MediaPortal performance tweaks for dummies? (2 Viewers)

[limpwhizkid]

Re: AW: MediaPortal performance tweaks for dummies?

let the timeshift files remain on the SSD (faster zapping for sure).

I don't know how many times I have had to correct that false illusion, but the slow zapping performance is not down to slow HD performance. You can check that directly from the TsReader.log - there is only few ms spent on the actual seeking operation when zapping happens. Other things likce Tv card, codecs, MP code etc. are the 99% of the zapping time.

i disagree (in multiclient setup , dont know for standalone install).. it was a real improvement for me ..

the illusion works for me

 

[SwissBuster]

Re: AW: MediaPortal performance tweaks for dummies?

Slow zapping performance is... other things likce Tv card, codecs, MP code etc. are the 99% of the zapping time.

Tourettes - although it is not an issue for me, any advice on tweaks to speed up the zapping? Also, any advice on tweaking the pseudo-HD channels to remove stuttering?

 

[SwissBuster]

Windows Version: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
CPU Type: Intel Core2 Duo E7200 2.53Ghz
Memory: 4GM RAM
Motherboard: Asus P5N-EM HDMI
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro

1. What are the key variables that effect MP performance? Is it the skin (as I have seen) or plug-ins or other things?
2. What do codecs do? Is there a way beyond trial-and-error to test them? How can you be sure that you are actually testing the codec you ave selected?
3. How can I figure out if I have a hardware bottleneck?[/B](e.g. the solution for me could be a new graphics card, but I'd like to know this with some certainty before buying one)?

An update following a completely fresh installation...

I upgraded to Win7 and installed only the bare minimum to keep the CPU load down. At first, the performance was disappointing with decent SD TV but bad stuttering on HD TV (but at least it played). I noticed that HD TV was sometimes peaking at 100% CPU... and I concluded that I needed more firepower, probably in the form of a new grpahics card. To my surprise, playing with codecs completely solved the issue - I have stable and stutter-free TV even in HD now. The codec I picked was ffdshow from the SAF6 codec pack (the suggested codec - PDVD11 did not even load for me). CPU load is down to 30% when viewing full-screen HD. Contrary to my observation in 2011, the skin selection does not seem to make any difference now.

So, my conclusion is that the codec is the key variable, and there is no alternative but to try various codecs until you find one that works. Of course, it helps to make sure that you don't have useless apps running consuming your available memory and CPU.

 

[SwissBuster]

I came home from a 10-day business trip to a hugely unresponsive MP. I can only guess that windows ran some automatic upgrades while I was away, the net result of which was terrible stuttering on all channels. I spent the best part of my week off fixing MP which has only been partly successful...

I upgraded to Win7 and installed only the bare minimum to keep the CPU load down... Playing with codecs completely solved the issue - I have stable and stutter-free TV even in HD now. The codec I picked was ffdshow from the SAF6 codec pack (the suggested codec - PDVD11 did not even load for me). CPU load is down to 30% when viewing full-screen HD.

I returned from vacation to find very spotty TV reception. Some channels are displaying OK, but in anything but perfect weather the reception goes out. Channels that have been working fine for years are suddenly failing. Thinking something had knocked my satelite dish out of alignment, I played with this but it didn't help. I checked all cables, too. Thinking that perhaps one of my sat cards had failed, I plugged in an old set-top box and most channels worked - I say most because it is an SD box so I can't test any HD channels. The sat card test showed that both were working.

The potted history of my MP issues continues. The last quote above was a month ago, and to cut a long story short, an automatic windows upgrade during my vacation casued a conflict between MS Security Essentials and MP that produced very high CPU loads. Adding an exception to MSE largely resolved my issues. However, the old HD channel issue has resurfaced again - I have a perfect system except when viewing HD channels (either live sat feed or recordings) which do display but are extremely jerky. Using the solution from this thread, I played with different codecs but none deliver stable and smooth HD playback.

Any new suggestions about what I can try to improve the playback? Any new codecs to try? I'm also happy to upgrade my hardware but I would like to be sure that throwing money at the issue will provide a reliable working solution.

 

[limpwhizkid]

I came home from a 10-day business trip to a hugely unresponsive MP. I can only guess that windows ran some automatic upgrades while I was away, the net result of which was terrible stuttering on all channels. I spent the best part of my week off fixing MP which has only been partly successful...

I upgraded to Win7 and installed only the bare minimum to keep the CPU load down... Playing with codecs completely solved the issue - I have stable and stutter-free TV even in HD now. The codec I picked was ffdshow from the SAF6 codec pack (the suggested codec - PDVD11 did not even load for me). CPU load is down to 30% when viewing full-screen HD.

I returned from vacation to find very spotty TV reception. Some channels are displaying OK, but in anything but perfect weather the reception goes out. Channels that have been working fine for years are suddenly failing. Thinking something had knocked my satelite dish out of alignment, I played with this but it didn't help. I checked all cables, too. Thinking that perhaps one of my sat cards had failed, I plugged in an old set-top box and most channels worked - I say most because it is an SD box so I can't test any HD channels. The sat card test showed that both were working.

The potted history of my MP issues continues. The last quote above was a month ago, and to cut a long story short, an automatic windows upgrade during my vacation casued a conflict between MS Security Essentials and MP that produced very high CPU loads. Adding an exception to MSE largely resolved my issues. However, the old HD channel issue has resurfaced again - I have a perfect system except when viewing HD channels (either live sat feed or recordings) which do display but are extremely jerky. Using the solution from this thread, I played with different codecs but none deliver stable and smooth HD playback.

Any new suggestions about what I can try to improve the playback? Any new codecs to try? I'm also happy to upgrade my hardware but I would like to be sure that throwing money at the issue will provide a reliable working solution.

if a leave tvservice on for too long.. it goes jerky..

i kind of made a workaround to overcome that problem:

i run this nightly script scheduled at 04:00 (i usually dont watch around that time )

04:00 net stop tvservice
04:01 net start tvservice

 

[SwissBuster]

Any new suggestions about what I can try to improve the playback? Any new codecs to try?

I upgraded to the latest SAF codecs and, once again, the issue completely disappeared. Facepalm moment: this is the exact same solution as the last time around!

 

[kiwijunglist]

I wonder if something is changing the directshow merits ('codec priority order'), which means that MP will use a different codec, reinstalling or upgrading SAF will reset the merits.