[mythtv-users] CPU load when watching TV

[Brian Wood]

On Saturday 12 December 2009 04:19:02 pm Rod Smith wrote:
> 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.
> 

I agree, you buy a CPU to use, not to sit around idle. If you are running 5% 
all the time you wasted your money.

Top gives you an average. I've seen systems  where top says 60% or so that 
were actually hitting peaks that caused playback problems.

I used to have the problems with X that you mentioned, I forget what the fix 
was.