[mythtv-users] High mythtv CPU usage on EPIA SP8000

[John Roe]

Hi,

I'm running myth svn on debian unstable on a EPIA SP8000, with a Freecom 
DVB USB stick in the UK.

-Running xine with XvMC acceleration plays dvb in about 9% cpu load.  Nice.
-Playing livetv in myth uses around 60% in the frontend, and 30% in the 
backend, with slight video stutter.  CPU is saturated.  Channel changes 
take around 30 seconds.
-Just recording in myth without any playback uses 95% in the backend.  
This sometimes seems to fall later in the recording to around 10%.
-Playing back a recording in myth uses around 60% in the frontend, video 
looks ok.

I'm using viaXvMC in mythfrontend, without this video is unplayable.  
I've tweaked every setting I can find to minimise CPU but can't get much 
lower.

So the question is, are these reasonable figures for this hardware?  
Compared to xine, it seems really high.  And why is the backend using so 
much cpu recording off dvb?  I'd been expecting much better figures than 
this, I'm sure I've seen postings where people have achieved figures 
more like 15% for live tv on similar hardware.

Has anyone got a similar setup running with better cpu usage?  Is there 
anything obvious I need to turn off?

cheers
John