[mythtv-users] New installation, choppy video (not DMA) help request

[Steve Daniels]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-
> bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Marco Nelissen
> Sent: 15 May 2006 16:16
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] New installation,choppy video (not DMA) help
> request
> 
> >Hello all,
> >
> >I've been working on a MythDora machine for a few weeks now, in several
> >hour increments.  I have a system that seems to be working, but HDTV
> >playack performance is poor.  This includes watching "live" TV.  I get
> >very high CPU usage from X and mythfrontend (50% each) in top.  The video
> >and audio both have noticeable (but not extreme) chop.  I have checked
> the
> >FAQ lists that I could find, and don't see any help so far.  This is the
> >system info that I can guess might be relevant
> >
> >MSI K8N Neo2 platinum MB
> >AMD Athlon64 3200+
> 
> Another poster mentioned that this is insufficient for HD, but don't
> rush out and buy a new CPU just yet: I have an Athlon 3200+ also,
> and it is perfectly capable of decoding HD without using XvMC.
> However, if you need to deinterlace with this CPU you will most likely
> run into trouble. Does this problem occur on 720p broadcasts also?
> If so, the problem might be elsewhere in your system.
> Have you actually measured the throughput of your disk? I set up a new
> machine recently and at first it was using the "generic IDE" driver,
> which caused extremely poor disk performance and high CPU usage while
> accessing the disk, even though hdparm showed DMA being used. After
> recompiling the kernel with the right driver for the chipset, speed
> greatly increased and CPU usage dropped to almost nothing. In other
> words: make sure your disk performance is really OK, and don't just
> rely on some tool showing that DMA is enabled.
> 

That is very interesting piece of info actually. Ignore my assumption and
check this out. This may also be the cause of quite a few other peoples
problems!

Steve Daniels

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