After some driver updates Video Playback is slow/different (1 Viewer)

[coldfire]

MediaPortal Version: 0.2.2
MediaPortal Skin:
Windows Version: Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2
CPU Type: AMD Sempron AM2 2.0GHZ
HDD: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 PATA 7200rpm 200GB, and Seagate Barracuda PATA 7200rpm 160GB
Memory: Samsung 512MB x 2 DDR2 PC2-4200
Motherboard: Asus M2NPV-VM
Motherboard Chipset: nVidia GeForce 6150 (nforce 430 southbridge)
Motherboard Bios: Phoenix, revision 0705
Video Card: Integrated nVidia GeForce 6150
Video Card Driver: Forceware 93.71
Sound Card: Integrated audio
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Sapphire Theatrix (ATI 550 pro)
1. TV Card Type: analog
1. TV Card Driver: 6.14.10.231
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Rogers (analog cable)
HTPC Case: NSK2400
Cooling: stock case/cpu fans
Power Supply: Antec, 380w
Remote: Sapphire
TV:
TV - HTPC Connection: Sub-D


My system was working great before, i had no problems really.
I recently updated drivers for the following:
- TV Card (ATI Theater 550 Pro drivers)
- Motherboard (BIOS and also nvidia nForce drivers)
- Video (nvidia forceware drivers)

Following these updates i went to play video in MP and noticed that it looked different and also was not playing smoothly. This is for any video i play in MP. I checked and sure enough, even non-HD video seems to be maxing out CPU usage.
Now, the weird part is if i play the same video files in WMP or MPC i get normal CPU usage and the video looks visually different (brightness levels and what not are different). If i turn on FFDShow OSD, all the input/output descriptions are identical in MP and WMP, but it's just the CPU usage that is maxed out in MP.

I think MP must be using a different decoder or something than what i see in WMP or any other player. Every player i try, WMP, MPC, or ZoomPlayer the CPU usage is normal.
And again, the levels (brightness, etc.) look different in MP than any other player. I have tried switching between all the available decoder types in the MP Setup, but it doesn't make a difference it seems.

This is what i am using for relevant video software:

- FFDShow
- Nvidia Purevideo
- Quicktime Alternative

I have tried the following with no luck:
- Remove and reinstall MP
- Remove and reinstall FFDShow/Purevideo/QTA
- Installed latest DirectX

I don't really know what's going on here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. THANKS.

 

[coldfire]

i have tried replicating the CPU usage in media players outside of MP and the cpu usage for all of them is normal.
even using ZoomPlayer with VMR9 rendering the CPU usage is normal. so it must be some issue specific to MP.
any suggestions?

 

[dimitri]

I have same exact issue. Had some troubles with my system, not related to MP, ended up updating drivers, removing some unused software, etc. Now my system runs fine, but MP CPU usage is 90-100 with stuttering.

Are you running SVN or base build? I'm going to go back to base build to see if it helps.

 

[coldfire]

i'm running the base build (0.2.20 stable).
i suspect that maybe it might be the new nvidia drivers i updated. on the Asus site the "latest" video drivers are about 6 months old. i am going to try going back to those drivers and see if that makes a difference.
but, since this only happens in MP, even if going back to older drivers fixes the issue, it is still a fault with MP. as i said, everything else works. maybe a compatibility issue with new nvidia drivers? anyways, i will report what happens.

 

[coldfire]

well, going back to older drivers seems to have fixed the problem.
after i reverted back to nvidia graphic drivers, 82.05 version to be exact, i get normal CPU usage in MP. so, there is some issue with the latest nvidia drivers and MP. i'm hesitant to blame it on the drivers because everything else worked fine with them, except for MP.
but, it could just be my machine. i have to do some searching on the forum to see if people are running latest nvidia drivers OK. 93.71 forceware drivers did not work for me.

so dimitri, try rolling the drivers back. if you remember the last drivers that worked, go back to those.