Notice any new screen tearing?

Support & Help Requests
#1

Hello Community,

Until recently I experienced no screen tearing. However after some update, not sure exactly, I have started noticing tearing in videos and even when scrolling down webpages.

I was wondering if anyone suddenly started seeing this behavior?

Configuration:

  • Nvidia GTX 650 Ti
  • Nvidia 384.111 drivers (latest from updates)
  • 16.04.4 LTS
  • HDMI connection
  • Macro (Compton)
  • 1920x1080 @ 60hz

Now I read the forums about enabling flipping (which is off) and triplebuffer (which isn’t set). Still since 16.04 until recently all was working great and again wanted to see if others have seen this too. Also no the system isn’t stressed or running out of memory or anything.

I did have an old Samsung LCD (like nine years old hooked to a much newer system go figure) and realize horizontal tearing can start to occur as a monitor or cable starts to die. So I was “forced” to buy a new Asus LCD with eye care technology and even picked up a new cable. The issue is totally related to software as the same problem continues. Oh “darn” I bought a new monitor. :wink:

Thanks for sharing your experience.

#2

No screen tearing here…

  • Nvidia GTX 750 Ti
  • Nvidia 384.111 drivers
  • DVI connection
  • Marco (Compton) from MATE 1.16.2 (via PPA)
  • 1920x1200 @ 59.95 Hz
  • the following run on startup:

nvidia-settings --assign CurrentMetaMode=“DVI-D-0: 1920x1200 { ForceCompositionPipeline = On }”

You can find the names of the display connections (such as DVI-D-0) via nvidia-settings -q dpy .

1 Like
#3

are you geting this just in your browser or in all applications, I know webpages do weird things for me, in firefox with default firefox settings, but if i turn off smooth scrolling it is mostly fine

#4

@maximuscore: Thanks for your experience! I’ll give that a shot shortly. :slight_smile:

@Bernie: Thanks for the idea. It does seem to be more system wide. I really notice it in Firefox and Vivaldi for sure. I’ll pay more attention over the next few days and report back.

I am not sure what smooth scrolling would do when watching a Youtube or Netflix video. The lines happen in small and full screen modes.

It does seem more video card settings or Compton related. Yes I have tried Compiz but that was ultra unstable.

#5

yeah I have not found compiz to make anything much better, but with the
normal screen tearing on my system I have found Compton to help a lot
compared to plain marco, i also like it’s transitions better, I,m not sure
what it would have to do with the videos part, just maybe the webpages
part, it was just something I came across

1 Like
#6

As I mentioned I wanted to get back after a few days of paying more attention to other non web browser apps.

I rarely see odd issues with other apps display wise. However Chrome, Vivaldi, and Firefox all do tearing so this issue does seem to be cross app. I did apply the following which seems to have stopped it but I am continuing to test it.

I haven’t setup a script to run on start up yet but will once more time for testing as gone by.

nvidia-settings --assign CurrentMetaMode="nvidia-auto-select +0+0 { ForceCompositionPipeline = On }"

This is similar to code posted by @maximuscore with the only difference being to specify any monitor.

#7

I am going to make a wild guess here. If you have Compton set and you are seeing tearing, Compton has determined that for some reason it cannot use GPU acceleration and has reverted back to the software compositor. I have no idea how to poke the OS to see if this is the case or not, but that would be my first suspicion.

It is possible you have recently updated and gotten a bad nvidia driver. Nvidia are notorious for breaking things in updates.

#8

@jasonSmith_0xFF

I agree Nvidia doesn’t have the best history with keeping bug free drivers, even on Windows. I suppose it is possible however the Nvidia driver clearly shows activity on the GPU. So I am guessing it is more for a setting issue.

As stated the above variable seems to have corrected the issue although I am still keeping a closer eye on the situation to see if tearing reappears.

Thanks for your thoughts. Nvidia is a blessing and curse for us Linux users. Argh!

#9

Yes, but only on VLC, watching videos. Also on VLC, when I change the volume or brightness (the visual feedback appears), the same video flickers.

Intel HD Graphics 5500

#10

@crimson_king

I have noticed issues using VLC. Have you tried MPV Media Player? I have a much better video experience with that player.

#11

Thanks for the advice. I might try it, but for now the tearing with VLC isn’t bothering me that much. It might annoy someone who cares more about video quality.

#12

Yes, I have a Dell Inspiron 14, Mate 18.04 LTS, 4 GB RAM and Intel HD 520 graphics and I use an external monitor, Dell S22 40L connected via HDMI. I saw severe screen tearing when scrolling web pages in Chrome when using the default Marco compositor. This problem mostly goes away when I use Compiz instead of Marco as the Window Manager.

#13

I am also using HD 5500. Bad tearing on VLC. Using the “Marco-no compositor” improves the situation. Not 100%, but like 95%.
I cannot find the .~/.config/compton.conf or the mate-compton.conf file. Is it in a new place? Is it perhaps missing? I would like to check settings and tweak as necessary to get the compton compositor working tear-free.
[18.04 ubuntu-mate flavor]
thx.

#14

Some searching and I was able to answer my question. If I make a configuration with this name: ~/.config/marco-compton.conf then the marco compton compositor does read the config after a fresh login. I’m using glx backend per a conf file I found from my search. VLC and MPV and Chrome have no discernible screen tear now. I doubt my settings are optimal, as there are many options, but at least it works fine for now.
my system: Lenov T450s, intel HD 5500 integrated graphics, 18.04 ubuntu-mate flavor

#15

@suryaOS88

Awesome Compiz is working for you. I hope it continues to work. Thanks for sharing!

@Matt_Quinn

Well you are efficient in answering your own questions. :wink: Great find and thanks for sharing!