CPU usage too high! How to reduce?

[thomjw]

Hello all,
My cpu usage is 63-79% while watching live tv. I changed the values to (1) in the hack listed in here, which got it to this level. (it was 79-89% before the hack) The settings are
Video Renderer-Default
MPEG2 Video Decoder Filter-Default
DXVA MPEG MOde-Default
DXVA Deinterlacing-Default
DScaler Deinterlacing Filter-Disabled
Audio Renderer-Default
MPEG2 Audio Decoder Filter-Default
Audio playback Delay-0
When I try any other settings for the renderer, decoder,dxva etc, make the screen look terrible with small squares all over it. With the above listings the screen is good, but the cpu usage is too high. I need to get it lower. I even tried changing the settings with the hack removed, but any changes result in those small squares on the screen? The machine is a hp 1.2 celeron, onboard video, 512 ram, windows xp pro sp2, two pvr-150 hauppauge cards, and of course SageTV v.5 .(nothing else running except win xp and sagetv) With this high cpu usage the machine can't be used for anything else.

[tvmaster2]

I had the same issue a few days ago, and then it just stopped using so much...in addition, Sage was eating up 256k of ram...which is kinda large. I wish I knew more technically, as I just bought into sage. But the CPU problem is one that comes and goes on my system.

[thomjw]

Hi,
Mine keeps in the 68-74% average, with 362mb of ram usage. The 362 mb of ram stays the same when sagetv is on. This cpu usage is way too high.

[Mark SS]

Not particularly suprising for a Celeron 1.2. Is that level of CPU usage actually causing a problem? If its not maxing out then why worry about it?

Could try using the Nvidia decoders instead of the Sage decoder, might help.

[stanger89]

Without explicitly specifying decoders in Sage, it's hard to do much of anything, because you could be using anything.

[thomjw]

Hi,
Yes, this is too high, you can't do anything else with the computer with sagetv running. It doesn't make sense though, I've read posts on here where people have smaller processors and their cpu usage is 10-30%. Something must not be right?

[thomjw]

Hi,
the decoders and all that stuff are all set to "default". I don't know which ones sage uses by default? The cards (2) are pvr-150 hauppauge. But, the cpu usage was the same (too high) even when I just had the one 150 card in the machine?

[AngelofDeth]

A celeron 1.2, thats pretty weak. I can't get perfectly smooth playback and use my PC either, and its an Athlon 1800 XP.

[ke6guj]

What other decoders have you installed? What decoders are available to the choose from in Sage?

the decoder that Sage includes is a software decoder, it uses the CPU to render video. If you use a hardware-supported decoder, it will use the GPU on the video card, reducing CPU usage. The Nvidia purevideo decoder is popular, $10-20 if memory serves me correctly. Others use decoders included in a DVD package.

you can use the Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility to determine what decoders are on your system. It is from Microsoft, and will tell you which decoder is the default.

[thomjw]

Hi,
I wonder if the onboard video (on motherboard) is partially the cause? I wonder if it had an add on video card (pci) if it would help? Or does it take the same drain on the processor regardless of whether it is onboard video or add on video card?

[thomjw]

Hi,
It has three choices (in sage setup) for MPEG2 Video Decoder: Default, InterVideo NonCSS Video Decoder for Hauppauge, and SageTV MPEG Video Decoder. (remember the hack is in place set to (1)). If I change it from "default" to one of the other two, it gets those small boxes all over the screen and messes up. I'm going to try the windows decoder checker thing you suggested in a minute.

[thomjw]

Ke6guj,
Hi, will that hardware decoder also work when you have an onboard video? My video is part of the motherboard. I do have an ATI all in one 7500 (agp) video card lying around I could install, but if my memory is correct, the all in one cards use software for encoding? I don't know about decoding? I do remember that that card has 64mb memory on the card itself though? Do you think that will help?

[thomjw]

Oh, and I can't download that windows decoder checker program because the stupid windows authentication thing is stopping me! I hate M/S. Do you know if there is another way to see what decoders I have on the computer? Or should I just purchase the above mentioned hardware decoder? I'm not sure it would do any good with the onboard video though? Does anyone know if it would work with the above mentioned ati all in one video card?????

[ke6guj]

I have heard that the Nvidia decoder will work on different brands of cards, not just Nvidia. It will use the amount of hardware assist that the video card will allows. It would depend on the power/speed of the onboard GPU to determine if just the decoder will be enough, or if you will need a better video card.

the ATI all-in-one card may be good enough, if it has any hardware-assist, I dunno.

A better video card can be gotten for decent money, and along with a good decoder, should get you down to 10-25% CPU usage.

[ke6guj]

As for the microsoft authentification, yes, it can be a pain. I look at it this way, they do support the un-authenticated copies of XP for all the patches, but if want any extra goodies, such as IE7 and the DECCHECK, then you must authenticate.

edit: Do you have a copy of WinDVD or PowerDVD, if so, install that and you'll probably have a copy of a decent hardware-assisted decoder without having to get the Nvidia decoder. If not, the $10-20 that nVidia charges is a good deal.

Just for your info, Microsoft doesn't even include a good decoder in MCE, the OEM selling it must include one before selling it to the consumer. Sage, at least includes a free decoder. It doesn't do hardware-assist or DVD's but will do normal Sage stuff ok.

[thomjw]

Ke6guj,
thanks for all the help, I also found an old Nvidia TNT 16 AGP video card I had in an old computer. I think I will put that in and try it. I'll also go and download that nvidia decoder you suggested. Thanks again for all your help!
I'll post tomorrow if it helps the machine get the cpu usage down a bit.
-Tom

[ke6guj]

http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

I just remembered that the nVidia decoder has a 30 day FREE trial. I'd try that first with the onboard video, then with the other video cards if the onboard GPU isn't enough.

NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder

edit: If I were guessing, I'd say that the ATI card sounds newer than the TNT 16 card. I'd do some research on them and see which one was more powerful.

[Mark SS]

Originally Posted by thomjw

Hi,
Yes, this is too high, you can't do anything else with the computer with sagetv running. It doesn't make sense though, I've read posts on here where people have smaller processors and their cpu usage is 10-30%. Something must not be right?

I expect you've seen that posted by people who are running just the server part of Sage on a low spec PC. Your CPU usage sounds about right if your running client and server on the same PC with that sort of spec.

[jimmyb]

Just a point. The on board video graphics is using some of the RAM to run graphics. Any graphic card that you install will help over all performance.

I have a refurbished 1.5G P4 that I installed Sage Client to feed wholehouse video. It was terrible (TNT 32M card). I took the plunge, bought a Nvidia 6000 something with 256RAM and voila .. no stuttering or choppy. Runs smooth and I am very pleased with the performance increase for the $50 purchase.

[thomjw]

Jimmyb,
When I opened up the hp, I found that the motherboard has no AGP slot on it, and all of the PCI slots are taken up. So, I'm stuck with the onboard video. I downloaded the Nvidia PureVideo Decoder trial and installed it. It did lower the cpu usage to 40-52%, but if I change the channel I'm watching, it locks up the computer. I tried rebooting and trying this several times, and it does the same thing. I guess the onboard video gpu isn't strong enough or something for the nvidia decoder to work correctly? I'm going to have to uninstall the Nvidia Decoder and go back to the SageTV software encoder. So, I can't try another video card with this motherboard. If I had the money I would just upgrade the computer to something newer, or get a newer motherboard but I can't afford it right now. Thanks for the tip though about the newer nvidia video card though, I'm sure that would probably work for me too if I had an AGP slot to try one.