High CPU Usage in 6.2.4 Media Center

[kato]

Is anyone else experiencing this? This doesn't occur on the Client or Placeshifter, just Media Center from what I can determine.

The SageTVTranscoder.exe process just starts taking up 50% CPU usage for no reason at all - no clients or placeshifter clients connected and no recordings happening. If I stop the SageTV Service the SageTVTranscoder process just keeps on going - I have to manually end it through the task manager. I can restart the SageTV service and everything seems fine for a while and then it begins again.

I'm thinking I should try a fresh install, since I've upgraded over this install since v5.x, but I wanted to see if anyone else noticed this first...

[Wheemer]

I see this aswell... all the time.

It seems to happen right after when I am using the extender.

[AWS]

I don't use any sort of client or anything else. My transcoder just seems to activate if I just watch a DVD or TV. Very annoying.

Sage 6.2.4.145
SageMC 6.3.3b
Java 1.6.0_01

AWS

[nielm]

The transcoder is also used to generate thumbnails for videos, and to determine the file format when importing new media files...

SysInternal's Process Explorer can be used to get the command line for the transcoder which will include the media file name it is currently processing.

[carlgar]

There appears to be multiple reasons for the High Cpu usage, I saw it when I changed to a faster system running Vista. The fix for me was to change a property for the Sage server.
ui/disable_native_image_loader=true
What I saw was that when I started the MVP or placeshifter, Sage would start generating a lot of threads that did not go away. Each thread eats up more CPU. I saw as many as 800 threads, 50-70 threads is normal for Sage. I don't thing Narflex knew the reason for this, only that the fix worked.

Shorty before the the beta realease another high usage problem was found and Narflex said it would be fixed soon. I must presume that that fix may it into the beta. You should report this problem to support and let them know if the properties file fix corrected it for you or not.

[kato]

I'll try this fix and see what happens...

Thanks

[Narflex]

carlgar,

The fix for that problem is in the 6.2.4 beta. Please try it with the ui/disable_native_image_loader=false setting (it's actually under Detailed Setup->Advanced now as well; it's the optimized image loader). If you still have a problem; please let us know ASAP.

For anyone that has the transcoder using all the CPU; please file a bug report (http://sagetv.com/bugs.html) so we can get the test case from you and resolve the issue. We don't have a repro case of that currently.

Thanks for the feedback.

[carlgar]

Narflex,

After running for about 18 hours with the parameter back to false, it looks like the problem is about 80% to 90% solved. this morning the thread count was up to 143. It looks like there is still thread creep but now much slower (I probably would not notice a problem until running for serveral days).
I had to reboot due to Microcrap ( their deserved name until they fix TCP) updates. When I restarted Sage the base thread count was 85, went to 94 with I started MVP and 97 when I started client. I now have the preformance monitor on it. I will report it to support when I see a patern or the thread count gets to 200. After 20 minutes or running, thread count is 103.

[kato]

Ok it looks like I found out the cause for my high CPU usage - mkv files in Media Center. I sent an earlier bug report about thumbnails no longer being generated under Imported Videos and was told that it was hanging on an mkv file and that mkv files are not supported by SageTV at this time. So I put 2 and 2 together and removed all the mkv files from the import directories and voila no more high CPU usage problems! So the hanging on the mkv was causing the high CPU usage - never had this problem in 6.1.9. I guess I'll just use Zoom Player for the mkvs in the meantime - hopefully SageTV will fully support mkv files in the near future

So I'm wondering what changes were made to the media player from 6.1.9 -> 6.2.4 that would cause SageTV to no longer work with mkv files even though they're not officially supported??

[alon24]

I just tried installing sage 6.2.4 on a frinds computer and the mkv file would not run, and the SageTvTranscoder took 100% cpu (50% because of dual core).

When can we see a fix?

[Shield]

Originally Posted by nielm

The transcoder is also used to generate thumbnails for videos, and to determine the file format when importing new media files...

SysInternal's Process Explorer can be used to get the command line for the transcoder which will include the media file name it is currently processing.

I have Process Explorer running and cannot figure out how to use it to get to the command line for SageTVTranscoder.exe. Anyone know?