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VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 17. Jan 2019, 10:23
by Grgoje
VirtualBox version: 6.0.2 r128162 (Qt5.9.5)
Guest Additions: yes; version 6.0.2 r128162
Extension Pack: yes; 6.0.2
Host: Mint 19.1 Xfce 64-bit, 64GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 2700x, Nvidia GTX 1060, Nvidia proprietary drivers 3.90
Guest: Windows 7 64-bit, 8.1GB (8192MB) RAM, 6 CPUs @ 100% Execution Cap, VT-x/AMD-V, Nested paging, Hyper-V Paravirtualization,VBOX SVGA 2D Acceleration 128MB Video Memory, 63,48 GB hard drive
Log file is attached.

Hi!

As stated in the subject, video performance on my windows 7 virtual machine is very choppy: e.g. windows sutter when dragged and resized, video playback is stuttering etc. It seems that 2d aceleration is not functional although it is enabled.

Have tried disabling/enbaling 2d acceleration. Works about same in either mode.
Have tried switching between VboxVGA & VboxSVGA adapters. No difference.

This same appliance works smoothly on an older computer (i7 3770k, Mint 18.3, virtualbox 5.2.)

I use the appliance for graphics work so this amount of choppines is not aceptable. Gratefull for any pointers/ideas how to resolve this.

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 17. Jan 2019, 11:56
by mpack
I don't think you need to enable the Hyper-v API for a Win7 guest. The guest won't use it.

I think you should try it with the VBoxVGA (not VBoxSVGA) virtual graphics controller selected, and reinstall the GAs since I don't know that the same GAs work with all controllers.

Also, which guest graphics drivers did you install? Direct3D or WDDM?

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 17. Jan 2019, 13:58
by Grgoje
Tried disabling hyperV and going back to VboxVGA. Reinstalled the guest additions. No change, still choppy. And yes, no Direct3D drivers.

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 17. Jan 2019, 14:10
by Grgoje
Just a short update: Downgraded to vbox 5.2. and it's smooth as butter. I'll consider that as solution for now but there seems to be a definitive issue between my guest install and VBox 6.

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 17. Jan 2019, 14:38
by mpack
Grgoje wrote:And yes, no Direct3D drivers.
VBoxVGA and Direct3D are in fact the drivers I would use, though the latter must be installed in safe mode. Since the additional graphics controller options is the only relevant feature that changed in v6 I'm going to assume that is your problem.

p.s. Youtube videos play smoothly in a Win7-64 guest on my Win10 host with those settings except I have both 2D and 3D acceleration enabled.

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 17. Jan 2019, 22:39
by socratis
mpack wrote:reinstall the GAs since I don't know that the same GAs work with all controllers.
You don't have to reinstall the GAs, but it never hurt anyone... ;)

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 17. Jan 2019, 22:43
by Dave B
Hi Grgoje,

If not mistaken, 2D acceleration handles elements such as video overlay, while 3D acceleration is also used for drawing UI elements.
Both should be enabled for optimal Windows guest performance.

With Windows guests I also noticed VBoxSVGA doesn't feel as responsive as VBoxVGA, but consider that will improve in future VirtualBox versions.

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 20. Jan 2019, 18:09
by SimoSan
Can confirm that after upgrading virtulabox to the version 6.0.2 the graphical performance of my Windows 7 installation became very slow. Tried every graphics controller option with no difference. Also reinstalled GA multiple times. I`m using amd rx570.

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 20. Jan 2019, 19:38
by klaus
The 2D accel feature works only with VBoxVGA, i.e. the old style graphics controller which was default for all VMs created by VirtualBox versions up to 5.2. And yes, it purely handles videos, nothing else (in essence it chopped off the color space conversion step of video decoding, and used 3D support on the host to perform this otherwise very CPU intensive task). So if there's choppy performance with any other application but a video player it's unrelated to 2D accel, and for newly created VMs in VirtualBox 6.0 it's also ignored. The assumption is that users relying on the 2D accel feature in the past will enable 3D accel with the new style graphics controller VBoxSVGA. That should achieve the same, just in a different way (the video players would directly recognize that they can delegate the color space conversion to the GPU).

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 20. Jan 2019, 22:14
by socratis
klaus wrote:The 2D accel feature works only with VBoxVGA
As an old compatriot of mine, Solon, famously said "I grow old ever learning many things", aka, live and learn... ;)

That's an interesting tidbit Klaus! Are you foreseeing a situation where:

Code: Select all

if (vGPU!=VBoxVGA & 2Daccel=On & GuestFamily=Win) then
    2DaccelSettingsWarning
    if OK_settings
        2Daccel=Off
    endif
endif
similar to when you would select the 2D acceleration for a Linux VM in the pre-6 era? No need to reply, just throwing out ideas...
klaus wrote:The assumption is that users relying on the 2D accel feature in the past will enable 3D accel with the new style graphics controller VBoxSVGA. That should achieve the same, just in a different way (the video players would directly recognize that they can delegate the color space conversion to the GPU).
Another interesting tidbit! 8)
Does that involve VBoxSVGA and/or VMSVGA? Because if it involves the VMSVGA as well, that means that Linux guests will gain that old "2D acceleration" that they've never had the luxury to have so far...

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 6. May 2019, 02:57
by robocat
EDIT 2: Solution for me was the "VBoxVGA" driver - NOT the "VBoxSVGA" driver (the VboxSVGA driver was causing hideous general slowdown of Ubuntu and Windows guests. Environment: VirtualBox 6.0.10 on Ubuntu 18.04 host, HD screen or UHD 4k screen with Intel graphics).

EDIT: I Was wrong - the following didn't fix it - I don't know why the video wasn't choppy but it certainly is again.

Leaving original *incorrect* comment for reference: I fixed the problem by ticking Enabled 3D Acceleration in the settings. I did not install the Experimental 3D into the Windows 7 guest. Host was Ubuntu 18.04 running VirtualBox 6.06. With the existing settings, there was a serious regression from 5.xx and graphics became unusably choppy and made the VM seem like it had slowed down hugely. My first response was to buy VMware Workstation Pro, but on some basic tests VirtualBox ran faster than VMware (e.g. VirtualBox was 45 seconds for startup, do something, shutdown whereas versus VMware taking 59 seconds), and I had nasty problems with VMware display scaling (4k monitor), so I am sticking with VirtualBox! Beware that the VM still feels a *significantly* slower to start up (and close down) in VirtualBox v6 versus VirtualBox v5 (Slower windows guest and also Linux guest)... e.g. number of progress dots on Ubuntu guest is more than it used to be. But hard to quantify because I am not going to take time to downgrade to older version.

Re: VBox 6.0: 2D acceleration is on but video performance on Windows 7 host is very choppy

Posted: 8. May 2019, 03:35
by michalk
I'm having the same problem.
Running a 2D benchmark generate very poor results.