<div dir="ltr">Using XvMC made for an interesting challenge: why do something in software when it can done much more efficiently in hardware. Yes, I see about 80% CPU usage when playing 1080i content. But power consumption is also significantly higher for the machine: around 160 watts, compared to 110 watts when using XvMC. This is a non-trivial issue for an appliance that's powered all day (although it's not playing 1080i content all day). Also, lowering the load on the machine introduces the possibility of running some other services on the machine so that it isn't strictly a MythTV box. With a higher load, it's questionable whether I can run those other services without compromising the frontend performance. Lastly, a higher CPU load makes for more heat that must be expelled from the case before it impacts the longeivity and reliability of the other components.<br>
<br>I noticed that you have separate frontend & backend machines. I'm using a single machine for frontend and backend. Playback of 1080i content get murdered when commercial flagging begins. This was never the case when using XvMC. And, yes, I lowered the priority of the commericial flagging to 19 with nice, yet it's still an issue.<br>
<br>--<br>Scott Kidder<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 8:20 PM, Yeechang Lee <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ylee@pobox.com">ylee@pobox.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d">Scott Kidder <<a href="mailto:kidder.scott@gmail.com">kidder.scott@gmail.com</a>> says:<br>
> I, too, was having problems with audio stuttering during ATSC<br>
> playback using XvMC on both an NVidia 5200 FX and 6200.<br>
<br>
</div>[...]<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
> There's a higher load placed on the CPU (P4 3.0 GHz Hyper-threaded),<br>
> but it's only around 70% of an otherwise idle machine.<br>
<br>
</div>Why are you using XvMC in the first place? A 3.0GHz Pentium 4, with or<br>
without Hyperthreading, and an Nvidia 5200 or 6200 should be fast<br>
enough to be able to play 1080i recordings at about 50-70% CPU usage<br>
without XvMC, assuming there's nothing intensive else the computer is<br>
doing. Yes, slightly lower CPU usage than with XvMC.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
Frontend: P4 3.0GHz, 1.5TB software RAID 5 array<br>
Backend: Quad-core Xeon 1.6GHz, 6.6TB sw RAID 6<br>
Video inputs: Four high-definition over FireWire/OTA<br>
Accessories: 47" 1080p LCD, 5.1 digital, and MX-600<br>
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