[mythtv-users] xorg high cpu usage while playing video in mythtv

[Raphael Pooser]

Nick wrote:

>On 12/11/05, Raphael Pooser <rpooser at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>I've noticed relatively high processor usage by xorg when playing back
>>previously recorded video.  To play back a 480x480 resolution rtjpeg
>>recording, xorg take 40% processor time.  To play back a 384x480 video
>>it takes about 33%.  This is on top of the normal usage by
>>mythfrontend.  Mythfrontend takes about 13% to play back the recording.
>>Mythbackend takes about 35-30% to record a 480x480 stream.  It seems to
>>me, it should take a lot more power to record something using software
>>encoding like I am than to actually play it back.  I must be missing
>>hardware acceleration for the video playback, I'm guessing.  I'm using a
>>radeon9600pro with the vga hooked directly up to the vga input of an lcd
>>TV.  So the TV is acting like a monitor.  Thing is, I have the
>>proprietary ATI fglrz drivers installed.  But since I'm not really using
>>any of the functions of this driver, like opengl or TVout, maybe there
>>is a better driver I could install that could accelerate this 2D
>>video.... Anyone know what a normal amount for xorg to be using during
>>playback is, and if mine is abnormally high what are some methods I can
>>use to get that back down to a manageable 10-15%?
>>    
>>
>
>Raphael,
>
>I use the fglrx drivers on my frontend system (2GHz Celeron, Radeon
>9100IGP) and when just testing, got 3-4% X usage and 13% mythfrontend
>usage whilst playing back a 720x576 MPEG2 recording.
>
>First thing is to make sure you have xv working (type 'xvinfo' at the
>prompt and check the output). The MPEG4 codecs require more CPU power
>to decode than MPEG2 which is how they offer better compression
>ratios.
>
>Nick
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>
>  
>
Nick, Thanks for your response, so you get 3-4% usage by X playing a 
resolution way higher than the ones I'm using (480x480).  Ok, something 
is definitely wrong on my system.  The odd thing is that xvinfo does 
give me meaningful output (I can't rerun it to show the output because 
I'm at work now).  I ran it last night after beginning to suspect that 
my adaptor didn't support xv.  If I understand it correctly, the output 
of xvinfo should show your adaptor name if it is supported, along with a 
long list of features and specifications the adaptor can use for xv.  
When I ran the xvinfo, I did get the name of graphics card (9600pro) 
showing as the first (and only) supported adaptor installed, then there 
were many lines about this or that special feature or extension 
supported.  So, it would seem that I have XV extensions capable of being 
run at least, perhaps the video player in myth is somehow not using the 
extensions at all and everything is being done by the processor?  I'm 
not sure how to do it; is there a way to specifically say "output 
accelerated video using XV extensions" when viewing the video in 
mythfrontend?
In your system, does your fglrx driver have the hardware opengl support 
also installed?  On mine, fglrx installed and the modules load no 
problem , but it will only use Mesa for opengl, it won't use hardware 
acceleration.  Maybe that's part of the problem and xv only works if you 
have opengl acceleration working also. This is all using RTJPEG straight 
from the software encoded video; but if I understand correctly X should 
use the same amount of processor time for any format on the same 
resolution, and mythfrontend will take more or less as it does the 
decoding.  Thanks for any help/suggestions.
Raphael