Launchpad bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/780624 Video tearing has always been a problem with this VGA under 2D compositing window managers since KMS is the default modesetting, because Overlay Mixer is not available. Under Ubuntu 10.04 (xorg 7.5 and xserver-xorg-video-radeon 6.13.0) video tearing is minimal, but with every new driver it's getting worse. Under Ubuntu 11.04 it's impossible to watch any video. I also tried the latest radeon driver from git. 3D compositing window managers are not an option, because the Xpress 200M is too slow.
That anti-tearing Xv features only work if Xv renders directly to the front buffer (i.e., no compositor). If you are using a compositor, you need to run a 3D compositor and enable vsync support if you want tear-free video. For non-3D compositors, you can enable the EXAVSync option in the device section of your xorg.conf (Option "EXAVSync" "True"), but it will impact performance.
Thanks, this resolves video tearing under newer distros, but I can't understand why videos tear with newer radeon drivers, because under Ubuntu 10.04 (which has xserver-xorg-video-radeon 6.13.0) I don't have to enable EXAVSync to have tear-free video playback.
Your older distro may not have composite enabled. The Xv anti-tearing stuff only works without composite.
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