[Bug 346289] Re: MASTER: Choppy Flash playback in full screen

[Bryce Harrington]

@chocolateboy, I'll give you one last chance to stop.

** Description changed:

- I am running Ubuntu Jaunty 32 bit updated to March, 20th, 2009. Playback
- using Flash works as expected so long as I do not run it in full screen.
- Playing youtube videos in full screen results in choppy playback and it
- acts like it is out of sync. It does not appear to be an issue with
- Flash itself because the same version of Flash works in Hardy and
- Intrepid. I believe the problem could be in the restricted modules
- because an update improved the problem somewhat.
+ [Problem]
+ Adobe's Flash player can exhibit very poor playback behavior, due to issues in how it implements GPU
+ acceleration on Linux.
  
- I was unable to find an existing bug report for this problem for Ubuntu
- 9.04 and I do of course understand that Jaunty is still currently in the
- alpha stage of development. If this has already been reported, please
- merge this with any existing report.
  
- My system is using on board Intel graphics and is using the supported
- open source driver.
+ [Workarounds]
+ Each of these workarounds has its pros and cons.  Some work for certain flash performance bugs but not others.
+ 
+ A. Disable compiz
+ 
+ B.  Disable GPU validation.  Note: Only works on 32-bit Flash
+ 1. sudo mkdir /etc/adobe
+ 2. sudo nano /etc/adobe/mms.cfg
+ 3. Paste "OverrideGPUValidation=true" (without quotation marks)
+ 4. Restart Firefox.
+ 
+ C. Switch to a different (open source) Flash implementation
+ 
+ D. Use the YouTotem Greasemonkey script to play flash videos, using Totem, mplayer, vlc, or other players
+ 1.  Install Greasemonkey - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748
+ 2.  install YouTotem Greasemonkey script - http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/25481
+ 
+ If none of these make any change to your Flash video playback
+ performance, you may well have a unique bug.  In that case, do not add
+ comments to this bug report but instead file a NEW one against
+ flashplugin-nonfree.
+ 
+ 
+ [Discussion]
+ "Choppy flash playback" is actually a generic symptom which is caused by a collection of different bugs.  This
+ is why a workaround that "solves" it for one person, doesn't work for another, and also why it may seem to be
+ video driver specific.
+ 
+ However, if you download the flash video (e.g. look in /tmp/Flash* while
+ the video is playing in firefox) and then play it in another video
+ player (like mplayer), it works fine.
+ 
+ As an example, Adobe Flash assumes that none of the open source video
+ drivers provide hardware acceleration, so it forces software
+ acceleration to be used in these cases.  It determines this by looking
+ for "SGI" in the client glx vendor string.  A long time ago, that was an
+ okay assumption to make - few open source drivers provided accelerated
+ OpenGL - but these days all the major drivers do supply it.  It is
+ possible to turn off Flash's GPU validation to bypass this behavior (see
+ below).
+ 
+ Adobe also has found trouble making Flash video work with Compiz.  So
+ even in situations where the video card does hardware acceleration for
+ OpenGL, it's possible this could cause instabilities if compiz was on.
+ 
+ For additional background and explanations by Adobe as to why it doesn't
+ use your graphics card's hardware acceleration in various circumstances,
+ see:
+ 
+  http://blogs.adobe.com/penguinswf/2008/05/flash_uses_the_gpu.html
+ 
+ For more information including a series of different workarounds, please
+ see:
+ 
+  http://firefox-tutorials.blogspot.com/2010/05/flash-optimization.html
+ 
+ 
+ [Upstream Status]
+ The problems with flash performance on Linux have been communicated to Adobe, and Adobe has communicated their
+ position on the issues.  For example:
+ 
+ http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FP-83
+ http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FP-1692
+ http://blogs.adobe.com/penguinswf/2008/05/flash_uses_the_gpu.html
+ http://blogs.adobe.com/penguinswf/2010/01/solving_different_problems.html
+ 
+ 
+ [Ideas]
+ A.  What if Ubuntu just forced OverrideGPUValidation in general?  Just how much stability trouble would we be in
+ with Compiz?
+ 
+ B.  Is there any way we could make the full screen function launch the
+ default video player in full screen rather than just let flash try to do
+ it and get choppy?
+ 
+ 
+ [Original Report]
+ I am running Ubuntu Jaunty 32 bit updated to March, 20th, 2009. Playback using Flash works as expected so long
+ as I do not run it in full screen. Playing youtube videos in full screen results in choppy playback and it acts
+ like it is out of sync. It does not appear to be an issue with Flash itself because the same version of Flash
+ works in Hardy and Intrepid. I believe the problem could be in the restricted modules because an update improved
+ the problem somewhat.
+ 
+   I was unable to find an existing bug report for this problem for Ubuntu
+   9.04 and I do of course understand that Jaunty is still currently in the
+   alpha stage of development. If this has already been reported, please
+   merge this with any existing report.
+ 
+   My system is using on board Intel graphics and is using the supported
+   open source driver.

-- 
MASTER: Choppy Flash playback in full screen
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/346289
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