any tearing either.
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[ 2008.0 X86 E8400 @ 4.0Ghz ]

rushfan · n00b Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 46

I'm using twinview, not xinerama. I didnt even know there was a difference. But what puzzles me is that, I dont have the option like in the image you showed. Heres a pastebin of my xorg.conf if it helps. Whats bizarre is that the 22" is set as my primary screen, however its the seconday 17" that has no tearing.

I'm using x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-169.09-r1 and media-video/nvidia-settings-171.05

piercey · Apprentice Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 182

Err, I think you pasted the wrong link above, There's not much I have in my xorg.conf that isnt there usually, here's my Device section:

rushfan · n00b Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 46

Yes I did post the wrong link. At any rate I appreciate your assistance and have resolved the issue.

First I switched the physical order of the monitors on my graphics card (I didnt realize it but my primary monitor was on DFP-1). After putting the 22" W on DFP-0, I switched to 2 x sessions with xinerama and the tearlines have stopped. Thanks for the help

piercey · Apprentice Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 182

Bump.

I recently got a 8800GTS 512Mb and this issue happened to me (coinkydink). I've managed to solve it now. The issue is because in portage the nvidia-drivers and nvidia-settings packages are not in sync. There's nvidia-settings 171.05, and nvidia-drivers 173.08. You need to update nvidia-settings to 173.08 to get the extra options. (source here).
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[ 2008.0 X86 E8400 @ 4.0Ghz ]