[mythtv-users] CPU load when watching TV

[Rod Smith]

On Saturday 12 December 2009 06:05:10 pm Brian Wood wrote:
> On Saturday 12 December 2009 03:58:53 pm lee wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > the CPU load when watching live TV with the mythtvfrontend seems to be
> > rather high. Is there anything I could do about that?
>
> More details on your system, and the actual numbers, would help. So you can
> start by seeing if you are radically different from others.
>
> VDPAU will drop your CPU load, assuming the load is from decoding the video
> and not something else.

Another observation: In my experience, misconfiguring X can result in a heavy 
CPU load from X, vs. from the MythTV frontend. If you use the text-mode Linux 
top program, you can see what processes are consuming a lot of CPU time. If 
the X CPU load approaches or exceeds that of the MythTV frontend, it could be 
you need to tweak your X configuration. This is an issue independent of 
VDPAU, although it does interact with other factors, such as the video card 
type, the resolution you're displaying, and the resolution and type of video 
you're playing. In any event, posting the relative CPU loads from X, the 
MythTV frontend, and anything else that's consuming more than, say, 5-10% of 
CPU time could be helpful.

One other point: Even if the CPU load is high, that's not necessarily a 
problem, so long as video playback is still smooth. If the high load is 
causing pauses, stuttering, sluggish responses to remote commands, etc., then 
it's a real problem.

-- 
Rod Smith