[mythtv-users] Flag commercials queue getting pretty long

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Wed Oct 27 22:03:04 UTC 2010


On Wednesday, October 27, 2010 03:39:00 pm Mark Hutchinson wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Gavin Hurlbut <gjhurlbu at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 1:59 PM, Clay <ctmythtv at pacbell.net> wrote:
> > > Don't get too carried away. I've found high load tends to chop up
> > 
> > recordings
> > 
> > > in progress.
> > > Test record some hi def while it's running to be sure you're getting
> > > good files.
> > 
> > On my i7-860 backend (quad core + HT), I do 4 concurrent commflag in
> > high CPU mode, and it can record several HD recordings and SD
> > recordings, and do playback while doing so, no glitchies.  This with
> > all 8 "cores" pegged at 100% CPU.
> > 
> > Give it a try, but be aware you may need to tweak :)
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> 
> Wow, thats working that CPU.  I just got the 850 :(
> 
> Quite a bit of I/O for sure.  And who said mythbackend just need a low end
> machine

Lots of people have made that observation, but most, if not all, qualified it by stating that commflagging and transcoding 
required considerable CPU. That's why the ability to control CPU usage is in the Myth code.

Then of course there's the MySQL database, at first, before people had hundreds of channels, that was a minor load factor. 
Now, with both a cable system and DISH connected, MySQL has become more of a factor, at least for me.

Of course in the beginning many people were using simple frame grabbers and compressing with software, which used lot of 
CPU cycles, but today most capture devices output already-encoded streams, and need only disk I/O, except for flagging and 
transcoding.

IOW, like most of the rest of the computer world, hardware requirements have increased as the capability of Myth grows. 
Certainly anything capable of running Microsoft's latest Bloatware (tm) is capable of running Myth with reasonable 
performance.

Lots of people don't mind a long wait for commflagging, since they don't plan to watch the program until the next day or 
week, but if you are watching the progress just waiting to be able to watch ad-free TV, it can get tedious.

I generally have a "buffer" of several day's worth of unwatched programs, with the possible exception of live sports 
there's nothing I'd be in any hurry for.







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