Re: [PATCH v3 2/2] ASoC: Intel: Add period size constraint on strago board

[Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>]

On Thu, 13 Aug 2020 10:36:57 +0200,
Yu-Hsuan Hsu wrote:
> 
> Lu, Brent <brent.lu@intel.com> 於 2020年8月13日 週四 下午3:55寫道：
> >
> > > > >
> > > > > CRAS calls snd_pcm_hw_params_set_buffer_size_max() to use as large
> > > > > buffer as possible. So the period size is an arbitrary number in
> > > > > different platforms. Atom SST platform happens to be 256, and CML
> > > > > SOF platform is 1056 for example.
> > > >
> > > > ok, but earlier in this thread it was mentioned that values such as
> > > > 432 are not suitable. the statement above seems to mean the period
> > > > actual value is a "don't care", so I don't quite see why this specific
> > > > patch2 restricting the value to 240 is necessary. Patch1 is needed for
> > > > sure,
> > > > Patch2 is where Takashi and I are not convinced.
> > >
> > > I have downloaded the patch1 but it does not work. After applying patch1,
> > > the default period size changes to 320. However, it also has the same issue
> > > with period size 320. (It can be verified by aplay.)
> >
> > The period_size is related to the audio latency so it's decided by application
> > according to the use case it's running. That's why there are concerns about
> > patch 2 and also you cannot find similar constraints in other machine driver.
> You're right. However, the problem here is the provided period size
> does not work. Like 256, setting the period size to 320 also makes
> users have big latency in the DSP ring buffer.
> 
> localhost ~ # aplay -Dhw:1,0 --period-size=320 --buffer-size=640
> /dev/zero -d 1 -f dat --test-position
> Playing raw data '/dev/zero' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000
> Hz, Stereo
> Suspicious buffer position (1 total): avail = 0, delay = 2640, buffer = 640
> Suspicious buffer position (2 total): avail = 0, delay = 2640, buffer = 640
> Suspicious buffer position (3 total): avail = 0, delay = 2720, buffer = 640
> ...

It means that the delay value returned from the driver is bogus.
I suppose it comes pcm_delay value calculated in sst_calc_tstamp(),
but haven't followed the code closely yet.  Maybe checking the debug
outputs can help to trace what's going wrong.


Takashi

> 
> >
> > Another problem is the buffer size. Too large buffer is not just wasting memories.
> > It also creates problems to memory allocator since continuous pages are not
> > always there. Using a small period_count like 2 or 4 should be sufficient for audio
> > data transfer.
> >
> > buffer_size = period_size * period_count * 1000000 / sample_rate;
> > snd_pcm_hw_params_set_buffer_time_near(mPcmDevice, params, &buffer_size, NULL);
> >
> > And one more problem here: you need to decide period_size and period_count
> > first in order to calculate the buffer size...
> It's a good point. I will bring it up to our team and see whether we
> can use the smaller buffer size. Thanks!
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Brent
> 
> Thanks,
> Yu-Hsuan
>