CPU Utilization

[morfinx]

Just wondering, how much CPU utilization does SageTV take up on your system? List your system specs too, thanks

[DIBU]

normal is here 0-4 %
update epg 10-20%
start service 70-80%

[morfinx]

Hmmm my CPU utilization seems a wee bit high. Hovering around 60-70% during normal TV watching... Perhaps it's due to my very old Hauppauge WinTV tuner (no hardware encoder)?

[scoful]

Originally Posted by morfinx

Hmmm my CPU utilization seems a wee bit high. Hovering around 60-70% during normal TV watching... Perhaps it's due to my very old Hauppauge WinTV tuner (no hardware encoder)?

That could sure do it. Also your mpeg decoder or output rendering device may use more resources. (Overlay appears to use least CPU resources for me). I have Sage forced to use one core of my Pentium D 2.66Ghz. With it playing back live TV on the server and one client simultaneously it uses 10-12% on average.

[AngelofDeth]

I think DIBU was describing CPU usage on a sage "server", basically only doing encoding, though I could be wrong. My sage server that only does encoding is more or less idle all the time. Using a software mpeg encoder will certainly up your CPU usage by quite a bit vs a hardware mpeg encoder.

[morfinx]

I meant SageTV player itself, viewing live TV. Does MPEG encoder even come into effect in this case? Hmmm I guess it does. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't SageTV record the live TV on the fly and then plays it back a fraction of a second later?

BTW, my system specs are as follows (copied from another forum's sig):

Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester @ 3800+ (2.4Ghz/1.475V)
Soltek SL-K8TPro-939 / Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro
Mushkin Black L2 V2 TCCD 512MBx2 @ 440Mhz (2-3-3-6)
ATI X850 Pro (555/595) / Zalman VF700-Cu
40GB WD 7200rpm 2mb / 300GB Seagate 7200rpm 8mb
Creative Audigy 2 ZS / Logitech Z-5500
Westinghouse LVM-37W1 37" 1080p LCD

Using VMR9 w/ 3D Acceleration turned on
DScaler Adaptive Deinterlace

[AngelofDeth]

Your CPU usage is probably so high due to the software encoder. What is your CPU usuage if you watch a recorded show and arn't doing any current encodings?

[DIBU]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

I think DIBU was describing CPU usage on a sage "server", basically only doing encoding, though I could be wrong. My sage server that only does encoding is more or less idle all the time. Using a software mpeg encoder will certainly up your CPU usage by quite a bit vs a hardware mpeg encoder.

exact..it is a real server (win2003). i never watch a show on this maschine.

runs 24/7

[FidgetyRat]

My Graphics card only has partial support for hardware decoding.

Idle: 0-5%
Watching Recording: 20-40%
Show Analyzer: 40-70%
Recording: 0-10% (I do have hardware encoding. Still needs I/O though).

Though even at highest load, I do still get some menu lag even with 30% free CPU. Not sure why.

[morfinx]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

Your CPU usage is probably so high due to the software encoder. What is your CPU usuage if you watch a recorded show and arn't doing any current encodings?

Watching recorded shows: 40-50%
Scheduled recording in background (SageTV off): 25%

Would it be advisable to get a new tuner with hardware encoding?

[jsonnabend]

Ok, that's weird. My SageServer (not running a client on that box) runs typically 80-90+ %. I'm using a PVR150, so I don't think software encoding is the issue. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

- Jeff

Edit: Nevermind. I guess I did have the interface running afterall. I was nervous to send the server to "stand by" while it was recording Blue's Clues (heaven forbid we miss an episode of that), but it sent CPU usage down to <10%. I hope that helps someone in the future.

[scoful]

Originally Posted by morfinx

Watching recorded shows: 40-50%
Scheduled recording in background (SageTV off): 25%

Would it be advisable to get a new tuner with hardware encoding?

Anything you can do to keep the work off of your CPU will make your experience more pleasant. If I'm not watching anything (Sage UI shut down) but recording 3 shows at the same time (I have 3 PVR 150's) I can't really even tell anything is going on except for the slow, steady blink of my hard drive light.

[garyellis]

for my information....what's the best way to measure CPU utilization while these different processes are running?

Thanks,

Gary

[morfinx]

Just got a 550 based tuner. Utilization still seems high. Running at about 50-60% while viewing TV. Havn't looked at recording utilization yet.

[blade]

Originally Posted by morfinx

Just got a 550 based tuner. Utilization still seems high. Running at about 50-60% while viewing TV. Havn't looked at recording utilization yet.

No one has given you enough information to compare your cpu usage against theirs. Also lower doesn't always mean better.

Let's say you change from one decoder or deinterlacing method to another and cpu usage is lower. Why? Is it taking better advantage of your hardware or is it using a less complex method of deinterlacing? By using an inferior method you can easily lower your cpu usage, but you are sacrificing quality.

Also the type of content you're watching can affect cpu usage for some people. For example I have a 6600GT with a XP3200 and use the Nvidia decoder with smart deinterlacing. My cpu usage for video is 70-85% and with film content it is 30-40%. If I use the Sage decoder it's 30-40% with all content.

For me the Nvidia decoder looks far better than the one from Sage. Cpu usage is higher in some cases, but it's doing different deinterlacing.

So it's not as simple as I have x cpu and y video card and my cpu usage is z.

[FidgetyRat]

Also, for anyone with nvidia cards. Make sure your card is compatable with the nvidia hardware DEcoding for when you are watching shows.

I fun a Geforce FX5200. Even though the card is "fairly" modern, it only has "partial" support of the decoders ("Partial" as per nvidia website, whatever that means). I still use quite a bit of CPU Watching, but it isn't as bad as pure software decode.

[morfinx]

Originally Posted by blade

No one has given you enough information to compare your cpu usage against theirs. Also lower doesn't always mean better.

Let's say you change from one decoder or deinterlacing method to another and cpu usage is lower. Why? Is it taking better advantage of your hardware or is it using a less complex method of deinterlacing? By using an inferior method you can easily lower your cpu usage, but you are sacrificing quality.

Also the type of content you're watching can affect cpu usage for some people. For example I have a 6600GT with a XP3200 and use the Nvidia decoder with smart deinterlacing. My cpu usage for video is 70-85% and with film content it is 30-40%. If I use the Sage decoder it's 30-40% with all content.

For me the Nvidia decoder looks far better than the one from Sage. Cpu usage is higher in some cases, but it's doing different deinterlacing.

So it's not as simple as I have x cpu and y video card and my cpu usage is z.

Hmmm something strange happened. I looked at it again this morning and now it's running at 40-50% utilization on anything I watch.

What really came as a surprise was background recording. I scheduled a recording of a show that is already playing as to start the recording immediately, shut down SageTV and checked CPU utilization. It was so low that I wasn't sure SageTV was even recording at all! It was going at 2-3%! I opened up SageTV again to make sure, and indeed it was. That came as a huge surprise to me.

[garyellis]

Can I ask again, please..How are you measuring CPU usage while running different applications or video, etc...?

[AngelofDeth]

taskmanager? Click on "processes" in taskmanager and it will tell you what process is using X amount of CPU.