#792538 [NV108] Quadro K610M: "xset dpms force on" blinks the screen

Package:
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
Source:
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
Description:
X.Org X server -- Nouveau display driver
Submitter:
Vincent Lefevre
Date:
2019-12-05 17:39:06 UTC
Severity:
normal
#792538#5
Date:
2015-07-15 21:19:02 UTC
From:
To:
When playing a video (I've tried both MP4 and OGG), the screen gets
black for a fraction of second every 30 seconds: at 0:00 (not always),
0:29, 0:59, 1:29, etc. This also occurs even when the VLC window is
completely off-screen.

As an example (video randomly taken on Wikimedia commons):

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/1_hour_Wilhelmshoeher_Allee.ogg

original file taken from:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1_hour_Wilhelmshoeher_Allee.ogg

But this seems to occur with every video, and this seems to be always
reproducible.

The fraction of second is very short. Sometimes the whole screen is
affected, sometimes only the bottom part.

I've attached "vlc -vvv ..." output.
#792538#10
Date:
2015-07-15 21:32:43 UTC
From:
To:
If I play the video from this page directly in Firefox (i.e. not
using VLC), then I haven't noticed any problem.
#792538#15
Date:
2015-07-15 21:41:58 UTC
From:
To:
Something else interesting:

If I pause the video (I mean "pause" by clicking on the || button,
not "stop"), then the same problem still occurs every 30 seconds.
#792538#20
Date:
2015-07-15 22:59:22 UTC
From:
To:
Thanks to strace, I've found the problem: vlc executes
"xdg-screensaver reset" every 30 seconds, which executes
"xset dpms force on", which flickers the screen.

Then, I wonder whether executing "xdg-screensaver reset" is the right
thing to do. "xdg-screensaver suspend ..." has the same problem, but
if I understand correctly, it can be done only at the beginning, so
that the problem becomes minor. Firefox and MPlayer don't have any
flickering problem, so that there may be something better.

Also, disabling the screensaver while is video is paused is incorrect,
IMHO.

The fact that xset flickers the screen may be another bug.
#792538#27
Date:
2015-07-16 07:30:29 UTC
From:
To:
Am Donnerstag, den 16.07.2015, 00:59 +0200 schrieb Vincent Lefevre:

You might want to have a look at how totem handles this.

 - Fabian
#792538#32
Date:
2015-07-19 11:51:31 UTC
From:
To:
Control: tags -1 + upstream
Control: severity -1 normal

If you have a screensaver that supports any of the org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver,
org.freedesktop.PowerManagement.Inhibit, org.mate.SessionManager or
org.gnome.SessionManager D-Bus interfaces, this should not happen. In that case
Inhibit respectivelly Uninhibit are called.

For the xdg-screensaver fallback, this discussion is best taken upstream.

This is https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/3724.

Cheers
#792538#41
Date:
2015-07-19 14:11:38 UTC
From:
To:
I'm wasting my time trying to find a screensaver with minimal
dependencies and that works with vlc (at least xscreensaver
doesn't work).

I've posted a message here:

https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=127389

I've also reported a bug concerning the screen blinking problem with
"xset dpms force on" (though executing this periodically just to avoid
DPMS screen blanking is a hack):

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=91354

(Unfortunately, bugs in nouveau can remain for years.)
#792538#48
Date:
2018-08-15 12:11:45 UTC
From:
To:
Control: forwarded -1 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=91354
Control: retitle -1 [NV108] Quadro K610M: "xset dpms force on" blinks the screen
Control: tags -1 = upstream
Control: reassign -1 xserver-xorg-video-nouveau

Not sure if the X.org video package is the correct one, I'm re-assigning this
bug to xserver-xorg-video-nouveau.

Cheers