[mythtv-users] P4 HyperThreading SMP Kernel and HDTV playback

Doug Larrick doug at ties.org
Thu May 5 11:18:30 UTC 2005


Xiaotian Sun wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a P4 3.0E GHz CPU in the Pundit-R.  It's running the latest
> 2.6.11 smp kernel from FC3.  When I try to play HDTV, the CPU usage
> for mythfrontend is >97%.  However the total CPU usage is only around
> 75%.  The playback quanlity is really bad, even worse than my other
> computer, a P4 2.4 GHz running 2.6.10 non-smp FC3 kernel.
>
> Now my question is whether it's a good idea to use smp kernel.  I
> don't know much about this HyperThreading business and how well the
> linux smp kernel supports it.  But isn't it the case that mythfrontend
> can only use "half" of the CPU power?  Or is there a special
> mythtv-suite from ATrpm that is specifically for smp kernels?  I
> installed my mythtv by apt-get mythtv-suite.

You need to use an SMP kernel to get any benefit from HyperThreading.
You also generally need to enable HT in your BIOS.

Mythfrontend (and the rest of Myth) is highly threaded and will take
good advantage of multiple processors (real or HT).

-Doug
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