Perfomance problems: video playback/record stutters (1 Viewer)

[nanders]

So I have build a HTPC and are currently debugging why it isn't fast enough.

I figured out that you need to choose DX9 to get all the nice OSD in MP.

I am runnning a DVB-S card without hardware MPEG2 decoding, which ofcourse puts extra load on the rest of the system.

So this is the parts in the PC i suspect: comments is appreciated!

1). CPU: It is a Celeron 2.8 GHz, I know it isn't the fastest but shouldn't it be fast enough? At least it should be fast enough for DVD or DIVX playback, shouldn't it?

2). Memory: 512Mb, still this should be sufficient.

3). Graphics card: Ati Radeon 9200 LE, which to my knowledge is barely DX8 compatible. This is really my main suspision?

4). Harddrive: It's a western digital on a ATA100 which should be enough. Could try swtiching it though.

So what do you think is the bottleneck here?

 

[Taipan]

I assume that your problem is that when you watch live TV, or a recorded TV program, that the video "stutters"?

My guess would be that it is a combination of your video card (you need at least an ATI Radeon 9550) and the particular video decoder you are using.

If the video decoder you have selected does not use DxVA (the DScaler one, for example) then more work will need to be done by your CPU. However, if you use the nVIDIA decoder (with DxVA enabled), with an ATI 9550 (or better) video card, then the CPU usage will drop significantly, and the "stuttering" should dissapear.....

 

[wewe]

you should check your CPU load (using Windows task manager). Is it on 100% when playing movies then u have a problem with your Hardware like Taipan indicated.

If not then it could be:

- Mediaportal settings: Codec, VMR9, Exclusive DX, some things more
- Virus Scanner that continuously checks opened files

One more thing: is your Disk working steadily? That should NOT be the case. Mine is doing a little noise every second (that's the timeshift I guess).


thanks+regards
WeWe

 

[nanders]

Yes there is a virusscaner, but I think i'll leave it.

And the CPU usage is pretty high.

I was thinking of a Nvidia FX5200, since they are cheap and have DX9 support and passive cooling.

In regards to video decoder... i am not sure which one i am using. I think i have switched back and forth between all off them. Some off them didn't show any picture from my DVB-S card.

So paired with the Nvidia card, which decoder should I use?

"nVIDIA decoder"? Don't think i have seen that one. Does it only show up when you have a genuine Nvidia card installed?

 

[arielext]

No you need to get nVidia Purevideo to get that working.

 

[nanders]

I was actually reading on the nVidia site and getting to the same conclusion.

Is purevideo worth the money?

I says that it only supports 6800 and above. (Fully I gues)

Does it make a difference on a FX 5200?

 

[wewe]

- you don't need Purevideo - that one you would have to buy. People say it has a high quality - but in order to get started you should use the mpg2dec which is delivered with MP. I guess that one is the robustest one in conjunction with MP.

- I didn't say 'switch the virus checker off'. But some virus checkers have a 'check all open files online' and I think the timeshift- and the recording-files shouldn't be accessed from two programs (MP and Virus checker) at the same time. So you should EXCLUDE the relevant directories of MP from online virus checking (for me at least that did help).

- I am using an NVIDIA 6200. It did cost around 70 Euro. It is fast but still passively cooled.

- how high is your CPU? It should be between 40% and 60% (when watching TV and timeshifting) or even lower.

thanks+regards
WeWe

 

[nanders]

Ok thanks for the info regarding purevideo.

I will look into the virus checker. But only if the new graphicscard dosn't help. (Arrived yesterday)

My CPU load is around 80-90% and hitting the 100 sometimes. So for sure the machine isn't performing to good. Hope the new graphicscard helps here.

I will post my results after the weekend.

Checked out your MSI NX6200AX-TD256, it has a S-Video and DVI, which is nice.

The Asus FX5200 and 6200 passivly cooled only have composite video.

 

[nanders]

Well... this didn't help at all.

I even tried nVidia pureVideo.

No luck! :-(

I'll have to look closer on what processes are eating my CPU power.

 

[chili]

That video card is probably offloading what it can't handle to the celeron.
Pure video won't do anything for you with that card.. Also, at least for me MediaPortal's mpg2dec gives me better pq than PureVideo, and I have a GeForce 6600.