[mythtv-users] frontend CPU utilization after change from sw to hw encoding

[macksold]

I wonder if somebody might take a stab at helping me understand the CPU
utilization I am experiencing now that I have changed my setup.  I have
gone from software encoding to hardware, while I was at it I switched
machines from 1.2GHz Athlon to a PIII 600MHz, since HW encoding would
use less CPU.

Here are the before and after setup, both have frontend and backend
running and watching live tv.

Before:
AMD Athlon 1.2GHz 512MB RAM
GeForce 4
Hauppauge WinTVPCI
MPEG-4 Live TV profile
backend uses 75% or so CPU
frontend uses around %5

After:
Pentium III 600MHz 384MB RAM
GeForce 4 (same as before)
Hauppauge PVR-250
Hardware MPEG2 Live TV profile
backend uses 5%
frontend uses 75%

I am surprised at the frontend cpu utilization on the PIII setup, an
ideas?