[mythtv-users] Is the GUI slow for everyone or just for me?

Gregory J. McGee gjmcgee at cableone.net
Thu May 27 02:41:05 EDT 2004


> Message: 12
> Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 08:46:40 -0800
> From: Dan Morphis <dan at milkcarton.com>
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Is the GUI slow for everyone or just for
>         me?
> To: Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> Message-ID: <40B4C9F0.1040206 at milkcarton.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> mark wrote:
> >  Mine's definitely slow since I switched to recording in RTJPEG and
> >  transcoding to MPEG4 after. I record about 6-10 hrs a day, and
> >  rarely do you pull up the guide or recorded programs and it doesn't
> >  take at least 8-10 seconds. When it's not transcoding, it's much
> >  faster. This is on a AMD 2500, 512mb ram.
> 
> Why record in rtjpeg, then convert?  AFAIK, the only reason to use 
> rtjpeg is if your system can't record in real time in mpeg4. . .

Umm.. There are other reasons, like if the box has more than one bttv
card, or if you use the box as a workstation, and myth must play nice.

You can record mpeg4, Hq/4mv at 2800bps, at 720x480? Reliably? And still
do something else, like watch a movie, or even work, or listen to mp3s,
compile a kernel etc without recording or playback dropouts?

The parent may have some IO/DMA issues.

(IMHO, mpeg4 recordings look like garbage without the 4mv/hq flags)

When I was pushing it at 2700+ speeds, those mpeg4 settings doing direct
mpeg4 ran 90+% CPU, and the box was almost useless for anything else.

You can get the same>better final video size and quality if you use
rtjpeg at a higher bitrate, with up to 3 cards recording, _and
_watching_ thru the local frontend, _and_ likely a remote frontend, on
an equivalent or even lesser CPU. (haven't tried the LR at the same time
like that)

Myth runs in the background unnoticed on my 2100+ running at 10X180,
1.6v, no fan on the heatsink, just a 120mm blowing at it in the back of
the case... running mdk 10/256M. 

Everything is VERY smooth/fluid when mythtranscode is doing its thing,
no dropouts, smooth operations. (nvidia gf4 mx 400/5336 driver, an Xbox
does the mythfrontend chores for the living room) I can work while
ripping a DVD while recording, while mythtranscode is working in the
background... Mandrake 10 official made a big difference for me, even
over cooker.

The distro sidegrade (was running cooker forever) seems to have fixed my
swap issues as well, (probably the performance difference) weird as its
the same custom kernel binary I was running, and the same mythtv rpms...
just switched to using reiserfs for / and still use xfs for everything
else. (/video, /home, and such that might harbor huge files)
Reiserfs *feels* WAY faster for /. It handles many small files best
IIRC.

YMMV.

I'm looking at either building another box with a 2600+ Athlon mobile,
or possibly a dual as they are so cheap, and the mobiles work fine in
most dual boards, at a really small price premium these days.

(sadly the 2nd gen dual athlon boards only run DDR 266, not sure how bad
of a killer that would be on performance) 

I have a spare gig of DDR 333 I could use, several of the boards can use
std unbuffered DDR up to 2G.

A pair of 2600+ mobiles only run ~$215... and would use the same or less
power than I am sucking now most likely. A Epox or Gigabyte AMD762v2
board is only ~$160 these days... And with the mobiles, could use a
"normal" power supply etc.



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